Patricia Briggs Quotes & Sayings

I'm not threatening to kill myself. But you need to know this about me because - if you want to be my mate - I won't be like Leo. I won't let you sleep around with anyone else. I won't be forced either. I've had enough. If that makes me a dog in the manger, so be it. But if I am yours, then you damned well are going to be mine. - Anna to Charles — Patricia Briggs

I have a degree in history, which is one of the reasons I'm an auto mechanic. — Patricia Briggs

A man's immortality can be found in his children. — Patricia Briggs

Adam didn't approve of Wal-Mart. — Patricia Briggs

There was another pause, then the Marrok said in that light pleasant tone that warned everyone who knew him that all hell was about to break loose. — Patricia Briggs

He can stop me in my tracks, but he can't make me do someting I don't want to — Patricia Briggs

Three women bonding over household chores - my mother would be pleased if she could see us. That thought hardened my resolve that next week, some of the men would do cleanup. It would be good for them to expand their skill set. — Patricia Briggs

No. just warning him about sleeping with dangerous things. Tigers are rare treasures - and they will eat you and not give it a second thought. — Patricia Briggs

She, human and wolf both, craved him like a junkie just as she craved all the things he seemed to promise: safety, love, hope - a place to belong. — Patricia Briggs

His voice was soft and sweet as molasses; but my mother once told me that you had to trust that the first thing out of a person's mouth was truth. After they have a chance to think about it, they'll change what they say to be more socially acceptable, something they think you'll be happier with, something that will get the results they want. — Patricia Briggs

It has always been an ambition of mine to serve as an object lesson for others. — Patricia Briggs

A stupid ruler is much more of a problem than an insane one. — Patricia Briggs

Survivors can't always choose their methods. — Patricia Briggs

Adam leaned down to Paul. That edge you lost in your fight with Mary Jo is what allowed me to take the time to find something that would hurt you instead of kill you. You can thank her for your life. — Patricia Briggs

She'd never have allowed herself to be held by anything as mundane as a few bars and a reinforced door — Patricia Briggs

You going to watch my butt all day, or are you going to join me?" asked my mate.
"What if I had said I was going to watch your butt all day?" I asked curiously as I opened the door an stepped into the hot water.
"I've been considering belly-dancing lessons," he told me in a serious voice. — Patricia Briggs

Hey, Adam," I said.
I thought you'd want to know that Warren and Darryl made it out of the vampire den alive."
I sucked in my breath. "You didn't actually agree to their meeting on Marsilia's grounds?"
He laughed. "No, it just sounded better than saying they made it out of Denny's alive. It might not be romantic, but it's open all night and set in the middle of a brightly lit parking lot with no dark places for skulking parties to ambush from. — Patricia Briggs

Kyle blinked. I don't think I've ever seen him quite so ... neutral.
"You can talk to Adam when he's not in the room, and you don't have a phone?" he asked.
I nodded.
He closed his eyes, and I could read his expression when he opened them again. "Thank you, dear Lord," he said with relief. "I thought I was going crazy. — Patricia Briggs

Sometimes broken people stay broken. — Patricia Briggs

Wolf," she said. "Married is wonderful, married is lovely. But I loved you before that, and you were mine before that. Only you for me - only me for you. That's how it was before our marriage." The smile fell away and left her pale and determined. "That's how it was when I found you in that pit trap all those years ago - I knew as soon as I first saw your eyes. But then, I've known all my life what love is. It took you, who had nothing to compare it to, rather longer to figure out, to understand what is between us. But even when you did not understand or recognize it - it was always love. — Patricia Briggs

I don't break; I bounce. — Patricia Briggs

Charles sat in lone splendor on a huge couch in the middle of Angus's spacious living room
while the other ten or twelve people present made themselves at home on the other side of the room.
Anna surveyed the scene. "Okay," she said. "Who's been being a grouch? — Patricia Briggs

Adam swore harshly. "New werewolves are dangerous, woman. Especially when they are cold and hungry." He looked at Mac, and his voice changed completely, the heat and anger gone, "Mercy, come here."
I didn't look down to see what he'd noticed in Mac's face. I took a step, but Mac was wrapped around my left leg. I stopped before I fell. "Uhm. I'm a little stuck for the moment. — Patricia Briggs

If it looks like a hallway, feels like a hallway, and acts like a hallway - is it important to figure out that it isn't a hallway? — Patricia Briggs

What do you mean? Leslie's voice was cool, as if she questioned witches who were flat on their backs being threatened by werewolves every day. — Patricia Briggs

His favorite saying was, 'Interdum feror cupidine partium magnarum europe vincendarum."
"'Sometimes I have the urge to conquer large parts of Europe'?" Boyd said, sounding a little incredulous. Isabella hadn't, apparently, been the only one who understood her defiance.
She nodded. "Usually he only said it when my brother or I were being particularly horrible. — Patricia Briggs

