Sherwood Smith Quotes & Sayings
Enjoy the top 80 famous quotes, sayings and quotations by Sherwood Smith.
Famous Quotes By Sherwood Smith
But I will never ask anyone from our village-from any village in Tlanth-to risk his or her life unless I'm willing to myself. — Sherwood Smith
When we reached our hall, Nee offered to share hot chocolate with me. Shaking my head, I pleaded tiredness
true enough
and retreated to my rooms.
And discovered something lying on the little table in the parlor where letters and invitations were supposed to be put.
Moving slowly across the room, I looked down at an exquisite porcelain sphere. It was dark blue, with silver stars all over it, and so cunningly painted that when I looked closer it gave the illusion of depth
as if I stared deeply into the sky.
Lifting it with reverent care, I opened it and saw, sitting on a white silk nest, a lovely sapphire ring. Trying it on my fingers, I found to my delight it fit my longest one.
Why couldn't Bran give me this in person? There were times when I found my brother incomprehensible, but I knew he thought the same of me.
Puzzled, but content, I fell asleep with my ringed hand cradled against my cheek. — Sherwood Smith
One doesn't lose a self, like a pair of gloves or a pine. We learn and change, or we harden into stone. — Sherwood Smith
So let me end with the wish that you find the same kind of happyiness, and laughter, and love, that I have found, and that you have the wisdon to make them last. — Sherwood Smith
What might have happened to them to make them the way they were? It did not change what they now did, but it changed, profoundly, how he perceived their motivations, their place in the world. — Sherwood Smith
Jaim says that the essence of command is to turn surprises to your favor. You get your perimeter outside the enemy's perimeter, and attack."
"What does that mean, exactly?"
"Oh, I don't know, some kind of military jabber. I was hoping you knew. — Sherwood Smith
War is a convenient fix for government problems if it happens somewhere else. To other people. — Sherwood Smith
It is a shame when we must regard a people as an enemy. It is a shame and a regret when the two peoples share so much. And it is a shame, a regret, and a tragedy when those peoples meet as individuals and find much to admire. — Sherwood Smith
A wager?" I repeated. "Yes," he said, and gave me a slow smile, bright with challenge ... "Stake?" I asked cautiously. He was still smiling, an odd sort of smile, hard to define. "A kiss." My first reaction was outrage, but then I remembered that I was on my way to Court, and that had to be the kind of thing they did at Court. And if I win I don't have to collect. I hesitated only a moment longer, lured by the thought of open sky, and speed, and winning. "Done," I said. — Sherwood Smith
He dropped the tapestry back into place and stood with his back to it, looking at me across the width of the room. "It seems," he said, "that seeking your opinion will not cease to embroil us in argument, whatever the cause. I apologize. I also realize trying to convince you of my good intentions is a fruitless effort, but my own conscience demanded that I make the attempt."
I couldn't think of any reply to make to that, so I whirled around and retreated into the library, my insides boiling with a nasty mixture of embarrassment and anger. Why did I always have to bring up that war
and pick a fight? What kind of answer was I looking for?
All I do is repeat the humiliations of last year. As if I haven't had enough of those, I thought grimly. And the worst thing was, I wouldn't dare to go near that room again, despite his offer at the beginning of the encounter
an encounter which was thoroughly my own fault. — Sherwood Smith
The history of fan fiction demonstrates how efficient, and effective, women have been at pooling together to get what they want out of their stories. It's been a largely female-driven world. — Sherwood Smith
They're safe,' he said. "And you're not made of glass". He swept me up in his arms.
I laughed. "And I'm not made of glass."
He carried me into our room and kicked the door shut behind us. — Sherwood Smith
Some of it was wrong decisions made for the right reasons, and a little of it was right decisions made for the wrong reasons; but most of what I did was wrong decisions for the wrong reasons. — Sherwood Smith
In my generation, if a man washes the dishes, the older women still tend to cluster around and coo and thank him and praise him. But if a woman washes the dishes, it's business as usual, even if both man and woman have tough office jobs. — Sherwood Smith
If everywhere you go everyone watches you, and wants you, can you truly be yourself? — Sherwood Smith
One of the others bore away Nessaren's clothes, and the third opened a door for me and bowed; and I walked through, feeling like a real fool. I was afraid I'd forget about the train dragging behind me, trip, and go rolling down the stairs, so I grabbed fistfuls of skirt at either side and walked carefully after her.
