Cinda Williams Chima famous quotes

Han spotted a child‟s homespun dolly in the ditch, pressed into the mud. He reined in, meaning to climb down and fetch it so he could clean it up for his little sister. Then he remembered that Mari was dead and had no need of dollies anymore. Grief was like that. It gradually faded into a dull ache, until some simple sight or sound or scent hit him like a hammer blow.
-- Cinda Williams Chima

#Children #Grief #Blow

I like rough edges. That's what makes a person real.
-- Cinda Williams Chima

#Real #Rough #Persons

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

#Trying

We may all end up dead, but we're sticking it to them in the meantime.
-- Cinda Williams Chima

#May #Sticking It #Ends

I have lost everything, Han thought. Then he corrected himself. Every time I think I’ve lost everything, I find there’s still something else to lose.
-- Cinda Williams Chima

#Thinking #Lost #Stills

Plus he was naturally lucky at cards. As Mam had always said, lucky at cards, or lucky at life. One or the other. Not both.
-- Cinda Williams Chima

#Lucky #Cards #Said

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

#Lying #Believe #Taken

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

#Grateful #Tired #Warrior

For Hanalea the Warrior!
-- Cinda Williams Chima

#Warrior

Admit nothing - that was his first rule. Appeal to logic - second rule. Delay the inevitable - third rule.
-- Cinda Williams Chima

#Delay #Firsts #Logic

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

#Life #Needs #World

A vocation is not something you slap on, like a coat of paint, and change whenever you want. A vocation is built into you. You have no choice. If you try to do something else, you fail.
-- Cinda Williams Chima

#Choices #Trying #Coats

It was one of the warm nights at the end of summer that makes promises that won't be kept.
-- Cinda Williams Chima

#Summer #Night #Promise

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

#Mother #Drawing #Arms

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

#Sleep #Eye #Hair

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

#Wise #People #Fool

That's what happens when you love someone... you notice and notice and notice.
-- Cinda Williams Chima

#When You Love Someone

Do not forget duty. But choose love when you can.
-- Cinda Williams Chima

#Forget #Duty

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

#Gone

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

#Thinking #Suffering #Important

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

#Hands #Slap #Jokes

My tagline is ‘Less sex, more romance, lower body count.’
-- Cinda Williams Chima

#Sex #Romance #Body

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

#Character #Fiction #Ears

Falling in love was like falling off a cliff. It felt pretty much like flying until you hit the ground.
-- Cinda Williams Chima

#Falling In Love #Fall #Flying

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

#Mean #Enemy

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

#Couple #Passion #Names

Haven't you heard about me?" he said, with a tight smile. "I'm really a very dangerous person." And he did look dangerous until he said, "Look, could you watch Dog for me while I'm gone? I can't take him where I'm going.
-- Cinda Williams Chima

#Dog #Watches #Looks

You look like a boy who has eaten the fruit of the tree of knowledge and doesn't like the taste.
-- Cinda Williams Chima

#Boys #Tree #Looks

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

#Thrones #Want

History,' Mari muttered, as if she'd overheard his thoughts. 'Why do we need to know what happened before we were born?' 'So hopefully we get smarter and don't make the same mistakes again.
-- Cinda Williams Chima

#Mistake #Needs #Born

I continue to believe in miracles. But i know that miracles come to those who work very hard
-- Cinda Williams Chima

#Believe #Miracle #Believe In Miracles

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

#Dream #Matter #Way

Will you give the girl to me?" she said. "Will you let me try?" He nodded, dizzy with relief. "Please, Willo. Please. Save her. It doesn't matter...what happens to me.
-- Cinda Williams Chima

#Girl #Giving #Trying

Ellen could have killed me," Jack said quietly, "but she didn't. She saved my life." "How come?" Fitch demanded. "After all this?" Ellen turned scarlet and stared at the ground. "Maybe none of my opponents ever gave me flowers before," she mumbled.
-- Cinda Williams Chima

