“When Rome burned, the emperor's cats still expected to be fed on time.”
― Seanan McGuire, quote from Rosemary and Rue
“If anything attacked us, we could just panic at it until it went away.”
― Seanan McGuire, quote from Rosemary and Rue
“Cats never listen. They’re dependable that way; when Rome burned, the emperor’s cats still expected to be fed on time.”
― Seanan McGuire, quote from Rosemary and Rue
“We have to burn brightly. We can’t burn forever”
― Seanan McGuire, quote from Rosemary and Rue
“There weren’t any fairy tales in the streets around me. If there was ever a Cinderella, her glass slippers shattered under her weight and she limped home bleeding from the ball.”
― Seanan McGuire, quote from Rosemary and Rue
“Time never runs backward when I need it to. Not for me, and not for anyone else.”
― Seanan McGuire, quote from Rosemary and Rue
“Hello?” I peered into the shadows.
Two green circles flashed in the dark. I yelped, jumping backward and pressing myself against the wall.
“And may I wish a very good morning to you, too, October.” The voice was amused, underscored by a chuckle like thick cream. “What happened? Did the prettiest little princess miss her carriage home?”
― Seanan McGuire, quote from Rosemary and Rue
“My manners have always been the first thing to go when I get upset, and some people say that they stopped coming back a long time ago.”
― Seanan McGuire, quote from Rosemary and Rue
“Humans have always preferred to live their lives by daylight. I used to think it was because human beings have crappy night vision, and it wasn't until I got older and more cynical that I realized it was because they have less to be afraid of during the day.”
― Seanan McGuire, quote from Rosemary and Rue
“She laughed like she'd just invented laughter.”
― Seanan McGuire, quote from Rosemary and Rue
“My name is October Christine Daye; I live in a city by the sea where the fog paints the early morning, parking is more precious than gold, and Kelpies wait for the unwary on street corners. Neither of the worlds I live in is quite mine, but no one can take them away from me. I did what had to be done, and I think I may finally be starting to understand what's important. It's all about finding the way home, wherever that is. I plan on finding out.
I have time.”
― Seanan McGuire, quote from Rosemary and Rue
“Rose goblins are built like porcupines - if you rub them the right way, you don't have to worry about the spines. They're sort of like people in that regard, too.”
― Seanan McGuire, quote from Rosemary and Rue
“That’s where the dreams end: with the realization that it doesn’t matter where I am, whether I think I’m a woman or a fish or something in-between. I’ve never really left the pond. I still can’t breathe.”
― Seanan McGuire, quote from Rosemary and Rue
“Never tempt fate. It plays for keeps.”
― Seanan McGuire, quote from Rosemary and Rue
“We hated each other so well and loved each other so badly...”
― Seanan McGuire, quote from Rosemary and Rue
“Past experience told me he could smell my fear; it also told me that the anger accompanying it would pretty much cover the scent. It's good to know how to compensate for your own weaknesses.”
― Seanan McGuire, quote from Rosemary and Rue
“Some people live where they work. Others just visit.”
― Seanan McGuire, quote from Rosemary and Rue
“But you're so easy to sneak up on." He crossed his arms, leaning back against the wall. "You should be honored that I bother, since there's no challenge to it."
"Right," I said dryly.
Tybalt has never made a secret of his contempt for changelings in general and me in particular. Not even the years I spent missing could change that. If anything, it made things worse, because when I came back, I promptly removed myself from all the places he was accustomed to finding me. Hating me suddenly took effort - an effort he's proved annoying glad to make. On the other hand, it's actually been something of a relief, because it is something I can count on. Dawn comes, the moon rises and Tybalt hates me.”
― Seanan McGuire, quote from Rosemary and Rue
“It's not hard to marginalize people when they've already done it to themselves.”
― Seanan McGuire, quote from Rosemary and Rue
“I'm not body-shy--it's hard to grow up in the Summerlands, where clothes are solidly optional, and stay body-shy--but that doesn't mean I enjoy nudity. Naked people are, by definition, unarmed.”
― Seanan McGuire, quote from Rosemary and Rue
“I just don’t think it’s a good idea for you to visit right now. Maybe you can come back later? I’ll bake you some cookies . . .” Okay, that was it. I hadn’t had a chance to use the kitchen for anything more elaborate than coffee and fried eggs, and I’d be damned if some invading monster was going to beat me to it. I stepped into the living room, bat still held in front of me like a poor man’s broadsword. “You are not using my kitchen.”
― Seanan McGuire, quote from Rosemary and Rue
“He changes when there's a threat to be overcome: it's like he pulls on a second skin, one he almost forgets the rest of the time, and becomes a hero again. A tired, old hero, one who wields a pen instead of a sword and rides waves of paperwork rather than a white charger, but still a hero.”
