Erika Johansen Quotes & Sayings

It's all right lady," Pen murmured. "I won't let you fall. — Erika Johansen

Even I won't defy her. She is terrible."
"Let me tell you a secret, General. I am worse. — Erika Johansen

Rape's a weapon of war. The women got over it. — Erika Johansen

She had been ready to kill Da, ready for years, but now she was amazed to find that she had done something even more difficult: she had spoken aloud. — Erika Johansen

Names made a thing real. — Erika Johansen

The air had lost its icy feel, but now a thin, sickly mist clung to everything, wrapping around tree trunks and moving over the ground in visible tides. — Erika Johansen

The mark of the true hero is that the most heroic of his deeds is done in secret. We never hear of it. And yet somehow, my friends, we know. - Father Tyler's Collected Sermons, FROM THE ARVATH ARCHIVE — Erika Johansen

Not just a thief, but a murderer as well. Beneath the handsome man, Kelsea sensed another man, a terrible one, with a life as black as the water in an ice-covered lake. A murderer many, many times.
The idea should have brought horror. Kelsea waited for a long moment, bu what came instead was an even worse realization: it didn't matter at all. — Erika Johansen

This is how women are trained to stay indoors, she thought, the idea echoing in her mind like a gravesong. This is how women are trained not to act. — Erika Johansen

But even Carlin's words had no weight when fury washed over Kelsea; it was a tide that cleared all obstacles. — Erika Johansen

Weakness, all the more dangerous for being combined with a sense of entitlement — Erika Johansen

Those who cease to worry about their souls often find them difficult to reclaim later — Erika Johansen

Once in a while, usually when Ewen wasn't even trying, he would solve a mystery, and that was a great and extraordinary feeling, the way he imagined birds would feel as they swooped across the sky. — Erika Johansen

I'm sober."
"That's not my concern. I know you'll never make that mistake again."
"Then what's your concern?" the younger man asked, his tone aggressive.
"You and her. — Erika Johansen

Selfishness and self-destruction, riding hand in hand, as they so often did. — Erika Johansen

Your Majesty's rescuer said a true thing, and one that's stayed with me. Often the direct way is the right way, for reasons that can't be foreseen. — Erika Johansen

The Queen held up her hands for silence. At that moment, Javel knew for certain that she truly was the Queen, though he never knew why or how he knew. — Erika Johansen

Pain only disables the weak. — Erika Johansen

Empathy. Carlin always said it was the great value of fiction, to put us inside the minds of strangers. Lazarus, — Erika Johansen

Time stretched years back and years forward, but nothing that came afterward ever had the power to wash away what came before. — Erika Johansen

I don't want to die, Arlen, but I would lay down my life for any of these men, or they for me. That's a real thing, sacrifice, but you will never understand it. — Erika Johansen

This country is diseased. The fortunate celebrate on the backs of the starving, the ill, the terrorised. The law affords no recourse to the disadvantaged. That's a historical sickness, and there's only one cure. — Erika Johansen

What of that woman you've found?" the Mace asked. "Does she offer no relief at all?"
Pen laughed without humor. "Ten minutes of relief, every time."
"We can find another shield, you know," the Mace told him. "Several of them are ready. Elston would jump at the chance."
"No. It would be a greater torment to be out of the room than in."
"You say that now, but think, Pen. Think about when she takes a husband, or even just a man for the night. How will you feel then, being right outside the door?"
"She may not take either. — Erika Johansen

There's no other life for me. Anyway, clemency wouldn't begin to repay your debt. I've given you a greater gift than you know."
"What gift?"
"You'll find out. In return, I expect you to keep it safe."
Kelsea turned back to the mirror. "Great God, tell me you didn't impregnate me while I slept."
The fetch threw back his head and roared with laughter. He placed a friendly hand on Kelsea's back, making her skin prickle. "Tear Queen, you'll either be dead within a week or you'll be the most fearsome ruler this kingdom has ever known. I see no middle ground. — Erika Johansen

Humanity would have to work for that society, and work hard, dedicating themselves to an unending vigilance against the mistakes of the past. It — Erika Johansen

