Protested Quotes & Sayings

We'll do it all again next weekend", he said recklessly. "I could get used to this".

"No we won't. I am happy to explore with you now and then, but I am not making four miles hikes a weekly routine" she protested. — Rebecca Tope

Something tells me there's more than one shaman in Vegas who performs weddings. I think we're better off intercepting them at the fight."
"But they could be getting married right now!" Ivy protested, falling into a double-time step to keep up with his pace.
"Lucky we're in Vegas, then. They have quickie divorces to go with their quickie weddings. — Linda Morris

You said fucking two minutes ago," Bruce protested.
"Sure I did," Joe said, his tone patronizing.
"You did," Bruce insisted. He was two tables away now, but apparently this was the argument that he didn't want to let go.
"I fucking doubt it," Joe said — Kate Sherwood

Meaning they'll reach the wild safely," he said. "They'll find water, food, shade, whatever they need until they find a safe place to live." "Why can't you place a blessing like that on us?" I asked. "It only works on wild animals." "So it would only affect Percy," Annabeth reasoned. "Hey!" I protested. — Rick Riordan

I grew up on a farm," Ayanna protested. "We worked the land." She pulled a face. "Well, I helped Dad program the agribots. — Peter F. Hamilton

Do I believe a thing has limits!? Of course! Nothing exists that doesn't have limits. Existence means there's always something else, and so everything has limits. Why is it so hard to conceive that a thing is a thing, and that it isn't always being some other thing that's beyond it?"

At that moment I felt in my bones not that I was talking to a man, but to another universe. I tried one last time, from another angle, which I felt compelled to consider legitimate.

"Look, Caeiro... think about numbers... Where do they end? Take any number - say 34. Past it we have 35, 36, 37, 38 - there can be no end to it. There is no number so big that there is no number larger..."

"But that's just numbers," protested my master Caeiro.

And then, looking at me out of his formidable, childlike eyes:

"What is 34 in Reality, anyway? — Alvaro De Campos

It used to be that parents didn't have to be home. If a neighbor so I child misbehaving, it was considered appropriate for the neighbor to intervene. The parents would be grateful when they found out, and they would take the word of the neighbor if the child protested his innocence.

Unmarried and divorced parents tend not to behave that way. Instead, they tend to try to be the good guy to their children. — Charles Murray

You make terrible, terrible plans."
"Hey, " I protested. "One of my plans caught you didn't it?"
"Yeah, but you meant to catch Sean."
He took his hand off my shoulder.
I waved his concerns away, along with a cloud of gnats that had found us in the forest.
"You're getting lost in the details. Keep the big picture in mind. — Jennifer Echols

Isn't [Caffe Nero] a bit 'commercial' for an anti-establishment rock star like yourself?"
He dropped my hand and dug into his pocket. "But I've got a loyalty card," he protested. "And I've got enough stamps to get you a free coffee. — Holly Bourne

They paused at a table bearing a collection of magic lanterns, small embossed tin lamps with condensing lenses at the front. There was a slot for a hand-painted glass slide just behind the lens. When the lamp was lit, an image would be projected on a wall. Rohan insisted on buying one for Amelia, along with a packet of slides.
"But it's a child's toy," she protested, holding the lantern by its wire handle. "What am I to do with it?"
"Indulge in pointless entertainment. Play. You should try it sometime."
"Playing is for children, not adults."
"Oh, Miss Hathaway," he murmured, leading her away from the table. "The best kind of playing is for adults. — Lisa Kleypas

My goddess! My queen!'
'Oh, no, no, no!'
He raised his head, smiling a little crookedly down at her. 'Do you dislike to hear yourself called so? There is nothing I would not do to please you, but you cannot help but be my goddess! You have been so these seven years!'
'Only a goddess could dislike it! You see by that how wretchedly short of the mark I fall. I have a little honesty - enough to tell you *now* that you must not worship me.'
He only laughed, and kissed her again. She protested no more, too much a woman not to be deeply moved by such idolatry, and awed by the constancy which, though it might have been to a false image, could not be doubted. — Georgette Heyer

I had come by then to be conscious of this aspect of slave lives: at one and the same time the masters held contrary beliefs about those they bought into their homes, viz., It did not matter what a slave saw and so behaviour that the masters would be ashamed to even have rumoured about them was carried forward unchecked in front of their slaves; and at the same time they protested: how dare you, a slave, look at us as we do thus or thus? — Claire Robertson