"Ho, Mel! You look like you're treading on knives." Branaric's voice came from behind me.
"Well, I don't want to ruin this gown. Isn't mine," I said.
He just grinned, and we were led down another level to an elegant room with a fire at one end and windows looking out over the valley. — Sherwood Smith
If more people recognized the difference between friendship and mere attraction, or how love must partake of both to prosper, I expect there'd be more happy people."
"And a lot fewer poems and plays," I said, laughing as I splashed about in the scented water. — Sherwood Smith
Memory warps time, as it does the sights and sounds and smells of reality; for what shapes it is emotion, which can twist what seems clear, just as the surface of a pond seems to bend the stick thrust into the water. — Sherwood Smith
Shevraeth himself was there to bid us farewell
a courtesy I could have done without. — Sherwood Smith
I am old, but the word to me means familiar, comfortable. Accustomed after long and venerable use. Not dilapidated and useless. — Sherwood Smith
But I'd also learned that the self might want one thing, but that didn't mean it was right. — Sherwood Smith
When I turned thirteen and took a typing class, with typical early teen enthusiasm and total lack of critical ability, I started sending my stuff to publishers once I'd babysat long enough to earn the postage. — Sherwood Smith
After a time Ara had to do her chores, leaving me on the porch with a fresh infusion of tea to drink, her garden to look at, and her words to consider.
Not that I got very far. There were too many questions. Like: Where did those guards go? Azmus had overcome one, but I didn't remember having seen any more. Then there were the unlocked doors. The one to my cell could be explained away, but not the outside one. If there was a conspiracy, was Azmus behind it? Or someone else--and if so, who; and more importantly, to what end?
It was just possible that those dashing aristos had contrived my escape for a game, just as a cruel cat will play with a mouse before the kill. Their well-publicized bet could certainly account for that. The wager would also serve very nicely as a warning to ordinary people not to interfere with their prey, I thought narrowly.
Which meant that if I'd left any clue to my trail, I had better move on. Soon. — Sherwood Smith
A horse blanket, Mel?
I remembered what I was wearing. 'It tore in half when Hrani tried washing it. She was going to mend it. This piece was too small for a horse, but it was just right for me.'
Bran laughed a little unsteadly. 'Mel. A horse blanket. — Sherwood Smith
Why did I laugh at his sorry, bedraggled appearance? Because ridiculousness made a repellant situation more bearable. — Sherwood Smith
You don't look at the problem all at once, or it's like being caught in a spring flood under a downpour. You tackle the problem in pieces ... — Sherwood Smith
Awareness came back slowly, and not very pleasantly. First were all the aches and twinges, then the dizziness, and last the sensation of movement. Before I even opened my eyes I realized that once again I was on a horse, clasped upright by an arm.
The Marquis again? Memories came flooding back--the dungeon, the Baron's horrible promise, then the knife and Shevraeth's comment about timing. The Marquis had saved me, with about the closest timing in history, from a thoroughly nasty fate. Relief was my foremost emotion, then gratitude, and then a residual embarrassment that I didn't understand and instantly dismissed. He had saved my life, and I owed him my thanks.
I opened my eyes, squinting against bright sunlight, and turned my head, words forming only to vanish when I looked up into an unfamiliar face. I closed my eyes again, completely confused. Had I dreamed it all, then? Except--where was I, and with whom? — Sherwood Smith
Have you gone to Petitioners' Court, or talked to the Renselaeuses? When his grace the Marquis of Shevraeth was up at Tlanth during winter, he rode around the county with Lord Branaric and answered questions very freely, no matter who asked."
"No. I ... keep running afoul of him."
"Running afoul on political questions?" he asked.
