Jonathan Renshaw Quotes & Sayings

Are you planning to kiss me?' Aedan asked.
'No.' Emroy wrinkled a pimply nose.
'Then why are you standing so close?' Aedan's tone was perfect innocence. — Jonathan Renshaw

Kind and sweet people are kind and sweet to everyone, not just the people they like. — Jonathan Renshaw

Bards write them because they can't hold them back. Sadness has got to flow out or it gets stuck and turns bitter." Tyne — Jonathan Renshaw

What's she like?"
It was a question to breach a dam wall. — Jonathan Renshaw

You're an idiot, Vayle. What does delinquent mean?"
"It means you. If anybody asks you to describe yourself, that's the word you want."
"Thanks. Idiot. — Jonathan Renshaw

The irony of war," he said. "It has always been this way. We are taught to think that the battle lines separate the good from the bad, but the truth, as you are beginning to understand, is less comfortable. — Jonathan Renshaw

Understanding a society means understanding the whole society, not just the part that dresses well. — Jonathan Renshaw

As a small-town boy, Aedan had never really made friends; he had simply grown up with them. — Jonathan Renshaw

Giddard presented them with a collection of Sulese memorabilia and commentaries. Loosely translated, some of them would have read: "The grass sparkled with dew droppings." Warton, I am not sure if that is intended as a beautiful or a horrible image. "I was tort to extinguish riyt from rong." Bede, apparently not. "Sulese are always inviting you to go for dinner to get murdered." Kian, it would seem from this that Sulese are enthusiastically hospitable, transparent of motive, and not very good at committing murder. All are grave errors. "Sulese food on heads with never eat hats." Cayde, Sulese order word important very is. It must learn you. — Jonathan Renshaw

He would carry this burn scar through life and it was time to start accepting it. There were, doubtless, people who would see it as Malik did, but then, should he really care what people like Malik thought? — Jonathan Renshaw

Aedan offered a grateful smile, but he knew the weight of the nobleman's word. Facts would not be determined by truth but by power. — Jonathan Renshaw

I read somewhere that the best word for things that are bigger than words is wonder. It's now my favourite word and I need it here, because I think the time we are living in is going to be a dawn of wonder, the beginning of something incredible, a time of mysteries and legends and heroes, just like in the old stories. — Jonathan Renshaw

Without realising it, she was repeating the fault she had so recently lamented. Too fearful to intervene and hold back the tormenter, she was pleading instead with the victim to be more submissive. It was a solution that would resolve the conflict while entrenching the problem. — Jonathan Renshaw

Dorothy's cooking was legendary. It had once been said that she could turn soil to cake. William, her husband, had remarked that he could achieve the reverse, earning himself a sharp smack with the rolling pin. — Jonathan Renshaw

what use am I to anyone like this?" "Use is a poor word, a small word. You are of great worth to many just as you are. — Jonathan Renshaw

He was staring at his bowl, trying to hide within himself, to find some quiet corner where his presence would not be offensive. He just wanted to be left in peace. — Jonathan Renshaw

Perhaps," he said. He wondered if she knew how much hope stood behind the word. — Jonathan Renshaw

If you care about people and you really love them, you should get angry at the things that put them in danger or hurt them. — Jonathan Renshaw

They say the princess is a stunner," said Peashot. "They also say she's eighteen and twice as tall as you," Vayle replied. "I meant the younger one." "The younger one is a boy." "Oh. Well then I meant the older one. Five years is not so much, and anyway, I'll grow." "Yes, I'm sure she thinks daily of a delinquent midget apprentice growing up to claim her hand ahead of all the nobles and princes of the realm. What could any of them possibly give that you don't have, except titles, land, wealth and all that. You don't have any of those things lying around, do you?" "You're an idiot, Vayle. What does delinquent mean?" "It means you. If anybody asks you to describe yourself, that's the word you want." "Thanks. Idiot." "My pleasure. Allisian is pretty though, but I've heard that the prince chops off the heads of men who stare at his sister." Peashot snorted. — Jonathan Renshaw

I pity him, that he has been called by age to surrender his strength." "Old — Jonathan Renshaw

Slightly whittled, sharper, but it is still a question. In time it will be sharp enough to impale the answer. — Jonathan Renshaw