Things change whether you want them to, or not
unless you are dead. Don't hold so hard to the past that you die with it. — Patricia Briggs

just because one is submissive doesn't make them stupid. My experience has suggested the opposite. We have a saying, 'Listen when the soft ones speak.'" Smith — Patricia Briggs

Asil left Bran alone with his thoughts then, because if he stayed, Bran would argue with him. This way, Bran would have no one to argue with but himself. And Asil had always credited Bran with the ability to be persuasive. — Patricia Briggs

Until I met him today." He turned to Jes. "Who is the forest — Patricia Briggs

When a man is on the verge of passing out from pain, it seemed wrong to notice how beautiful he was. — Patricia Briggs

Hello," said a Traveler, crouching down on Tier's other side. "You must be the Bard."
"Tier," said Seraph, "this is Kors. Kors, my husband, Tier. Kors, what do you want?"
Ah, thought Tier contentedly, all that in under a breath, my Seraph at her charismatic best. — Patricia Briggs

Now this little gem" - Izzy's mother pulled out yet another bottle - "this is one of my favorites, guaranteed to improve your love life or your money back. Does your husband ever have trouble keeping up?" She held up a finger, then curled it limply downward as her eyebrows arched up.
The silence from upstairs was suddenly deafening. — Patricia Briggs

Inside the store, a young man in the sadly appropriate red Target shirt walked very slowly to the locked door that was all that protected him from the horde.
"He's going to die." Jesse sounded a little worried.
The crowd started undulating, like a Chinese New Year dragon, as he reached up and slowly turned the key. — Patricia Briggs

You'd tell the world what your best friend wore to sleep if you thought it made a good enough story. — Patricia Briggs

My soul was a lot more battered than my body, but I couldn't see it in the mirror. Hopefully no one else could either. — Patricia Briggs

Moonlight streamed in, sending loving beams over his face. He closed his eyes and basked in it, and I could tell it was calling to him, even though the moon was not full. She didn't speak to me, but Samuel had once described her song to me in the words of a poet. The expression of bliss on his face while he listened to her music made him beautiful. — Patricia Briggs

I used my history degree about twice a year whether I needed to or not. — Patricia Briggs

The cool thing about writing is that there is really never a typical day. Sometimes I get a rhythm going and head off to work every morning and come home at night. Sometimes I'll write for two days straight and then be utterly blank for the next two. — Patricia Briggs

Brother Wolf gave Anna an amused look and then went back to being scary. — Patricia Briggs

She put a few drops of the liquid in the bottle on her hands and rubbed it into her skin. When she felt the familiar warmth begin to seep into her hand, indicating that it was indeed a liniment of some sort, she splattered it liberally on Kerim's back and set to work.
"Remind me to recommend you to the Stablemaster," said Kerim, his voice tight with pain. "You need to find more honest work than thievery."
"Honest?" questioned Sham, pressing deeply into his back with her thumbs. "I'm the most honest thief in Purgatory, just ask the Shark. I pay him a copper a week to say so. — Patricia Briggs

I don't know who you think you are" - my mother's voice was low and dangerous - "but if you don't get out of my way right this instant, it won't matter."
Adam was the Alpha werewolf in charge of the local pack. He was tough. He could be mean when he had to - and he wouldn't stand a chance against my mom. — Patricia Briggs

But that was the trouble with ancient artifacts - no one really knew what they did. — Patricia Briggs

Who hurt you?" she asked, slicing through the two other conversations going on at the table. "He's dead," said Charles, his hand sliding up Anna's back reassuringly. "I killed him. If I could, I would bring him back to life so I could kill him again. — Patricia Briggs

Why is it that all cars are women?" he asked.
"Because they're fussy and demanding," answered Zee.
"Because if they were men, they'd sit around and complain instead of getting the job done," I told him. — Patricia Briggs

Stop that, Anna scolded him. You don't need to hurt because I do.
But I do, Charles replied, more honestly than he intended. — Patricia Briggs

Just because something is dangerous does not make it evil. (Adam) — Patricia Briggs

He gave me that lazy smile that had always had the power to make my heart beat faster. I was dismayed to see that it still worked. — Patricia Briggs

I might be dumb," I told him, putting my nose against his silk tie, "but I'm not that dumb. I've gotcha now and you aren't getting away. — Patricia Briggs

I don't like it when I outweigh my men. — Patricia Briggs

Her pink hair helped her cheerful act - hard to look sad with pink hair - even if her eyes were a little pink, too. — Patricia Briggs

Change is hard.And it doesn't matter much whether it is change for good or ill. (Adam) — Patricia Briggs

C'est moi, c'est moi,'tis I,' I told him. It seemed appropriately melodramatic, though I didn't know if he'd catch the reference. I shouldn't have worried.
Unexpectedly, he laughed. Trust you to quote Lancelot rather than Guinevere. — Patricia Briggs

