Quotes from Squire

Tamora Pierce ·  400 pages

Rating: (41.9K votes)


“When people say a knight's job is all glory, I laugh and laugh and laugh. Often I can stop laughing before they edge away and talk about soothing drinks.”
― Tamora Pierce, quote from Squire


“I'm sick of this. Call me what you like, say I'm without honor, I don't care. I'm not getting on any more horses to whack you people with a stick.”
― Tamora Pierce, quote from Squire


“And if wishes were pies, I`d weigh more than I do.
Sir Myles of Barony Olau ”
― Tamora Pierce, quote from Squire


“WE do try to eat," Raoul called back to her [Kel]. I go all faint if I don't get fed regularly. Only think of the disgrace to the King's Own if I fell from the saddle."
"But there was that time in Fanwood," a voice behind them said.
"That wedding in Tameran," added the blonde Sergeant Osbern, riding a horse-length behind Kel.
"Don't forget when what's-his-name, with the army, retired," yelled a third.
"Silence, insubordinate curs!" cried Raoul. "Do not sully my new squire's ears with your profane tales!"
"Even if they're TRUE?" That was Dom. It seemed Neal wasn't the only family member versed in irony.”
― Tamora Pierce, quote from Squire


“There is a saying in the Islands. Beware the women of the warrior class, for all they touch is both decorative and deadly.-Yuki”
― Tamora Pierce, quote from Squire



“Not too fast," called Raoul. "Let's not scare anyone."
"His majesty said with all deliberate speed!" chirped the courier. He flinched under Lerant's glare.
"That's how we're doing it," Raoul told him. "Deliberately.”
― Tamora Pierce, quote from Squire


“Sir, people never wanted me to make it to squire. They won't like it any better if I become a knight. I doubt I'll ever get to command a force larger than, well, just me.'

Raoul shook his head. 'You're wrong.' As she started to protest, he raised a hand. 'Hear me out. I have some idea of what you've had to bear to get this far, and it won't get easier. But there are larger issues than your fitness for knighthood, issues that involve lives and livelihoods. Attend,' he said, so much like Yayin, one of her Mithran teachers, that Kel had to smile.

'At our level, there are four kids of warrior,' he told Kel. He raised a fist and held up one large finger. 'Heroes, like Alanna the Lioness. Warriors who find dark places and fight in them alone. This is wonderful, but we live in the real world. There aren't many places without any hope or light.'

He raised a second finger. 'We have knights- plain, everyday knights, like your brothers. They patrol their borders and protect their tenants, or they go into troubled areas at the king's command and sort them out. They fight in battles, usually against other knights. A hero will work like an everyday knight for a time- it's expected. And most knights must be clever enough to manage alone.'

Kel nodded.

'We have soldiers,' Raoul continued, raising a third finger. 'Those warriors, including knights, who can manage so long as they're told what to do. These are more common, thank Mithros, and you'll find them in charge of companies in the army, under the eye of a general. Without people who can take orders, we'd be in real trouble.

'Commanders.' He raised his little finger. 'Good ones, people with a knack for it, like, say, the queen, or Buri, or young Dom, they're as rare as heroes. Commanders have an eye not just for what they do, but for what those around them do. Commanders size up people's strengths and weaknesses. They know where someone will shine and where they will collapse. Other warriors will obey a true commander because they can tell that the commander knows what he- or she- is doing.' Raoul picked up a quill and toyed with it. 'You've shown flashes of being a commander. I've seen it. So has Qasim, your friend Neal, even Wyldon, though it would be like pulling teeth to get him to admit it. My job is to see if you will do more than flash, with the right training. The realm needs commanders. Tortall is big. We have too many still-untamed pockets, too curse many hideyholes for rogues, and plenty of hungry enemies to nibble at our borders and our seafaring trade. If you have what it takes, the Crown will use you. We're too desperate for good commanders to let one slip away, even a female one. Now, finish that'- he pointed to the slate- 'and you can stop for tonight.”
― Tamora Pierce, quote from Squire


“I've said it before and I'll say it again, my lord. You are an evil man.”
― Tamora Pierce, quote from Squire


“My new knight mistress is famed for wielding sharp edges: Sword, Knife and Tongue!”
― Tamora Pierce, quote from Squire


“Haven’t you ever noticed that people who win say it’s because the gods know they are in the right, but if they lose, it wasn’t the gods who declared them wrong? Their opponent cheated, or their equipment was bad.”
― Tamora Pierce, quote from Squire



“He was overconfident”, she told him. “And I won so the gods must have thought I was right. Otherwise they’d have made me lose. You know how trial by combat works.”
“You won because you were good” he corrected her. “I find it hard to believe the gods sit forever about the Divine Realms betting on jousts and trials by combat.”
― Tamora Pierce, quote from Squire


