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Megan Whalen Turner Quotes

Megan Whalen Turner is an American writer of fantasy fiction for young adults. She received her BA with honors in English language and literature from the University of Chicago in 1987. She is best known for her series of young adult novels primarily revolving around a character named Eugenides. Turner has no name for the series herself, but fans have coined it The Queen's Thief. The first book in the series, The Thief, won a Newbery Honor award. The second, third, and fourth books in the series are The Queen of Attolia, The King of Attolia, and A Conspiracy of Kings. The latest book in the series is Thick as Thieves. Turner has also published a collection of short stories, Instead of Three Wishes. Additional work includes the short story, "The Baby in the Night Deposit Box," published in a collection called Firebirds, edited by Sharyn November. "The Baby in the Night Deposit Box" was selected for The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror. She has also written three uncollected short stories, Thief!, “Destruction,” and "Eddis," which are set in the world of The Queen's Thief.

Her husband is the cognitive scientist Mark Turner.

✵ 1965  •  Other names מייגן ויילן טרנר
Megan Whalen Turner photo

Works

The King of Attolia
The King of Attolia
Megan Whalen Turner
The Thief
The Thief
Megan Whalen Turner
The Queen of Attolia
The Queen of Attolia
Megan Whalen Turner
The King of Attolia
The King of Attolia
Megan Whalen Turner
The Thief
The Thief
Megan Whalen Turner
The Queen of Attolia
The Queen of Attolia
Megan Whalen Turner
Megan Whalen Turner: 95 quotes0 likes

Famous Megan Whalen Turner Quotes

“The prison keeper choose an inopportune time to look around the doorway into the cell. He and the king locked gazes, and the king's eyes narrowed while the prison keeper's widened.”

Megan Whalen Turner The King of Attolia

Source: The King of Attolia

“There are a lot of things a person with two hands couldn't steal," Eddis said.
"So?"
"If it's impossible to steal them with two hands, it's no more impossible to steal them with one. Steal peace, Eugenides. Steal me some time.”

Megan Whalen Turner The Queen of Attolia

Source: The Queen of Attolia

“What kind of man refers to himself as safely dead?”

Megan Whalen Turner

“In the afternoon, the king and queen sat to hear the business of their kingdom. At least, the queen sat to hear the business; Costis was still not sure what the king was doing.”

Megan Whalen Turner The King of Attolia

Source: The King of Attolia

“Were you lying?"
"I never lie," he said piously. "About what?"
"The sand, the snake."
For a young man who never lied, he seemed surprisingly unoffended by the question.”

Megan Whalen Turner The King of Attolia

Source: The King of Attolia

Megan Whalen Turner Quotes about God

“If Attolia could look like a queen, Eugenides was like a god revealed, transformed into something wholly unfamiliar, surrounded by the cloth-of-gold bedcover like a deity on an altar, passionless and calculating.”

Megan Whalen Turner The King of Attolia

Source: The King of Attolia

“Then come out," said the king, helping him, "knowing you'll never die of a fall unless the god himself drops you.”

Megan Whalen Turner The King of Attolia

Source: The King of Attolia

“We are not philosophers, we are sovereigns. The rules that govern our behavior are not the rules for other men, and our honor, I think, is a different thing entirely, difficult for anyone but the historians and the gods to judge.”

Megan Whalen Turner book A Conspiracy of Kings

Source: A Conspiracy of Kings

“He could tell her he loved her. He ached to shout it out loud for the gods and everyone to hear. Little good it would do. Better to trust in the moon's promises than in the word of the Thief of Eddis. He was famous in three countries for his lies.”

Megan Whalen Turner The Queen of Attolia

Source: The Queen of Attolia

“If I am the pawn of the gods, it is because they know me so well, not because they make my mind up for me.”

Megan Whalen Turner The Queen of Attolia

Source: The Queen of Attolia

“And the Earth had no name. The gods know themselves and have no need of names. It is man who names all things, even gods.”

Megan Whalen Turner The Thief

Source: The Thief

Megan Whalen Turner Quotes about thinking

“Sounis had been thinking of Ambiades. "He would have been a better man under different circumstances."
Gen looked at him. "True enough," he said. "But does a good man let his circumstances determine his character?”

Megan Whalen Turner book A Conspiracy of Kings

Source: A Conspiracy of Kings

“Is that what the wine is for? To help you think?"
"Oh, the wine. The wine, Costis, is to help hide the truth. It doesn't work. It never has, but I try it every once in a while just in case something in the nature of the wine might have changed.”

Megan Whalen Turner The King of Attolia

Source: The King of Attolia

“Ah," said the magus, understanding at once. "I see that he means to be prepared if he meets him again."
"Surely that's unlikely," said Sounis.
"I don't think unlikely means to him what it does to the rest of us," said the magus.”

Megan Whalen Turner book A Conspiracy of Kings

Source: A Conspiracy of Kings

“Tell me a story then… keep me occupied."
"A story?… What makes you think I can tell a story?"
"Insight," said the king, "Go on.”

