Alanna: The First Adventure

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?

Alanna: All I know is that I'm to jump when I'm told and I have no free time.

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

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.

I believe in deeds, not words.

I'm sorry," she said humbly. "I haven't wanted to lie to you." "I should hope so. You're the worst liar I've ever met." He thought about it for a moment, then added, "--or the best. Now I'm all confused.

If I say you're a goatherd's son, you say, 'Yes, Lord Ralon.'" Alanna gasped with fury. "I'd as soon kiss a pig! Is that what you've been doing-kissing pigs? Or being kissed?

I said I fell down. Ah. The ground bloodied your nose, split yer lip, and punched ye in th' eye, all at once. I said I don't want to talk about it.

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?

Ah," Gary said dreamily. " 'Free time.' I've heard about that. Don't fool yourself, Fire-Top. What with extra hours of lessons for punishments, and the extra work you get every day, free time is an illusion. It's what you get when you die and the gods reward you for a life spent working from dawn until midnight. We all face up to it sooner or later--the only real free time you get here is what my honored sire chooses to give you, when he thinks you have earned it." "And he doesn't give it to you at night," Alex put in. "He gives it to you when you've been here awhile, on Market Day and sometimes a morning or afternoon all to yourself. But never at night. At night you study. During the day you study. In your sleep--

George looked at her for a long moment. Finally he replied, "And why do you find it so hard to think someone might like you and want to do things for you?

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

I--buy, and I sell." "You're a thief.

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

Stefan spat. "Oh, aye, he fell. O' course, Master Ralon helped him fall, several times. Poor li'l tyke didn't have a chance.

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!

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

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

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

He's got courage," Alex said. "Courage!" Raoul bellowed. "That coward almost kills him and--

Stefan shook his head. Th' lad's got guts , he thought. Not much sense, but guts.

Ralon didn't make anyone else put his tack away?" Alex wanted to know. "You didn't see anything strange?" Alanna didn't look up. "No." It wasn't strange , she excused her lie mentally. Ralon does things like that all the time.

Your place in life you can always change, whether you have the gift or not. But you cannot change what the gods have made you. The sooner you accept that, the happier you'll be.

All these things Alanna knew from her father's books and maps, but the reality took her breath away as a paragraph written in a book never could.

The only thing I know is that I jump when I'm told to and I have no free time.

Our gods are much too busy in our lives for us to ignore them. (Myles)

We're men, and men aren't born to stand alone.

A knight must develop all his abilities, to the fullest.