“Oakbridge did his work with dramatics and prophecies that all would go horribly awry. Having dealt with him over midwinter, Kel wondered why the man hadn’t died of a heart attack. Instead he seemed to thrive on disaster and finding people seated in the wrong places.”
― Tamora Pierce, quote from Squire


“I’m to attend balls and banquets without my squire?" demanded Raoul, all innocence. "I can't handle things like requesting water to shave with, or getting my clothes pressed. I need Kel.”
― Tamora Pierce, quote from Squire


“When it was her own doing, she was always tempted to skip a day, or just glance down, then get back to the ground. Kel had to force herself to keep her vow.”
― Tamora Pierce, quote from Squire


“So long as there are nobles and commoners, the wealthy and the poor, those with power will be heard, and those without ignored. That's the world.”
― Tamora Pierce, quote from Squire



“When in doubt," the mage Numair Salmalin had taught the pages, "Shoot the wizard.”
― Tamora Pierce, quote from Squire


“Do we say, Oh now I'm going to be nice to the weak and the small? Or do we do as we learned when we were pages?”
― Tamora Pierce, quote from Squire


“When people say a knight's job is all glory, I laugh, and laugh, and laugh.”
― Tamora Pierce, quote from Squire


“She wanted an extra advantage today, more than she'd had in training with Raoul or knights like Jerel. When the trumpet blared, she told Peachblossom, "Charge."
Muscles bunched under her. The gelding flew at his top speed down the dirt lane, hooves thundering in packed dust. For those brief seconds Kel felt like an army of one. She loved no one so much as her horse.”
― Tamora Pierce, quote from Squire


“It’s the only bad thing about animals,” she told Cleon. “Most don’t live as long as we do.” “I know, sweet,” Cleon said, kissing first one of her eyelids, then the other. “But think how bleak life would be without them.”
― Tamora Pierce, quote from Squire



“She decided to be quiet for now. There was a Yamani saying: “You need never unsay anything that you did not say in the first place.”
― Tamora Pierce, quote from Squire


“You don't think history gets rewritten, sometimes?”
― Tamora Pierce, quote from Squire


“Buri rode along with her own Group Askew and two more Rider Groups, the Sixth, called Thayet’s Dogs, and the Fifteenth, Stickers.”
― Tamora Pierce, quote from Squire


About the author

Tamora Pierce
Born place: in South Connellsville, Pennsylvania, The United States
See more on GoodReads

Popular quotes

“fish and visitors stink in 3 days.”
― Jeff Kinney, quote from Cabin Fever


“Ništa ne mogu učiniti, ali mislim. Toliko mogu. Mučiću se mišlju o dobrom čovjeku koji u tvrđavi čeka smrt. Misliću i zaboraviti. Kao i tolike druge stvari. Polako postajem smetlište istruljelih jada, žaljenja, stida, mrtvih zakletvi, poniženog ponosa, i sav taj smrad nazivaću iskustvom. Već osjećam kako zaudara, još osjećam, poslije će mi biti svejedno.”
― Meša Selimović, quote from The Fortress


“Her dad’s coming,” she said, voice shrill.
“What?” we all said in unison.
Tristan, Ayden and the fairy looked at me and said, “What?”
“What?” I repeated, panicked and irritated at my lack of control in responding to a fairy I wasn’t
supposed to see or hear.
“What?” came their reply.
“What?” I continued the theme of repetition because I lacked any form of explanation.
Ayden held up a hand for silence. “Why are you ‘whatting’?”
“What?”
The hand again. “Okay, stop that,” Ayden said.”
― A.E. Kirk, quote from Demons at Deadnight


“I remembered Nahadoth's lips on my throat and fought to suppress a shudder, only half succeeding. Death as a consequence of lying with a god wasn't something I had considered, but it did not surprise me. A mortal man's strength had its limits. He spent himself and slept. He could be a good lover, but even his best skills were only guesswork - for every caress that sent a woman's head into the clouds, he might try ten that brought her back to earth.”
― N.K. Jemisin, quote from The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms


“I threw everything we had together - the strong roots and stems and leaves and beautiful soft blossoms of sisterhood - into the earth with you. And I was left standing on the edge, so diminished by the loss that I thought I could no longer be there.”
― Rosamund Lupton, quote from Sister


Interesting books

The Sound
(2.1K)
The Sound
by Sarah Alderson
Midwinterblood
(9.3K)
Midwinterblood
by Marcus Sedgwick
Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention
(12.9K)
Malcolm X: A Life of...
by Manning Marable
The Wisdom of Crowds
(20.3K)
The Wisdom of Crowds
by James Surowiecki
How to Say Goodbye in Robot
(8.1K)
How to Say Goodbye i...
by Natalie Standiford
Letter from the Birmingham Jail
(3.2K)
Letter from the Birm...
by Martin Luther King Jr.

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.