Cashore Quotes & Sayings

The power of the rumor mill, if you could feel it as I do, would boggle your mind. — Kristin Cashore

Roan, near the standard-bearer. And that's his brother beside — Kristin Cashore

Find something useful to do with your morning,' she thought to him as she neared her chambers. 'Do something heroic in front of an audience. Knock a child into a river while no one's looking and then rescue him. — Kristin Cashore

It was a hurting tune, resigned, a cry of heartache for all in the world that fell apart. As ash rose black against the brilliant sky, Fire's fiddle cried out for the dead, and for the living who stay behind to say goodbye. — Kristin Cashore

I don't understand your book. Isn't every book a book of words? — Kristin Cashore

What? What are you grinning about?"
"Its meant to be attractive to my wife."
"You have a wife?"
"Great seas no! Honestly, Kasta. don't you think I would have mentioned her? — Kristin Cashore

But you're better than I am, Katsa. And it doesn't humiliate me. It humbles me. But it doesn't humiliate me. — Kristin Cashore

Great seas," he said.
"What do you want?"
He held the candle up to her face.
"Po, what do you want?"
"She did a far better job than I would've done. — Kristin Cashore

To Garan's credit, the treatment of Dellian prisoners did change after that. One particularly laconic man, after a session in which Fire learned positively nothing, thanked her for it specifically. "Best dungeons I ever been in," he said, chewing on a toothpick.
"Wonderful," Garan grumbled when he had gone. "We'll grow a reputation for our kindness to lawbreakers. — Kristin Cashore

All right," Clara said. "We have our swordsman, so let's get moving. Brigan, could you attempt, at least, to make yourself presentable? I know this is a war, but the rest of us are trying to pretend it's a party. — Kristin Cashore

I forgive myself...today I forgive myself — Kristin Cashore

I must stop wishing for things to happen. Because something will happen eventually, and when it does, I'll be bound to wish it hadn't. — Kristin Cashore

I've liked you better when Katsa's around,' Giddon said. 'She's so rotten to me that you seem positively pleasant in contrast. — Kristin Cashore

Gratitude takes less energy than anger. — Kristin Cashore

Teddy grinned again. 'Truths are dangerous,' he said.
-'Then why are you writing them in a book?'
-'To catch them between the pages,' said Teddy, 'and trap them before they disappear.'
-'If they're dangerous, why not let them disappear?'
-'Because when truths disappear, they leave behind blank spaces, and that is also dangerous. — Kristin Cashore

We need an ally of Mydogg's or Gentian's pretending to be among the most loyal allies of the king,' Brigan said. 'Shouldn't be so hard, really. If I shot an arrow out the window I'd probably hit on. — Kristin Cashore

It hurt her eyes, almost, Ror City; and it didn't surprise her that Po should come from a place that shone. — Kristin Cashore

The girl entered the room, not looking at Fire, glaring mutinously at the feather duster in her own hand. Still, at least she had come. Some of them scurried away, pretending not to hear. — Kristin Cashore

When you're a monster, you are thanked and praised for not being a monster. — Kristin Cashore

I was doing science," Giddon said. "He threw a bean."
"I was testing the impact of a bean upon water," Bann said.
"That's not even a real thing."
"Perhaps I'll test the impact of a bean upon your beautiful white shirt. — Kristin Cashore

I'm mostly unflappable, but you've flapped me, monster lady. — Kristin Cashore

She had thought herself trapped in a place outside the ordinary feeling lives of people; she had not noticed how many other people were trapped in that same place. — Kristin Cashore

Not all sons were like their fathers. A son chose the man he would be.
Not all daughters were like their fathers. A daughter monster chose the monster she would be. — Kristin Cashore

She knew her nature. She would recognize it if she came face-to-face with it. It would be a blue-eyed green-eyed monster, wolflike and snarling. A vicious beast that struck out at friends in uncontrollable anger, a killer that offered itself as a vessel of the king's fury.
But then it was a strange monster, for beneath its exterior it was frightened and sickened by its own violence. It chastised itself for its savagery. And sometimes it had no heart for violence and rebelled against it utterly.
A monster that refused, sometimes, to behave like a monster. When a monster stopped behaving like a monster , did it stop being a monster? Did it become something else?
Perhaps she wouldn't recognize her own nature after all. — Kristin Cashore