Megan Whalen Turner The King of Attolia

Source: The King of Attolia

“I hate horses. I know people who think that they are noble, graceful animals, but regardless of what a horse looks like from a distance, never forget that it's as likely to step on your foot as look at you.”

Megan Whalen Turner The Thief

Source: The Thief

Megan Whalen Turner: Trending quotes

“Sometimes, if you want to change a man's mind, you have to change the mind of the man next to him first.”

Megan Whalen Turner The King of Attolia

Source: The King of Attolia

“Are you badly hurt?"
"Hideously," said the king, without sounding injured at all. "I am disemboweled. My insides may in an instant become my outsides as I stand here before you.”

Megan Whalen Turner The King of Attolia

Source: The King of Attolia

“No 'Glory shall be your reward' for me. Oh, no, for me, it is, 'Stop whining' and 'Go to bed'.”

Megan Whalen Turner The King of Attolia

Source: The King of Attolia

Megan Whalen Turner Quotes

“I'm dying of boredom. Or maybe just dying.”

Megan Whalen Turner

“I am not sure I trust you."
"You can trust me with your life, My King."
"But not with my wine, obviously. Give it back.”

Megan Whalen Turner The King of Attolia

Source: The King of Attolia

“All I wanted to do was lie in the dry grass with my feet in a ditch forever. I could be a convenient sort of milemarker, I thought. Get to the thief and you know you're halfway to Methana.”

Megan Whalen Turner The Thief

Source: The Thief

“This is the stupidest plan I have ever in my career participated in," Xenophon said.
"I love stupid plans," said Eugenides.”

Megan Whalen Turner The Queen of Attolia

Source: The Queen of Attolia

“He lies to himself. If Eugenides talked in his sleep, he'd lie then, too.”

Megan Whalen Turner The Queen of Attolia

Source: The Queen of Attolia

“Why did you come if not to murder my king?"
"I came to steal his magus."
"You can't," said the magus in question.
"I can steal anything," Eugenides corrected him, "even with one hand.”

Megan Whalen Turner The Queen of Attolia

Source: The Queen of Attolia

“He didn't marry you to become king. He became king because he wanted to marry you.”

Megan Whalen Turner The King of Attolia

Source: The King of Attolia

“Will there be poppy juice in it?"
Phresine shook her head.
"Good. My wife and I agreed that only my wine was to be poisoned.”

Megan Whalen Turner The King of Attolia

Source: The King of Attolia

“You're awake," he said.
"Phresine is not," pointed out the queen.
"Oh?"
"You gave her lethium."
"She gave it to me first.”

Megan Whalen Turner The King of Attolia

Source: The King of Attolia

“One of us might be assassinated and then my heir will be king. Don't give up hope just because chances are slim."
"For the assassination or the heir, your majesty?”

Megan Whalen Turner The King of Attolia

Source: The King of Attolia

“You learn something new everyday."
"What are you learning?" Sophos asked.
"To keep my mouth shut, I hope.”

Megan Whalen Turner The Thief

Source: The Thief

“That is ridiculous," she said.
The king agreed. "Like falling in love with a landslide. Only you could fail to notice.”

Megan Whalen Turner The King of Attolia

Source: The King of Attolia

“It isn't an easy thing to give your loyalty to someone you don't know, especially when that person chooses to reveal nothing of himself.”

Megan Whalen Turner The King of Attolia

Source: The King of Attolia

“All my life they had made choices for me, and I had resented it. Now the choice was mine, and once it was made, I would have no right to blame anyone else for the consequences. Loss of that privilege, to blame others, unexpectedly stung.”

Megan Whalen Turner book A Conspiracy of Kings

Source: A Conspiracy of Kings

“If we truly trust no one, we cannot survive.”

Megan Whalen Turner The King of Attolia

Source: The King of Attolia

“She's like a prisoner inside stone walls, and every day the walls get a little thicker, the doorways a little narrower."
"And?" Eddis prompted.
"Well," said Eugenides, "it's a challenge.”

Megan Whalen Turner The Queen of Attolia

Source: The Queen of Attolia

“I knew I would be in the story somewhere," Eugenides interjected.
"Oh no," said Phresine, "This was a humble servant."
"Ouch."
"Though very courageous."
"Not me," whispered Eugenides to his pillow.”

Megan Whalen Turner The King of Attolia

Source: The King of Attolia

“A thief never makes a noise by accident.”

Megan Whalen Turner The Thief

Source: The Thief

“Sophos turned red, and I wondered about the circulation of his blood; maybe his body kept an extra supply of it in his head, ready for blushing.”

Megan Whalen Turner The Thief

Source: The Thief

“… her queen danced like a flame in the wind, and the mercurial king like the weight at the center of the earth…”

Megan Whalen Turner The King of Attolia

Source: The King of Attolia

“But there are other words for privacy and independence. They are isolation and loneliness.”