Orien," Birle protested again.
"You can stay if you must." Orien's cheeks were hollow with hunger and he had little strength for anger. "But I wish you'd come. I don't know how long it would be before I could come back for you."
So she followed him, since he would return for her. — Cynthia Voigt

I'm never letting you do my laundry. Again."
"I didn't know the red towel was in there," Prophet protested.
"You did it on purpose to get out of doing laundry."
"Maybe. But it worked."
"Fucking impossible. — S.E. Jakes

Oh, I have feelings for him, all right. I'd like to put him in the ground myself, believe me. Still, it would be wrong. Promise me."
"Fine. I promise I won't kill him."
He said it too easily. My eyes narrowed.
"Promise me right here and now that you will also never cripple, maim, dismember, blind, torture, bleed, or otherwise inflict any injury to Danny Milton. Or otherwise stand by while someone else does as you watch."
"Blimey, that's not fair!" he protested — Jeaniene Frost

She pushed herself up, swayed, and might have tumbled if Feeney hadn't gripped her arm. "Head rush. I'm okay, just a little queasy. Lowell's in there, secured. You need to haul his ass in. Your collar."
"No, it's not." Feeney gave her arm a squeeze. "But I'll haul his ass in for you. McNab, help the lieutenant upstairs, then get your butt back down here and start on the electronics."
"I don't need help," Eve protested.
"You fall on your face," Feeney murmured in her ear, "you'll ruin your exit."
"Yeah. Yeah."
"Just lean on me, Lieutenant." McNab wrapped an arm around her waist.
"You try to cop a feel, I can still put you down."
"Whatever your condition, Dallas, you still scare me."
"Aw." Touched, she slung an arm around his shoulders. "That's so sweet. — J.D. Robb

You're already married!" Hera protested. "To me!"
"Curses!" said Zeus. "Er, I mean, of course, dear. — Rick Riordan

He regarded us with dark, evaluating eyes. "This can't be good."
"I'll go first," Dabria began, sucking in a rattling breath.
"Not even close," I shot back. I faced Patch directly, cutting Dabria out of the conversation. "She kissed you! And Dante, who's been tailing you, by the way, caught it on camera. Imagine my surprise when that's what I got an eyeful of earlier tonight. Did you even think to tell me?"
"I told her I kissed you, and that you pushed me away," Dabria protested shrilly.
"What are you still doing here?" I exploded at Dabria. "This is between me and Patch. Leave already!"
"What are you doing here?" Patch echoed to Dabria, his tone sharpening.
"I - broke in," she sputtered. "I was scared. I couldn't sleep. I can't stop thinking about Hanoth and the other Nephilim."
"You have got to be kidding me," I said. — Becca Fitzpatrick

I could have protested of course, who says I couldn't
I could have risen to my feet at any moment, walked up to them, and
no matter how difficult it would have been
made it abundantly clear that I was not seventeen but thirty. I could have
yet I couldn't because I didn't want to, the only thing I wanted was to prove that I was not an old-fashioned boy! — Witold Gombrowicz

Miles, it's only morning and you're already drunk."

"No, I'm not," I weakly protested. "I'm just thirsty. — Rex Pickett

You're really going to leave me like this?" "You have hands." She plunged her head back into the shower jet. "I was raised Catholic," I protested. "I only do that alone and with feelings of intense shame, the way God intended. — Elliott James

But I don't believe in reincarnation! he protested.
SQUEAK.
And this, Mr Pounder understood with absolute rodent clarity, meant: reincarnation believes in you. — Terry Pratchett

On the other hand he tried to point out to her that she shouldn't give money to the beggars in the street, as they'd only buy schnapps with it. But she kept doing it. "They can do what they like with the money," she said. When Ove protested she just smiled and took his big hands in hers and kissed them, explaining that when a person gives to another person it's not just the receiver who's blessed. It's the giver. — Fredrik Backman

SHE FELT a hard pinch on her neck. "Hey!" she protested. Her eyelids flew open. The light was unbearably bright, just as painful, but everything was gauzy and indistinct, like there was a white scrim over everything. She wondered whether she'd fallen back asleep for several hours. — Joseph Finder