You're in fine temper," Raffin said.
"Your hair is blue," she snapped back. — Kristin Cashore

Hanna's announced her intentions to marry Archer — Kristin Cashore

Fire looked into his quiet eyes, touched his dear familiar face and considered the question. — Kristin Cashore

At least her last words to him had been words of love. But she wished she'd told him just how much she loved him. How much she had to thank him for, how many good things he had done. She hadn't told him nearly enough. — Kristin Cashore

It seems to me that a fair number of people are happy to be as cruel as their power allows, — Kristin Cashore

She knew he was angry, but she couldn't stop laughing. "Forgive me, Po. I was only trying to get your attention."
"And I suppose it never occurs to you to start small. If I told you my roof needed rebuilding, you'd start by knocking down the house. — Kristin Cashore

Roen snorted. "You two have the strangest relationship in the Dells."
Archer smiled slightly. "She won't consent to make it a marriage."
"I can't imagine what's stopping her. I don't suppose you've considered being less munificent with your love?"
"Would you marry me, Fire, if I slept in no one's bed but yours?"
He knew the answer to that, but it didn't hurt to remind him. "No, and I should find my bed quite cramped. — Kristin Cashore

I'm not good at love. I'm like a barbed creature. I push everyone I love away. — Kristin Cashore

Madlen: 'It's a relief to me, Lady Queen, that in your own pain, you take no interest in hurting yourself.'
Bitterblue: 'Why would I? Why should I? It's foolish. I would like to kick the people who do it.'
Madlen: 'That would, perhaps, be redundant, Lady Queen. — Kristin Cashore

Something caught in her throat at this second thanks, when she'd threatened him so brutally. When you're a monster, she thought, you are thanked and praised for not behaving like a monster. She would like to restrain from cruelty and receive no admiration for it. — Kristin Cashore

While I was looking the other way your fire went out
Left me with cinders to kick into dust
What a waste of the wonder you were
In my living fire I will keep your scorn and mine
In my living fire I will keep your heartache and mine
At the disgrace of a waste of a life — Kristin Cashore

They sat on the outcropping of stone and at bread and fruit. Kasta watched the long grass moving around them. The wind pushed it, attacked it, struck it in one place than another. It rose and fell again. It flowed, like water.
"Is this what the sea is like?" Kasta asked, and they both turned to her, surprised. "Does the sea move the way this grass moves?"
"It's like the sea," she said.
Giddon's eyes on her were incredulous.
"What? Is it such a strange thing to say?"
"It's a strange thing for you to say." He shook his head. He gathered their bread and fruit, then rose. "The Lienid fighter is filling your mind with romantic notions. — Kristin Cashore

In the saddle again, Fire mulled over the commander's trust, prodding it around, like a candy in her mouth, trying to decide whether she believed it. — Kristin Cashore

She must learn who he was, so that she could know what do do with him. — Kristin Cashore

For a moment, it was almost as if they were friends again. — Kristin Cashore

How acutely sometimes the presence or absence of people mattered — Kristin Cashore

Only a person with the true heart of a dictionary-writer would be lying in bed, three days after being stabbed in the gut, worrying about his P's. — Kristin Cashore

She glanced up at him, and in that moment he pulled his wet shirt over his head. She forced her mind blank. Blank as a new sheet of paper, blank as a starless sky. He came to the fire and crouched before it. He rubbed the water from his bare arms and flicked it in the flames. She stared at the goose and sliced his drumstick carefully and thought of the blankest expression on the blankest face she could possibly imagine. It was a chilly evening; she thought about that. The goose would be delicious, they must eat as much of it as possible, they must not waste it; she thought about that. — Kristin Cashore

The more I see and hear, the more I realize how much I don't know. — Kristin Cashore