"It never gets that far." I felt my face burn. "Purely personal questions
usually with me misconstruing his motivations. I can't ask him. — Sherwood Smith
What is interesting to me is looking at how male and female writers depict men who, come in behind to fill those domestic duties, deal with personal and cultural lack of respect for doing what is lingeringly perceived as 'women's work.' — Sherwood Smith
It would have been funny if I had been an observer and not a participant, an idea that gave me a disconcerting insight into gossip. As I walked beside the silent Tamara, I realized that despite how entertaining certain stories were, at the bottom of every item of gossip there was someone getting hurt. — Sherwood Smith
Who can ever know what turns the spark into flame? Vidanric's initial interest in me might well have been kindled by the fact that he saw my actions as courageous, but the subsequent discovery of passion, and the companionship of the mind that would sutain it, seemed as full of mystery as it was of felicity. As for me, I really believe that the spark had been there all along, but I had been too ignorant--and too afraid--to recognize it. — Sherwood Smith
Angry men with pointy things sent to secure a foreign city are pretty much alike anywhere. That's what I've heard. So far nothing's convinced me different. — Sherwood Smith
No, my career as a warrior princess, short as it had been, was over, I thought morosely. Violence only works if you're good at it. Otherwise, it hurts too much. — Sherwood Smith
If your opponent is better armed and has longer reach, then surprise is your only ally. And then you'd better hope he's half asleep. — Sherwood Smith
I have made number mistakes - I have such bad number dyslexia that I can look at a number and see the wrong one. I can't remember them worth beans. — Sherwood Smith
It is time,' he said, 'to collect on my wager.'
He moved slowly. First, his hands sliding round me and cool light-colored hair drifting against my cheek, and then softly, so softly, the brush of lips against my brow, my eyes, and then my lips. Once, twice, thrice, but not closer. The sensations - like starfire - that glowed through me chased away from my head all thoughts save one, to close that last distance between us.
I locked my fingers round his neck and pulled his face again down to mine. — Sherwood Smith
Did you really think you could take a few hundred ill-trained village people into war and expect anything but defeat?"
I opened my mouth to retort, then realized I'd be spoiling what little strategy we did have.
But then he said wryly, "Or did you expect the rest of the kingdom to follow your heroic example and rise up against the King?"
Which is, of course, exactly what we had expected. — Sherwood Smith
Serenades," he said, "are customarily performed under moonslight, or have fashions here changed?"
"I don't know," I said. "No one's serenaded me, and as for my serenading anyone else, even if I wanted to, which I don't, my singing voice sounds like a sick crow. — Sherwood Smith
We'll abduct Garian. Or Jason."
"And - ?"
"And dump them into the ocean. Nobody would ever pay a ransom for them. — Sherwood Smith
Maybe I'm no longer a dog, but I can still bite! — Sherwood Smith
Who in the universe halts when the enemy tells them to? — Sherwood Smith
I was as eager a writer as I was a reader. — Sherwood Smith
Except. What is normal at any given time? We change just as the seasons change, and each spring brings new growth. So nothing is ever quite the same. — Sherwood Smith
Act'. How many good people do you really know? I discount those who mouth out platitudes for the edification of the young, and who truly are 'good', whatever that means?"
What a strange subject, and from such a strange person!"Everyone I know is a mixture, some with more good than bad, and it varies on different days, — Sherwood Smith
What if feeling good only comes after you destroy someone you hate?'
'That's not good, that's triumph, — Sherwood Smith
Finally someone takes me seriously enough to ask for my word of honor, and it's a villain. — Sherwood Smith
Are they trained to treat everyone as a servant?'
'Probably. That doesn't make you into one, — Sherwood Smith
It was a while before my mind was quiet enough for reading. The conversation with Shevraeth I was determined not to think about. What was the use? It was over, and it was clear it wasn't going to be repeated.
