Veturius Quotes & Sayings

The rest of us learned the simple lesson - invaluable in a bureaucratic society - that there is no moral or practical obligation to tell the truth when filling in forms. — Auberon Waugh

I don't smile at her. It will only scare her. For a female slave, a smile from a Mask is not usually a good thing. — Sabaa Tahir

You - you were like me. You were a child. A normal child. And that was taken from you."

"Does that bother you?"

"Well, it certainly makes you harder to hate. — Sabaa Tahir

After I pull my eyes away from her, I realize that I'm not the only one dumbstruck. Many of the young men around me sneak glances at her. She doesn't seem to notice, which, of course, makes her all the more intriguing. — Sabaa Tahir

Exhaustion is temporary. Pain is temporary. But Helene dying because I didn't find a way to get her back on time - that's permanent. — Sabaa Tahir

Rise, Elias Veturius." Tas smacks my face, and I blink at him in surprise. His eyes are fierce. "You gave me a name," he says. "I want to live to hear it on the lips of others. Rise." I — Sabaa Tahir

We construct a narrative for ourselves, and that's the thread that we follow from one day to the next. People who disintegrate as personalities are the ones who lose that thread. — Paul Auster

You're sure this is what you want?" I search her eyes for doubt, fear, uncertainty, but all I see is that fire. Ten hells
"I'm sure"
"Then I'll find a way — Sabaa Tahir

Don't look so worried. Most successful missions are just a series of barely averted disasters. — Sabaa Tahir

When asked what the stock market will do: It will fluctuate — J. P. Morgan

Rage colors her every movement. Rage that has nothing to do with her so-called bodyguards and everything to do with me and her and the confusion rolling around inside the both of us.
This should be interesting — Sabaa Tahir

I'd say it's impossible, but the Commandant trained the word out of me. — Sabaa Tahir

I will not utter falsehoods but I have no objection to making meaningless statements. — Richard Dawkins

Anger requires that the offender should not only be made to grieve in his turn, but to grieve for that particular wrong which has been done by him. — Richard Whately

But a part of me wants to fling the cloak off and put Elias's back on. I know I'm acting the fool, but somehow Elias's cloak made me feel good. Perhaps because more than reminding me of him, it reminded me of who I was around him. Braver. Stronger. Flawed, certainly, but unafraid. I miss that girl. That Laia. That version of myself that burned brightest when Elias Veturius was near. The Laia who made mistakes. The Laia whose mistakes led to needless death. How could I forget? I thank Keenan quietly and stuff the old cloak in my bag. Then I pull the new one closer and tell myself that it's warmer. — Sabaa Tahir

Laia and Helene: They're so different. I like that Laia says things I don't expect, that she speaks almost formally, as if she's telling a story. I like that she defied my mother to go to the Moon Festival, whereas Helene always obeys the Commandant. Laia is the wild dance of a Tribal campfire, while Helene is the cold blue of an alchemist's flame.

But why am I even comparing them? I've know Laia a few days and Helene all my life. Helene's no passing attraction. She's family. More than that. She's part of me. — Sabaa Tahir

I don't look at the wound. I don't need to. I watched the Commandant as she carved it into me, a thick-lined, precise K stretching from my collarbone to the skin over my heart. She branded me. Marked me as her property. It's a scar I'll carry to the grave. — Sabaa Tahir

Veturius is a Mask like the rest of us, yes. Bold, brave, strong, swift. But those were afterthoughts for him. Elias sees people as they should be, not as they are. He laughs at himself. He gives of himself - in everything he does. [...] He's the things that I can't be. He's good. — Sabaa Tahir

The world is a sphere, there is no East or West. — Ai Weiwei

You are an ember in the ashes, Elias Veturius. You will spark and burn, ravage and destroy. You cannot change it. You cannot stop it. — Sabaa Tahir

Holiness never goes out of fashion. — Pope Benedict XVI

I'm too hot to care. — Sabaa Tahir

We match each other stroke for stroke until I get a hit on her right arm.

She tries to switch sword arms, but I jab my scim at her wrist faster than she can parry. Her scim goes flying, and I tackle her. Her white-blonde hair tumbles free of her bun.

"Surrender!" I pin her down at the wrists, but she trashes and rips one arm free, scrabbling for a dagger at her waist. Steel stabs at my ribs, and seconds later, I am on my back with a blade at my throat.

"Ha!" She leans down, her hair falling around us like a shimmering silver curtain. — Sabaa Tahir