Shannon Hale quotes:

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  • You, what are you? The brat of lucky parents who were related to a childless king. There is no such thing as royal blood. I believe we are what we make ourselves, and as such, you, Crown Princess, are nothing.

  • Jane Austen had created six heroines, each quite different, and that gave Charlotte courage. There wasn't just one kind of woman to be.

  • She's as fetching as brown hair done up with ribbons blue The mountain, my lady She's as sweet as pink flowers made bright with morning dew, Mount Eskel, my lady

  • ...Speaking of, I've been playing with the letters - Lovers In a Very Enlightened Regard." "LIVER. Good one." "Also, how about Life Invasion Via Exceptional Respect?" "Life Invasion. Like it." "Or Lovelike Intensity Via Emotional Rapport." "Doesn't that spell OLIVER?

  • ...Speaking of, I've been playing with the letters - Lovers In a Very Enlightened Regard.""LIVER. Good one.""Also, how about Life Invasion Via Exceptional Respect?""Life Invasion. Like it.""Or Lovelike Intensity Via Emotional Rapport.""Doesn't that spell OLIVER?"

  • It is a truth universally acknowledged that a thirty-something woman in possession of a satisfying career and fabulous hairdo must be in want of very little

  • It doesn't seem to matter what we think...The prince will come up here and look at us as if we're barrels in a trader's wagon. And if I'm salt pork and he doesn't care for salt pork, then there's nothing I can do.

  • If we don't tell strange stories, when something strange happens we won't believe it.

  • For Colin Firth: You're a really great guy, but I'm married, so I think we should just be friends.

  • The to Cathal was battered and only one wagon wide, with swells of hard earth where mud had frozen during cold ad rainy seasons. Enna tripped often, and cursed each time she tripped, until Dasha said, "Enna, you might watch your language." Enna grimaced. "I was. You should hear my thoughts.

  • Even the jerks earn some of our affection. We can be glad they're gone and yet still mourn the good parts.

  • Many times I have learned that, you never judge a book by its cover. Like people, it is the inside that counts.

  • It was karma, it was kismet, it was magic. It doesn't matter how it happened, just that it did.

  • ...'Goose girl, may I kiss you?' She answered by... kissing him first.

  • Mama used to say, you have to know someone a thousand days before you can glimpse her soul.

  • Being a writer is a good, good thing.

  • She wore white heirloom lace about her throat And in her hair a bright golden feather A pearl like a plum hung ripe from her neck But her smile fetched ten gold together

  • Seriously, a thirty-something woman shouldn't be daydreaming about a fictional character in a two-hundred-year-old world to the point where it interfered with her very real and much more important life and relationships. Of course she shouldn't.

  • Hey, times are tough, and thirty gold coins can do a lot of good. But I guess you wouldn't know about needing money, since you grew up like a little princ..." (Rapunzel glares) "Prin... soner. I mean, prisoner! A prisoner in a tower, such a shame, that.

  • I'm not bossy - I just happen to be more capable than most everyone else.

  • Razo knew he was best at nothing, except maybe cramming two cherries into a single nostril.

  • He looked at her, and the clarity of his dark eyes struck her heart with a sensation of a wound touched.

  • 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.

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

  • 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.

  • What should I say? That I like him so much it hurts?

  • We know it's all just daydreaming. In all likelihood, no one in this forest'll ever get a javelin, and I'll never see my mother's kingdom again, let alone be hailed by crowds as the jewel of Kildenree. Maybe it's vain to wish for it. But sometimes, it'd be nice just to hold something real in your hands that felt like a measure of your worth. Right Finn?

  • 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.

  • WANTED: DEAD OR ALIVE: RAPUNZEL For horse thieving, kidnapping, jail breaking, and using her hair in a manner other than nature intended! REWARD

  • I'm writing a first draft and reminding myself that I'm simply shoveling sand into a box so that later I can build castles.

  • Does anyone smell roasting meat?' said Razo, 'Oh, wait, it's just Geric's face.

  • All I've ever wanted was to be near you.

  • Am I the moss on your bark, then? Ani asked.Enna grabbed her around the waist and shook her affectionatelyYou're the mossiest girl I know.