What was the difference between a husband and a lover?
If she took Po as her husband, she would be making promises about a future she couldn't yet see. For once she became his wife, she would be his wife forever. And, no matter how much freedom Po gave her, she would always know that it was a gift. Her freedom would not be her own; it would be Po's to give or to withhold. That he never would withhold it made no difference. If it did not come from her, it was not really hers.
If Po were her lover, would she feel captured, cornered into a sense of forever? Or would she still have the freedom that sprang from herself? — Kristin Cashore

Brigan threw his head back and smiled at the sky. Well said, Lady. The world may be falling to pieces, but at least the lot of us can have a bath. — Kristin Cashore

I sense people when they're near me, thinking and feeling and moving around, their bodies, their physical energy. — Kristin Cashore

What man can hate or love well when he is drugged? — Kristin Cashore

Katsa didn't think a person should thank her for not causing pain. Causing joy was worthy of thanks, and causing pain worthy of disgust. Causing neither was neither, it was nothing, and nothing didn't warrant thanks. — Kristin Cashore

Your horse is named Small.
Yes.
Mine is named Big.
-Fire and Brigan — Kristin Cashore

The Queen of Monsea, in trousers and short hair, looking for all the world like a miniature pirate. — Kristin Cashore

Love is stupid. It has nothing to do with reason. You love whomever you love. — Kristin Cashore

Your brand of comfort bears some similarity to your tactical offense. — Kristin Cashore

Could she be his lover and still belong to herself? — Kristin Cashore

She wanted to cause him pain for taking a place in her heart she wouldn't have given him if she'd known the truth. — Kristin Cashore

Circumstances don't always align themselves with human intention. — Kristin Cashore

It has been a hard lesson to learn, that greatness requires suffering. — Kristin Cashore

She couldn't have him, and there was no mistaking it. She could never be his wife. She could not steal herself back from Randa only to give herself away again- belong to another person, be answerable to another person, build her very being around another person. No matter how she loved him. — Kristin Cashore

My favorite genre is Beautifully Written Books of Any Genre. Could we make that a genre? — Kristin Cashore

Everyone wants a bit of something beautiful. — Kristin Cashore

Please, Katsa," he finally said. "At least talk to me".
She swung around to face him. "What it there to talk about? You know how I feel, and what I think about it."
"And what I feel? Doesn't it matter? — Kristin Cashore

Archer wouldn't consider her allowance of the guard to be evidence of the powers of rational argument. He'd take it as proof that she was in love with whichever of her guards was the most handsome. — Kristin Cashore

It's only water," she said.
"Tell that to a drowning man," Giddon said. — Kristin Cashore

Death pulled Lovejoy against his chest and held him tight, gripping both cat and book as if he expected someone to try to take them from him. — Kristin Cashore

That was a perfectly reasonable explanation," she said grumpily. "Perhaps my advisers don't lie to me."
"Isn't that what you'd want?" asked Giddon.
"Well, yes, but it doesn't elucidate my puzzle!"
"If I may say so, Lady Queen," said Giddon, "it's not always easy to follow your conversation."
"Oh, Giddon," she said, sighing. "If it's any comfort, I don't follow it either. — Kristin Cashore

But then, it was a strange monster, for beneath its exterior it was frightened and sickened by its own violence. It chastised itself for its savagery. And sometimes it had no heart for violence and rebelled against it utterly. A — Kristin Cashore

Her fingers flew, her fiddle was an entire orchestra, and every note beautifully brought into being struck a chord of satisfaction within her. She wondered at the unfamiliar lightness in her chest and realised she was laughing.
So great was her focus, it took her a while to register the strange expression that crept to Brocker's face as he listened, finger tapping the armrest of his chair. His eyes were fixed behind Fire and to the right, in the direction of Archer's back doorway. Fire comprehended that someone must be standing in Archer's entrance, someone Brocker watched with startled eyes.
And then everything happened at once. Fire recognised the mind in the doorway; she spun around, fiddle and bow screeching apart; she stared at Prince Brigan leaning against the door frame. — Kristin Cashore