When it fails, they do call it madness, Lazarus. But when it succeeds, they call it genius. — Erika Johansen

I missed you, Lazarus. More than I missed the sunlight, even. — Erika Johansen

My responsibility, she thought, and the idea brought no fear now, only an extraordinary sense of gratitude.
My kingdom. — Erika Johansen

Even small gestures of kindness have the potential to reap enormous rewards. Only the shortsighted man believes otherwise. — Erika Johansen

Such a statement would be blasphemous, Majesty," the Holy Father replied, his tone gently reproving. "No man can speak for God. — Erika Johansen

You are special, everyone is special. But you are not better. All are valuable. — Erika Johansen

Entire countries would close their borders and build walls to keep out phantom threats. Can you imagine? — Erika Johansen

Stick with hard copies; they're harder to alter after publication. In the better world, there won't be any electronics at all. — Erika Johansen

And if Tear's words can't be trusted, then who do we listen to? Yourself. The — Erika Johansen

You win your people or you lose your throne. — Erika Johansen

The Tearling... I told them not to name things after me. - William Tear — Erika Johansen

You think I don't care about my people, but I do... - The Red Queen — Erika Johansen

Divested of your clothing and women and guard, you're just a traitor with his crimes laid bare for the world to see. — Erika Johansen

You haven't forgiven me, Lazarus."
He remained silent.
"What did you expect me to do?"
"Tell us, dammit! I would have gone with you."
"Of course you would have, Lazarus. But I thought I was going to die. Why would I ask anyone to follow me there?"
"Because it's my job!" he roared, and his voice seemed to shake the timbers of the tiny space. "It's what I signed on for! The choice was mine, not yours! — Erika Johansen

I know all about the wildness of youth, believe me. But regret has a terrible ability to follow you, long after youth has vanished — Erika Johansen

A church was only as good or bad as the philosophy that emanated from the pulpit. — Erika Johansen

It's a real thing, glory. But it pales in comparison to what we sacrifice for it. — Erika Johansen

There's danger in the system of justice that makes no allowance for circumstance. — Erika Johansen

Kelsea saw now that there was something far worse than being ugly: being ugly and thinking you were beautiful. — Erika Johansen

I am Death. I come quickly, I come slowly, but I am not cheated. — Erika Johansen

Her old appearance had been genuine, and had gained her nothing. But her new appearance was worse, hollow and false, and anything that she gained by it would carry that falsity like a disease. — Erika Johansen

Kelsea stared at it for a long moment, then turned to Pen.
"Go away."
"Lady - "
"What?"
Pen splayed his hands. "Things can't remain like this forever. We have to move past what happened."
"I have moved past it!"
"You haven't." Pen spoke quietly, but Kelsea heard the low hum of anger in his voice.
"It was a weak moment, and it won't repeat."
"I'm a Queen's Guard, Lady. You have to understand that."
"I understand that you're just like every other man in the world. Get out."
Pen's breath hissed through his teeth, and Kelsea was pleased to see real pain in his eyes for a moment before he retreated to his antechamber. — Erika Johansen

The future cannot be divorced from the past. — Erika Johansen

We're coming to the point where I may need to split my men to evade pursuit. If so, my choice of bodyguard for you will depend much on your won abilities."
"Well, I am a fast reader, and I know how to make stew."
Carroll nodded in approval "You've a sense of humor about all this, Lady. You'll need one. You're entering a life of great danger. — Erika Johansen

They had found the seven volumes of Rowling with no help at all, but there was no squabbling. — Erika Johansen

Whenever she had a problem to consider, she invariably found herself in the library, for it was easier to think when she was surrounded by books. — Erika Johansen

The hawk ripped out his jugular, spraying the morning sunlight with a fine mist of blood. — Erika Johansen

Tyler did not believe in hell. He had decided, long ago, that if God wanted to punish them, there was infinite opportunity right here; hell would be superfluous.
But if there was a hell on earth, Tyler had certainly found it. — Erika Johansen

The Fetch was intelligent, diabolically so, and intelligent people devised intelligent cruelties. That was where the Red Queen had always excelled. — Erika Johansen