Megan Whalen Turner The King of Attolia

Source: The King of Attolia

“I sometimes believe his lies are the truth, but I have never mistaken his truth for a lie.”

Megan Whalen Turner The Queen of Attolia

Source: The Queen of Attolia

“… I wanted Ambiades to understand that I considered myself a hierarchy of one.”

Megan Whalen Turner The Thief

Source: The Thief

“I love stupid plans.”

Megan Whalen Turner The Queen of Attolia

Source: The Queen of Attolia

“It isn't deep," the Eddisian Ambassador said from the other side of the bed. He was leaning over the wound, looking critical and mildly disappointed. Eugenides didn't miss a beat.
"It is… too… deep!" he insisted, outraged.”

Megan Whalen Turner The King of Attolia

Source: The King of Attolia

“I would very much like to strangle someone. Why don't you go away until I decide it isn't you?”

Megan Whalen Turner The Queen of Attolia

Source: The Queen of Attolia

“He whines, he complains, he ducks out of the most obvious responsibility. He is vain, petty and maddening, but he doesn't ever quit.”

Megan Whalen Turner The King of Attolia

Source: The King of Attolia

“Before you make a decision," he said, "I want you to know that I love you.”

Megan Whalen Turner The Queen of Attolia

Source: The Queen of Attolia

“That prison," I said with heartfelt sincerity, "Was absolutely the most awful thing that has happened to me in my entire life." I could tell by the way he looked at me that he thought my life had been filled with one awful thing after another.”

Megan Whalen Turner The Thief

Source: The Thief

“Dying would have been so much easier.”

Megan Whalen Turner The Thief

Source: The Thief

“No friend had I made there, but I wasn't with this group to make friends, and besides, he sneered too much. I've found that people who sneer are almost always sneering at me.”

Megan Whalen Turner The Thief

Source: The Thief

“A little danger adds spice to life.”

Megan Whalen Turner The Thief

Source: The Thief

“Discretion prevented me from saying that I thought she was a fiend from the underworld and that mountain lions couldn't force me to enter her service.”

Megan Whalen Turner The Thief

Source: The Thief

“I have a whole guard room full of brawny veterans who'd enjoy a chance to drag two Eddisians out of here, particularly if you kicked a lot and they could kick you back.”

Megan Whalen Turner The King of Attolia

Source: The King of Attolia

“Costis bowed stiffly. “I am here to make sure that you stay in bed, Your Majesty, because if this offends you and you order me summarily executed, it is no loss. Politically speaking.”

Megan Whalen Turner The King of Attolia

Source: The King of Attolia

“She pulled the bedclothes up as far as they would go and suppressed a perverse wish to have her old nurse come to chase away the darkness, perverse because she didn't know if she wanted the shadows to be empty or not.”

Megan Whalen Turner The Queen of Attolia

Source: The Queen of Attolia

“I am a master of foolhardy plans.”

Megan Whalen Turner The Thief

Source: The Thief

“So Sophos thinks you're going to marry me."
"While I think you'll marry Sophos."
"I might. We'll see what he's like when he grows up.”

Megan Whalen Turner The Thief

Source: The Thief

“Because not wanting the prize the gods have arranged for you - that just might offend the hell right out of them.”

Megan Whalen Turner The King of Attolia

Source: The King of Attolia

“When we opened the doors, we saw that the entire room was scorched black and you were on the floor possibly dead, surrounded by broken glass. Window glass is expensive, you realize that?"
"Yes, Your Majesty," he said meekly.”

Megan Whalen Turner The Queen of Attolia

Source: The Queen of Attolia

“I am very good at groveling.”

Megan Whalen Turner The Queen of Attolia

Source: The Queen of Attolia

“Anyone who can steal the king's seal ring can manage the locks on his record room.”

Megan Whalen Turner The Thief

Source: The Thief

“One cannot toss ambassadors back like bad fish," said Eugenides. "You treat them with care, or you'll find you've committed an act of war.”

Megan Whalen Turner book A Conspiracy of Kings

Source: A Conspiracy of Kings

“I can't leave her there all alone, surrounded by stone walls… She's too precious to give up.”

Megan Whalen Turner The Queen of Attolia

Source: The Queen of Attolia

“What a strange world it is, where prisoners are left their weapons and the written word is a mortal danger.”

Megan Whalen Turner book A Conspiracy of Kings

Source: A Conspiracy of Kings

“All of my own impulses to balance and move seemed to conflict with those of the guards, and I was jerked and jostled down the portico, just as graceful as a sick cat.”

Megan Whalen Turner The Thief

Source: The Thief

“Eddis looked at her minister, curious. “Your head?” she asked.
Attolia explained. “He had to be forcibly dissuaded from strangling his son.”
“So have we all from time to time,” Eddis said seriously.”

Megan Whalen Turner The Queen of Attolia

Source: The Queen of Attolia

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