― Seanan McGuire, quote from Rosemary and Rue
“I've never liked being looked at like I was a hero. I always wind up letting someone down. Sometimes I get lucky. Sometimes the only person who gets hurt is me.”
― Seanan McGuire, quote from Rosemary and Rue
“We came here because no place would take us after our momma died. They all said go away, come back when you're older, when you know better, when you've learned. Only no one wants to teach how to be older or to know better - not even Devin. They just teach us how to be broken.”
― Seanan McGuire, quote from Rosemary and Rue
“Changing clothes in a public restroom is an acquired skill, one that becomes an art when the bathroom floor hasn't been washed in a decade or more.”
― Seanan McGuire, quote from Rosemary and Rue
“I haven't visited Evening's building since 1987. From what I could see, it hadn't changed a bit--the place stank of elegance and the sort of timelessness that only money can buy. Stasis is one of the benefits of being very, very rich. Nothing ever changes unless you let it.”
― Seanan McGuire, quote from Rosemary and Rue
“Promises bind our kind as surely as iron chains or ropes of human hair. The fae never swear by anything we don't believe in. We don't ask for thanks and we don't offer them; no promises, no regrets, no chains. No lies.”
― Seanan McGuire, quote from Rosemary and Rue
“Call me a sucker for a man who had a great ass who knows how to bake a macaroni casserole and can tolerate six hours of Sesame Street a day.”
― Seanan McGuire, quote from Rosemary and Rue
“In Tybalt's case, it means bloody control of the local Court of Cats. He became their king by right of blood; he's held the position by beating the crap out of anyone who tries to take it away. The Cait Sidhe take a more direct and bloody approach to succession than most of Faerie.”
― Seanan McGuire, quote from Rosemary and Rue
“I love you more than fairy tales.”
― Seanan McGuire, quote from Rosemary and Rue
Seanan McGuire
Born place: in Martinez, California, The United States
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“...we can do some historical research to see how our ancestors lived. We will quickly discover that we are living in what to them would have been a dream world that we tend to take for granted things that our ancestors had to live without...”
― William B. Irvine, quote from A Guide to the Good Life: The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy
“How do we start to rebuild a society where we don’t feel so alone and afraid, and where we can form healthier bonds? How do we build a society where we look for happiness in one another rather than in consumption?”
― Johann Hari, quote from Chasing the Scream: The First and Last Days of the War on Drugs
“Good story' means something worth telling that the world wants to hear. Finding this is your lonely task...But the love of a good story, of terrific characters and a world driven by your passion, courage, and creative gifts is still not enough. Your goal must be a good story well told.”
― Robert McKee, quote from Story: Substance, Structure, Style, and the Principles of Screenwriting
“Given the complexity of the chore, “escapees,” as free-floating fecal material is known in astronautical circles, plagued the crews. Below is an excerpt from the Apollo 10 mission transcript, starring Mission Commander Thomas Stafford, Lunar Module Pilot Gene Cernan, and Command Module Pilot John Young, orbiting the moon 200,000-plus miles from the nearest bathroom. CERNAN:…You know once you get out of lunar orbit, you can do a lot of things. You can power down…And what’s happening is— STAFFORD: Oh—who did it? YOUNG: Who did what? CERNAN: What? STAFFORD: Who did it? [laughter] CERNAN: Where did that come from? STAFFORD: Give me a napkin quick. There’s a turd floating through the air. YOUNG: I didn’t do it. It ain’t one of mine. CERNAN: I don’t think it’s one of mine. STAFFORD: Mine was a little more sticky than that. Throw that away. YOUNG: God almighty. [And again eight minutes later, while discussing the timing of a waste-water dump.] YOUNG: Did they say we could do it anytime? CERNAN: They said on 135. They told us that—Here’s another goddam turd. What’s the matter with you guys? Here, give me a— YOUNG/STAFFORD: [laughter]… STAFFORD: It was just floating around? CERNAN: Yes. STAFFORD: [laughter] Mine was stickier than that. YOUNG: Mine was too. It hit that bag— CERNAN: [laughter] I don’t know whose that is. I can neither claim it nor disclaim it. [laughter] YOUNG: What the hell is going on here?”
― Mary Roach, quote from Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void
“I found myself within a forest dark, for the straightfoward pathway had been lost. Ah me! How hard a thing is to say, what was this forest savage, rough, and stern, which in the very thought renews the fear. So bitter is it, death is little more...”
― Dante Alighieri, quote from La Divina Comedia
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