If you wish to serve me, as you have bloodsworn yourself to do, you must do so with honor. And that does not include introducing yourself by name to people like my mother in order to terrify them into submission."
"Kem'falla - " Gaelen protested.
"Don't bother to deny it," she snapped. — C.L. Wilson

Surely you're joking Theodore?' he protested. 'You mean to say that each snail is both a male and a female?'
'Yes indeed,' said Theodore, adding with masterly understatement, 'it's very curious.'
'Good God,' cried Larry. 'I think it's unfair. All those damned slimy things wandering about seducing each other like mad all over the bushes, and having the pleasures of both sensations. Why couldn't such a gift be given to the human race? That's what I want to know. — Gerald Durrell

Are you ready to discuss what you're doing here?"
"Certainly-with your daughter." He suddenly swept Rebecca into his arms and carried her out of the room.
"Now just a minute!" Lilly protested behind the,.
Rupert didn't stop,in fact, he as nearly running up the stairs to the second floor. Incredulous,Rebecca pointed out, "She might follow us."
"She won't," he replied with typical male confidencec. "I suppose I'll have to try each of these doors to find out which one is yours,just as you did at my house."
He was doing just that,but she said, "Or you could ask."
He glanced down at her. "And you'd tell me?"
"Why don't you try that one." She nodded toward the door he'd been about to open. — Johanna Lindsey

By the 1970s, the American woman was being called 'liberated' or 'superwoman' while the American man was being called 'baby killer' if he fought in Vietnam, 'traitor' if he protested, or 'apathetic' if he did neither. Even men who came home paraplegics were literally spit on. — Warren Farrell

I wasn't afraid of you!' Ryan protested. 'I was half intimidated, half infatuated, and I didn't know how to act because of it.'
Sin made a face at Ryan and picked up his chips again. 'How could you be infatuated with me when you didn't even know me?'
Ryan scoffed and pointed his cheese-covered fork at Sin. 'You're gorgeous and tragic - gay boys like that kind of thing. — Santino Hassell

Very, very protesty. And, uh, one of the protestiest of all things I ever protested against in my protest years. — Bob Dylan

A woman protested saying, "Of course it was a righteous war. My son fell in it.". — Kahlil Gibran

Depend upon it there comes a time when for every addition of knowledge you forget something that you knew before. It is of the highest importance, therefore, not to have useless facts elbowing out the useful ones." "But the Solar System!" I protested. — Arthur Conan Doyle

My magic is not evil. It is a powerful force for good," Levet protested, his wings twitching with outrage. Really some demons. "I am like Batman. Only cuter. — Alexandra Ivy

There is an irrational, cultish tendency in many intellectual movements, and Objectivism, alas, is no exception. Ayn Rand's personal obsession with loyalty did little to discourage this trend ... Rand had often protested, 'Protect me from my followers!' — Nathaniel Branden

I happened to notice that among the men who had willingly presented themselves for jury-service was one whom I knew to be the father of seven children. Under a law of Augustus's he was exempt for the rest of his life; yet he had not pleaded for exemption or mentioned the size of his family. I told the magistrate: "Strike this man's name off. He's a father of seven." He protested: "But, Caesar, he has made no attempt to excuse himself." "Exactly," I said, "he wants to be a juryman. Strike him off." I meant, of course,that the fellow was concealing his immunity from what every honest man considered a very thankless and disagreeable duty and that he therefore was almost certain to have crooked intentions. Crooked jurymen could pick up a lot of money by bribes, for it was a commonplace that one interested juryman could sway the opinions of a whole bunch of uninterested ones; and the majority verdict decided a case. — Robert Graves

Still, I kept writing. I had no guarantee that I would someday win awards for writing. Heavens, the only person during that time who seemed to think I could write something worth publishing was my loyal husband. But I always remembered the professor from graduate school who urged me to write and who recommended me for that first writing assignment in 1964. When I protested to Sara Little that I didn't want to add another mediocre writer to the world, she gently reminded me that if I didn't dare mediocrity, I would never write anything at all. — Katherine Paterson

