Quotes from Crown Duel

“You, there, girl! Halt!"
Who in the universe ever halts when the enemy tells them to?”
― Sherwood Smith, quote from Crown Duel

“A wager?" I repeated.
"Yes," he said, and gave me a slow smile, bright with challenge. ...
"Stake?" I asked cautiously. He was still smiling, an odd sort of smile, hard to define.
"A kiss." My first reaction was outrage, but then I remembered that I was on my way to Court, and that had to be the kind of thing they did at Court. And if I win I don't have to collect. I hesitated only a moment longer, lured by the thought of open sky, and speed, and winning.
"Done," I said.”
― Sherwood Smith, quote from Crown Duel

“Why is it the songs all end with the good people winning, but in life they don't?"
They don't make songs when the good lose," I muttered. "They make war chants against the bad. So there won't be any songs for us.”
― Sherwood Smith, quote from Crown Duel

“Except. What is normal at any given time? We change just as the seasons change, and each spring brings new growth. So nothing is ever quite the same.”
― Sherwood Smith, quote from Crown Duel

“Because you showed one face to all the rest of the world, and another to me.”
― Sherwood Smith, quote from Crown Duel

“It desolates me to disappoint you, but your brother is not here. Despite two really praiseworthy attempts at rescue."
... The hint of amusement irritated me, and sick and hurt as I was, I simply had to retort something. "Glad... at least... you're desolated.”
― Sherwood Smith, quote from Crown Duel

“One doesn't lose a self, like a pair of gloves or a pine. We learn and change, or we harden into stone.”
― Sherwood Smith, quote from Crown Duel

“If more people recognized the difference between friendship and mere attraction, and how love must partake of both to prosper, I expect there'd be more happy people.”
― Sherwood Smith, quote from Crown Duel

“I had seen ardency in men's eyes, but I had only felt it once. With Flauvic, false and therefore easy to dismiss. I suddenly wished that I could feel it now. No, I did feel it. I did have the same feeling, only I had masked it as restlessness, or as the exhortation to action, or as anger. I thought how wonderful it would be to see that spark now, in the right pair of eyes.”
― Sherwood Smith, quote from Crown Duel

“A horse blanket, Mel?
I remembered what I was wearing. 'It tore in half when Hrani tried washing it. She was going to mend it. This piece was too small for a horse, but it was just right for me.'
Bran laughed a little unsteadly. 'Mel. A horse blanket.”
― Sherwood Smith, quote from Crown Duel

“The more one has, the less one desires.”
― Sherwood Smith, quote from Crown Duel

“Some of it was wrong decisions made for the right reasons, and a little of it was right decisions made for the wrong reasons; but most of what I did was wrong decisions for the wrong reasons.”
― Sherwood Smith, quote from Crown Duel

“Who can ever know what turns the spark into flame? Vidanric's initial interest in me might well have been kindled by the fact that he saw my actions as courageous, but the subsequent discovery of passion, and the companionship of the mind that would sutain it, seemed as full of mystery as it was of felicity. As for me, I really believe that the spark had been there all along, but I had been too ignorant--and too afraid--to recognize it.”
― Sherwood Smith, quote from Crown Duel

“But I'd also learned that the self might want one thing, but that didn't mean it was right.”
― Sherwood Smith, quote from Crown Duel

“If your opponent is better armed and has longer reach, then surprise is your only ally. And then you'd better hope he's half asleep.”
― Sherwood Smith, quote from Crown Duel

“You don't look at the problem all at once, or it's like being caught in a spring flood under a downpour. You tackle the problem in pieces...”
― Sherwood Smith, quote from Crown Duel

“Who in the universe halts when the enemy tells them to?”
― Sherwood Smith, quote from Crown Duel

“But I will never ask anyone from our village-from any village in Tlanth-to risk his or her life unless I'm willing to myself.”
― Sherwood Smith, quote from Crown Duel

“the stubborn little countess—so unlike anyone Vidanric had ever met—trampled her determined, well-meaning way not only over his plans, but his thoughts.”
― Sherwood Smith, quote from Crown Duel

“I’d learned something, all right, about the power of attraction, and Nee was right, it was potent. But I’d also learned that the self might want one thing, but that didn’t mean it was right. Isn’t that why we have minds?”
― Sherwood Smith, quote from Crown Duel

“Suddenly I felt an overwhelming desire to be home. I wanted badly to clean out our castle, and replant Mama’s garden, and walk in the sunny glades, and think, and read, and learn. I no longer wanted to face the world in ignorance, wearing castoff clothing and old horse blankets.”
― Sherwood Smith, quote from Crown Duel

“Except, what is normal at any given time? We change just as the seasons change, and each spring brings new growth. So nothing is ever quite the same. I realize now that what I wanted was comfort, but that, too, does not often come with growth and change.”
― Sherwood Smith, quote from Crown Duel

“You're drunk as four skunks, you idiot.”
― Sherwood Smith, quote from Crown Duel

“I can see her struggling to make what she considers courtly banter, but if she’s ever been kissed before, I’ll eat my hat. I’ll eat your hat, which has more lace on it.”
― Sherwood Smith, quote from Crown Duel

“It is a shame that so few have the time or inclination for scholarship these days. There is much entertainment to be afforded in perusing the mistakes of our forbears.”
― Sherwood Smith, quote from Crown Duel

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“Here is what I really think. White people are jealous of us. If it hadn't been for your religion you would have lived just like us from the first minute you got to this land. You knew we were right. You started wearing our clothes. You started eating our food. You learned how to hunt like us. When you fought the English you even fought like us. “You came to this country because you really wanted to be like us. But when you got here you got scared and tried to build the same cages you had run away from. If you had listened to us instead of trying to convert us and kill us, what a country this would be.” “Hannh, hannh,” Grover said in a subdued gesture of approval. “That's damn straight, Dan.” Dan”
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“George stared at the dove. What would she say if she could speak to him? What would she wish for, for her father? For she, too, had been harmed by a man who had meant to show his utmost love for her.
It made George wonder why love was suppose to be such a wonderful thing. As far as he could tell, love was just another excuse for causing pain.”
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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.

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