Tamora Pierce Quotes

“I truly love our Code of Chivalry. We are taught that noblemen must take everything and say nothing. Noblemen must stand alone. Well, we're men, and men aren't born to stand alone.
-Myles of Olau”

“Most humans think the appearance of quietquiet. They do not see that sometimes the enemy is as quiet as the serpent. Only when it has stolen all of their eggs will they know bad walks in the quiet as well as the noisy.”

“We can't just act without thinking anymore, Tris. They've been trying to teach as that all along. I guess if we're mages, we can't exactly be kids, can we?
- Sandry after the pirate attack”

“Not one word," Kel warned. "Tobe and I have reached an understanding."
Neal's lips twitched. "Why do I feel you did most of the understanding.”

“I imbue this place with my essence, every stone and every drop. My visit will do wonders for the flowers."

Aly propped her chin on her hand. "So does manure," she observed.”

“I'm not so fond of people myself, Evvy, but I took my vows for a reason. There are two classes of people in the world, the destroyers and the builders. I want to build, not destroy. You need to ask yourself who you're going to be.”

“A bully fights people littler and weaker than he is because he thinks it's fun.”

“If we pick a fight, then we're just as bad as them. Combat should be used just to help people who can't defend themselves, period."
"Well, if I don't fight back and they pound on me, then I'm one of the people I should be defending.”

“Haven’t you ever noticed that people who win say it’s because the gods know they are in the right, but if they lose, it wasn’t the gods who declared them wrong? Their opponent cheated, or their equipment was bad.”

“Folk like you always lay the blame on somebody else. If I'd listened to talk like that, I'd've let myself get killed by my own people months ago.”

“Why does this mean so much to you, Jon?"
The Prince turned. "Because he's my friend. Because I always know where he stands, and where I stand with him. Because I think he'd die for me and--and I think I'd die for him. Is that enough?”

“it's your own fault for encouraging him…, you know. Now he thinks he's a human being.
Neal of Queens cove”

“Alan, you seem to think we won't like you unless you do things just like everyone else. Have you ever thought we might like you because you're different?”

“Do you know, sire, I think that if we live to tell our grandchildren about this war, they will accuse us of making it up.'
-Marielle”

“Men don't think and differently from women - they just make more noise about being able to.”

“There is a saying in the Islands. Beware the women of the warrior class, for all they touch is both decorative and deadly.-Yuki”

“It's harder to heal than it is to kill.”

“Someday I must read this scholar Everyone. He seems to have written so much--all of it wrong.”

“Why do boys say someone acts like a girl as if it were an insult?”

“A friend had commented once that Neal had a gift for making someone want to punch him just for saying hello.”

“I distrust any advice that contains the words 'ought' or 'should'.”

“There's plenty more fish in the sea than Prince Jonathan," he told her softly. "And this particular fish loves you with all his crooked heart."
-George to Alanna”

“You look as scary as a buttered muffin.”

“Girls are 50% of the population. We deserve to represent 50% of the heroes.”

“Libraries are places where the damaged go to find friends”

“Why, I’m just as true and honest as dirt. And I’m even more charming than dirt.”

“Never break a promise to an animal. They're like babies—they won't understand.”

“Better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it.”

“It's not just children who need heroes.”

“I swear the sparrows called us ten kinds of idiot when we did it.”

“You're an obnoxious canker-blossom. Go ooze somewhere else.”

“Not too fast," called Raoul. "Let's not scare anyone."
"His majesty said with all deliberate speed!" chirped the courier. He flinched under Lerant's glare.
"That's how we're doing it," Raoul told him. "Deliberately.”

“I've said it before and I'll say it again, my lord. You are an evil man.”

“My new knight mistress is famed for wielding sharp edges: Sword, Knife and Tongue!”

“What's dry?' 'Good question. Next question!”

“As long as there's life, there's hope.”

“Either I've turned stupid, or life's turned hard.”

“If you look hard and long, you can find us. If you listen hard and long, you can hear any of us, call any of us that you wish.”

“Scary with you is better than scary without you”

“Didn't they realize that the only way to change things was to act?”

“I am not wise, but I can always learn.”

“There is power and there is power, my dear. My power can be vast, in the right places.”

“I wish you would thrash him. He deserves it."
She looked back at him. "I will one day, sir. I'm getting tired of falling down.”

“Without patience, magic would be undiscovered - in rushing everything, we would never hear its whisper inside.”

“Fear is a good thing. It mean you're paying attention.”

“You mortals are like fish
swimming in a globe of glass.
That globe is your world.
You do not see beyond it.”

“I believe in deeds, not words.”

“Where everyone else sees a straight line, you see a maze, and when I'm done talking to you, the maze starts to make more sense
--Reply by Dove to Aly's silent inquiry”

“Without reading, we are all without light in the dark, without fire in the cold.”

“Ishabal: "If you may correct your vision as you like, why do you wear spectacles?"
Tris: "Because I like them. Because I have better things to do with my magic than fixing my vision when ordinary glass will do.”

“Moral issues rarely have yes or no answers.
-Myles to Alanna when she asks about the Gift”

“It's always better to attack than to defend," Coram had told her when they talked about fencing late at night. "Always. Ye don't win with defense--ye only hold the other feller off, or wear him down. Attack and have done with it!”

“You turned into a hero when I wasn't watching.”

“Girl, boy or dancing bear, you're the finest page-the finest squire-to-be-at court." (Jon to Alanna)”

“Just because I'm no jaw clacker doesn't mean there should be a ruction put up whenever I have sommat to say.”

“I want to marry her, when I grow up to be a man.”

“You've been nipping at cook's wine!!”

“I’m to attend balls and banquets without my squire?" demanded Raoul, all innocence. "I can't handle things like requesting water to shave with, or getting my clothes pressed. I need Kel.”

“Excuse me," she said politely. "But you can't have him. Not yet. He's going to come back with me.”

“If her rump were any stiffer, she'd break it every time she rides', I thought to Pounce.
'If she fell on the steps, they would never be able to put her together again', he replied.”

“Well, laddie, if you've let an old buzzard like me hurt you confidence, you couldn't have had much in the first place.”

“What if custom is wrong? demanded the part of her that believed in the code of chivalry. A knight must set things right.”

“If I were useful, you wouldn't know it was me.”

“Don't you ever get tired of asking questions?'
'Never. They're mother's milk to me.”

“So long as there are nobles and commoners, the wealthy and the poor, those with power will be heard, and those without ignored. That's the world.”

“Alanna didn't approve of lying, but in a pinch a lie was sometimes better than the truth.”