Anne Elisabeth Stengl Quotes & Sayings

Does that look like flowing gold? — Anne Elisabeth Stengl

There is a moment that comes into every life when the right word, the right look even, could change the shape of the world forever. The wrong one could as well, though the resulting shape would be different. No word at all, however, and the moment slips by, and things remain unsaid that perhaps should have been said, perhaps shouldn't, and no one can ever know for sure. — Anne Elisabeth Stengl

Lionheart glared at the cat, who smiled back. "Can you read my mind?"
"No." The cat sniffed and seemed to smile. "I can smell it. Which is made the easier for the stink your thoughts give off. All this self-pity and moping! *I did what I had to do.* Lick my whiskers, you did. Be a man, and face your actions for what they were! — Anne Elisabeth Stengl

A dream," he whispered. "It's all a dream."
"How metaphysical of you," said the cat. "But we're neither of us impressed. — Anne Elisabeth Stengl

Tell me, cat-man, why can I understand her?"
"First," said Eanrin with a glower, "you will not call me 'cat-man' again. I am a knight, a poet, and a gentleman, and you will address me as sir or not address me at all. — Anne Elisabeth Stengl

If a man has to ask for your trust, it's a sure sign that you should not give it. Trust should be earned inherently, without any verbal demands. Trust is knowing a man's character, knowing truth, and relying on that character and truth even when the odds seem against you. — Anne Elisabeth Stengl

For nothing you have done could equal the evil that I myself have committed against all who loved and trusted me. No regret you ever know will compare to the despair I knew when I recognized what I had done. And no forgiveness you may yet receive will ever outshine the grace that was extended to me, the vilest of all my Master's servants. No, Lionheart, I can never hate you, for in truth, you and I are alike, and if our deeds were measured against one another, no one could say yours were the worse. — Anne Elisabeth Stengl

I can't believe in the impossible," he whispered as though trying to convince himself against what he had just witnessed. "A man can't be big and small at once. He can't be a freak and a hero."
The cat glared. "Do you believe in justice?"
The Chronicler hesitated. Then, only once, he nodded.
"Do you believe in mercy?" pressed the cat.
"Yes."
"Ha!" Eanrin lashed his tail again. "What an impossible contradiction. Ha! — Anne Elisabeth Stengl

Fear was not well-known to Sir Eanrin. He generally found it got in the way, so he bypassed the emotion entirely. — Anne Elisabeth Stengl

One conversation! One simple, honest, true conversation, and all your questions would be answered, all your problems solved! Really, man, is it that difficult? Then you'd be free to fall into each other's arms and live your Happily Ever After. Why make it so complicated?
Eanrin — Anne Elisabeth Stengl

You don't understand," Lionheart said, turning his back on the cat. "No one does."
"While I am a firm believer in the uniqueness of each person," said the cat, "the motications of the spirit are as predictable as the seasons. — Anne Elisabeth Stengl

My love," she said, "I could never betray you. You betray yourself, but I will only ever bring you back. — Anne Elisabeth Stengl

I'll never tell you to stop loving. You see, I believe in hopeless love. Oh yes. I believe in it with all my heart, though you may discount the heart of an old nanny like me. For real love brings pain. Real love means sacrifices and hurts and all the thousand shocks of life. But it also means beauty, true beauty. — Anne Elisabeth Stengl

The heart is a peculiar thing. It sees and interprets details long before the brain has started to think there might be something worth noticing. The brain resents this skill, however, and will often spitefully do all it can to repress what the heart might be whispering. — Anne Elisabeth Stengl

I'm worthless," Lionheart says. "I couldn't save her. I couldn't redeem my honor." "You never can," the Prince replies. He takes Lionheart by the shoulders and forces him to sit up, to face him. "But do you think my grace insufficient to forgive you? — Anne Elisabeth Stengl

I chose to long ago, long before we met. When my father sent me to win you, I loved you already. — Anne Elisabeth Stengl

And now all this rot about invisible injuries and interrupting Prince Gervais as he and I don't see what business it is of I can do what I like and I think you're simply and that's that!
Una paused there, wondering if what she'd just said had made a lick of sense. Judging from Prince Aethelbald's face, it hadn't. — Anne Elisabeth Stengl

Were the world a just place and given into Poet Eanrin's hands to dictate, he would have written things as they ought to be. Lionheart would not have bowed like some wooden puppet and left without another word. He would have acted like a man, taken the silver-eyed queen into his arms, and kissed her! He would have told her all the things in his heart that he did not fully understand yet, because, honestly, who ever understands those things anyway?
But some stories refuse to play themselves out the way poets think they ought. — Anne Elisabeth Stengl

That isn't trust; that's foolishness! If a man has asked for your trust, it's a sure sign you should not give it. Trust should be earned inherently, without any verbal demands. Trust is knowing a man's character, knowing truth, and relying on that character and truth even when the odds seem against you. That is trust, my dear, not this leap in the dark ... (King Fidel) — Anne Elisabeth Stengl

