“Translator Dlique was saying, very earnestly, “Eggs are so inadequate, don’t you think? I mean, they ought to be able to become anything, but instead you always get a chicken. Or a duck. Or whatever they’re programmed to be. You never get anything interesting, like regret, or the middle of the night last week.”
― Ann Leckie, quote from Ancillary Sword
“For my part,” I replied, “I find forgiveness overrated. There are times and places when it’s appropriate. But not when the demand that you forgive is used to keep you in your place.”
― Ann Leckie, quote from Ancillary Sword
“When they behave properly, you will say there is no problem. When they complain loudly, you will say they cause their own problems with their impropriety. And when they are driven to extremes, you say you will not reward such actions. What will it take for you to listen?”
― Ann Leckie, quote from Ancillary Sword
“Sit up straight, Dlique. Don’t dismember your sister, Dlique, it isn’t nice. Internal organs belong inside your body, Dlique.”
― Ann Leckie, quote from Ancillary Sword
“And it’s so easy to just go along. So easy not to see what’s happening. And the longer you don’t see it, the harder it becomes to see it, because then you have to admit that you ignored it all that time.”
― Ann Leckie, quote from Ancillary Sword
“Memory is an event horizon What’s caught in it is gone but it’s always there.”
― Ann Leckie, quote from Ancillary Sword
“We are all of us only human. We can only forgive so much.”
― Ann Leckie, quote from Ancillary Sword
“Water will wear away stone, but it won’t cook supper. Everything has its own strengths. Said with enough irony, it could also imply that since the gods surely had a purpose for everyone the person in question must be good for something, but the speaker couldn’t fathom what it might be.”
― Ann Leckie, quote from Ancillary Sword
“You take what you want at the end of a gun, you murder and rape and steal, and you call it bringing civilization. And what is civilization, to you, but us being properly grateful to be murdered and raped and stolen from? You said you knew justice when you heard it. Well, what is your justice but you allowed to treat us as you like, and us condemned for even attempting to defend ourselves?”
― Ann Leckie, quote from Ancillary Sword
“If there was anything any Radchaai considered essential for civilised life, it was tea.”
― Ann Leckie, quote from Ancillary Sword
“Life is unpredictable,” I said, “and we are not always the people we think we are. If we’re unlucky, that’s when we discover it. When something like that happens, you have two choices.” Or, more than two, but distilled, they came down to two. “You can admit the error and resolve never to repeat it, or you can refuse to admit error and throw every effort behind insisting you were right to do what you did, and would gladly do it again.”
― Ann Leckie, quote from Ancillary Sword
“Strange, how equally important, just different always seemed to translate into some “equally important” roles being more worthy of respect and reward than others.”
― Ann Leckie, quote from Ancillary Sword
“People don’t riot for no reason.”
― Ann Leckie, quote from Ancillary Sword
“These people are citizens.” I replied, my voice as calm and even as I could make it, without reaching the dead tonelessness of an ancillary. “When they behave properly, you will say there is no problem. When they complain loudly, you will say they cause their own problems with their impropriety. And when they are driven to extremes, you say you will not reward such actions. What will it take for you to listen?”
― Ann Leckie, quote from Ancillary Sword
“It's always for show, Citizen. It is entirely possible to grieve with no outward sign. These things are meant to let others know about it.”
― Ann Leckie, quote from Ancillary Sword
“Still that expressionless face. “Water will wear away stone, sir.” It was a proverb. Or half of one. Water will wear away stone, but it won’t cook supper. Everything has its own strengths. Said with enough irony, it could also imply that since the gods surely had a purpose for everyone the person in question must be good for something, but the speaker couldn’t fathom what it might be.”
― Ann Leckie, quote from Ancillary Sword
“Oh, how I missed the rest of myself.”
― Ann Leckie, quote from Ancillary Sword
“Betrayer! Long ago we promised
To exchange equally, gift for gift.
Take this curse: What you destroy will destroy you.”
― Ann Leckie, quote from Ancillary Sword
“Children are all sorts of people, aren’t they, and I suppose if I knew more I’d find some I like and some I don’t, just like everyone else.”
― Ann Leckie, quote from Ancillary Sword
“Captain,” I said after ten steps, without breaking stride. “I do understand that this is the Genitalia Festival. But when you say genitalia, doesn’t that usually mean genitals generally? Not just one kind?” For all the steps I’d taken, and as far down the corridor as I could see, the walls were hung with tiny penises. Bright green, hot pink, electric blue, and a particularly eye-searing orange.”
― Ann Leckie, quote from Ancillary Sword
“You are so civilized. So polite. So brave coming here alone when you know no one here would dare to touch you. So easy to be all those things, when all the power is on your side.”
