Quotes from work

The Goose Girl

“If we're mad, we're mad in large numbers, at least larger than yours.”

“Go on, son, you're not doing me any good by bleeding.”

“She answered by standing and kissing him first and held his cheeks and closed her eyes and felt sure as bones and deep as blood that she had found her place.”

“Ah, now, don't cry over lost years and forgetfulness. The tales tell what they can. The rest is for us to learn..”

“She closed the book and put her cheek against it. There was still an odor of a library on it, of dust, leather, binding glue, and old paper, one book carrying the smell of hundreds.”

“Some people are born with the first word of a language resting on their tongue though it may take some time before they can taste it.”

“Years ago, before this estate was generously and unwillingly turned over to the crown, the lord here was a genuine dimwit. He had a minister stashed behind his throne to whisper clever things to say.”

“You saw my leg?"
"How can a man help what he sees?" he said. "And, if I could add, you possess a very fine leg.”

“Oh, but I like my geese. Like cats, they can't be told what to do, and like dogs, they're loyal, and like people, they talk every chance they get.”

“Clearly she was expected to say something, but panic at having to speak stole the thoughts from her head.”

“Yes, we'll yell, 'Help, help us, goose girl, and bring the terrifying legion of warrior geese'.”

“I, Geric-Sinath of Gerhard, declare that you're beautiful and you're perfect and I'll slay any man who tries to take you from my side. Goose girl, may I kiss you?”

“Its important to know stories. I felt the earth shift to make a place for you when you were born, and I came to tell you stories while you are young. And like me, you were born with a word on your tongue.”

“Right now I'd like all my troubles to stand in front of me in a straight line, and one by one I'd give each a black eye.”

“No more crying. It's all wetness and no comfort at all.”

“Poor gosling. It hurts to be lost. And worse to be home with no kind of homecoming… I'll be lucky if I can do as well as you when all this's done, just a bit out of breath, a bit bruised and scratched, a bit wiser and sadder for it all.”

“Ani felt a stirring, a hope, a winged thing waking up in her chest and brushing her heart with it's feathers.”

“My friends call me by my name."
"You don't have any friends."
"I don't want you to be my friend, Selia, or my servant, not now. I thought you were both. You have let me know I was wrong. So are you to treat me so. You are wrong.”

“… all things speak, in their way, don't they?”