Well
to put it briefly
Arianna and I had become
well
friends."
"I see."
"Nothing improper, you understand," Lelldorin said quickly. "But our friendship was such that
well
we didn't want to be separated." The young Asturian's face appealed to his friend for understanding. "Actually," he went on, "it was a little more than 'didn't want to.' Arianna told me she'd die if I left her behind."
"Possibly she was exaggerating," Garion suggested.
"How could I risk it, though?" Lelldorin protested. "Women are much more delicate than we are
besides, Arianna's a physician. She'd know if she'd die, wouldn't she? — David Eddings

Sophie, you saw Alice's transformation."
I nodded. "And the murder of my great-grandfather. Weird it showed me that when I've had so many other awful things happen directly to me," I said, beginning to tick them off on my fingers. "Elodie getting killed, having to kill Alice, escaping a burning building with the help of a ghost ... " And then, because both my parents looked so deflated, I added, "Oh, and this really heinous pageboy haircut in sixth grade."
A few wan smiles appeared, but I think it was just to humor me.
"Yes, but that was the act that was directly responsible for all of those other horrible events," Dad said. "Well, except for the haircut. I suspect that can be laid at your mother's door."
"James!" Mom protested, but I swear I heard affection behind it. I think Dad did, too, because his lips quirked upward briefly. — Rachel Hawkins

Hey, I'm cute, too," Dex protested as they followed Ash and Cael to the bullpen. "Why don't I get a free drink?"
Ash flipped him off, calling out over his shoulder,"You're not cute, Daley."
"Screw you. I'm fucking adorable!"
Sloane leaned into Dex, whispering. "I think you're cute."
Dex smiled at him and batted his lashes. "Do I get a free drink?"
"No."
"Damn." Dex craned his neck and waved his arms. "Hey, Rosa! I have to ask you something." He ran off and Sloane chuckled, hearing Dex calling out after her. "Where are you going? I want to ask you if you think I'm cute. You do, right? Rosa? — Charlie Cochet

The Iraq War was the first conflict in western history in which an imperialist war was massively protested against before it had even been launched. — Noam Chomsky

I'm not adorable," Wade protested. "I am manly and grizzled and have no emotions. None. — Molly Harper

I marched and I protested against the war in Vietnam, along with many, many thousands of others. But I never quite understood the bombs that were placed in science labs or office buildings. — Don DeLillo

Smarmy little prig," Will snarled, leaning father forward, as if he longed to reach through the magical portal and strangle Gabriel. "When I get him alone ... "
"I ought to go in with her instead," Gabriel went on. "I can look out for her a bit more. Instead of simply looking out for myself."
"Hanging's too good for him," agreed Jem, who looked as if he were trying not to laugh.
"Tessa knows Will," protested Charlotte. "She trusts Will."
"I wouldn't go that far," muttered Tessa. — Cassandra Clare

A young man, just beginning the study of musical composition, once went to Mozart and asked him the formula for developing the theme of a symphony. Mozart suggested that a symphony was rather an ambitious project for a beginner: perhaps the young man might better try his hand at something simpler first. "But you were writing symphonies when you were my age." the student protested. "Yes, but I didn't have to ask how." — James Keller

I'm not going to pick her up and carry her screaming to the basement," Trent said. "It's a workday. Besides, she has a crutch."
"Crutch or no, she's hurt!" Ceri protested.
"I mean," Trent said intently, "she can hit me with it if I do something she doesn't like. — Kim Harrison

My mother had never openly protested my relationship with Sydney. Really, there'd been no chance. I'd simply shown up at Court with a bride in tow, and no one had been able to put asunder those whom the state of Nevada had brought together. — Richelle Mead

Even more blood welled up and spilled down his arm, splattering onto the ground.
"Camille's carpet," Magnus protested.
"It's blood," said Will. "She ought to be thrilled. — Cassandra Clare

The sailed right down a waterfall a hundred meters high
then sank a dozen pirate ships ad they were passing by.
"It was two! Two! That's all. And the were boats, not ships!" Hal said, shaking his head at the dreaful exaggerations flowing from Stefan's and Jesper's lips. The crowd sang another chorus with them and Erak looked at him in pity.
"You probably had to be there to appreciate it," he said knowingly. Hal threw his arms wide in frustration. "I was there!" he protested. "It was nothing like this! — John Flanagan

You'll dine with us, Comte? And you, Anthony?"
"I trespass on your hospitality!" Armand protested.
"Devil a bit, man!" said Rupert. "It's Avon's hospitality you trespass on, and our patience. — Georgette Heyer