Recalling the name he'd mentioned, Lady Trishe
one of the names Bran had spoken earlier that morning
I realized it was Shevraeth they were planning to go riding with. She wouldn't enjoy this ride was what Nee had said, meaning that I wouldn't enjoy it because Shevraeth would be along. What it probably also meant, I realized glumly, was that they wouldn't enjoy having me along if I glared at Shevraeth and started squabbling. — Sherwood Smith
Everyone is an idiot," I stated. "Except me. — Sherwood Smith
It took one long, desperate week to prove just how wrong was my prophecy.
"The revolution is not over," Branaric said seriously some ten days later.
But even this--after a long, horrible day of real fighting, a desperate run back into the familiar hills of Tlanth, and the advent of rain beating on the tent over our heads--failed to keep Branaric serious for long. His mouth curved wryly as he added, "And today's action was not a rout, it was a retreat."
"So we will say outside this tent." Khesot paused to tap his pipeweed more deeply into the worn bowl of his pipe, then he looked up, his white eyebrows quirked. "But it was a rout."
I said indignantly, "Our people fought well!"
Khesot gave a stately, measured nod in my direction, without moving from his cushion. "Valiantly, Lady Meliara, valiantly. But courage is not enough when we are so grossly outnumbered. More so now that they have an equally able commander. — Sherwood Smith
Like many science fiction lovers of my generation, I discovered Andre Norton on the shelves at the junior high's library. — Sherwood Smith
He'd spent his entire exile schooling himself to face that he would never get what he wanted. People didn't, sometimes. So you made a life as best you could. — Sherwood Smith
I've been working hard at assuming Court polish, but the more I learn about what really goes on behind the pretty voices and waving fans and graceful bows, the more I comprehend that what is really said matters little, so long as the manner in which it is said pleases. I understand it, but I don't like it. Were I truly influential, then I would halt this foolishness that decrees that in Court one cannot be sick; that to admit you are sick is really to admit to political or social or romantic defeat; that to admit to any emotions usually means one really feels the opposite. It is a terrible kind of falsehood that people can only claim feelings as a kind of social weapon. — Sherwood Smith
But to return to your question, Vidanric's tendency to keep his own counsel ought to be reassuring as far as people hopping out with embarrassing words are concerned. If I were you
and I know it's so much easier to give advice than to follow it
I'd sit down with him, when no one else is at hand, and talk it out."
Just the thought of seeking him out for a private talk made me shudder. "I'd rather walk down the mountain in shoes full of snails."
It was Nee's turn to shudder. "Life! I'd rather do almost anything than that
— Sherwood Smith
I expect we'll receive an invitation for dinner from their Highnesses, at second-blue, which will serve as an informal welcome."
I took a deep breath. "All right. Until then we're free? Let's walk around," I said. "I'm not tired or hungry, but I still feel stiff from
from sitting inside that coach for so long." I did not want to refer to my ride or the postponed wager.
If she noticed my hesitation and quick recovery, she gave no sign. — Sherwood Smith
It desolates me to disappoint you, but your brother is not here. Despite two really praiseworthy attempts at rescue."
... The hint of amusement irritated me, and sick and hurt as I was, I simply had to retort something. "Glad ... at least ... you're desolated. — Sherwood Smith
The only noise now was the rain, pattering softly with the magnificent indifference of nature for the tangled passions of humans. — Sherwood Smith
As a kid, I pretty much got nothing but scorn, and occasionally active animus, for writing fantasy and squirreling it away in my closet and, later, under the mattress supports in my bed. — Sherwood Smith
though we can educate the younger generation, we can even command them, we cannot control their lives, much as we think we'd do a better job of it. — Sherwood Smith
You, there, girl! Halt!
Who in the universe ever halts when the enemy tells them to? — Sherwood Smith
You're drunk as four skunks, you idiot. — Sherwood Smith
In silence the man reined in his horse, dismounted, lifted me down to a high grassy spot that was scarcely damp. In the gathering gloom he tended to his horse, which presently cropped at the grass. My eyes had become accustomed to the darkness; the flare of light from a Fire Stick, and the reddish flicker of a fire, startled me.
At first I turned away, for the unsteady flame hurt my eyes, but after a time the prospect of warmth brought me around, and I started inching toward the fire.
