Jacqueline Carey Quotes & Sayings

To recongnize that the treachery of one member of a house does not taint all born within it — Jacqueline Carey

A small kindness, a confluence of compassion, had saved his life. Was that strength, or a weakness? — Jacqueline Carey

Nothing spoils idle pleasure like too much awareness — Jacqueline Carey

The pain of the flesh is naught to that of the heart — Jacqueline Carey

A little truth seasons a lie like salt. — Jacqueline Carey

I discovered that we liked each other. But I was fearful of giving free rein to my emotions. Fearful that all those emotions and longings I suppressed would spill forth, rendering me bitter and cruel. — Jacqueline Carey

It is my fate, it seems, to fall privy to rare and splendid vistas in a state of exhaustion too profound to care. — Jacqueline Carey

I will be your friend, then, for the ancient Hellenes said a good friend may stand between a man and his moira. Do you know what that means?'

'Fate.' I answered unthinking... — Jacqueline Carey

To fail and persevere is a harder test than any you will meet on the practice-field. — Jacqueline Carey

No two sacrifices are the same, and yet all are, in the end. It is the commitment to belong, wholly, to that which claims one. — Jacqueline Carey

You sang the seas calm, and you drove the Dalriada to war, whatever it took. They know that. That's why they adore you. But everyone needs to laugh in the face of death. They're following an anguissette into battle. Give them credit for seeing the absurdity of it. You've been dwelling on it long enough. — Jacqueline Carey

I took a slice of melon and perched on the edge of a couch, watching them both, patently uncomfortable with the undefined nature of my role here. — Jacqueline Carey

Ben Lewis. He's in Afghanistan."
"He is?" I blinked. "In the army?"
"Well, he's not there on his honeymoon. — Jacqueline Carey

If you thought better of me, you would not be so surprised — Jacqueline Carey

Years ago, I had a teacher who taught me that all ways lead to the Way," I said slowly, thinking. "That there is a great truth behind all the truths of the world, and the faces of the gods are masks that may be changed at will. — Jacqueline Carey

All paths are present, always ... and we can but choose among them. — Jacqueline Carey

There are many things wealth cannot buy, and most of those are enumerated by philosophers who have never woken wondering if this day would be their last. — Jacqueline Carey

There's some sort of Soothsayers' Code that prevents soothsayers from soothsaying on a day-to-day basis, when it might, you know, avert this kind of ordinary, everyday tragedy. Something about the laws of causality being broken and the order of creation overturned, resulting in a world run amok, river running backwards, the run rising in the west, cats and dogs getting married ...
I don't know; don't ask me.
I don't pretend to understand ( ... ) But I guess it didn't rise to the standard required to break the Soothsayers' Code since no sooth was said. — Jacqueline Carey

Greet the sky and live, blossom! ... Yet even as the wind stirs your petals, flowers fall. My flowers are eternal, my songs live forever. I lift them in offering; I, a singer. I cast them to the wind, I spill them. The flowers become gold, they come to dwell inside the palace of eternity. — Jacqueline Carey

For every victory there is a price. — Jacqueline Carey

Love child! What else? You will find it and lose it, again and again. And with each finding and each loss, you will become more than before. What you make of it is yours to choose. — Jacqueline Carey

Mercy and compassion are all the grace left to us. — Jacqueline Carey

Her always is mine — Jacqueline Carey

I wish sometimes that the gods would either choose better, or make their wishes clearer — Jacqueline Carey

Our eyes met. We had so very many shared memories between us, Bao and I. Some were wonderous, and some were terrible. Some were both. — Jacqueline Carey

There are others. There will be others. Other heroes, other heroines. Other prophecies to fulfill, other adversaries to despise. There will be stories told and forgotten, and reinvented anew until one day, perhaps, the oldest are remembered, and the beginning may end, and the ending begin. — Jacqueline Carey

It is all we can do to try. It is enough. — Jacqueline Carey

Never before had I used my service to escape any woes that troubled me, but I did that day. — Jacqueline Carey

Genius requires an audience. — Jacqueline Carey

Without plenty, the wealthy lack compassion for the poor, hoarding without sharing. Without law, the strong bully the weak, stealing by force. — Jacqueline Carey

There is no fulfillment that is not made sweeter for the prolonging of desire — Jacqueline Carey

It is passing strange, what a fluid thing is one's own identity. — Jacqueline Carey

We may not have demon fathers dangling offers of infernal power before us, but everyone understands what it means to struggle with temptation or resist the urge to give in to our baser natures. — Jacqueline Carey

