Chima Quotes & Sayings

We don't protect them because they're weak. We protect them because they are strong, and strong people make enemies. — Cinda Williams Chima

Well, I believe she went in to rescue some Raggers from the pits," Cuffs said. "She wasn't all that specific."
"She went in to rescue - why would she do that?" Amon gripped the ironwork, studying the streetlord's face. Was he lying? And if so, what was the purpose?
"Guess she's kind of taken with us," Cuffs said. "You know, the glamor of the gang life and all. Getting beat up every other day, arrested for crimes you didn't commit, long nights in gaol, sleeping in the cold and wet. It's ... seductive." He raised an eyebrow. — Cinda Williams Chima

They were like two pieces of a failed star, drawn together by a shared history and a memory of illicit kisses. — Cinda Williams Chima

And they always slept better with blades beneath their beds. — Cinda Williams Chima

His father always treated him as if he were capable of great things. Which made him want to accomplish great things. — Cinda Williams Chima

So you questioned him?" Raisa prompted. "What did he say for himself?"
"Well, the first thing Gillen does is steal his purse and beat him with a club." Amon said. — Cinda Williams Chima

If he weren't so thoroughly wrung out, he could kill the bastard on the spot. In his present condition, he'd be lucky to strangle a gnat — Cinda Williams Chima

The things you don't like talking about would fill a library."
"That's the kind of life I've had, all right? — Cinda Williams Chima

The human mind had a remarkable ability both to discount what it sees and make reality conform to expectation. — Cinda Williams Chima

There's too much to learn in a lifetime. — Cinda Williams Chima

Just tell me you don't love me, and I'll let the matter drop."
"What?"
"What I said. Just say, 'Rai, I don't love you and I never will'. It's that simple."
"Raisa, this is getting us nowhere."
"Say it! — Cinda Williams Chima

Jason felt humiliated and frustrated. Rejected by a rock. — Cinda Williams Chima

Tears stung her eyes. She sank her knees next to the sleeping bench and gently raked strands of golden hair from him forehead.
"Don't you die. don't you dare. I forbid it." As if Han Alister had ever listened to anything she said. — Cinda Williams Chima

(A)ny time you buy weapons, or build an army, you begin to look for an excuse to use them. Plus, you pose more of a threat to others. — Cinda Williams Chima

He sat in the other chair, taking advantage of the opportunity to take another good look at her. Her fawn-colored hair was sun-streaked from long days spent outdoors. Now it was done up copperhead style, the multiple braids decorated with beads and feathers. One braid per kill - wasn't that the rule? — Cinda Williams Chima

If he even survives." She shivered, and Amon put his arm around her, drawing her into his steady warmth.
"It's that bad?"
Raisa nodded. "He looked ... he looked awful, Amon. Willo doesn't know if he'll ... She's worried about him. My mother died, and I never got to tell her that I loved her, that I finally understood - just a little anyway. If Han dies too, I don't know what I'll do. — Cinda Williams Chima

We spend so much of our lives waiting to be ambushed by heartbreak. Why couldn't we be ambushed by joy? — Cinda Williams Chima

You can't always pick where you fight, or who you fight ... or even ... how you fight. But do the picking ... whenever you can. — Cinda Williams Chima

For Hanalea the Warrior! — Cinda Williams Chima

You do not respond to an attempt on your life with a slap on the hand. Or a joke. — Cinda Williams Chima

Han made no effort to put up a brave front. Most of the time he just screamed himself hoarse, though a couple of times he amused himself by screaming Fionas's name as if he were in the throes of passion. FEEE-OHHH-NAAA! Lord Bayar made him pay for that, but afterward, Fiona didn't come down anymore, which Han appreciated. — Cinda Williams Chima

There was something savage and elemental and feral in him. The fact that he was a savant only added to the intrigue.
I always go for the dangerous boys, Leesha thought. — Cinda Williams Chima

The bluejacket girlie rode like a clan warrior, but there was no way she'd escape. It was a private life-and-death contest that had nothing to do with him.
He told himself he should ride on, grateful that the chase would keep them occupied while he took a different path.
But what had he told Rebecca when she'd asked what he meant to do when he returned to the Fells?
'I'm tired of people in power picking on the weak. I'm going to help them. — Cinda Williams Chima