Think boys, think! I cannot do it for you. — Jonathan Renshaw

Aedan picked it up, looked around, and groaned. It was the biggest, most important-looking office he had ever found, which meant more trouble than he had yet managed to harvest. — Jonathan Renshaw

He knew she would never have wanted rescue at this price, just as surely as he could not have withheld it. — Jonathan Renshaw

Been in the river, haven't you?"
Aedan nodded.
"A sad day for everyone downstream," she said — Jonathan Renshaw

a battle plan unable to bend would shatter — Jonathan Renshaw

It was peace, deeper and broader than the starfields around him. It was belonging. It was freedom. Kneeling before the one who could only be the Ancient had not been the cost of freedom, but the means. For a long time he laughed and wept and laughed again, released. — Jonathan Renshaw

A mystery is so much more exciting than a wrapped up answer, wouldn't you say? A mystery carries on but an answer just ends. — Jonathan Renshaw

I am Mardrae. Even dead Mardrae will speak their minds. Now go away. You are giving me a headache. — Jonathan Renshaw

He led them inside and began explaining the process, but there was a problem. What the boys heard was, "Over here is the clang! and if you clang! carefully you'll notice clang! bang! Can you all see it?" He was met with twenty blank stares. "Sorry Master Skeet," Hadley said. Clang! "Can we see what?" "Weren't you listening? I said this is the clang! bang! bang!" More blank stares Skeet was growing red. He turned a dangerous eye on the nearest striker, raised his voice and tried again, "The cling! bang! Oh for mercy's sake!" He whipped around and bellowed with such force that every hammer froze on its descent. "The next one of you mangy curs who uses his hammer while I'm talking is going to swallow it!" The response was impressive. Hammers were cautiously laid down. Apart from the rumble from the forges, the space was filled with a respectful silence. Aedan guessed that Skeet was known here and that he held an intimidating rank. "Now, as I said, — Jonathan Renshaw

Aedan had never felt embarrassed about his imagination. Without it there was no magic. — Jonathan Renshaw

Do you think," Aedan said, after a while, "that anger is wrong?"
"Don't know. Maybe it depends on how you use it."
"Or where it comes from?"
"What do you mean?" Lorrimer asked.
"Well, I used to think real men turned their anger into revenge, and that's what got them to be respected. But I tried it a few times and it didn't make me feel like a man any more than swearing or kicking the chickens. But when I saw that old woman today, the anger I felt was huge and it seemed like a right kind of anger. — Jonathan Renshaw

An assortment of soldiers and servants hurried about, finishing their duties for the day, or beginning their duties for the night, or possibly just looking busy to avoid being given additional duties. — Jonathan Renshaw

Love opens the gate to the deepest hurt." "That — Jonathan Renshaw

One thing he shared with the singing bird was a love of rain and especially of storms. He always felt a deep thrill of awe when the pale sapphire cloaks of sky were flung aside and dark raging heavens roared and plunged and cast fire and water and ice upon the earth. Something — Jonathan Renshaw

I don't care how unassailable it is," Aedan said, standing. "I'm assailing it. — Jonathan Renshaw

I was thinking of making a drawing of Malik," she said. "He will be standing on a field of battle, taking off his helm and showing his pale skin. The soldiers around will be dropping their weapons and offering him medicine." Aedan laughed. — Jonathan Renshaw

And Aedan discovered that it only takes a single friend to put loneliness to flight. He would be able to face the next day. They both would. — Jonathan Renshaw

There is most certainly a good time to run, just as there is a bad time. When the nation has more to gain by your getting away and living than by your standing proud and dying, then you run. — Jonathan Renshaw

Aedan nodded, trying not to stare, failing.
"Supper will level your opinion of me."
It was true. There was plenty of stew to be had and Aedan went to bed hungry. — Jonathan Renshaw

Did you tell anyone?"
"No. Neither did I tell anyone about the time you broke into the chancellor's office and used a three-century-old marble bust to open the door."
"How did you know that?"
"I know now. — Jonathan Renshaw

Yes, I'm sure [the princess] thinks daily of a delinquent midget apprentice growing up to claim her hand ahead of all the nobles and princes of the realm. What could any of them possibly give that you don't have, except titles, land, wealth and all that. — Jonathan Renshaw