Foxbrush sneezed again.
He couldn't help himself. It's not something a fellow likes to do when a stunningly beautiful woman is leaning toward him with an expression on her face like Nidawi's wore. But sneezes are not prey to the wants or wishes of those inflicted with them. He sneezed so violently that he nearly knocked his forehead against Nidawi's exquisite little chin. She leapt back lightly, frowning at first, then shaking the frown into a rain of laughter. — Anne Elisabeth Stengl

Have you ever dreamed of one thing for so long, wanted nothing more than to have that dream fulfilled, only to find out that maybe it wasn't what you actually wanted all along?"
He juggled four stones lightly. "I believe that's called growing up. — Anne Elisabeth Stengl

Hope is such a beautiful dream that dies such a hideous death. — Anne Elisabeth Stengl

Regret and repentance do not always walk hand in hand. — Anne Elisabeth Stengl

In my anger, I slew you twice. I saw you only as the dragon, and I forgot what you were meant to be. Can you forgive me?
Etanun — Anne Elisabeth Stengl

No, something far more mysterious has taken Felix. He has heard the unicorn." Like a performer, the cat gave a dramatic pause.
"Um," said Lionheart.
"You have no idea what I'm talking about, have you?"
"No, sorry."
"Mortals," growled the cat. — Anne Elisabeth Stengl

See! See, she's gone and put her foot in her mouth again! Right in, heel and all. — Anne Elisabeth Stengl

Benedict studied her. 'A mirror? What in Lume's name would you need a mirror for?'
'To admire my pretty face, obviously,' she snapped. — Anne Elisabeth Stengl

But my head is splitting in two!"
"It's doing a remarkably neat job since I can't see so much as a seam. — Anne Elisabeth Stengl

Do you understand, mortal?" Eanrin said. "We Faerie know it's the spirit that counts, and all else is malleable. Beauty or ugliness; brawn or frailty; height or lack thereof
these appearances can be exchanged with scarcely a thought! But the truth ... now, that's another issue. The truth of the thing, the person behind what you perceive with any of your paltry five senses ... Creature of dust, it's the truth that counts! And you'll rarely find more truth than in Faerie tales."
With those words, the golden man dwindled into the golden cat, and try as he might, the Chronicler could perceive him as nothing else. But he was still Eanrin, and he smiled, pleased with himself.
"That wasn't a half-bad monologue. Do you find yourself inspired to new heights of ambition? — Anne Elisabeth Stengl

Her eyes pleaded with him to understand, to try. Under that gaze, Eanrin had no option but to sit and stare at the scribbles in the dust, stare with all the intensity a cat can muster. His pupils dilated until the golden irises were like rings of eclipsed sunfire. Imraldera watched him, chewing her bottom lip and waiting.
At last the cat lashed his tail and raised his whiskered face to her. I'm sorry, my girl. It looks to me like the Greater Stick Bug pursues the Lesser Stick Bug over the back of a giant alligator. Can't make a thing of it otherwise. — Anne Elisabeth Stengl

Vengeance cannot abide the agony of grace. — Anne Elisabeth Stengl

What, suddenly I am a figure from an ancient bit of nursery nonsense?" He lifted a forepaw and began chewing his toes, the picture of dismissive indifference. "And the next egg you come across you'll ask, 'Tell me, sir, what were you doing up on that wall anyway?'"
"Are you ashamed to answer?"
"I am ashamed of nothing. I am a cat." The cat gracefully placed his paw next to the other, sitting as prim as a perfect statue. — Anne Elisabeth Stengl

I'll choose an ugly truth over your pretty lies any day. — Anne Elisabeth Stengl

If there is one thing in which I hold complete confidence, it is the conviction of my own desirability. — Anne Elisabeth Stengl

Alistair spoke behind his visor. "You look very pretty."
Mouse looked to Eanrin. "He sounds concerned. What did he say?"
"He said they're never going to believe you're a girl. — Anne Elisabeth Stengl

Our Prince does not give his servants hopeless tasks. They sometimes do not follow an expected path, but they are never hopeless. — Anne Elisabeth Stengl

I listened long to your story,
Listened but could not hear.
When you chose to walk that path so overgrown,
I remained alone with my fear.
Cold silence covers the distance,
Stretches from shore to shore.
I follow in my mind your far-off journeying,
But I will walk that path no more. — Anne Elisabeth Stengl

I could try to care, but I ain't sure it's worth the bother. — Anne Elisabeth Stengl

Sometimes the worst failures in our lives turn out to be for the best. Sometimes our path leads through darkness, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't walk it. Sometimes our path leads to loss. But that doesn't mean we've gone astray. — Anne Elisabeth Stengl

She was the sort of person from whom one would expect to receive warm cookies, not plots. — Anne Elisabeth Stengl