― Ann Leckie, quote from Ancillary Sword
“But I had never noticed that anyone profited from needless spite,”
― Ann Leckie, quote from Ancillary Sword
“People don’t riot for no reason. And if you’re finding you have to deal with the Ychana carefully now, it’s because of how they’ve been treated in the past.”
― Ann Leckie, quote from Ancillary Sword
“So much is metaphor, an inadequately material way to speak of immaterial things.”
― Ann Leckie, quote from Ancillary Sword
“And what is civilization, to you, but us being properly grateful to be murdered and raped and stolen from?”
― Ann Leckie, quote from Ancillary Sword
“Do you love randomly?” She blinked in bewilderment. “What?” “Do you love at random? Like pulling counters out of a box? You love whichever one came to hand? Or is there something about certain people that makes them likely to be loved by you?”
― Ann Leckie, quote from Ancillary Sword
“Say exactly what we told you to and nothing will go wrong, they said. Well, it all went wrong anyway. And they didn’t say anything about this. You’d think they might have, they said lots of other things. Sit up straight, Dlique. Don’t dismember your sister, Dlique, it isn’t nice. Internal organs belong inside your body, Dlique.” She scowled a moment, as though that last one particularly rankled.”
― Ann Leckie, quote from Ancillary Sword
“Get some rest. Kalr will bring supper to your quarters. Things will seem better after you’ve eaten and slept.” “Really?” she asked. Bitter and challenging. “Well, not necessarily,” I admitted. “But it’s easier to deal with things when you’ve had some rest and some breakfast.”
― Ann Leckie, quote from Ancillary Sword
“From a child I was taught to forgive and forget, but it's difficult to forget these things, the loss of parents, of children and grandchildren.”
― Ann Leckie, quote from Ancillary Sword
“The tyrant had said our backgrounds were similar, and in some ways they were.”
― Ann Leckie, quote from Ancillary Sword
Ann Leckie
See more on GoodReads
“America is said to be the arena on which the battle of freedom is to be fought; but surely it cannot be freedom in a merely political sense that is meant. Even if we grant that the American has freed himself from a political tyrant, he is still the slave of an economical and moral tyrant. Now that the republic — the res-publica — has been settled, it is time to look after the res-privata, — the private state, — to see, as the Roman senate charged its consuls, "ne quidres-PRIVATA detrimenti caperet," that the private state receive no detriment.”
― Henry David Thoreau, quote from Life Without Principle
“هيموا وراء الجمال واتبعوه وان قادكم الى شفا الهاوية.اجلا اتبعوهاوان كان ذا جناح وأنتم لا جناح لكم , ابتعوه وان انتهى بكم الى الهاوية , اتبعوه فان افتقدتم الجمال افتقدتم كل شئ”
― Kahlil Gibran, quote from The Garden of The Prophet
“Even the Best Company Will Hurt Your Portfolio If You Pay Too Much for It.”
― quote from The Little Book That Builds Wealth: The Knockout Formula for Finding Great Investments
“Forgive as often as you must and don’t put limits on it.”
― Joyce Meyer, quote from Do Yourself a Favor...Forgive: Learn How to Take Control of Your Life Through Forgiveness
“Ghosts will forever put in appearances, as they should. Our illusions have muscle and meaning. The past returns at midnight, in the heart of our dreams, and the rains and the willows forever remind us of the sacrifices we’ve offered and those we have yet to make.”
― Tom Piccirilli, quote from A Choir of Ill Children
The Selected Poetry...
On Stranger Tides
Without Reservations...
A Collection of Essa...
Re: Colonised Planet...
City of BonesBookQuoters is a community of passionate readers who enjoy sharing the most meaningful, memorable and interesting quotes from great books. As the world communicates more and more via texts, memes and sound bytes, short but profound quotes from books have become more relevant and important. For some of us a quote becomes a mantra, a goal or a philosophy by which we live. For all of us, quotes are a great way to remember a book and to carry with us the author’s best ideas.
We thoughtfully gather quotes from our favorite books, both classic and current, and choose the ones that are most thought-provoking. Each quote represents a book that is interesting, well written and has potential to enhance the reader’s life. We also accept submissions from our visitors and will select the quotes we feel are most appealing to the BookQuoters community.
Founded in 2023, BookQuoters has quickly become a large and vibrant community of people who share an affinity for books. Books are seen by some as a throwback to a previous world; conversely, gleaning the main ideas of a book via a quote or a quick summary is typical of the Information Age but is a habit disdained by some diehard readers. We feel that we have the best of both worlds at BookQuoters; we read books cover-to-cover but offer you some of the highlights. We hope you’ll join us.