Love is the root of so much suffering and misery, so much loss. It's the worst thing in the world, to risk yourself by loving someone. At the same time, it's the best thing in the world - and worth the risk. — Cinda Williams Chima

It's not about what people think. It's about who you are. — Cinda Williams Chima

I thought I could play at love...But I've found out I'm not made that way...I can't play this game if my heart's not in it. — Cinda Williams Chima

Han smiled, then, a bright, charming smile that lit up the room, more dangerous than any blade.
All you ever needed was that smile, she thought. I'd have given in immediately. — Cinda Williams Chima

Crow paced back and forth, his form flickering like flame. "It's been a thousand years, Alister. I never intended for anyone to find it, so it's very well protected. One little misstep, and you and my line will be history."
"Since when are you so concerned about your line?" Han said.
Crow stared at him for a long moment. "Since I found out I had one, — Cinda Williams Chima

Ignorance doesn't lead to salvation, nor does knowledge pave the way to sin. - Cinda Williams Chima — Scott Westerfeld

You ever notice how sometimes, in the middle of July, right downtown, you'll see a flower poking up through a crack in the asphalt. And you think, What a stupid place to set down roots. It'll get run over, or it'll dry up and blow away. But it hangs on, and it grows, and it blooms. Somehow, against the odds, it finds what it needs and it makes that place better for being there. — Cinda Williams Chima

A fiction writer is never entirely alone. Her characters are constantly whispering in her ear. — Cinda Williams Chima

If a lady should do this, Raisa wondered, should a man do the same? Is he required to? — Cinda Williams Chima

I have to think it's possible to suffer a great wrong and walk away from it. To build a life of small, exquisitely important moments. — Cinda Williams Chima

His name was Theo. — Cinda Williams Chima

He forgot everything: the sorcerer upstairs, the mission, his own imperfection, and the shame and bitterness that came with it. — Cinda Williams Chima

Come on! We've had too many dead heroes. Being a coward increases your odds of survival-that's my motto. I'm counting on bieng faster than them. — Cinda Williams Chima

Emma was horrified and transfixed at the same time. She was watching Jonah Kinlock doing what he did best. There was a certain macabre beauty in watching form and function wedded together. In Jonah's case, a dance of beauty and death. — Cinda Williams Chima

She had never felt more alive than when she lay dying in Han Alister's arms. — Cinda Williams Chima

Well, all right, Ash thought. Maybe freeing the dragon wasn't such a good idea. — Cinda Williams Chima

If you want to be a writer, you must be in love with the process of writing, whether you achieve financial success or not. — Cinda Williams Chima

She's tough for a blueblood, he'd thought, a lifetime ago. Maybe tough enough to be with him. He hadn't considered that he might not be tough enough to be with her. — Cinda Williams Chima

The northern soldiers are just men," Hal told the men in his command. "And women," he amended. "When you cut them, they bleed, just like us. — Cinda Williams Chima

Surround yourselves with trustworthy people. If you don't, all the weaponry and tactics in the world can't save you. — Cinda Williams Chima

But adulthood slipped up on you, she thought. It was forced on you whether you liked it or not. — Cinda Williams Chima

He keeps this up, he's bound to be caught, she thought. And this time they'll dangle him for certain. — Cinda Williams Chima

But I don't want your throne." "Then what do you want?" "You. — Cinda Williams Chima

Fitch is on his way. He's coming after he blows up some wizards. — Cinda Williams Chima

The problem is, hope is the thing that can't be reined in by rules or pinned down by bitter experience. It's a blessing and curse. — Cinda Williams Chima

He'd always found that he learned more if he kept quiet. — Cinda Williams Chima

I . . . what do you mean? I don't know any Angelique."
Catherine stared at him in surprise. "Why, Garren, of course you know Angelique, the clerk in my shop in Whitehall?"
Garren planted both hands on the table and pushed to his feet. "Let's go. This is a waste of time." "It says . . ." The seer frowned, as if trying to make out a hazy script.
"It says, 'I'm not going to sleep with you anymore, you faithless bastard. — Cinda Williams Chima