Protested Mrs. Featherstone, a lady in her thirties, whose violently compressed figure suggested that she was engaged in a perpetual struggle to compute her weight in terms of the first syllables of her name rather than the last. — Dorothy L. Sayers

Benno blushed violently. "I am not a murderer!" he protested. "No one is, until he commits his first crime," William said philosophically. — Umberto Eco

Jesus! We can't just sit here and twiddle our thumbs. Who's the brains of this outfit, anyway?"
"I think that was Shaw," Carl said wryly as his mind landed on an idea. "Before he went mad' that is. Now I suppose it's you, God help us. "
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Shawn asked in a hurt voice. "I've not gone mad!"
"Uh huh. What's the plan, Dixie?" Carl asked as he spared Shawn a glance before turning his gaze back on Remy. Remy blinked at him.
"You can't put him in charge," Shawn protested. "We'll be in the shit and he'll stop to get an ice cream, for fuck's sake!"
"What's wrong with ice cream?" Remy asked in an insulted voice.
"I think you missed the point of the comment," Thiago muttered as he sat down in the kitchen besid Nikolaus. — Abigail Roux

I'm not melancholic,' she protested, but the thin ice was under her feet again, the uncertainties. or was it that she always wanted a little more than she had, no matter how much she had? — Patricia Highsmith

But could anything have always existed? Something deep down inside her protested at the idea. Surely everything that exists must have had a beginning? So space must sometime have been created out of something else. But if space had come from something else, then that something else must also have come from something. Sophie felt she was only deferring the problem. At some point, something must have come from nothing. But was that possible? Wasn't that just as impossible as the idea that the world had always existed? — Jostein Gaarder

Look now,' Vesna's mother continued, 'what do you know, a civil war might break out any minute: Serbs would fight with Croats, Czechs would fight with Slovaks, Hungarians would fight with Jews. how can you be sure of anything?'
'But, Mother, if this happens, then it will such big trouble that nobody would think about a shortage of pantyhose,' protested Vesna.
'You'd be surprised, my dear, to know that people have to live and survive during wars, too. Besides, how do you think we survived communism? — Slavenka Drakulic

And then Mircea finally let me down, only to get his hands inside the coat and push me against the wall.
"I'm dirty," I protested.
He waggled his eyebrows. "Promise?"
"Mircea!" I laughed in spite of myself ... — Karen Chance

Davis looked Priscilla up and down. "You're going with insanity?" He frowned. "In this case, I think it might work." "I'm not insane!" Priscilla protested. "Mason is mine. He doesn't want me, so he has to die," she stated plainly. "The other man was in the way. I didn't mean to shoot him." She wiped at her tears with her manacled hands. "Just Mason. — Hayden Braeburn

But, sir!" Andy protested. "I don't know what happened to it. I didn't do anything with my desk. Did you see me move it?" "My vision is not in question, young man. You expect me to believe your desk simply vanished?" "I don't know what happened to it. I just know I didn't do anything with it." Then, not quietly enough under his breath, Andy added, "You need to get your eyes examined. — L.R.W. Lee

I can't follow behind Terrowic's horse," I protested. "The smell will be unbearable." "All horses smell the same," Kippenger replied. But I eyed Terrowic. "I wasn't talking about the horse. — Jennifer A. Nielsen

Mithros's spear, Kel!" he exclaimed. "When did you turn into a real girl?"
"You said she was a girl already," muttered one of his cousins ...
"But not a girl-girl, with a chest and all!" protested Owen.
... "I've been a girl for a while, Owen," Kel informed him.
"I never realized," her too outspoken friend replied. "It's not like you've got melons or anything, they're just noticeable. — Tamora Pierce

They sat like this for a long, long time. Until the air grew cold and the stone tiles icy, and until Dan's body protested with stiffness and increasing aches. Sitting, in silence, just holding, and unable to make sence, when the only thing that made sense was the touch. — Aleksandr Voinov

No!" Jimmy protested. - Louis Tomlinson — One Direction

Hey, I'm an art lover," protested Ramirez. "I love Thomas Kinkade. Painter of Light, you know what I'm sayin'?"
Beverly's smile froze. "Yes, quite. — Linda Morris

