Trudi Canavan Quotes & Sayings

Akkarin: I watched the first woman I loved die. I dont think I can survive losing the second.
Sonea: I love you too. — Trudi Canavan

Extending his senses, Lorkin tried again to hear his mother's surface thoughts. What he picked up seemed too out of character, however. He must be imagining it. Though ... it was also odd that he would imagine his mother thinking such a string of curse words. — Trudi Canavan

There's no need for me to enter your mind, just sit at the edges and look for leakage."
"Leakage?" Veran looked at his daughter. "You magicians have some interesting terms. Not particularly reassuring ones. — Trudi Canavan

Wisdom and knowledge is everywhere, but so is stupity. — Trudi Canavan

Cery: So, Hem, tell me why I shouldn't see how many holes I need to make before you start leaking money? — Trudi Canavan

Your supposed to drink wine, my friend, not breathe it. — Trudi Canavan

Jayan found teaching both frustrating and rewarding. It depended on the apprentice. Some were attentive and talented. Some were not. — Trudi Canavan

Believe me. There was nothing good in always being second place. Next to you, I may as well have been invisible - at least when it came to the ladies. If I'd known, we'd both end up as bachelors, I wouldn't have been so jealous of you.'
'Jealous?' Akkarin's smile faded. He turned away to stare at the horizon. 'No. Don't be jealous. — Trudi Canavan

It was impossible to imagine the aloof, dignified, powerful High Lord living as, of all things, a slave. — Trudi Canavan

'The Magician's Apprentice' was about someone from the low end of society manifesting magical power and how that completely messes up the balance of the whole system. — Trudi Canavan

Suddenly she was all too aware how different she was. A woman among all these man. A natural from a humble background among rich young men chosen from powerful families. A beginner among the well trained. — Trudi Canavan

The last young lady I met stabbed me. You know I'm cursed when it comes to women. — Trudi Canavan

It had surprised and impressed Tessia to learn that Everran and Avaria owned two wagons, one for their own everyday use and one kept for visits to the Royal Palace. Since the journey to the palace consisted of half the length of two streets, it seemed frivolous to own a vehicle especially for it. — Trudi Canavan

I don't have any specific plans to return to the 'Age of the Five.' If I do, it won't be a sequel. — Trudi Canavan

Better to know the quick pain of truth than the ongoing pain of a long-held false hope. — Trudi Canavan

If your appearance is all people see, they have no respect for your mind. — Trudi Canavan

Ranel had said that the murderer wore a ring with a red gemstone. Looking at Akkarin's hands, she was almost disappointed to see they were bare. Not even a mark to hint that a ring might have been worn regularly. His fingers were long and elegant, yet masculine ... — Trudi Canavan

The right rumour in the right ears can kill the emperor, as they say. — Trudi Canavan

Friendship? What friendship? I lust after him and he rightly ignores it! — Trudi Canavan

Unquestioning obedience is for slaves, the uneducated and the pathetic. — Trudi Canavan

Hanara did not yet feel he'd reached long-life. It was a state, slaves said, where you felt satisfied you have lived long enough. Where you didn't feel cheated if you died. You might not have had an easy life, or a happy one, but you'd had your measure. Or you had made a difference to the world, even a small one, because you had existed. — Trudi Canavan

I still recommend reading travel guides as an insight to a traveller's perspective on fantasy worlds. Nearly all characters end up travelling at some point, and they have many of the same needs and concerns covered in travel guides. — Trudi Canavan

He watched her drink the soup. "You're getting bored with me, aren't you?"
She smiled slyly. "No. I have never found you boring, Mirar. In fact, I've always found you a little too interesting for my own good."
He chuckled. So. There it was. The invitation. He had noted the way she sometimes looked at him. Thoughtful. Curious. Admiring. The spark of attraction was still there for her. Was it for him?
He thought back to other times circumstances had brought them to each other's beds and felt an old but familiar interest flare. Yes, he thought. It's still there. — Trudi Canavan

So what were you [Sonea] and Dorrien discussing before?' Akkarin asked.
She turned to regard him. 'Discussing?'
'Outside the farmhouse when I was buying the food.'
'Oh. Then. Nothing.'
He smiled and nodded. 'Nothing. Amazing subject, that one. Produces such fascinating reactions in people. — Trudi Canavan

How am I going to make friends with these people if all I can think of is how easy it would be to rob them? — Trudi Canavan

People and land, they're the same, his father used to say. Neglect one and the other suffers eventually. — Trudi Canavan

We have more in common than I thought, he mused wryly. He liked the idea that, if either of them ever fell from grace, the other might be there to offer support. It's always easier to become friends with someone you have something in common with. I just hope it doesn't take some socially disastrous fall before she'll consider the possibility I might be a friend. — Trudi Canavan

Tayend nodded. "I know it won't. I admit I was worried about you, but you are still your old self, underneath."
Dannyl straightened in protest. "Underneath what?"
The Elyne stood up, waving one hand in Dannyl's direction. "All ... that."
"I'm reeling at your descriptive clarity," Dannyl told him. — Trudi Canavan

Nodding, Cery strode to the door and stepped through. Though the burly guards eyes him suspiciously, Cery smiled back. Never make enemies of someone's lackeys, his father had taught him. Better still, make them like you a lot. — Trudi Canavan

A friend. Cery's shoulders drooped. Closing his eyes, he let out a long sigh. — Trudi Canavan