#Flower #Opponents #Said

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

#Lazy

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

#Blood #Color #Focus

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

#Sleep #Wish #Wake Up

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

#Rocks #Frustrated #Jason

You couldn’t keep your mouth shut? I’m calling you Glitterhair from now on. Or Talksalot.
-- Cinda Williams Chima

#Calling #Mouths

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

#People #Expectations #Desire

Like a stand of lodgepole pines in a gale Raisa's followers all went down leaving her standing alone....There's no shelter for me not from any of this. I'll stand alone the rest of my life. THE GRAY WOLF THRONE p. 163
-- Cinda Williams Chima

#Leaving #Thrones #Followers

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

#Love You #Simple #Matter

More and more, there were no revelations, but simply the uncovering of truths long known but dimly remembered. Everything had been written long ago. There was nothing truly new in the world, but only the slow, circular march of time that revealed the old things once again.
-- Cinda Williams Chima

#Old Things #Long #World

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

#Bed #Blades

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

#Strange

Just remember who you are... The world will try to change you into someone else. Don't let them. That's the best advice anyone can give you.
-- Cinda Williams Chima

#Giving #Advice #Trying

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

#Powerful #Hate #People

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

#Blow #Wizards #Way

Outside the Weirwall, Jack could hear the thud of bodies colliding and the cries of the wounded. It seemed like a lot of noise. Even given the fact that Ellen was involved. "Why'd she go out there?" Jack demanded. "Why didn't you stop her?" Brooks spat on the ground. "Have you ever tried to stop Captain Stephenson from anythin'?
-- Cinda Williams Chima

#Body #Noise #Captains

Why aren't you dead?" Will demanded.
-- Cinda Williams Chima

Well now, Jack," Hastings said from the sidelines. "I'm afraid you've been beheaded. Not a good start." He sounded amused.
-- Cinda Williams Chima

#Said #Sidelines #Wells

One more thing: Linda, can you get to Canterbury and take over my Chaucerian Society? They're at Dovecote Hostelry in the old city. We're visiting all the scenes of the great murders. Tomorrow they want to see where Becket was killed. They're a bloodthirsty lot, it seems.
-- Cinda Williams Chima

#Cities #Want #Tomorrow

Don't expect much and you won't be disappointed.
-- Cinda Williams Chima

#Disappointed

And it's not just a matter of you hurting me. I will hurt you too, even if I don't want to, I'm not the girl you think I am. And you will remember this conversation , and wish that you'd listened to me.
-- Cinda Williams Chima

#Girl #Hurt #Thinking

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

#Dying #Alive #Arms

Both Averill and Bayar were like actors speaking lines for their audience and not to each other.
-- Cinda Williams Chima

#Actors #Lines #Audience

You touch me again, you arrogant Ardenine swine, and I swear on the blood of Hanalea the warrior, I will geld you. Do you understand?
-- Cinda Williams Chima

#Warrior #Blood #Arrogant

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

#Caught #Certain

Which is a sad thing when you're only seventeen.
-- Cinda Williams Chima

Did the destruction of one dream leave a vacuum that required filling with another? Is a broken heart more vulnerable?
-- Cinda Williams Chima

#Dream #Heart #Broken

I need to go to parties, Raisa mused, so I don't think so much.
-- Cinda Williams Chima

#Party #Thinking #Needs

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

#Choices #Said

Whoa, Rebecca," Talia said smiling even wider, "Walking on the wild side, are we?" Raisa seemed to think the situation needed more explaining. "He - uh - I'm tutoring him." "She is," Han said solemnly. "She's very good. I'm learning a lot." Pearlie snickered. "What's she teaching you?" "Well," Han said, "we're jumping around a lot.
-- Cinda Williams Chima

#Teaching #Thinking #Jumping

You didn't have to go to the fireworks with him. Or - or let him fondle you." "Fondle?" Raisa raised her eyebrows, "When did I mention fondling?
-- Cinda Williams Chima