All this I knew, and yet it was a different thing, to learn it from Delaunay: not stories, but histories. For this too I learned, that a storyteller's tale may end, but history goes on always. These events, so distant in legend, play a part in shaping the very events we witness about us, each and every day. When I understood this, Delaunay said, I might begin to understand. — Jacqueline Carey

We knew each other's histories and secrets, hopes and fears and dreams. When you need to get good and drunk, that's the kind of person you want keeping pace with you. "Okay, — Jacqueline Carey

In the general course of things, when beauty passes, the flower bows its head upon the stem and fails. Sometimes, though, when the petals droop, a framework of tempered steel is revealed within. — Jacqueline Carey

super-size emotions had saved me. God knows, I'd spent enough time wrestling with them, but I'd never thought before about how much of what animates us as human beings - or semi-human beings - depends on our feelings. Without — Jacqueline Carey

My lord. It is too much, and not enough — Jacqueline Carey

We forgot, we made errors, argued ambiguities, and twisted meanings to suit our own ends. And in so doing, mayhap we reshaped the gods themselves. Now — Jacqueline Carey

But to force growth is to kill it. — Jacqueline Carey

If you will not die for us, you cannot ask us to die for you. — Jacqueline Carey

Garner knowledge, by any means possible — Jacqueline Carey

Night breeds its own sort of anticipation. — Jacqueline Carey

couples. Their duties done, they had eyes only for each other, locking glances and smiling deeply; two realms, two rulers, united in love and a shared dream. It — Jacqueline Carey

In the arts of covertcy, it is death to second-guess oneself. — Jacqueline Carey

Oh love and hate are two sides of the same blade — Jacqueline Carey

Surely if we knew what bitterness fate held in store, we would shrink back in fear and let the cup of life pass us by untasted. — Jacqueline Carey

We might embody those qualities we desire to possess by embracing them, over and over, until the line between seeming and being is no more. — Jacqueline Carey

Let the dreamers and the seers keep watch. It is what we do. — Jacqueline Carey

After you, it's all cheap tequila. — Jacqueline Carey

Truly, it is in loss that we learn a thing's true value. — Jacqueline Carey

Some chains are forged for us - those are the hardest to bear. — Jacqueline Carey

Happiness is the highest form of wisdom. — Jacqueline Carey

Even a stunted tree reaches for sunlight. — Jacqueline Carey

Jehanne said that it would always be like this. That I would always be young and beautiful in her memory, and she in mine. That I would never grow resentful, never be tempted to betray her. That she would never grow restless and fickle, and see to replace me. So you see, not exactly the sentiments of a great and terrible love affair. — Jacqueline Carey

Poetry glories in excess. When it's not extolling the virtues of austerity. — Jacqueline Carey

The tapestry of history is woven of many threads. — Jacqueline Carey

True friendship must be akin to romance, I think; only without all the anguish and anxiety. — Jacqueline Carey

It is a comfort, in anguish, to be reminded of the scale of one's own troubles against the mighty breadth of the world. — Jacqueline Carey

Those that yield are not always weak — Jacqueline Carey

There are those who hold that there is a pattern to all that is said and done in this world, that no thing happens without reason nor out of time. As to that, I cannot speak, for I have seen too many threads cut short to believe it, but of a surety, I have seen too the weft of my fate shuttled on the loom. If there is a pattern, I do not think there is anyone among us who can stand at a great enough distance to discern it; yet I will not say that it is not so. — Jacqueline Carey

It is not everyday that one learns an entire militia has sworn unbeknownest to obey you — Jacqueline Carey

Beauty inspires love; so it is said, in Terre d'Ange. Was it done that we might find this world worthy of loving? — Jacqueline Carey

The gods use their chosen hard, but reveal little to them. — Jacqueline Carey

What does it mean to be good? — Jacqueline Carey

I lie awake in my bed, clinging to the brightness I have known, fighting back the tide of darkness, the memories of blood and branding and horror, and the legacy of cruelty that runs in my own veins, shaping my own secret vow and wielding it like a brand against the darkness, whispering it to myself, over and over.
I will try to be good. — Jacqueline Carey

I have seen the impossible. I have seen great and terrible wonders, and I tell you, the world is a vaster and stranger place than ever I had reckoned. — Jacqueline Carey

Not stories, but histories. For this too I learned, that a storyteller's tale may end, but history goes on always. — Jacqueline Carey

Hear, hear.' Sister Martha hoisted her water glass. 'Let the rigid stick of self-righteousness be dislodged from her very uptight ass.'
Father Ramon coughed.
'A-fucking-men,' Loup supplied helpfully. — Jacqueline Carey