This, I think, is the crux of evil in this world, Majesty: those who feel entitled to whatever they want, whatever they can grab. Such people never ask themselves if they have the right. They consider no cost to anyone but themselves. — Erika Johansen

The mistake of utopia is to assume that all will be perfect. Perfection may be the definition, but we are human, and even into uopia we bring our own pain, error, jealousy, grief. We cannot relinquish out faults, even in the hope of Paradise, so to plan a new society without taking human nature into account is to doom that society to failure. — Erika Johansen

The King of Cadare cannot have an alliance on an equal footing with a woman. Marriage ensures that Your Majesty is seen to submit her will to my master in all things."
Mace moved in sharply, blocking off Kelsea's right side. She blinked in surprise, for she had sensed no threat from the ambassador or his guards. It took a few moments for her to see it: Mace had actually moved to protect the ambassador. Some of Kelsea's anger ebbed away then; she smiled at Mace, and felt a rush of affection when he smiled back. — Erika Johansen

as always, the story was the compelling thing, worth all of its suffering to find out the ending — Erika Johansen

I see that you have a knife behind your back... You will drop your knife. - Ewen, to Brenna — Erika Johansen

Only a fool blames the dealer — Erika Johansen

Christ, let's go."
"Women shouldn't curse."
"Get fucked. — Erika Johansen

An upset stomach was a small price to pay for fiction made real. — Erika Johansen

We have trust, Lady, you and I?"
"I trust you with my life, Andalie. — Erika Johansen

One night she'd stayed up until dawn reading a particularly long novel, and she had been allowed to skip her chores and sleep away most of the next day. — Erika Johansen

Do you always eat with so many of your Guard, Majesty?"
"Usually."
"Are security concerns so great?"
"Not at all. I prefer to eat with my Guard."
"Perhaps when you begin a family, that will change."
Kelsea narrowed her eyes as Milla began to ladle soup into her bowl. "My Guard are my family. — Erika Johansen

Love was a real thing, Aisa thought, but secondary. Certainly love was not as real as her sword. — Erika Johansen

She was unable to keep silent, even when silence would save her trouble or pain. — Erika Johansen

Sometime in the last forty-eight hours, Lily had discovered the great secret of pain: it thrived on the unknown, on the knowledge that there was a greater pain out there, something more excruciating that might yet be breached. The body was constantly waiting. When you took away the uncertainty, when you controlled the pain yourself, it was definitely easier to bear,... — Erika Johansen

Are you my father, Lazarus?"
Mace's mouth twisted. "No, Lady. I wish I was. I wanted to be. But I am not. — Erika Johansen

(...) have is the hell of want. — Erika Johansen

Tell me, Mrs. Mayhew, have you ever dreamed of a better world?" "Who hasn't?" "Anyone who profits by keeping the world as it is. — Erika Johansen

I see this land flowing with books, Father. Widespread literacy. Books everywhere, as common as they used to be in circulation before the Crossing, affordable even for the poor. — Erika Johansen

And Kelsea wondered suddenly whether humanity ever actually changed. Did people grow and learn at all as the centuries past? Or was humanity merely like the tide, enlightenment advancing and then retreating as circumstances shifted? The most defining characteristic of the species might be lapse. — Erika Johansen

Hell? Hell is a fairy tale for the gullible, for what punishment could be worse than that we inflict upon ourselves? We burn so badly in this life that there can be nothing left. — Erika Johansen

Good stitchery," Kelsea told him. "But it will scar anyway, won't it?"
The Fetch nodded. "I'm not God, nor am I the queen's surgeon." He gave her a mocking bow. "But it won't fester, and you can tell people that you took the wound in battle."
"Battle?"
"It was a battle getting all that armor off you, and I'll tell the world so."
Kelsea smiled, put down the mirror, and turned to him. — Erika Johansen

Even a book can be dangerous in the wrong hands, and when that happens, you blame the hands, but you also read the book. — Erika Johansen

Everyone dies eventually. I think it's better to die clean. — Erika Johansen

Some people were simply broken, something inside them grown wrong and twisted. — Erika Johansen

