Quotes from Palace of Stone

“My ma says a rock lasts forever, but people don’t, and that’s what makes them more precious.”
― Shannon Hale, quote from Palace of Stone

“No small thing, a bee's sting
When it enters the heart
Not so benign, the growing vine
When it tears stone apart”
― Shannon Hale, quote from Palace of Stone

“The snow was too light to stay, the ground too warm to keep it. And the strange spring snow fell only in that golden moment of dawn, the turning of the page between night and day.”
― Shannon Hale, quote from Palace of Stone

“You forgot to cough!” he said.
“Sorry.” She coughed.
“Your sneakiness is dangerous. Next time that chisel will lodge itself in my head.”
“Now, Peder, there’s plenty of stone around here for carving. No need to practice on your own face.”
He stroked his chin. “You’re right, my jaw is already chiseled to perfection.”
She agreed, but she felt too silly to say so aloud.”
― Shannon Hale, quote from Palace of Stone

“No matter that we could be beheaded for this,” said Esa. “Heads are overrated.”
“Yes, they are so unfashionable,” said Miri, imitating an Aslandian accent. “This spring, ladies of style are wearing their feathers in their necks.”
― Shannon Hale, quote from Palace of Stone

“Listen to your second thought, or the third might be too late.”
― Shannon Hale, quote from Palace of Stone

“Words can fall hard like a boulder loosed from a cliff.
Words can drift unnoticed like a weed seed on a breeze. Words can sing.”
― Shannon Hale, quote from Palace of Stone

“My ma says You can't unspill a stew."

"She also says Undoing a wrong is greater than doing a right."

"You know, Ma is very good at saying two things at once.”
― Shannon Hale, quote from Palace of Stone

“For one thing, everyone there is so clever. Do they think me dull?
Perhaps I should assure them that our goats enjoyed listening to me for hours on end. I am certain their bleats meant "Do go on, Miri, darling. You are immensely entertaining."
Your immensely entertaining sister,
Miri”
― Shannon Hale, quote from Palace of Stone

“There was a burst of laughter so sudden Miri jumped to her feet in alarm. Bena and Liana had pushed Peder out of the bed and onto the floor. He in turn leaped on Liana's bed, clinging to it and laughing as the girls tugged at his ankles.
"So, are you two betrothed?" Katar asked.
"No," Miri said shortly
"Ohh." Karter smirked, one eyebrow raised, and she looked altogether more like her old self. "It appears I stumbled upon a topic of conversation even more dangerous than revolution.”
― Shannon Hale, quote from Palace of Stone

“The army slew a thousand and showed little pity
The king ordered fealty from the conquered city
The prince charmed its people with words wise and witty
And the queen sat on a couch, looking very pretty”
― Shannon Hale, quote from Palace of Stone

“You can be who you will,” he repeated. His voice softened. “And if you will have me, I will be the one beside you.”
― Shannon Hale, quote from Palace of Stone

“Katar," said Britta, "I thought you would want to stay with your friends from home while they were here, so I had your things moved from your room in the delegates' wing."
"You can have my things brought in too," said Peder, throwing himself onto the nearest bed. He sighed as he sank into the soft mattress and rolled onto his side.
"Um... I don't think boys are-" Britta began.
"Don't you mind me!" Peder pulled a blanket over his head.
Miri didn't know how he could even pretend to fall asleep. She could barely keep from pacing.
"Don't worry, Britta," said Esa. "We'll kick him out before night. Off to your fancy apprenticeship, big brother."
She nudged Peder's shape under the blanket. Peder made an exaggerated snoring noise.”
― Shannon Hale, quote from Palace of Stone

“Once she'd thought all the knowledge in the world was contained in the princess academy's thirteen books. Now she faced thousands. She wondered if she should curtsy as if she were entering a chapel.”
― Shannon Hale, quote from Palace of Stone

“So...did she just agree to sponsor the charter?" asked Katar.
"I think so," Miri whispered.
"You think so?"Katar grabbed the paper from Miri. "If I present this in session and the queen doesn't offer her sponsorship, 'I think so' isn't going to save my head."
"Your head will be fine," said Miri. "It's your neck you should worry about.”
― Shannon Hale, quote from Palace of Stone

“She's as fetching as brown hair done up with ribbons blue
The mountain, my lady
She's as sweet as pink flowers made bright with morning dew,
Mount Eskel, my lady”
― Shannon Hale, quote from Palace of Stone

“Do you know the feeling you get when you are awakened in the middle of a dream? The dream story is still real and full of color, but the waking world is rushing back into your mind. And for a moment both worlds are true, and you cannot quite tell them apart.”
― Shannon Hale, quote from Palace of Stone

“I am not sure I am ready to know what I think about that, so I dare not write it out.”
― Shannon Hale, quote from Palace of Stone

“When the mountain quaked
Like an elbow's nudge
Like a shout that something is wrong
The people awoke and
Knew, yes, knew, that bandits had come”
― Shannon Hale, quote from Palace of Stone

“Miri took genuine comfort in studying Mathematics that day. She could sort numbers into two simple ideas: true and not true. Unlike numbers, words were rarely just one thing. They moved and changed, camouflaging and leaping out unexpectedly. Words were slippery and alive; words wrestled out of her grip and became something new. Words were dangerous.”
― Shannon Hale, quote from Palace of Stone

“Goodness knows she is too fierce for you
Goodness knows she has eyes for a lord
Goodness knows she yet will prove untrue
Her cheek's blush is as false as her word”
― Shannon Hale, quote from Palace of Stone

“Your head will be fine,” said Miri. “It’s your neck you should worry about.”
― Shannon Hale, quote from Palace of Stone

“We stand up for the farmers
Who can't keep enough to eat
We walk out for the workers
Who don't know the taste of meat
We run forward for the children
With no shoes upon their feet
We will march this kingdom down
We will break the golden crown”
― Shannon Hale, quote from Palace of Stone

“Oh land of farms and green hills mild
Once formed by giants rough and wild
With massive paws they gripped and tore
With one great rip they formed the shore

Where heavy boots left prints so deep
Blue lakes remain 'tween summits steep
The giants fought beneath our skies
And from their bones our mountains rise”
― Shannon Hale, quote from Palace of Stone

“A need, a need, a need have I
A wish, a wish, a wish, I sigh”
― Shannon Hale, quote from Palace of Stone

“She wore white heirloom lace about her throat
And in her hair a bright golden feather
A pearl like a plum hung ripe from her neck
But her smile fetched ten gold together”
― Shannon Hale, quote from Palace of Stone

“Once there was a queen in a palace of bread.
Sing blue, sing white, stay up all night.
She nibbled on the walls and gobbled up her bed.
Sing white, sing blue, sing ballyhoo.

The people begged a crumb from their robust queen.
Sing blue, sing white, she ate all night.
She would not share a thing until it turned green.
So white, so blue, the mold it grew.”
― Shannon Hale, quote from Palace of Stone

“Tis I, my sweet, your rough-and-ready man
Well hid by night to beg your fine white hand
Though king of bandits, draped in chains of gold
I'm poor in love and suffer grief untold”
― Shannon Hale, quote from Palace of Stone

“King Dan sat on his stallion fierce
Swords did slice and spears did pierce
But in a tree upon the field
Perched a small, keen-eyed blackbird
And the blackbird did not sing
No, the blackbird did not sing”
― Shannon Hale, quote from Palace of Stone

“He is ever inglorious
His laugh is laborious
His smell is notorious
Impale the herring king!”
― Shannon Hale, quote from Palace of Stone

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