I like to think there's a little bit of me in you:a love for music and a stubborn streak a mile wide. But we're different, you and me, and I don't forget it. You're strong and you're tough and you tell the truth. You're a good person, Emma. I'm none of those things. I used to think I was tough, but now I know I'm the biggest coward that ever lived. — Cinda Williams Chima

We train in strategy, geography, horsemanship, weaponry, that sort of thing. We study great battles in history and analyze the outcome. The — Cinda Williams Chima

Commander! Sir! Wake up!
Jack surfaced from sleep, wondering who the commander was and wishing he'd respond so he could go back to sleep - until he remembered that he was the commander. — Cinda Williams Chima

We are invited to drink the the king's health.
To his good health or bad health? - Ash — Cinda Williams Chima

I've found it wise to enjoy any time of truce, while recognizing it for what it is. A truce. — Cinda Williams Chima

Han struggled to remember Master Leontus's lectures on healing, the recitations he'd drowsed through. I'll never have need of that, Han had thought. I'm being trained to kill people, not heal them. He'd thought everyone he'd ever want to heal was already dead.
He'd been wrong. — Cinda Williams Chima

You've grown so tall, Mageling, in these four years," she said, as if she hadn't really looked at him for a while. "And handsome. Are you taller than your father was?"
"So I'm told. It's hard for me to remember now." That was a lie. He remembered - exactly - the measure of his father's arm around his shoulders, the distance between them when he leaned down to speak at Ash's level, even the scent of him - leather and sweat and fresh mountain air. — Cinda Williams Chima

If someone grabs you in the street, hit hard and fast, because you may not get a second chance. — Cinda Williams Chima

Her clothes still smoked from the wizard's assault. But to him, she always smelled of flowers. — Cinda Williams Chima

Don't pick a fight you can't win. — Cinda Williams Chima

Maybe you're the one that gave me up to the Darians at Oden's Ford."
"Right," she said, staring up at the ceiling. "And then I turned around and rescued you. You know women - changeable as a day in April. Sometimes we just can't make up our minds. — Cinda Williams Chima

But where there is hate, there is a need for love. — Amrit Chima

Leicester stared fixedly at the image before him, the color bleached from his face by its brilliance. Seph sensed the headmaster's mind questing out, trying to discover and destroy the wizard behind the image, but finding nothing, no trail of magic, no stone, no flesh and blood to focus on.
Jason Haley, the puppeteer, was safely ensconced in the gallery above. — Cinda Williams Chima

Is it really your intention to be a soldier, Morley?" Askell asked. "Wouldn't it make more sense for you to study the softer sciences? Healing, art, and philosophy are all important topics. That's a more typical course of study for those of your station."
"My station or my gender, sir?" Rasia said. "You've said Wien House is full of thanelings and dukes. I can think of only one way in which they are different from me. — Cinda Williams Chima

A moment later, Cat hurtled back into the room as if chased by demons. She stationed herself in front of Raisa, a knife in either hand, all of her genteel patina swept away. "Cuffs! Look sharp! It's him, the whey-faced, gutter-swiving, prig-napping bastard! He's here!"
Han looked as mystified as Raisa. "Who's here? — Cinda Williams Chima

He expects nothing, she thought, because he's never had anything. And nothing was expected of him. He was free in a way she never would be. — Cinda Williams Chima

Stupid. He was stupid. He was tired of being stupid. — Cinda Williams Chima

It was just a different kind of battle, one he'd have to learn to win — Cinda Williams Chima

If I could destroy the world, don't you think I could fight off the queen of the Fells? Crow snorted. — Cinda Williams Chima

I'd rather have a go at life, so there's something to talk about once we're gone. — Cinda Williams Chima

Sometimes you have to go somewhere else to appreciate what we have here. — Cinda Williams Chima

Jason settled back on the bench. 'I hate to break this to you, but as a rule, wizards are nasty people. They're powerful, capricious, ruthless, egotistical, used to getting their own way. That's being kind. — Cinda Williams Chima

The time will come when you will be forced to make a choice," Hanalea said. "When that time comes, choose love. — Cinda Williams Chima