He had given her too much. He had given her everything. — Trudi Canavan

I suppose if Akkarin came to rescue you all the time, people would say you weren't a good choice. The novices are all jealous of you, not realising that they would be in the same situation if they were the High Lord's favourite, even if they are from the Houses. Any novice he chose would be a target. Always expected to prove themselves. — Trudi Canavan

But as I witnessed what Dakova was capable of, I cared less about what the Guild did and didn't allow. He did not need black magic to perform evil. I saw him do things with his bare hands that I will never forget. — Trudi Canavan

It is said, in Imardin, that the wind has a soul, and that it wails through the narrow streets because it is grieved by what it finds there. — Trudi Canavan

Mortals did not need gods to order them to kill eachother. They were quite capable of finding reasons to do so themselves. — Trudi Canavan

When Tessia and Jayan were served a large, fat rassook each, Jayan had smugly commented that Tessia certainly had a way with villagers and he would not be surprised if she could charm pickpockets into putting money into her wallet. — Trudi Canavan

But right now it's a friend's love. — Trudi Canavan

Our army is retreating. The Sachakans are following. They will be here soon. We must be ready. The servants are bringing horses." He paused and frowned at one of the apprentices. "Stop wating time asking stupid questions and see if your horse is here!" he snapped. He turned and pointed. "You! Arelenin. I can see someone bringing your horse. Yes, I'd hardly miss that ugly beast if it were on the other side of the country. Go and get it. — Trudi Canavan

Great. She shook her head. Not only am I having conversations with myself, but now I'm refusing to talk to me. This has got to be the first sign of madness. — Trudi Canavan

He liked the idea that if either of them ever fell from grace, the other might be there to offer support. — Trudi Canavan

Achati chuckled. You may be surprised. Some might come in the hopes of being snatched away to a secret place ruled by exotic women. — Trudi Canavan

I always love writing the third book in a series because you get to tie up all the threads that you put out in the first two books. You finally let people know what really happens and reveal all the secrets and bring certain characters together. — Trudi Canavan

As the others paired off he turned to face her.
"Can't leave me partnerless," he said.
She pulled a face, grabbed the bowl and stood up."Forgot my little speech earlier, have you, Jayan?Not if you were the last man in Kyralia. — Trudi Canavan

Happy endings are a luxury of fiction. — Trudi Canavan

There was no fast and painless way to perform an amputation, Tessia knew. Not if you did it properly. — Trudi Canavan

She felt something inside her turn to stone and fall down into her gut, where it lay cold and hard and uncomfortable. Which was impossible, of course. Human organs did not turn to stone and certainly could not shift into the stomach. — Trudi Canavan

Cold, truthful common sense was harder to like than warm, hopeful generosity. — Trudi Canavan

My soul is the gods'; my heart is yours.
Leiard smiled - a sly, secretive smile. It was an expression she had never seen him wear before. Was this just her mind embellishing the mood she sensed from him?
I've always suspected souls were a concept the gods invented to encourage people to serve them. In fact, I once had a conversation with a god in which he admitted that - — Trudi Canavan

I wound up studying art and design, got a job at Lonely Planet Publications as a designer, cartographer and illustrator. — Trudi Canavan

Injustice alway captures the attention of the young," she said. "But as we get older we discover how difficult it is to change the world, and we learn to turn our eyes away from what we can't fix until we no longer see injustice at all. — Trudi Canavan

What was I thinking? Of all the assistants I could have wound up with, why did I have to choose the one with the scary mother and troublemaking in his bloodlines? I am doomed. — Trudi Canavan

There's always a bit of truth in each rumour, the trouble is finding out which bit.
- Tayend — Trudi Canavan

I love you, he told her.
Sweet joy rushed through her. But there was a distinct smugness about his words. He'd sensed her feelings in return, and was pleased with himself for doing so.
Turns out I love you too, she replied, communicating her wry amusement. Of all the annoying people in the world. — Trudi Canavan

Inspiration comes from so many sources. Music, other fiction, the non-fiction I read, TV shows, films, news reports, people I know, stories I hear, misheard words or lyrics, dreams ... Motivation? The memory of the rush I get from a really good writing session - even on a bad day, I know I'll find that again if I keep going. — Trudi Canavan

Though I can't help feeling a sudden death cheats you of something. Death is an experience of life. You only get one death. I would like to be aware it was happening, even if that did mean enduring pain and fear. — Trudi Canavan

The first rule of world-building is available physics, which basically means that if you want it to feel real, it has to follow the same rules as this world, from gravity to how human behaviour works. If you have a fantasy element that doesn't obey the laws of physics, make sure that it has a fantasy explanation. — Trudi Canavan

The healers' university looked exactly as Tessia had imagined. Her father had described it as an 'old but strange building that has adopted and absorbed surrounding houses as opportunity and funds allowed'. It sounded confusing and intriguing, and it was. — Trudi Canavan

The most powerful women in Sachaka and all you do is waste time gossiping and matchmaking — Trudi Canavan

Hasty learning can lead to mistakes, and magical mistakes tend to be more spectacular than healing mistakes. My father used to use that reasoning to explain why apprentices of magi drink far less than the students of healing."
Veran grinned. "'Healers wake up with a sore head," he used to say; 'magicians wake up with a sore head, our toes burned black and the roof on the floor. — Trudi Canavan

It was a day-by-day record of a Guild much younger and smaller than the current one. After several pages, she had grown fond of the record-keeper, who clearly admired the people he was writing about. — Trudi Canavan

'The Black Magician Trilogy' was about a conflict between countries and was very limited and almost claustrophobic in its range of settings, while 'The Age of the Five' was about a conflict between continents. — Trudi Canavan