Don't you have something more important to do?" I asked him, flipping on the light on. "Like ruling the world or something" -Mercy — Patricia Briggs

Time was such an odd thing. One moment you could talk to someone, then suddenly, they were gone. — Patricia Briggs

Samuel had raised his eyebrows and said, "Do you really want us to kill each other? Adam is the Alpha - and I'm a stronger dominant than he is. Now we've both lived long enough to control ourselves up to a point. But, if we're living together, sooner or later, we'd be at each other's throat."
"Adam's house is only a hundred yards from mine," I told him dryly. Samuel would have been right about any other wolf, but Samuel made his own rules. If he wanted to live in peace with Adam, he could manage it.
"Please." His tone was as far from pleading as it was possible to get.
"No," I told him.
There was another, longer pause.
"So how are you going to explain to your neighbors that there is a strange man sleeping on your front porch?"
He'd have done it, too - so I let him move in. — Patricia Briggs

In this dream, I wasn't a coyote shapeshifter trying to hold a werewolf, I was Coyote's almost daughter, and I had all the strength of the world in my arms. — Patricia Briggs

All Adam needed was an answer, and 'no' would have worked just as well to set the pack back in order. I agreed because ... because he's Adam. Mine, whispered a voice in my head, but I was pretty sure it was my own voice. — Patricia Briggs

My foster mother always laughed and said it was his reputation for knowing everything that allowed for him to appear infallible: all he had to do was walk through the room and see who looked guiltiest when they saw him. Maybe she was right, but I tried looking innocent the next time, and it didn't work. — Patricia Briggs

He looked at me and I couldn't read his face or his scent. "I talked to Samuel earlier. He's sorry to have missed the excitement, but he's at home now. If Fideal follows you home, he'll have Samuel to contend with." He waved his hand around. "And there are plenty of us here to come to your aid."
"Are you sending me home?" Was I flirting? Damn it, I was.
He smiled, first with his eyes and then his lips, just a little, just enough to turn his face into something that made my pulse pick up. "You can stay if you'd like," he said, flirting right back. Then, a wicked light gleaming in his eyes, he went one step too far. "But I think there are too many people around for what I'd like you to stay for."
I dodged around Honey's husband and out the door, the flip-flops making little snapping sounds that didn't cover up Adam's final comment. "I like your tattoo, Mercy."
I made sure that my shoulders were stiff as I walked away. He couldn't see the grin on my face . . . — Patricia Briggs

One of my professors once told me that the last official act of the British monarchy was when Queen Victoria refused to sign a law that made same-sex acts illegal. It would have made me think more highly of her, except the reason she objected was because she didn't believe women would do anything like that. Parliament rewrote the law so it was specific to men, and she signed it. A tribute to enlightenment, Queen Victoria was not. Neither, as I have observed before, are werewolf packs. — Patricia Briggs

I don't think you're supposed to be able to get at that information," said Leslie.
"Don't look," said Goldstein, peering over Charles's shoulder. "We don't know anything about illegal hacking." He whistled cheerily. — Patricia Briggs

Read good books. Read bad books - and figure out why you don't like them. Then don't do it when you write. If you are a science fiction or fantasy writer, going to conventions and attending panels is very useful. — Patricia Briggs

We'd spent years as adversaries, two predators sharing territory and a certain, unwelcome attraction. Somehow, during all those years I spent outwardly acquiescing to his demands while making sure I held my own, I'd won his respect. I'd had werewolves love me and hate me, but I'd never had one respect me before. Not even Samuel. Adam respected me enough to act on my suspicions. It meant a lot. — Patricia Briggs

The hardest memory of slavery that Rialla had to bear was not the lack of freedom; it was the lack of desiring freedom. — Patricia Briggs

Some people are boys longer than others. — Patricia Briggs

Mercy," said my mother thoughtfully, "you never told me your werewolf neighbor was quite that hot. — Patricia Briggs

Honey, ... When a wolf watches a lamb, he's not thinking about the lamb's mommy. — Patricia Briggs

Asil has appointed himself my guardian?" asked Charles softly. Asil was overstepping himself.
"He was bored, he told me," said his father. He gave Charles a small smile. "I have given him a job so he doesn't get bored again. — Patricia Briggs

During my last year of college I wrote the same ten pages over and over again. Those ten pages became the first few pages of my first novel. I can still recite the opening paragraph from memory - only now I cringe when I do it because they are - surprise! - a classic example of overwriting, in addition to being a more than a little pretentious. — Patricia Briggs

I could use you, training the Castle guards," offered the Reeve, "but I have to warn you that the last man to hold the post of captain quit."
The guard's eyebrows rose. "I wouldn't have thought that Castle guards would be that difficult."
"They're not," returned Kerim. "My lady mother, however is. — Patricia Briggs