But it's not enough to know right from wrong. You need the strength to do what's right, even when what you want most in the world is the wrong thing. — Cinda Williams Chima

A sensible girl would not have been crying, grieving for the boy with the magic in his voice and the blues in his eyes, mourning the loss of something that was a lie-a lie-from beginning to end. — Cinda Williams Chima

As if he'd guessed her thoughts, Micah said, "I've risked everything for you." His eyes spoke more than he said aloud. — Cinda Williams Chima

To be honest, I thought of you as an amateur - a spoiled, entitled, runaway princeling bent on revenge who would get caught and then complicate my elegant scheme. I figured the less you knew, the better."
"I hate it when you sugarcoat things," Ash said. — Cinda Williams Chima

It's true what they say, then-history is written by the victors. — Cinda Williams Chima

As I said, history is written by the victors. The truth is, the villains were less villainous, and the heroes less heroic, than you've been told. — Cinda Williams Chima

If you're scared, you should've stayed at home," Byram said.
"If you're not scared, you're stupid. — Cinda Williams Chima

He would find a way to make it work, because he finally understood that sometimes you have to raise your expectations. And sometimes you need to make a claim on the world and the people you love to get what you most desire — Cinda Williams Chima

Maybe the hardest lesson Han had learned was that nobody is purely bad or good. Everybody seemed to be a mixture of both. — Cinda Williams Chima

Raisa's breath caught. "They clubbed you?"
"Well." He looked sideways at her. "If you were any good, they'd miss. — Cinda Williams Chima

The girl must be looking for another hot-fudge shower, Ellen said. Then she, too, advanced on Leesha. — Cinda Williams Chima

But maybe it's better to go after something, and not get it, than to not even try. — Cinda Williams Chima

There's something about a roof isn't there? It makes you feel like it doesn't matter what's going on below. All of those things that get in the way of your dreams - you're above them. Anything is possible. — Cinda Williams Chima

I suppose I'm still walking that line between life and death, trying to choose which side I'm on."
"I want you on my side, healer," Jenna said.
"And ... I want to be," he said. "It's just ... " He searched her face. "How do you ever really know a person?"
Jenna ran her fingertips over the back of his hand, tracing the veins. "Not everything is a lie, Wolf," she said. "Sometimes you have to believe what you see. — Cinda Williams Chima

Allison was at full strength when it came to one thing:attitude. — Cinda Williams Chima

Please, Kenzie, Jonah thought. Please, please, please back off from this. His life wasn't much, but it was all he had, this small safe space, walled in by secrets. — Cinda Williams Chima

Sometimes you have to get away to remember who you are. Believe in yourself, Lyss. You're strong and smart enough to do this job. Never let anyone tell you different. — Cinda Williams Chima

Just because you're the enemy of my enemy don't mean you're my friend, Han thought. — Cinda Williams Chima

I can't make you, Rebecca, but you'll probably feel better if you eat. — Cinda Williams Chima

Oh, I am getting married," Raisa said sleepily. "You promised me that if I agreed to marry you, that you would make it happen." She extended her hand, the one with the ring Han had given her, and waved it under his nose. "So. It's time to pay up. — Cinda Williams Chima

How dare you?' Bayar began, but his voice had lost some of its force. 'How dare you come into this sacred hall, flinging accusations?'
'I have not yet made any accusations,' Willo said. 'Perhaps it is our own guilt clamoring in your ears. — Cinda Williams Chima

If she'd ever hoped to impress Amon Byrne with her newly acquired glamour and beauty, that chance was gone forever. He'd seen her in every kind of ugly. — Cinda Williams Chima

Truth be told, Raisa had no intention of marrying anyone any time soon. Her mother was young - she would rule for many years yet, so there was no need to rush into the confinement of marriage. — Cinda Williams Chima

He's not lazy. He's just highly inefficient. — Cinda Williams Chima

Hope is a dangerous thing, Raisa thought. Once kindled, it's hard to put out. It makes wise people into fools. — Cinda Williams Chima

Knowledge is power. In the wrong hands, knowledge is trouble. — Cinda Williams Chima

Weird is good, strange is bad. — Cinda Williams Chima