  • For one thing, everyone there is so clever. Do they think me dull?Perhaps I should assure them that our goats enjoyed listening to me for hours on end. I am certain their bleats meant Do go on, Miri, darling. You are immensely entertaining.Your immensely entertaining sister,Miri

  • Gerti didn't ask for help. Miri swallowed and tried to calm her quavering voiceIt was my fault. So it was. Now you all have learned that those who speak out of turn choose punishment for themselves and anyone they speak to. So if I speak to you, Tutor Olana, will you get the lashes?

  • Your head will be fine, said MiriIt's your neck you should worry about.

  • Throwing herself into learning helped Miri ignore the painful chill of solitude around her.

  • Miri took genuine comfort in studying Mathematics that day. She could sort numbers into two simple ideas: true and not true. Unlike numbers, words were rarely just one thing. They moved and changed, camouflaging and leaping out unexpectedly. Words were slippery and alive; words wrestled out of her grip and became something new. Words were dangerous.

  • No matter that we could be beheaded for this, said EsaHeads are overrated.Yes, they are so unfashionable, said Miri, imitating an Aslandian accentThis spring, ladies of style are wearing their feathers in their necks.

  • Will you accompany me in this dance? he said, bowing and holding out his handNo, thank you. Miri smiled. The prince frowned and looked and the chief delegate as if for assistance. Miri laughed self consciouslyI, uh, I was teasing.

  • More guns! Weren't they supposed to just use bully clubs in England? Where had she been getting her information?

  • ...Speaking of, I've been playing with the letters - Lovers In a Very Enlightened Regard.LIVER. Good one.Also, how about Life Invasion Via Exceptional Respect?Life Invasion. Like it.Or Lovelike Intensity Via Emotional Rapport.Doesn't that spell OLIVER?

  • I don't know how you persist in being so stubborn-""It's a superpower. I was bitten by a radioactive mule.

  • No wolf falters before the bite, so strike.No hawk wavers before the dive, so swing.No sun pauses before the set, just strike.No rain delays before the fall, just swing.

  • I was sorry to lose it, and if you make me another one, I promise not to get taken captive by bandits and have to use it to save my life.

  • Courage is feeling justly afraid and yet still doing what is right.

  • Courage is not fearlessness.

  • But, how do you know if an ending is truly good for the characters unless you've traveled with them through every page?

  • I wish stories were kinder to their characters," Maddie said. "But I guess trouble is more interesting to read about.

  • We were quiet, two tiny specks glued down by gravity, peering at a universe that didn't notice us back.

  • I'm Razo, a member of Bayern's Own," he said, stopping himself from adding "Loafing is just a hobby of mine.""Bayern's Own? But you're a child." Razo looked up to the sky. "I'm not a child, I'm just short.

  • Charlotte wondered if she would have recognized the crazy much earlier if he looked more like Steve Buscemi then Mr. Medieval Hotness.

  • The snow was too light to stay, the ground too warm to keep it. And the strange spring snow fell only in that golden moment of dawn, the turning of the page between night and day.

  • There's nothing more aggravating in the world than the midnight sniffling of the person you've decided to hate.

  • The point of education is to learn other ways too. Don't just assume that all you know is right. Learn more and then chose.

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

  • You're better than seven years of food. You're better than windows. You're even better than the sky.

  • You are my butterfly and refuse to set you free.

  • They finished laughing and caught their breaths, and looked at each other, and Ani thought Geric looked at her too long, as though he forgot he was looking, as though he did not wish to do anything else. She looked back. Her took heart took its time quieting down.

  • Ani saw herself clearly in that moment, as a face in darkness gains sudden dimensions in a flash of lightning - a young girl, a silly thing, a lapdog, a broken mare.

  • Look no farther than your hand,Make a choice and take a stand.

  • There you go...let it all slide out. Unhappiness can't stick in a person's soul when it's slick with tears.

  • Reading a book is like going on a great journey. You don't know what'll happen, but something is bound to change. And for me, that change has always been good.

  • They weren't nice words he said. He could've lived a good life and died never having made a person feel rubbed down to bones and too sad to hold together.

