Quotes from A Skinful of Shadows

“If someone throws aside their pride and begs with all their heart, and if they do so in vain, then they are never quite the same person afterwards. Something in them dies, and something else comes to life.”
― Frances Hardinge, quote from A Skinful of Shadows

“Everybody betrayed her, so why expect otherwise? But it turned out that distrust could fool you and endanger you, just as trust could.”
― Frances Hardinge, quote from A Skinful of Shadows

“Mother was like this sometimes. Conversations became riddles with traps in them, and your answers had consequences.”
― Frances Hardinge, quote from A Skinful of Shadows

“Looking at the rich and powerful was dangerous, like peering into the sun.”
― Frances Hardinge, quote from A Skinful of Shadows

“Habits, places and faces grew into you over time, like tree roots burrowing into stone work.”
― Frances Hardinge, quote from A Skinful of Shadows

“Lord Fellmotte was not a man. He was an ancient committee. A parliament of deathly rooks in a dying tree.”
― Frances Hardinge, quote from A Skinful of Shadows

“Even when she slept, her anxieties did not.”
― Frances Hardinge, quote from A Skinful of Shadows

“Before her escort could react, she sprinted out from their little pool of lantern-light into the darkness, her feet pounding the soft, treacherous clods of the field. The guards called after her for a while, but did not pursue, In a lost city, how could they chase down every lost soul who became a little more lost?”
― Frances Hardinge, quote from A Skinful of Shadows

“The minister was kind when you met him in the street, but terrifying in the pulpit. From the rapt faces of the other listeners, Makepeace could tell that there must be great truths shining in him, and love like a cold white comet.”
― Frances Hardinge, quote from A Skinful of Shadows

“His gaze made her feel like a mouse in owl-country.”
― Frances Hardinge, quote from A Skinful of Shadows

“I trust you, she had often told him. But was that true?

No, she realized, with a feeling like grief. All these years, even while she plotted with James, in her heart of hearts she had been waiting for him to betray her. When at last she had looked into his eyes and seen a host of dead enemies staring back, her mind had filled with a storm. But there had been an eye to that storm, a quiet core where a calm, relieved voice was saying: Ah, there it is at last. No more waiting for the sword to fall.”
― Frances Hardinge, quote from A Skinful of Shadows

“The Bible says we should know a tree by the fruit it bears," Makepeace replied, a little sharply. "If you burn my hand off, what should I think of you?”
― Frances Hardinge, quote from A Skinful of Shadows

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“He brought his other foot to the ground and gingerly tested his ankle. It would be a little sore, but it was still sound. He kept his back half turned from her as he ground his teeth, waiting for the insolent giggle he’d heard in so many other courts when he’d been maneuvered into looking foolish. He was furious for failing, furious because of the sudden despair he felt that she would think him an inadequate companion. He had forgotten that Jaenelle was Jaenelle. “I’m sorry, Daemon,” said a wavering, whispery voice behind him. “I’m sorry. Are you hurt?”

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― Anne Bishop, quote from Daughter of the Blood

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