Patricia C. Wrede citations

“The efficiency of the cleaning solution in liquefying wizards suggested the operation of an antithetical principal, which-"
"Did you have to get him started?" Cimorene asked reproachfully.”

“Well, of all the bacon-brained, sapskulled, squirish, buffle-headed nodcocks!”

“You're always in the kitchen," Alianora said when she poked her head through the door a moment later. "Or the library. Don't you ever do anything but cook and read?”

“That is certainly one way to look at the matter. There are others.”

“You can't force folks to have good sense, even if they're family. Maybe especially then.”

“Kim was more than a little inclined to snarl at him, but in the past few days she had learned that snarling at Mairelon did little good. He simply smiled and corrected her grammar.”

“In short, if we wish to see anything sensible done about the situation, we will clearly have to do it ourselves.”

“I most certainly can deny it. Of course, if I did, I'd be lying." Mairelon”

“Sometimes, though, you have to do things for family, even if you'd rather not.”

“Of course it doesn't make sense." Lady Wendall said. "The rules of society rarely do.”

“There is nothing that is quite so reassuring in an awkward situation as knowing that one is well turned-out, and while I hope I am not so fainthearted as to require such stratagems, I am not so foolish as to overlook their value.”

“He pushed his glasses up on his nose and gave me a sidelong look, the one that meant he was so sure you were wrong that he could just wait and let you find out for yourself the hard way.”

“News of Daniel's disappearance does not alarm me as it might have done a week ago. Given recent events, very little alarms me as it might have done a week ago. I feel as if my supply of alarm has been exhausted, at least temporarily.”

“Out here, it's better safe than sorry, because generally speaking, too much of the time sorry means you're dead.”