He landed on his back amid a tangled pile of clothes. "Isabelle," Simon protested weakly, "do you really think this is going to make you feel any better?"
"Trust me," Isabelle said, placing a hand on his chest, just over his unbeating heart. "I feel better already. — Cassandra Clare

There's a Bene Gesserit saying," she said. "You have sayings for everything!" he protested. "You'll like this one," she said. "It goes: 'Do not count a human dead until you've seen his body. And even then you can make a mistake. — Frank Herbert

We must endure, Alyosha. That was the only thing she could say in response to my accounts of the ugliness and dreariness of life, of the suffering of the people - of everything against which I protested so vehemently. I was not made for endurance, and if occasionally I exhibited this virtue of cattle, wood, and stone, I did so only to test myself, to try my strength and my stability. Sometimes young people, in the foolishness of immaturity, or in envy of the strength of their elders, strive, even successfully, to lift weights that overtax their bones and muscles; in their vanity they attempt to cross themselves with two-pood weights, like mature athletes. I too did this, in the literal and figurative sense, physically and spiritually, and only good fortune kept me from injuring myself fatally or crippling myself for life.
For nothing cripples a person so dreadfully as endurance, as a humble submission to the forces of circumstance. — Maxim Gorky

Thank you, Simon, I appreciate that." Luke opened the pizza box and, finding it empty, shut it with a sigh. "Though you did eat all the pizza."
"I only had five slices," Simon protested, leaning his chair backward so it balanced precariously on its two back legs.
"How many slices did you think were in a pizza, dork?" Clary wanted to know.
"Less than five slices isn't a meal. It's a snack." Simon looked apprehensively at Luke. "Does this mean you're going to wolf out and eat me?"
"Certainly not." Luke rose to toss the pizza box into the trash. "You would be stringy and hard to digest."
"But kosher," Simon pointed out cheerfully.
"I'll be sure to point any Jewish lycanthropes your way." Luke leaned his back against the sink. — Cassandra Clare

But you needn't try to make us believe you can chloroform a cat," laughed Anne. "It was all the fault of the knothole," protested Phil. "It was a good thing the knothole was there," said Aunt Jamesina rather severely. "Kittens HAVE to be drowned, I admit, or the world would be overrun. But no decent, grown-up cat should be done to death - unless he sucks eggs. — L.M. Montgomery

We didn't stow away!" Dan protested. "You sunk our boat and pulled us out of the canal!"
"Good point," Ian agreed. "Return them to the canal. Roughly, please. — Gordon Korman

I held my bag open and he dropped Jenks inside.
"Hey!" the pixy protested, and then, "Tink's little pink dildo, Rache? Haven't you gotten rid of those condoms yet? They got a shelf life, you know. — Kim Harrison

O, the perfidy of men." "What have I done?" he protested. "Nothing at present, but you are the only representative of your sex I have at hand to abuse. Take your lumps for your brothers. — Deanna Raybourn

But Cal," Jem protested, "you don't look even near as old as Atticus."
"Colored folks don't show their ages so fast," she said. — Harper Lee

And when I protested a bit more, I remember he said, 'My dear Lady Ponsonby, there's nothing immoral about this. Art is only immoral when practiced by amateurs. It's the same with medicine. You wouldn't refuse to undress before your doctor, would you? — Roald Dahl

But I am a knight of the Round Table," he protested, weakly. "I am a protector of the realm, a slayer of evil, I defeat all those who raise their swords in opposition to Arthur, King of all Britain."
"Trust me, kid, women prefer a man who can cook. — Tanya Huff

(Hadley and Mary in the Garden at Blanchard House)
He laughed, a harsh sound, all sign of humor leaving his eyes. "Don't let any of it fool you, my dear, for even the most tarnished silver can acquire a fine and gleaming polish. And believe me, there is far more tarnish here than an innocent and unschooled eye such as yours can discern."
"Why would you speak so of yourself?" Mary protested.
He reached for a red-gold curl that had escaped her lace cap and coiled it around his !nger. "I would forewarn you, Miss Edwardes that I am a man, and men in general are not to be trusted ... " He held her gaze as he slowly released the ringlet, allowing his fingers to skim her cheek. " ... especially not by pretty young virgins. — Victoria Vane

