Michelle Sagara Quotes & Sayings

They were like gray stone, like the walls of the round room; they gave no impression of life, and they hinted at nothing but surface. His face, pale as ivory, heightened their unusual color; his hair, gray, fell beyond his back. He was not Barrani, but he might as well have been; he was tall, proud and very cold. But his wings crested the rise of drawn hood, and they were white, their pinions folded. Hawklord. — Michelle Sagara

Hope was cruel. It could be an act of torture far more profound than despair. — Michelle Sagara

You never wanted to stand out. You never wanted to attract too much attention, because some of that attention would be bad. — Michelle Sagara

They're humanity writ small, and many of them haven't learned how to hide, how to pretend to know things they don't know, how to doubt the things they want to believe in. — Michelle Sagara

She could have written a treatise on the danger of dresses in about thirty seconds, but it wouldn't have been printable. — Michelle Sagara

To try. To live through the horror of failure; to endure the guilt. To try again. To make that choice. — Michelle Sagara

If she fails to wake, I will kill him. I will not kill him quickly. — Michelle Sagara

He wasn't as tall as Tanner, and he wasn't as broad; he had the catlike grace of a young Leontine, and his hair was a burnished copper, something that reddened in caught light. But his eyes were the blue she remembered, cold blue, and if he had new scars - and he did - they hadn't changed his face enough to remove it from her memory. — Michelle Sagara

What humans do when they're desperate is just an expression of fear. What they do when they feel safe is a better indication of whether or not you can trust them. — Michelle Sagara

Everything happens at night.
The world changes, the shadows grow, there's secrecy and privacy in dark places. First kiss at night, by the monkey bars and the old swings that the children and their parents have vacated; second, longer kiss, by the bike stands, swirl of dust around feet in the dry summer air. Awkward words, like secrets just waiting to be broken, the struggle to find the right ones, the heady fear of exposure
what if, what if
the joy when the words are returned. Love, in the parkette, while the moon waxes and the clouds pass.
Promises at night. Not first promises
those are so old they can't be remembered
but new promises, sharp and biting; they almost hurt to say, but it's a good hurt. Dreams at night, before sleep, and dreams during sleep.
Everything, always, happens at night. — Michelle Sagara

She told him she was fine. Except the words she used were No. I'm not. — Michelle Sagara

Where are you going?" Kaylin stopped. "I'm following you." "Which is usually done from behind. — Michelle Sagara

If life were fair, we would never have suffered what we suffered at all; having suffered it and survived, we're still reacting to things that don't exist anymore. — Michelle Sagara

Don't miss CAST IN HONOR! — Michelle Sagara

Evanton creaked his way toward the sound of the bell at a speed that made snails look fast - if he decided to answer the door at all. If you made the mistake of ringing the bell while he was already on the way, he got angry. Kaylin had learned this early. On the other hand, if he'd actually failed to hear the door when she was expected, and she failed to ring the bell a second time, he also got angry. It was very much lose-lose, with hope wedged in to add anxiety. — Michelle Sagara

I don't like people much - they irritate and annoy me. But I'm fascinated by them anyway. — Michelle Sagara

There, in thin blue lines that could be called spidery, was the mark of Lord Nightshade - the — Michelle Sagara

You are, if I understand correctly, Chosen. It is your responsibility to use the words given you to ... finish things. To resolve stories that have been left hanging; to offer closure to the things abandoned long ago. — Michelle Sagara

Kyuthe," he said. "Kaylin. An'Teela. You carry my heart in your arms. — Michelle Sagara

Complaining about life's little miseries was one of the few conversational luxuries people were allowed, and at the moment, Kaylin couldn't put herself behind complaint. — Michelle Sagara

Kaylin hated politics. Hated them. She hated the stupid decisions, the game playing, the grandstanding. She hated political decisions made by people who never had to do any of the law's actual work. She hated the pervasive sense of superiority and smugness that underlay all of the rules. — Michelle Sagara

She outpaced Severn. Whole years of her life had been narrowly defined by the fact that she couldn't even keep up. — Michelle Sagara

Her hair was a flyaway mess, and her cheeks, she knew, would be a little too red for dignity - but she often had to choose between dignity and living another hour. — Michelle Sagara

It was true: hope could be unkind. You opened yourself up to the worst of wounds because you wanted to believe that something good could finally happen. But if you didn't? You missed this. This intense and prefect moment in which, while the world was almost literally going to hells all around you, hope and reality blended in a single, perfect note. — Michelle Sagara