Just so. You tried to establish a fact from a lack of evidence. Unless the inquiry has been so exhaustive as to explore every possibility, the lack of evidence should never be used to ground a statement of fact. Unlikelihood certainly, but no more. A prematurely assumed fact blocks further inquiry. — Jonathan Renshaw

Prejudice creates blindness; it is too busy hating to think. No matter how justified it might feel, prejudice will shackle you." "But — Jonathan Renshaw

You tried to establish a fact from a lack of evidence. Unless the inquiry has been so exhaustive as to explore every possibility, the lack of evidence should never be used to ground a statement of fact. Unlikelihood certainly, but no more. A prematurely assumed fact blocks further inquiry." "Can — Jonathan Renshaw

Without imagination, things were only as they appeared - and that was blindness. Things were more than they appeared, so much more. When he considered an oak tree, it was not just a tree. To someone small, like an ant, it was a whole landscape of rugged barky cliffs and big green leaf-plains that quaked when the sky was restless, a place of many strange creatures where fearsome winged beasts could pluck and devour someone in a blink. — Jonathan Renshaw

He could not afford to indulge misery, to live in the past and stumble through life facing backwards. — Jonathan Renshaw

Too fearful to intervene and hold back the tormenter, she was pleading instead with the victim to be more submissive. It was a solution that would resolve the conflict while entrenching the problem. Aedan didn't have the words to understand, but he could feel the wrongness of it. — Jonathan Renshaw

bad for me. I thought I'd made a huge mistake at the time, but I don't anymore. I would rather be the person who steps in front of a whole gang to defend someone and gets beaten up for it than the person who watches from a safe hiding. There were times I hid, and I think the shame hurts more than the bruises would have. — Jonathan Renshaw

Peashot let his tongue loose within Matron Rosalie's field of surveillance and found himself on kitchen duty that evening. That same evening, Malik found himself eating a decomposed toad buried in his stew. — Jonathan Renshaw

They talked in the way toddlers might throw playthings around the room. There was seldom any catching of an idea and sharing it. When the lunches were over, individual opinions lay scattered about in a delicious jumble only ever one layer deep. — Jonathan Renshaw

Oh."
"And by this," said Liru, "I hope that you mean, 'Sorry for making stupid assumptions and not asking your help for a mutual friend."
"Well, isn't that what 'Oh' translates to in Fenn? — Jonathan Renshaw

A mystery carries on but an answer just ends." The — Jonathan Renshaw

Unless the inquiry has been so exhaustive as to explore every possibility, the lack of evidence should never be used to ground a statement of fact. — Jonathan Renshaw

I always hated...all sad songs. I thought they made happy people miserable. Now I think I understand them better. Bards write them because they can't hold them back. Sadness has got to flow out or it gets stuck and turns bitter. — Jonathan Renshaw

You are going to beat it, even if it takes a very long time. Tulia always says that big forests are cleared the same way as small forests, but it just takes longer. I know this thing inside you is a big forest, but it's going to come down eventually. I know it." Her — Jonathan Renshaw

How could children have spotted what everyone else couldn't?"
"Because we haven't killed off our imaginations," Aedan mumbled behind a wrapping of arms and knees. — Jonathan Renshaw

Maybe it's the quiet," Aedan resumed. "Let's me think, or maybe it's the opposite of normal thinking, more like untangling. I'm comfortable in those spots. — Jonathan Renshaw

Aedan paced and cradled his chin. He wasn't sure if the chin-cradling helped him think, but he had often seen William doing it when trying to solve some problem, and it had always looked so grand. — Jonathan Renshaw

The monster was crumbling, shrinking, revealing a man. Only a man. A traitor and a murderer certainly, but that made him less not more. — Jonathan Renshaw

You!" Skeet bellowed. When uttered with just the right tone, this is the universal name for any boy. Accordingly, all heads snapped towards the angry master. — Jonathan Renshaw

I hate mysteries that are forbidden. They are like meals you have to watch other people eat. — Jonathan Renshaw

People who seek answers are often not looking for truth. — Jonathan Renshaw

He realised how much he hated tyrants, the strong who stood on the weak. — Jonathan Renshaw

You would think,' Aedan said, 'that I'd feel good about this-I've grown while he, my old enemy, has shrunk. Yet all I feel is a terrible ache. I pity him, that he has been called by age to surrender his strength. — Jonathan Renshaw

I've always found it better to face lies than turn from them — Jonathan Renshaw