How many times have I told you, Magnus? Behave professionaly in a professional setting. Which means no being rude to Nephilim, and also no getting attached to Nephilim."
"I never get attached to Nephilim!" Magnus protested.
Ragnor coughed, and in the midst of the cough said something that sounded like "blerondale."
"Well," said Magnus. "Hardly ever. — Cassandra Clare

Beginning to feel that her brother was being rather too harsh on Lillian Bowman, Livia frowned. "She's a very pretty girl, Marcus."
"A pretty facade isn't enough to make up for the flaws in her character."
"Which are?"
Marcus made a faint scoffing sound, as if Miss Bowman's faults were too obvious to require enumeration. "She's manipulative."
"So are you, dear," Livia murmured.
He ignored that. "She's domineering."
"As are you."
"She's arrogant."
"Also you," Livia said brightly.
Marcus glowered at her. "I thought we were discussing Miss Bowman's faults, not mine."
"But you seem to have so much in common," Livia protested, rather too innocently. — Lisa Kleypas

I won't get killed,' Rose protested.
Is that a promise?' Fish asked dryly, stirring his tea. 'If you break your word, I'll never believe you again.'
Rose shook her head at him. 'How can you even taste your tea if you put that much sugar in it?'
Don't change the subject. I don't want to be responsible for depriving the world of Rose Brier. Under no circumstances are you allowed to help us do anything more dangerous than ... change the oil in my car. — Regina Doman

At least, I suppose I can't blame Calcifer, since he's an evil demon. But you you Michael-!"
"I don't think I'm evil," Calcifer protested. — Diana Wynne Jones

charge of a six-person team that you belong to. You walked in just as I was daydreaming, and I didn't grasp the real situation at that moment." "But that moment was the realest of my life," protested Markus without thinking. It had come right out of his heart. — David Foenkinos

Don't. I'm all sweaty and bloody," I protested.
"Heavens, not sweat and blood," he replied mockingly. I managed to smile. Smartass vampire. — Jeaniene Frost

Dostoyevsky's indignation at Afanasy Fet's innocent lyrics, "Whispers, timid breath, the nightingales trilled," is well known. This is simply disgraceful, wrote Dostoyevsky indignantly, and he speculated what an insulting impression such empty verses would have made if they'd been given to someone to read during the Lisbon earthquake! Some people protested: Yes, of course, Dostoyevsky is right, but we aren't having an earthquake, and we aren't in Lisbon, and after all, are we not allowed to love, to listen to nightingales, to admire the beauty of a beloved woman? But Dostoyevsky's argument held sway for a long time. It did so because of the way Russians perceive Russian life: as a constant, unending Lisbon earthquake. — Tatyana Tolstaya

Nay, you attract mayhem, chaos, and anarchy wherever your delicate feet tread. Around you there is no such thing as a coincidence."
"Why do you think it is always me, Director?" Eliza protested. "It could be Books. My father always told me to beware the quiet ones! — Philippa Ballantine

If!" protested Mercy. "I am marrying you, Kit Turner, and there's an end to it!"
Tobias nudged James. "I told you she'd produce a landslide when she got rolling."
Kit, however, was not yet fully aware of the character of the girl whom he had just pledged himself. He put his finger to her lips. "Hush, now, this is between your father and me, Mercy. Let me deal with it."
"Oh, dear, oh, dear," muttered James, shaking his head. "Our brother has a lot to learn about the fairer sex. You never, ever do that."
Kit was suddenly sitting in a chair, a sharp elbow having found a tender spot. Mercy stood before her father, looking defiant, if somewhat bedraggled after her night in prison. — Eve Edwards

Die, ShadowClan trespasser!" "Get off, you great lump!" Jayfeather protested, though there was laughter in his voice. Squirrelflight whipped around. "Honestly! How old are you both? — Erin Hunter

I can read. A little. I kind of protested it in School(TM). On the grounds that the silent 'E' is stupid. — M T Anderson

Mamaw often told a parable: A young man was sitting at home when a terrible rainstorm began. Within hours, the man's house began to flood, and someone came to his door offering a ride to higher ground. The man declined, saying, "God will take care of me." A few hours later, as the waters engulfed the first floor of the man's home, a boat passed by, and the captain offered to take the man to safety. The man declined, saying, "God will take care of me." A few hours after that, as the man waited on his roof - his entire home flooded - a helicopter flew by, and the pilot offered transportation to dry land. Again the man declined, telling the pilot that God would care for him. Soon thereafter, the waters overcame the man, and as he stood before God in heaven, he protested his fate: "You promised that you'd help me so long as I was faithful." God replied, "I sent you a car, a boat, and a helicopter. Your death is your own fault. — J.D. Vance