  • I need to admit up front that I don't know how to have a fling. I'm not good at playing around and then saying good-bye. I'm throwing myself at your feet because I'm hoping for a shot at forever." Henry Jenkins/Mr. Nobley

  • I'm sorry Finn. I'm a wooden-headed dummy.' Don't be so hard on yourself,' said Finn. 'You're just a straw-brained scarecrow.

  • Oh land of farms and green hills mild Once formed by giants rough and wild With massive paws they gripped and tore With one great rip they formed the shore Where heavy boots left prints so deep Blue lakes remain 'tween summits steep The giants fought beneath our skies And from their bones our mountains rise

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

  • Her smile was peculiar - it made her nose wrinkle, not as though she smelled something unpleasant, but more that she was so amused, her whole face wanted to be a part of the smile.

  • 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?

  • . . . as long as there are movement and harmony, there are words.

  • ... and with my last thought I felt some real sympathy for those poor chickens.

  • ... If we don't tell strange stories, when something strange happens we won't believe it.

  • ... until Miri could not help it any longer and she laughed out loud. The sound broke the game. Peder looked at her. He reached out, and she thought he meant to grab her straw or perhaps yank her hair as he used to when they were little. But her put his hand behind her head and, leaning forward, pulled her face to his. He kissed her. One long, slow kiss.

  • ...all things speak, in their way, don't they?

  • ...first thing is that I love you. And the second thing is that as much as I honor your former profession, I don't think your geese care much for your betrothed and I hope they hadn't any plans on sharing our bed.

  • A heart is a heart in a child or a man.

  • A heart's a heart, in a child or a man. You are tougher than you feel right now. Your roots are deep, your canopy's spread wide. You're going to show everyone what it means to be a king.

  • A little snark, properly directed, can change the world.

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

  • Am I the moss on your bark, then?" Ani asked. Enna grabbed her around the waist and shook her affectionately. "You're the mossiest girl I know.

  • And Isi always listened, never told Enna she had been foolish, never said hollow things like 'You'll be all right.' . . . Isi saw Enna's struggle and her sadness, and she understood.

  • And new, too. Remade. Ready to move again. Listening was the start, she decided. Doing was the next step.

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

  • As a general rule, writing is very inconvenient.

  • But in a country where you hang your dead up on walls and pride whether or not a man bears a javelin more than his character, how am I to persuade you out of a war? It would be suicide for Kildenree to war on Bayern and butchery for Bayern to attack Kildenree. If you don't believe me, then send me back. Or if you don't trust me to leave, I'll return to my little room on the west wall and tend your geese, and you can be sure that on my watch no thieves will touch my flock.

  • But the hoping, that's what really hurts.

  • But when she turned her back to the lights, she saw that the night was so dark...She could not see the stars. The world felt as high as the depthless night sky and deeper than she could know. She understood, suddenly and keenly, that she was too small to run away, and she sat on the damp ground and cried.

  • Careful with the accusations of insanity, oh my lady whose home is a tower with windows of brick, all for the sake of some skinny-ankled, laugh-prone boy of a khan.

  • Don't beat yourself up," said Charlotte. "True love can be so easily mistaken for other things-friendship, humane concern, indigestion...

  • Enna leaned back her head and laughed at the sky. 'Of course he wasn't! Who could kill Razo?

  • Figure out what is real for you. No use leaning on someone else's story all your life.

  • Finn always called it Enna's Stream. He tended to refer to most anything as belonging to her--Enna's Meadow, Enna's Mountain. When he referred to Yasid as Enna's Kingdom, she said, "Isn't that your heart?" Finn smiled and kissed her hand. Isi rolled her eyes. "Oh you two are impossible." Enna laughed. "This coming from the girl who calls her husband 'sweet little bunny boy'?" Isi blushed. "That was just once.

  • Finn leaped from his horse to greet Enna, and she entwined herself into him, their arms around each other, their faces close. Thoug they did not kiss, Rin thought that the way they looked at each other was even more intimate. 'Let's get married,' Enna was saying with yearning in her voice. 'Please, let's get married right now.' Finn put his face into her neck and whispered something that made her hum.

