Quotes from Assassin's Apprentice

“When you cut pieces out of the truth to avoid looking like a fool you end up looking like a moron instead.”
― Robin Hobb, quote from Assassin's Apprentice

“Don’t do what you can’t undo, until you’ve considered what you can’t do once you’ve done it.”
― Robin Hobb, quote from Assassin's Apprentice

“Very little worth knowing is taught by fear.”
― Robin Hobb, quote from Assassin's Apprentice

“Nothing takes the heart out of a man more than the expectation of failure.”
― Robin Hobb, quote from Assassin's Apprentice

“When you spring to an idea, and decide it is truth, without evidence, you blind yourself to other possibilities.”
― Robin Hobb, quote from Assassin's Apprentice

“All events, no matter how earthshaking or bizarre, are diluted within moments of their occurrence the the continuance of the necessary routines of day-to-day.
-Fitz

Most prisons are of our own making. A man makes his own freedom, too.
-Chade

When you cut pieces out of the truth to avoid looking like a fool, you end up sounding like a moron instead.
-Burrich

We left. Walking uphill and into the wind. That suddenly seemed a metaphor for my whole life.
-Fitz”
― Robin Hobb, quote from Assassin's Apprentice

“That is the trick of good government. To make folk desire to live in such a way that there is no need for its intervention.”
― Robin Hobb, quote from Assassin's Apprentice

“Too late to apologize, I've already forgiven you.”
― Robin Hobb, quote from Assassin's Apprentice

“When considering a man's motives, remember you must not measure his wheat with your bushel. He may not be using the same standard at all.”
― Robin Hobb, quote from Assassin's Apprentice

“Learning is never wrong. Even learning how to kill isn't wrong. Or right. It's just a thing to learn, a thing I can teach you. That's all.”
― Robin Hobb, quote from Assassin's Apprentice

“How do you politely explain to someone that you had believed for years he was a moron as well as a Fool?
Fitz in Assassin's Apprentice”
― Robin Hobb, quote from Assassin's Apprentice

“Men cannot grieve as dogs do. But they grieve for many years.”
― Robin Hobb, quote from Assassin's Apprentice

“People are intimidated by a man who acts with no apparent regard for consequences. Behave as if you cannot be touched and no one will dare to touch you.”
― Robin Hobb, quote from Assassin's Apprentice

“It doesn't have to be that bad,' Chade said quietly. 'Most prisons are of our own making. A man makes his own freedom, too.”
― Robin Hobb, quote from Assassin's Apprentice

“My silences he mistook for a lack of wit rather than a lack of any need to speak.”
― Robin Hobb, quote from Assassin's Apprentice

“Utter loneliness was planted in me then, and sent its deep roots down into me.”
― Robin Hobb, quote from Assassin's Apprentice

“Chade, I know the Fool is strange. But I like it when he comes to talk to me. He speaks in riddles, and he insults me, and makes fun of me, and gives himself leave to tell me things he thinks I should do, like wash my hair, or not wear yellow. But (...) I like him. He mocks me, but from him, it seems a kindness. He makes me feel, well, important. That he could choose me to talk to.”
― Robin Hobb, quote from Assassin's Apprentice

“Most prisons are of our own making. A man makes his own freedom, too.”
― Robin Hobb, quote from Assassin's Apprentice

“One had a knife. But I had a staff and was trained to use it.”
― Robin Hobb, quote from Assassin's Apprentice

“My perception of my life crashed from high tragedy to juvenile self-pity in a matter of moments.”
― Robin Hobb, quote from Assassin's Apprentice

“All events, no matter how earthshaking or bizarre, are diluted within moments of their occurrence by the continuance of the necessary routines of day-to-day living.”
― Robin Hobb, quote from Assassin's Apprentice

“It was inside me. The more I sought it, the stronger it grew. It loved me. Loved me even if I couldn't, wouldn't, didn't love myself. Love me even if I hated. It set its tiny teeth in my soul and braced and held so that I couldn't crawl any further. And when I tried, a howl of despair burst from it, searing me, forbidding me to break so sacred trust.
It was Smithy.”
― Robin Hobb, quote from Assassin's Apprentice