No,' Jimmy protested. — Louis Tomlinson

But you have told me," Elizabeth protested, "time and again, that the hallmark of civilization is routine."
Lady D shrugged and made a fussy little chirping sound. "A lady cannot take it upon herself to occasionally change her routine? All routines need periodic readjustment. — Julia Quinn

Wow, Angela and Holly," Ash said, sounding awed. "Hot."
"Excuse me, what is wrong with you?" Kami demanded. "Other people's sexuality is not your spectator sport."
Ash paused. "Of course," he said. "But - "
"No!" Kami exclaimed. "No buts. That's my best friend you're talking about. Your first reaction should not be 'Hot.' "
"It's not an insult," Ash protested.
"Oh, okay," Kami said. "In that case, you're going to give me a minute. I'm picturing you and Jared. Naked. Entwined."
There was a pause.
Then Jared said, "He is probably my half brother, you know."
"I don't care," Kami informed him. "All you are to me are sex objects that I choose to imagine bashing together at random. Oh, there you go again, look at that, nothing but Lynburn skin as far as the mind's eye can see. Masculine groans fill the air, husky and..."
"Stop it," Ash said in a faint voice. "That isn't fair. — Sarah Rees Brennan

The notion of a crucified Lord was a scandal to the first-century world. Crucifixion was a public form of execution, and its cruelty was well known. For Jews, death by crucifixion meant that a person was under the curse of God, while pagans protested that it was sheer madness.502 To associate God with the world of suffering was therefore utterly inappropriate. But in spite of the offensive nature of Jesus' suffering and death, that is precisely the way God has worked, and Hebrews gives it a central place. It was fitting503 that God should effect his glorious saving purposes through Christ's sufferings.504 — Peter T. O'Brien

He's not really my man," I protested.
One fuzzy white eyebrow rose over the lens of his glasses. "You were certainly ogling him as if he was. — Katie MacAlister

What do you want from me? Am I to be some tool that people use to do magic? Is that my purpose in life?" "No, of course not!" Blaise protested, pushing away an unwelcome tendril of guilt. In a way, that had been exactly what he had originally intended for Gala, but she wasn't supposed to be a person, with the feelings and emotions of a human being. — Dima Zales

Why don't they let us explain who we are?' Derin protested 'It's not fair judging us like that without giving us a chance to speak'
Marna laughed mirthlessly.
'Do you think that would help?' she responded. 'The face of fear has neither eyes nor ears. It is blind and deaf to all but its own terrors. — Victor Kelleher

She could not tell him that she protested because she did not believe he loved her enough to become his wife. It was no ordinary man but the Prince of Light who was asking her to be his bride. And, she thought gloomily, what sacrifice might she have disregarded had his gaze been only for her? — Noriko Ogiwara

I have ridden a dragon!" Tiago protested. "I have eaten a dragon," Gromph replied. I have slept with a dragon - two! Jarlaxle thought, but did not say, though he couldn't avoid a grin at the pleasant memory of the wonderful copper dragon sisters, Tazmikella and Ilnezhara. — R.A. Salvatore

Thirteen years after the end of the Soviet Union, the American press establishment seemed eager to turn Ukraine's protested presidential election on November 21 into a new cold war with Russia. — Stephen Cohen

She doesn't even know how to kill things properlike? What kind of girl have you given me to, goddess?" Vic protested, fixing his eye on Nike once more.
Nike let out a laugh. " Vic is a little bloodthirsty. You'll get used to it. — Jennifer Estep

The whole thing about whether you smoke marijuana or not is so ridiculous. That and whether you protested the Vietnam War. Give me a break. Especially the marijuana thing. — Dave Barry

If you must give me a label, then label me a human being. I have no pride in being a human, though, because I have nothing to do with my becoming one.
But, whereas animals don't have a rational code of ethics, I like to think I do. Which is where I am partisan. Moral partisanship is the reason for my "anger." And if I don't protest what needed to be protested, I might just as well be an animal. — Paul Krassner