  • For one thing, everyone there is so clever. Do they think me dull? Perhaps I should assure them that our goats enjoyed listening to me for hours on end. I am certain their bleats meant "Do go on, Miri, darling. You are immensely entertaining." Your immensely entertaining sister, Miri

  • Geric," she called. He turned back around. "What kind of flowers were they?" "I don't rightly know," he said. He made faltering gestures with his hands, forming their size and shape from the air. "They were yellow, and smallish, and had lots of petals." "Thank you," she said. "They were beautiful.

  • Gerti didn't ask for help." Miri swallowed and tried to calm her quavering voice. "It was my fault." "So it was. Now you all have learned that those who speak out of turn choose punishment for themselves and anyone they speak to." "So if I speak to you, Tutor Olana, will you get the lashes?

  • Get back in my cot, girl," said Gilsa. "You're sickly." No, I'm not," said Ani. Oh, no? Well, maybe stubbornness is a sickness, did you ever think of that?

  • He did a very good impression of a stone column.

  • He had a dashing smile. It nearly dashed right off his face.

  • He nodded. "And if I don't make you feel like the most beautiful woman in the world every day of your life, then I don't deserve to be near you.

  • He smiled in a way that made me want to kiss him right on the spot. Or the lips. Whichever was closer.

  • He would never abandon her, never leave a gaping hole, and even if he died someday, he was preserved like a lab specimen from all the alcohol he imbibed, so he wouldn't look or act much different.

  • Her eyes were distant, and she seemed to be listening to that voice that first told her the story, a mother, sister, or aunt. Then her voice, like her singing, cut through the crickets and crackling fire.

  • Her nightmare clung to her like the smell of smoke to cloth.

  • Here's the thing about home: you can create it most anywhere, as long as you gather your people around you.

  • His brothers could tease him about his height or the number of scars he was collecting on his body. He could take the joke when they said he would die having never won a fair wrestling match. But the topic of Bettin still smarted too much. He'd imagined being with her always. Now when he closed his eyes, he had trouble imagining anything else.

  • How could you miss it? Just the sound of her voice makes my chest feel tight, my face gets hot and my mouth goes dry whenever she's near. It's getting so bad, all I have to do is see her and I'm already thinking, 'What does she want? What can I do for her?' She's got some power over me, there's no question, and what else could it be? ~Razo

  • How I keep trying to force our story into a fairy tale, but from the beginning, it's been more like a nursery rhyme." "Bizarre and adorable?" "Just like you." "With rings in your pockets and bells on your toes" "Ooh, I should really invest in some toes bells.

  • I always knew it was ill-fated, but he truly believed I would be his bride. I guess I'd never realized that before. He had taken my mucker hand and looked at my mottled face and believed we would wed. And he hadn't seemed sorry. In fact, he'd swooped me up in a corridor and kissed me. That set me to crying.

  • I am not sure I am ready to know what I think about that, so I dare not write it out.

  • I can see that one can never pay back Gilsa for the fear that she will give again.

  • I cannot write to anyone outside myself--if I tried, it would be a horrible story, flat and lifeless. I write to myself. That's the only person I'm trying to please.

  • I couldn't remember the last time I had stayed up into the squeaky hours of the night because I couldn't put a book down, and that was a tragedy.

  • I couldn't see what was real until time had washed away everything else.

  • I do like the world quite a lot.

  • I hate them," Enna said. "Whoever is responsible for making me sleep outside without pillows, I hate them." Mmm-hmmm...," Dasha said. Rin had noticed that the Tiran girl often had trouble remembering how to speak in the morning. If Finn were here," Enna continued to mumble as she rewrapped her head cloth, "he'd let me rest my head on his chest at night. Or leg. Or arm. And then he'd find whoever was responsible for the whole sleeping outside with no pillows situation and hold him while I kicked him in the shins.

  • I keep thinking about a tale my nurse used to read to me about a bird whose wings are pinned to the ground. In the end, when he finally frees himself, he flies so high he becomes a star. My nurse said the story was about how we all have something that keeps us down.

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