Kaylin. The shape of a girl on the edge of the long climb into adulthood. — Michelle Sagara

Geography bends to the dictate of will. — Michelle Sagara

Never anger the idealistic. They feel right is on their side - and right excuses much. — Michelle Sagara

Climbing was one of her strengths, but she didn't do it with grace - which, come to think, was an apt description of the way she lived the rest of her life, as well. — Michelle Sagara

Angry Leontine Sergeant, angry Aerian Commander in Chief, slightly bored Dragon, and panicked human - you could practically call it a racial congress, with humans in their usual position. — Michelle Sagara

Kaylin glanced at the small dragon, who exhaled the sigh of the long-suffering everywhere. — Michelle Sagara

Kaylin's memory was like a kaleidoscope; fractured, but in a way that was arresting, even beautiful, if looked at the right way. As a child, Catti's hair had been bright red, but it had shaded — Michelle Sagara

Need was a funny thing; you were never sure if you had it by the tail or the jaw. Being needed forced her to find strength; being needed too much forced her to confront failure. — Michelle Sagara

No," she told them all. Looking up at the creature, or across at it, she said softly, "Yes, it's what I want. But I also want wings. I want to be beautiful. I want to be strong. I want to be perfect.
"If every wish I ever had, if every fear, could become real, instantly, I would destroy the world. — Michelle Sagara

The Swords were the city's peacekeepers, something illsuited to Kaylin; the Wolves were its hunters, and often, its killers. And the Hawks? The city's eyes. Ears. The people who actually solved crimes. — Michelle Sagara

Trying is fine. Failing is inevitable. Don't let it devour you. — Michelle Sagara

It can't be any worse than whatever it is Annarion's doing."
"You are devoid of an active imagination, which is disappointing considering the experience you have now amassed. — Michelle Sagara

She'd learned early that if she couldn't be on time to save her life, she'd better cultivate the unseemly art of groveling. — Michelle Sagara

But she only knew one way of conquering fear, and that was to charge into it, blindly. — Michelle Sagara

I have always thought it unwise to let fear be your personal guide." "Which one would you prefer? Love has its problems as well, if you listen to old stories." "Ah, but I would argue that that is not love - it is fear. It is fear of the loss of love. But we might spend idle hours arguing the definition of the word love, and I have dinner prepared. — Michelle Sagara

In practice, the Hawks are people. People are political. I don't expect any group of people to be perfect, theoretical beings - for one, the pay isn't nearly high enough. Some of the racial decisions made are purely pragmatic; the Barrani are preferentially sent into figurative war zones because we're much more likely to survive them. There is no equality because we are not equal; we are different. I attempt to respect those differences. — Michelle Sagara

I don't understand."
The Consort's smile was bitter. "No. No more do I."
"I doubt that."
"Do you imply that I lie, Lord Kaylin?"
"Clumsy of me. I'm not usually that subtle. — Michelle Sagara

Because not all weakness has to be weakness. Weakness, strength, power, failure - they're just words, and we can define what the words mean if we have the will or the courage. — Michelle Sagara

Some days, Kaylin fervently wished that she had already passed Adult 101 and could get on with being the person she wanted to be. — Michelle Sagara

Kaylin swiveled in her chair. — Michelle Sagara

Hope. Such a simple word, to hold so much. I like it," she added. "I think it's appropriate. — Michelle Sagara

There is not a man born among us who dreams - at first - of service, although in the end, many are bent that way. — Michelle Sagara

There were days when boredom - or the possibility that things could get boring - was as much of a gift as life was willing to give. — Michelle Sagara

Kaylin is not known for her punctuality. She is known, in fact, for her lack
even by those outside of the Hawklord's command. — Michelle Sagara

They feared you, and love can't exist when there's that much fear. — Michelle Sagara

His hair was a dark, dark black - Barrani black - but his build was all wrong for Barrani. He was a shade taller than Teela, and about twice her width. Three times, maybe. His hands were empty; he carried no obvious weapon. Wore no open medallion. The hand that he lifted in ritual greeting, palm out, was smooth and un-adorned. — Michelle Sagara

How much did a Dragon hide, when he walked the streets of the city? — Michelle Sagara

When you worshipped someone, you placed a burden on them. You expected them to live up to your ideals, expected them to be worthy of your worship. And who could do that? Not — Michelle Sagara

Leontines were a tad on the possessive side, they didn't share space well, and they responded to an order as if it were a suicide wish and they were magic wands. — Michelle Sagara