And he knew nothing of her, if he thought she desired friends — Kristin Cashore

Well, none of it would ever end if she was too afraid for it to begin. — Kristin Cashore

Prince Brigan. And where's your Lady?"
"In her history lesson. She went without complaint and I've been trying to prepare myself for what it might mean. Either she's planning to bribe me about something or she's ill. — Kristin Cashore

It hurts when you strike me - " "It hurts you for only an instant, and besides, if I hit you it's only because you've let me, because you're too busy wrenching my arm out of its socket to care that I'm hitting you in the stomach. — Kristin Cashore

That was what they did with themselves, those two Gracelings, along with a small band of friends: They stirred up trouble on a serious scale - bribery, coercion, sabotage, organized rebellion - all directed at stopping the worst behavior of the world's most seriously corrupt kings. — Kristin Cashore

Raffin had told her she wasn't perceptive. Po was perceptive. And talkative. Perhaps that was why they got along so well. She didn't have to explain herself to Po, and he explained himself to her without her having to ask. She'd never known a person with whom she could communicate so freely - so unused was she to the phenomenon of friendship. — Kristin Cashore

Perhaps I can stay by the fire and mend your socks and scream if I hear any strange noises. — Kristin Cashore

Po's been sick, you know." "I'm sorry to hear that," he said, with no expression. "Don't be an ass. He's actually been quite unwell. — Kristin Cashore

Alone in the forest, Katsa sat on a stump and cried. She cried like a person whose heart is broken and wondered how, when two people loved each other, there could be such a broken heart. — Kristin Cashore

Fire supposed he needed to be there in order to give rousing speeches and lead the charge into the fray, or whatever is was commanders did in wartime. She resented his competence at something so tragic and senseless. She wished he, or somebody, would throw down his sword and say, 'Enough! This is a silly way to decide who's in charge!' And it seemed to her, as the beds in the healing room filled and emptied and filled, that these battles didn't leave much to be in charge of. The kingdom was already broken, and this war was tearing the broken pieces smaller. — Kristin Cashore

A long moment of silence stretched out between them. Her conversation to this point had mostly been an attempt to distract him while she gathered her feelings: gathered them and ejected them, so that she could face him with a mind that was blank and smooth, with no thoughts for him to read. She was fairly good at this. Even bleary-headed and shaky with fatigue, she was good at emptying her mind. — Kristin Cashore

You're the queen, and it's the queen's house, and whatever Brigan may accomplish, he's highly unlikely ever to be queen. — Kristin Cashore

Madlen came to sit beside her on the bed. "Lady Queen," she said with her own particular brand of rough gentleness. "It is not the job of the child to protect her mother. It's the mother's job to protect the child. By allowing your mother to protect you, you gave her a gift. Do you understand me? — Kristin Cashore

Then I'm sorry I don't remember more. If we kew a person was going to die, we'd hold harder to the memories. — Kristin Cashore

Living is too hard right now. Dying is easy. Let me die. — Kristin Cashore

He laughed. I know you're teasing me. And you should know I'm not easily humiliated. You may hunt for my food, and pound me every time we fight, and protect me when we're attacked, if you like. I'll thank you for it. — Kristin Cashore

It made Fire so angry, the thought of such a medicine, a violence done to herself to stop her from creating anything like herself. And what was the purpose of these eyes, this impossible face, the softness and the curves of this body, the strength of this mind; what was the point, if none of the men who desired her were to give her any babies, and all it ever brought her was grief? What was the purpose of a woman monster? — Kristin Cashore

Katsa now sat calmly on the stomach of her vanquished foe. "He was handsome," said said.
Po moaned. "Was he beat-to-a-pulp handsome, or perhaps just push-down-a-flight-of-stairs handsome?"
"I would not push a seventy six year old man down a flight of stairs," said Katsa indignantly. — Kristin Cashore

Brigan was saying her name, and he was sending her a feeling. It was courage and strength, and something else too, as if he were standing with her, as if he'd taken her within himself, letting her rest her entire body for a moment on his backbone, her mind in his mind, her heart in the fire of his.
The fire of Brigan's heart was astounding. Fire understood, and almost could not believe, that the feeling he was sending her was love. — Kristin Cashore

