Katherine Arden Quotes & Sayings

The world is wide, and the road will take us anywhere. — Katherine Arden

He saw all at once, as Pyotr had seen, the wild thing brought indoors, busy and breathless, a woman like other women. Like Pyotr, he felt a strange sorrow and shook it away. — Katherine Arden

Suddenly Vasya understood why the women all begged him for prayers; understood, too, that his warm hand, the strong bones of his face, were a weapon, to use where the weapons of speech had failed. He would get her obedience thus, with his rough hands, his beautiful eyes. — Katherine Arden

It is a cruel task, to frighten people in God's name. — Katherine Arden

He is full of desire. Desire and fear. He does not know what he desires, and he does not admit his fear. But he feels both, strong enough to strangle. — Katherine Arden

I do not like half answers.'
'Stop asking half questions, then,' he said, and smiled with sudden charm. — Katherine Arden

He picked up a twist of straw and began to rub her down. In the space of a blink, the twist of straw became a brush of boar's hair. The mare stood with her ears flopping, loose-lipped with enjoyment. Vasya went nearer, fascinated. "Did you change the straw? Was that magic?" "As you see." He went on with his grooming. "Can you tell me how you do it?" She came up beside him and peered eagerly at the brush in his hand. "You are too attached to things as they are," said Morozko, combing the mare's withers. He glanced down idly. "You must allow things to be what best suits your purpose. And then they will." Vasya, — Katherine Arden

Not of the priest, and not of the devils, nor of the pits of fire. She had seen their devils. She saw them every day. Some were wicked, and some were kind, and some were mischievous. All were as human in their way as the folk they guarded. No, Vasya was frightened of her own people. They did not joke on the way to church anymore. — Katherine Arden

She is ugly, thought Konstantin, and then wondered at himself. What was it to him if a girl was ugly? — Katherine Arden

There was a time, not long ago
When flowers grew all year
When days were long
And nights star-strewn
And men lived free from fear — Katherine Arden

But I think you should be careful, Batyushka, that God does not speak in the voice of your own wishing. We have never needed saving before. — Katherine Arden

He picked her up and sank onto the warm oven-bench with her in his arms. He was gentle. His breath was the winter wind, but his flesh was warm, and his heart beat under her hand. — Katherine Arden

She has had any number of foals. I yield to her judgement. — Katherine Arden

I will have my freedom. — Katherine Arden

That evening, the old lady sat in the best place for talking: in the kitchen, on the wooden bench beside the oven. This oven was a massive affair built of fired clay, taller than a man and large enough that all four of Pyotr Vladimirovich's children could have fit easily inside. — Katherine Arden

In the north, the wind had teeth that bit after sunset, even in summer. He — Katherine Arden

Again, Pyotr knew a pang. He saw her heavy with child, bowed over an oven, sitting before a loom, the grace gone... — Katherine Arden

It is easy to die,' replied the bannik. 'Harder to live. — Katherine Arden

in his sledge. The girl was wearing her finest gown and wrapped in — Katherine Arden

I gave everything for you, Vasilisa Petrovna.'
'Not everything,' said Vasya. 'Since clearly your pride is intact, as well as your illusions. — Katherine Arden

I do not understand "damned." You are. And because you are, you can walk where you will, into peace, oblivion, or pits of fire, but you will always choose. — Katherine Arden

All my life," she said, "I have been told 'go' and 'come.' I am told how I will live, and I am told how I must die. I must be a man's servant and a mare for his pleasure, or I must hide myself behind walls and surrender my flesh to a cold, silent god. I would walk into the jaws of hell itself, if it were a path of my own choosing. I would rather die tomorrow in the forest than live a hundred years of the life appointed me. — Katherine Arden

Sometimes the travelers were wise enough to put their clothes on backward for protection - but not often; they mostly died. Vasya — Katherine Arden

You do not know what you are; can you know what I am? — Katherine Arden

Stallions obey mares. — Katherine Arden

It is for the best was on the tip of the priest's tongue. But he thought again of years, of childbearing and exhaustion. The wildness gone, the hawk's grace chained up... He swallowed. It is for the best. The wildness was sinful. — Katherine Arden

Nothing changes, Vasya. Things are, or they are not. Magic is forgetting that something ever was other than as you willed it. — Katherine Arden

Am I a child? Always someone else must decide for me. But this I will decide for myself. — Katherine Arden

Married! Not to retreat, but to be the mistress of a lord's domain; not to be safe in a convent, but to live as some lord's breeding sow. — Katherine Arden

The flagon indeed contained mead: thin and strong and somehow piercing, like winter sunshine. — Katherine Arden

But the rip in her blouse was large, her hunger vast, and her patience negligible even under better circumstances. — Katherine Arden

I remember more and see more than you, she said. And will for a considerable time. We do not speak to many, and the spirit of horses does not reveal himself to anyone. There is magic in your bones. You must reckon with it. — Katherine Arden

The door opened. 'Come in Vasya,' Morozko said. 'It is cold. — Katherine Arden

Solovey will take me to the ends of the earth if I ask it. I am going into the world, Alyosha. I will be no one's bride, neither of man nor of God. I am going to Kiev and Sarai and Tsargrad, and I will look upon the sun on the sea. — Katherine Arden

The lamb came forth at last, draggled and spindly, black as a dead tree in the rain. — Katherine Arden

You will walk a long road," said Morozko. "If you have not the courage to meet it, better - far better - for you to die quiet in the snow. Perhaps I meant you a kindness. — Katherine Arden

We who live forever can know no courage, nor do we love enough to give our lives. — Katherine Arden

I'd rather my sons living, and my daughters safe, than a chance at glory for unborn descendants. — Katherine Arden