#Eyebrows #Fireworks #Raised

And, like a fool, she kissed him back. Kissed him a way that would leave no doubt about the way she felt about him. Kissed him because she knew the chances were slim she'd have very many kisses like that in her lifetime. Which is a sad thing when you're only seventeen.
-- Cinda Williams Chima

#Kissing #Doubt #Slim

How'd it go with Leesha?" "It was great! We were bad cop and bad cop!
-- Cinda Williams Chima

#Cop

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

#Appreciate #Sometimes

Just a rat, she repeated to herself. After all, there were rats in the palace. Human and otherwise. Could be worse.
-- Cinda Williams Chima

#Palaces #Rats #Humans

The only way to get what you want is to make them more afraid of you than they are of each other.
-- Cinda Williams Chima

#Words Of Wisdom #Want #Way

His aster-blue eyes shown out from a face blackened by bruises and soot, his fair hair glittering in the firelight. Dressed all in black, silhouetted against flame, he looked rather like a demon, raised from the dead, trading for souls on the other side.
-- Cinda Williams Chima

#Eye #Hair #Blue

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

#Flower #Clothes #Wizards

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

#Would Be #Way #Expect Nothing

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

#Doe #Clubs #Purses

Raisa felt relieved, yet oddly disappointed. She was the blooded princess heir, yet in servants' clothes she was apparently unrecognizable. In the stories, rulers had a natural presence about them that identified them as such, even dressed in rags. What's the nature of royalty, she wondered. Is it like a gown you put on that disappears when you take it off? Does anyone look beyond the finery? Could anyone in the queendom take her place, given the right accessories? If so, it was contrary to everything she'd ever been taught about bloodlines.
-- Cinda Williams Chima

#Princess #Clothes #Taught

(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

#Army #Looks #Use

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

#Reality #Expectations #Mind

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

#Wise #Found #Enjoy

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

#Flames #Years #Long

What kind of love would drive a man for miles through solid rock?
-- Cinda Williams Chima

#Men #Rocks #Kind

The next chamber is full of songbirds, if I remember right. Their music is like turtleweed. It will put you to sleep if you listen to it. They sleep most of the time, so the best thing is to pass through without waking them up. If they do awaken, then you must sing loud enough to drown out their music." "Great," Han said. "Whose idea was that?" "It seemed like a good idea at the time," Crow said. "I was an excellent singer.
-- Cinda Williams Chima

#Sleep #Ideas #Bird

The answer is no, I would rather marry the Demon King himself than marry you. I suggest you look elsewhere for a bride. And heaven help the one you choose.
-- Cinda Williams Chima

#Kings #Heaven #Looks

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

#Hands #Noses #Pay

She padded toward Han, barefoot, like a faerie startled out of a forest bower, bewitching mix of clan and flatland beauty.
-- Cinda Williams Chima

#Forests #Clans #Barefoot

He swept Raisa up into his arms and kissed her like it was his first, last, and only
-- Cinda Williams Chima

#Arms #Lasts #Firsts

Crow walked toward her, arms outstretched like a man in a dream, which he was, in a way. Sometimes a dream is enough.
-- Cinda Williams Chima

#Dream #Men #Crow

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

#Stars #Memories #Kissing

I live in the present because the future is always chancy. When it comes to being with you, I'm willing to take the risk.
-- Cinda Williams Chima

#Risk #Live In The Present #Willing

As for my family, my father was Danel; he died as a mercenary in the southern wars," Han went on. "My mother's name was Sarah, called Sali, and my sister was Mari. They died last summer. But then, you already knew that. Every time you forget, I'll remind you. That's the blood sacrifice I made to be here, and that's enough.
-- Cinda Williams Chima

#Summer #Mother #Father

Nobody's going to hand you anything. You don't get what you don't go after.
-- Cinda Williams Chima

#Hands

It was a peculiar marriage of interests- Lord Averill and Captain Byrne and Lord Bayar and Han Alister agreeing on anything was as rare as gold in Ragmarket.
-- Cinda Williams Chima

#Gold #Peculiar #Captains