She could control with parts of her body too. She could control some people with her face alone, or with her face and a suggestion made in a certain tone of voice- a voice of pretended promises. Or with her hair. Her power was in all of those things. — Kristin Cashore

I want to have the heart and mind of a queen," she whispered. "I want it more than anything. But I'm only pretending. I can't find the feeling of it inside me."
Fire considered her quietly. You want me to look for it inside you.
"I just want to know," Bitterblue said. "If it's there, it would be a great comfort for me to know."
Fire said, I can tell you already that it's there.
"Really?" Bitterblue whispered.
Queen Bitterblue, Fire said, shall I share with you the feeling of your own strength? — Kristin Cashore

Men are daft around women, incautious and boastful. — Kristin Cashore

Well then, "Katsa said. "Of course, we'll operate with the greatest possible secrecy, Bitterblue. And for what it's worth, we'll deny your involvement to our dying breaths, and I'll kill anyone who doesn't."
Bann began to laugh into Raffin's shoulder. Smiling, Raffin said sideways to him, "Can you imagine what it would be like to be able to say that and mean it? — Kristin Cashore

Kasta looked from one of them to the other, the two of them shaking hands, understanding each other's concern. She didn't see where Giddon came off feeling insulted. She didn't see how Giddon had any place in it at all. Who were they, to take her fight away from her and turn it into some sort of understanding between themselves? She would knock his nose from his face. She would thump them both, and she would apologise to neither. — Kristin Cashore

Tess had said that the river was liable to wash the palace and the city and the whole kingdom off the rocks, and then there would finally be peace in the world.
"Peace in the world," Brigan repeated musingly when Fire told him. "I suppose she's right. That would bring peace to the world. But it's not likely to happen, so I suppose we'll have to keep blundering on and making a mess of it."
"Oh," Fire said, "well put. We'll have to pass that on to the governor so he can use it in his speech when they dedicate the new bridge. — Kristin Cashore

Everyone wants a little bit of something beautiful. — Kristin Cashore

For now, Lady Queen," he said, "allow us to continue to obey you. But give us honorable instructions, Lady Queen," he said, turning a flushed face to hers. "Ask us to do honorable things, so that we may have the honor of obeying you. — Kristin Cashore

Fire's own laughter was a balm to her heart. — Kristin Cashore

If she was suggesting she was too wise with the weight of her experience to fall prey to infatuation - well, the disproof was sitting before her in the form of a gray-eyed prince with a thoughtful set to his mouth that she found quite distracting. — Kristin Cashore

Raff,' Katsa said, 'your problem is that your heart's not in it. We need to find something to strengthen your defensive resolve. What if you pretended he's trying to smash your favorite medicinal plant?'
'The rare blue safflower,' Bann suggested.
'Yes,' Katsa said gamely, 'pretend he's after your snaffler.'
'Bann would never come after my rare blue safflower,' Raffin said distinctly. 'The very notion is absurd.'
'Pretend he's not Bann. Pretend he's your father. — Kristin Cashore

I think.' she said, 'that sometimes we don't feel the things that we are. But others can feel them. — Kristin Cashore

Katsa and Po were trying to drown each other and, judging from their hoots of laughter, enjoying it immensely. — Kristin Cashore

Fire had come to know more about the insignificant habits and tastes of Lord Mydogg, Lord Gentian, Murgda, Gunner, all their households and all their guests than any person could care to know. She knew Gentian was ambitious but also slightly featherbrained at times and had a delicate stomach, ate no rich foods, and drank only water. She knew his son Gunner was cleverer than his father, a reputable soldier, a bit of an ascetic when it came to wine and women. Mydogg was the opposite, denied himself no pleasure, was lavish with his favorites and stingy with everyone else. Murgda was stingy with everyone including herself, and was said to be exceedingly fond of bread pudding. — Kristin Cashore

That's not even a thing. — Kristin Cashore