The man looked up, dropped what he was doing, and took a step toward me. "I can carry you," he said.
I waved him off. "I'll do it myself," I said shortly, thinking, Why be polite now? So I'll be in a good mood when you dump me in Galdran's dungeon? — Sherwood Smith
I feel stupid when people say 'You? You are so brave,' because I don't feel brave, I don't even know what brave is. — Sherwood Smith
When people first discover beauty, they tend to linger. Even if they don't at first recognize it for what it is. — Sherwood Smith
I had seen ardency in men's eyes, but I had only felt it once. With Flauvic, false and therefore easy to dismiss. I suddenly wished that I could feel it now. No, I did feel it. I did have the same feeling, only I had masked it as restlessness, or as the exhortation to action, or as anger. I thought how wonderful it would be to see that spark now, in the right pair of eyes. — Sherwood Smith
No, I don't think I could fall in love with him, handsome though he is, because I don't accept any of that huff he gives me about my great beauty and all that. I'd have to trust a man's words before I could love him. I think. — Sherwood Smith
He pulled one of his brands out of the fire and stepped toward me, raising it. The sharp smell of red-hot metal made me sneeze--and when I looked up, the man's mouth was open with surprise.
My gaze dropped to the knife embedded squarely in his chest, which seemed to have sprouted there. But knives don't sprout, even in dungeons, I thought hazily, as the torturer fell heavily at my feet. I turned my head, half rising from the chair--
And saw the Marquis of Shevraeth standing framed in the doorway. At his back were four of his liveried equerries, with swords drawn and ready.
The Marquis strolled forward, indicated the knife with a neatly gloved hand, and gave me a faint smile. "I trust the timing was more or less advantageous?"
"More or less," I managed to say before the rushing in my ears washed over me, and I passed out cold right on top of the late torturer. — Sherwood Smith
The throne was empty, and above it hung only the ancient flag of Remalna, tattered in places from age. Galdran's banners were, of course, gone. No one was on the dais. Just below it, side by side in fine chairs, sat the Prince and Princess.
At their feet Shevraeth knelt formally on white cushions before a long carved table. He now wore white and silver with blue gemstones on his tunic and in his braided hair. He looks like a king, I thought, though he was nowhere near the throne. — Sherwood Smith
I endeavor to be serious and you will not take me seriously — Sherwood Smith
Choose the duty that you can most effectively execute: that is, finally, all we can do in life. — Sherwood Smith
Why is it the songs all end with the good people winning, but in life they don't?"
They don't make songs when the good lose," I muttered. "They make war chants against the bad. So there won't be any songs for us. — Sherwood Smith
Female authors were still using male names when I was young, or they were neatly shoehorned into 'women's books' except for those few that men could always point at when the disparity was pointed out. — Sherwood Smith
Judging the actions of the many by those of the one is both human and dangerous. — Sherwood Smith
At the best of times I don't have the kind of voice anyone would want to hear mangling their favorite songs. — Sherwood Smith
Expecting the two equerries to immediately take off after me, I braced for a run. Why had I babbled so much? I thought, annoyed with myself. Why didn't I just say "No" and leave?
But the equerries both turned and walked swiftly back in the direction they'd come, and the old man continued on his way.
What does that mean?
And the answer was not long in coming: They were going back to report.
Which meant a whole lot of them searching. And soon.
Yes, I'd really widened my perimeter, I thought furiously, cursing the Baron, music, inns, resorts, food, and the Baron again, throwing in Galdran Merindar and the Marquis of Shevraeth for good measure. — Sherwood Smith
What's it really like to always be the prettiest person in a room? Dos it mean you're always acting as if in a play, because no one stops looking at you?'
'Life is a play, isn't it? — Sherwood Smith
The less said about that morning's ride, the better. I would have been uncomfortable even if I'd been riding with Branaric, for my leg ached steadily from the jarring of the horse's pace. To be riding along in the clasp of an enemy just made my spirits feel the worse. — Sherwood Smith