Pen will no longer be your close guard, Lady," Mace said flatly.
"What?"
"Starting tonight, Elston will take over Pen's duties."
Kelsea turned to stare at Pen, who in turn stared at the floor."
"What's happened?" she demanded.
"I'll give you two a few minutes, but only a few," Mace replied, speaking to Pen. "After that, you will not be alone together again."
Pen nodded, but Kelsea turned on Mace.
"You don't make changes to my Guard behind my back, Lazarus! I didn't ask for a new close guard. This isn't your decision."
"No, Lady," Pen said. "It's mine. — Erika Johansen

What does the Red Queen want, then?" Kelsea had asked Carlin. She had no interest in maps and wanted to wrap up the lesson.
"What conquerors always want, Kelsea: everything, with no end in sight. — Erika Johansen

Corruption begins with a single moment of weakness. — Erika Johansen

Always, we think we know what courage means. If I were called upon, we say, I would answer the call. I would not hesitate. Until the moment is upon us, and then we realize that the demands of true courage are very different from what we had envisioned, long ago on that bright morning when we felt brave. — Erika Johansen

You think of beauty only as a blessing, Majesty, but it brings its own punishments. — Erika Johansen

You can defend your kingdom, or you can defend your people, Majesty. You don't have the manpower to do both at once."
"People are more important than land. — Erika Johansen

Few things are more dangerous to an egalitarian ideal than the concept of a chosen people, and the divide drawn by the early iteration of God's Church helped to exacerbate the many ideological faults that already underlay the landscape. When they chips were down, Tear's people were ready to turn on each other, and the fall of the Town was very quick, so quick that this historian wonders whether all such communities are not destined to fail. Our species is capable of altruism, certainly, but it is not a game we play willingly, let alone well — Erika Johansen

Shit," she muttered. She'd heard the word from her guard many times, but only now did she understand the real use of profanity. That one word said exactly what she was feeling, said it better than a hundred other words could have done. — Erika Johansen

Carlin always said that most men were dogs, and Kelsea had never taken her seriously; there were too many good books written by men. — Erika Johansen

If they want to walk around armed and build fences and let a church tell them what to do, let them wallow in it. — Erika Johansen

Anger was the indulgence of a child, not a queen. — Erika Johansen

They're good, these stories," Mace continued, his cheeks stained with light color. "They teach the pain of others." "Empathy. Carlin always said it was the great value of fiction, to put us inside the minds of strangers. — Erika Johansen

The future was only disasters of the past, waiting to happen anew. — Erika Johansen

I need my own armor, and soon. A silly queen I'll look when I've been slowly flattened into a man."

Mace grinned. "You wouldn't be the first queen of this kingdom to be mistaken for a king. — Erika Johansen

I'll govern for the good of the governed.
I'll make sure every citizen is properly educated and doctored.
I'll cease wasteful spending and ease the burden on the poor through redistribution of land and goods and taxation. — Erika Johansen

Pen?"
"Lady?"
"You think I'm pretty."
He blinked in surprise. "I always found you so, Lady. But it's true that your face has changed."
"You always found me pretty?"
Pen shrugged. "It doesn't matter, Lady. Some women are defined by their appearance, but you have never been one of them. — Erika Johansen

Majesty. The word seemed to ripple through her. "I haven't been crowned, Lazarus." "No matter, Lady. I see the queenship in you, and I never saw it in your mother, not one day of her life. — Erika Johansen

These people are so damned proud of their hatred! Hatred is easy, and lazy to boot. It's love that demands effort, love that exacts a price from each of us. Love costs; this is its value. — Erika Johansen

Katie preferred honesty, even at the expense of civility. She longed to have everything in the open. — Erika Johansen

Sometimes I think: if they want to walk around armed and build fences and let a church tell them what to do, let them wallow in it. They can build their own town of closed thinking, and live there, and find out later what a shitty place it really is. — Erika Johansen

...Javel saw evil in those bright blue eyes, not malevolence but something much worse: an evil born of lack of self-awareness, an evil that didn't know it was evil and therefore could justify anything. — Erika Johansen

There was no quick and easy eradication of evil. There was only the passage of time, of generations, of people raising children who would hold all other lives just as valuable as their own. — Erika Johansen