Charles preferred his deer to taste like meat and his pancakes to look like pancakes. Brother Wolf thought he was too picky. Brother Wolf was probably right. — Patricia Briggs

Sending me into a climax that left me wrecked in body and whole in spirit. — Patricia Briggs

Why is it that in all the adventure movies the heroine doesn't have to get up and go to work? — Patricia Briggs

She sees ghosts," said Samuel, impatient with my whining.
"I see dead people," I deadpanned back. Oddly, it was Uncle Mike who laughed. I hadn't thought he'd be a moviegoer. — Patricia Briggs

Honor, duty, and love. He would not sacrifice Anna for his father and all the other werewolves in existence. Given a choice, he chose love. — Patricia Briggs

Anna looked at Brother Wolf. 'I'd like to see someone try to put a radio control collar on Charles. It might be fun to watch on YouTube. — Patricia Briggs

I sat down in the middle. "So," I said to Darryl, "do you think Korra is going to be as good an avatar as Aang?" "Who's Aang?" he asked. "You started him with Korra?" I accused Jesse. "That's not okay. It's like reading the last chapter of the book first. — Patricia Briggs

A king who trusts no man is weak. — Patricia Briggs

There was I thinking being a shifter had its upsides. Looks like I was wrong. — Patricia Briggs

Pack is for comfort when you hurt, I thought, putting my head back down. And for the first time in a long time, maybe the first time ever, I appreciated being a part of one. — Patricia Briggs

This was not a man who wanted to give up his mate. This was a man trying to do the honorable thing - and give her a choice, no matter hiw much it cost him. — Patricia Briggs

Civilization is vastly overrated. — Patricia Briggs

Fourteen preteen girls, a tableful of werewolves - there were certain monstrous similarities. — Patricia Briggs

The warmth of his body shouldn't have felt good. He was angry and every muscle was tense. It was like being leaned on by a very heavy, warm brick. A sexy brick. — Patricia Briggs

I'll get some more firewood," I said, turning away from the fire. "What we have won't last the night."
"Best do that, I think," Kith said. "Wandel and I'll see about dinner."
"I thought the woman should do the cooking," said Wandel, teasing but still half-serious. He hadn't eaten what I could cook over an open fire.
"We'll cook," replied Kith, who had. — Patricia Briggs

Mercy?" His voice was very calm, that "people are going to die" calm only he could do. As soon as he started to speak, silence fell behind him because I wasn't the only one who knew that voice. — Patricia Briggs

Cheeses crusty, got all musty, got damp on the stone of a peach," I agreed. He looked blank, so I repeated it with proper emphasis. " ChEEZ-zes crusty. Got Al -musty. Got DAMp on the StoneofapeaCH. — Patricia Briggs

New rules. If you are smart enough to live, you won't hit Charles's mate in front of his father. — Patricia Briggs

Don't lick the guests, darling. Bad manners. — Patricia Briggs

I am the reality of all coyotes. The archetype. The epitome. You are just a reflection of me. — Patricia Briggs

If I let them all treat me like I was broken, then how was I going to convince myself I wasn't? — Patricia Briggs

Zealots are like one track-pony. Don't get in their way without expecting to get hurt. — Patricia Briggs

One of the oddest things about being grown-up was looking back at something you thought you knew and finding out the truth of it was completely different from what you had always believed. — Patricia Briggs

I'm not going to roll the window down," I told him. "This car doesn't have automatic windows. I'd have to pull over and go around and lower it manually. Besides, it's cold outside, and unlike you, I don't have a fur coat."
He lifted his lip in a mock snarl and put his nose on the dashboard with a thump.
"You're smearing the windshield," I told him.
He looked at me and deliberately ran his nose across his side of the glass.
I rolled my eyes. "Oh, that was mature. The last time I saw someone do something that grown-up was when my little sister was twelve. — Patricia Briggs

I've heard that Vlad the Impaler established without a doubt that having a stick up one's ass was detrimental to one's health. And I am very interested in keeping you healthy. — Patricia Briggs

Mercy is not a proper Indian name." ... "Rash Coyote Who Runs With Wolf. We could shorten it to Dinner Woman. — Patricia Briggs

A second floor window opened, and Kyle stuck his head and shoulders out so he could look down at us. "If you two are finished playing Cowboy and Indian out there, some of us would like to get their beauty sleep."

I looked at Warren. "You heard 'um Kemo Sabe. Me go to my little wigwam and get 'um shut-eye."

"How come you always get to play the Indian?" whined Warren, deadpan.

"Cause she's the Indian, white boy," said Kyle. — Patricia Briggs

Jones is dead," I promised. "He just doesn't know it yet. But we are patient, we can wait until the time is ripe. — Patricia Briggs

Then he'd come back home and found out that war didn't cause fear - love did. — Patricia Briggs