“The art of diplomacy is the luck of knowing more of your rival's secrets than he knows of yours.”
― Robin Hobb, quote from Assassin's Apprentice

“I'd rather I was a stray pup,' I made bold to say. And then all my fears broke my voice as I added, "You wouldn't let them do this to a stray pup, changing everything all at once. When they gave the bloodhound puppy to Lord Grimsby, you sent your old shirt with it, so it would have something that smelled of home until it settle in.'
'Well,' he said, "I didn't ... come here, fitz. Come here, boy.'
And puppy-like, I went to him, the only master I had, and he thumped me lightly on the back and rumbled up my hair, very much as if I had been a hound.”
― Robin Hobb, quote from Assassin's Apprentice

“I do not know whom I wish to win; until I do, I will let no player be eliminated.”
― Robin Hobb, quote from Assassin's Apprentice

“Because your heart will be hammered against him, and your strength will be tempered in his fire.”
― Robin Hobb, quote from Assassin's Apprentice

“I think myself cured of all spite, but when I touch pen to paper, the hurt of a boy bleeds out with sea-spawned ink, until I suspect each carefully formed black letter scabs over some ancient scarlet wound.”
― Robin Hobb, quote from Assassin's Apprentice

“One can only walk so far from one's true self before the bond either snaps, or pulls back. I am fortunate. I have been pulled back.”
― Robin Hobb, quote from Assassin's Apprentice

“ I don't know"

"When a man says that, it usually means, "No, I won't but from time to time, I'll toy with the idea, so I can pretend i eventually intend to do it.”
― Robin Hobb, quote from Assassin's Apprentice

“That night I grasped another piece of the puzzle that Burrich had always been to me. For there is a very strange peace in giving over your judgment to someone else, to saying to them, “You lead and I will follow, and I will trust entirely that you will not lead me to death or harm.”
― Robin Hobb, quote from Assassin's Apprentice

About the author

Popular quotes

“On croirait qu'il y a en elle deux personnes : l'une silencieuse, lointaine, même un peu taciturne, l'autre très gaie, mais d'une gaieté trop forcée pour être de la vraie joie.”
― Pearl S. Buck, quote from East Wind: West Wind

“What we should see is that there is none among us with nothing to give, and that giving is our purpose.”
― Nell Gavin, quote from Threads: The Reincarnation of Anne Boleyn

“Okay," I said slowly, "but what the hell would you mate a horse with to get a unicorn, because I don't see horses and narwhales doing the dirty boogie.”
― Jonathan Maberry, quote from The Dragon Factory

“I know plenty of people who find God most reliably in books, in buildings, and even in other people. I have found God in all of these places too, but the most reliable meeting place for me has always been creation. Since I first became aware of the Divine Presence in that lit-up field in Kansas, I have known where to go when my own flame is guttering. To lie with my back flat on the fragrant ground is to receive a transfusion of the same power that makes the green blade rise. To remember that I am dirt and to dirt I shall return is to be given my life back again, if only for one present moment at a time. Where other people see acreage, timber, soil, and river frontage, I see God's body, or at least as much of it as I am able to see. In the only wisdom I have at my disposal, the Creator does not live apart from creation but spans and suffuses it. When I take a breath, God's Holy Spirit enters me. When a cricket speaks to me, I talk back. Like everything else on earth, I am an embodied soul, who leaps to life when I recognize my kin. If this makes me a pagan, then I am a grateful one.”
― Barbara Brown Taylor, quote from Leaving Church: A Memoir of Faith

“Ich fürchtete das Schlimmste, nicht, weil ich den Plan der Griechen Zug um Zug durchschaute, sondern weil ich den haltlosen Übermut der Troer sah. Ich schrie, bat, beschwor und redete in Zungen.”
― Christa Wolf, quote from Cassandra: A Novel and Four Essays

Interesting books

About BookQuoters

BookQuoters 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.