I would that I could have stopped time and preserved that day forever. It was a perfect day. There was the shadow of sorrow, yes. It would always be there. But that was the nature of life. The bright mirror and the dark, reflecting one another. And today there was so much brightness. — Jacqueline Carey

If I have one pride in my calling, it is that I have never judged a patron wrongly - and I have never failed to recognize a patron upon meeting. — Jacqueline Carey

If I'm to be damned for what I've done, I'll be damned in full and not by halves. — Jacqueline Carey

Let the warriors clamor after gods of blood and thunder; love is hard, harder than steel and thrice as cruel. — Jacqueline Carey

Sidonie, I know you don't remember it, but you once promised to trust me beyond all reason. And I swear to you that all that I am, all that I possess, including this gem-stone, is yours. I need you. I can't do this alone. Forget your memories. Look into your heart. And if you can find somewhere there, some lingering spark of trust that owes naught to reason, I beg you to speak the word written here. — Jacqueline Carey

When Love cast me out, it was Cruelty who took pity upon me — Jacqueline Carey

What you are witnessing is the face of war a great ruler seldom sees, my lady," Master Lo Feng said to her. Her veiled face turned his way, listening. "No matter how righteous the cause, no matter who wins, the commonfolk suffer. Without plenty, the wealthy lack compassion for the poor, hoarding without sharing. Without law, the strong bully the weak, stealing by force. People will go hungry. Some will starve. Men and women will be forced to choose between feeding their parents and their children. — Jacqueline Carey

I thought about what a priest of Elua had told me about love many years ago, the first time I kept his vigil on the Longest Night. You will find it and lose it, again and again. And with each finding and each loss, you will become more than before. What you make of it is yours to choose. It was true. — Jacqueline Carey

where power intersects with pleasure, there is danger. Adepts — Jacqueline Carey

Yes my lord, but questions are dangerous, for they have answers — Jacqueline Carey

This is the secret that none dares tell who fights for a cause. Dying, we are all alike. — Jacqueline Carey

It is a human failing, to attribute the best of motives to those we know the least, and the worst to those we love best. — Jacqueline Carey

We pay for sins we do not remember, and seek to do a will we can scarce fathom. That is what it is, to be a god's chosen. — Jacqueline Carey

The world began in ending, and it will end in beginning. — Jacqueline Carey

What is fear but courage's shadow? — Jacqueline Carey

We speak of stories ending, when in truth it is we who end. The stories go on and on. — Jacqueline Carey

Love as thou wilt — Jacqueline Carey

People believe what they are told. — Jacqueline Carey

I bid you to aid one another. Let the wealthy have charity for the poor. Let the strong have mercy on the weak. And I promise, if we are victorious, such a time shall never come again. — Jacqueline Carey

He nodded at Josceline and me. Keep these two with you, will you? They seem to be damnably hard to kill. — Jacqueline Carey

Grief heals ... unshed tears fester like a canker in the soul. — Jacqueline Carey

To my surprise, Joscelin rose. 'Phedre-' He began, then halted. Sitting below him, I watched him smile to himself, quiet and private. 'Phedre yields with a willow's grace,' he said softly. 'And endures with the strength of mountains. Without her, life would be calm; and yet lack all meaning. — Jacqueline Carey

There is as much deception in noise as there is in silence — Jacqueline Carey

But slight mistakes accumulate, and grow to gross errors if unchecked. — Jacqueline Carey

Always, he whispered. The gods do not always answer, but they are always listening. — Jacqueline Carey

And for a price, I will pretend absolutely nothing. — Jacqueline Carey

An awkward silence descended between us. Where did that phrase come from? I wonder. Silence descended. Descended from where exactly? Was it hovering over us like the alien spaceship in Independence Day? Maybe it wasn't really silence so much as it was the smothering weight of something unsaid, words we'd kept at bay, kept in the air, by talking about other things. — Jacqueline Carey

There are those who are awkward in the face of sorrow, fearing to say the wrong thing; to them, I say, there is no wrong in comfort, ever. A kind word, a consoling arm ... these things are ever welcome. — Jacqueline Carey

It is a scholar's weakness, to run narrow and deep. — Jacqueline Carey

I eyed him. "Are you really Jamaican?"
He returned my gaze evenly. "Why do you think I'm not, sistah?"
"I don't know," I said. "I have to admit, pretty much everything I know about Jamaica comes from watching Cool Runnings, and I'm guessing a Disney movie about Olympic bobsledders isn't the most accurate reference material. — Jacqueline Carey

Clearly, I'm drawn to characters with inner conflicts. — Jacqueline Carey