Quotes from The Broken Kingdoms

“This means, in a way, that true light is dependent on the presence of other lights. Take the others away and darkness results. Yet the reverse is not true: take away darkness and there is only more darkness. Darkness can exist by itself. Light cannot.”
― N.K. Jemisin, quote from The Broken Kingdoms

“Love betrayed has an entirely different sound from hatred outright.”
― N.K. Jemisin, quote from The Broken Kingdoms

“You're very lucky... Friends are precious, powerful things - hard to earn, harder still to keep. You should thank this one for taking a chance on you.”
― N.K. Jemisin, quote from The Broken Kingdoms

“Rising from the dead? Glowing at sunrise? What did that make him, the god of cheerful mornings and macabre surprises?”
― N.K. Jemisin, quote from The Broken Kingdoms

“They live forever. But many of them are even more lonely and miserable than we are. Why do you think they bother with us? We teach them life's value.”
― N.K. Jemisin, quote from The Broken Kingdoms

“Loneliness is a darkness of the soul”
― N.K. Jemisin, quote from The Broken Kingdoms

“He was dead again when I got home that day. His corpse was in the kitchen, near the counter, where it appeared he'd been chopping vegetables when the urge to stab himself through the wrist had struck. I slipped on the blood coming in, which annoyed me because that meant it was all over the kitchen floor.”
― N.K. Jemisin, quote from The Broken Kingdoms

“Of course I was enough, because he loved me. That was the whole point.”
― N.K. Jemisin, quote from The Broken Kingdoms

“I have decided to live,” he said quietly.
That, too, was obvious from the way he’d changed in the past year. I felt his gaze as he spoke, heavier than usual along my skin. He had been my friend, and now offered more. Was willing to try more. But I knew: he was not the sort of man who loved easily, or casually. If I wanted him, I would have all of him, and he wanted all of me. All or nothing; that was as fundamental to his nature as light itself.
I tried to joke. “It took you a year to decide that?”
“Ten, yes,” Shiny replied. “This last year was for you to decide.”
― N.K. Jemisin, quote from The Broken Kingdoms

“If the gods do decide to wipe us out, is it such a bad thing? Maybe we've earned a little annihilation.”
― N.K. Jemisin, quote from The Broken Kingdoms

“Because I think I saw you, yesterday morning when I woke up. I think my eyes worked again, just for a moment, and you were the light I saw.”
― N.K. Jemisin, quote from The Broken Kingdoms

“Oree," she would say whenever I sought to prove my independence, "it's all right to need help. All of us have things we can't do alone.”
― N.K. Jemisin, quote from The Broken Kingdoms

“We began to call ourselves Maroneh, which meant "those who weep for Maro" in the common language we once spoke. We named our daughters for sorrow and our sons for rage; we debated whether there was any point in trying to rebuild our race. We thanked Itempas for saving even the handful of us who remained, and we hated the Arameri for making that prayer necessary.”
― N.K. Jemisin, quote from The Broken Kingdoms

“But when I got angry, my nerves sought an outlet, and my mouth didn't always guard the gates.”
― N.K. Jemisin, quote from The Broken Kingdoms

“We worship Him not because He is the best of our gods, but because He is, or was, the greatest killer among them.”
― N.K. Jemisin, quote from The Broken Kingdoms

“Ya conoces la verdad sobre Itempas. Es el dios del calor y de la luz, que todos consideramos cosas agradables y delicadas. Yo antes también lo veía así. Pero el calor, si no se enfría, quema y la luz, si nada la eclipsa, puede lastimar hasta unos ojos ciegos como los míos. Tendría que haberme dado cuenta. Tendríamos que habernos dado cuenta todos. Él nunca fue lo que queríamos que fuese.”
― N.K. Jemisin, quote from The Broken Kingdoms

“Las buenas intenciones carecen de sentido sin el deseo de llevarlas a la práctica”
― N.K. Jemisin, quote from The Broken Kingdoms

“El brillo ha sido vuestra paz, vuestra prosperidad, no la de los demás.”
― N.K. Jemisin, quote from The Broken Kingdoms

“-El cambio existe -dije en medio de un bostezo-.Tenemos que aceptarlo.
-No -replicó él-. No tenemos por qué. Yo nunca lo hice. Oree, yo soy la luz permanente que mantiene a raya la hirviente oscuridad. La roca inamovible que el río tiene que rodear. Puede que no te guste yo. Pero sin mi influencia, este reino sería la anarquía, el caos. Un infierno más allá de la imaginación de los mortales.”
― N.K. Jemisin, quote from The Broken Kingdoms

“-Puede que haya un modo de que escapemos de este lugar -dijo Lúmino al día siguiente.
(...)
-¿Cómo? -pregunté, pero entonces se me ocurrió una idea-. Tu magia. la recuperas cuando me proteges.
-Sí.
(...)
-Pero ahora estoy en peligro... Lo estoy desde que me secuestraron los Luces. -Y no había ni el menor destello de magia en él.
-Puede que sea una cuestión de medida. O puede que haga falta una amenaza física.
Suspiré. Estaba deseando tener esperanzas.
-Muchos "puede" son ésos. Supongo que nadie tuvo la delicadeza de darte unas instrucciones sobre cómo... funcionas ahora, ¿verdad?
-No.
-¿Pues qué propones, entonces? ¿Ataco a Serymn, y cuando me responda, vuelas la casa por los aires y nos matas a todos?
Hubo un momento de pausa. Creo que mi sarcasmo lo molestaba.
-En esencia, sí. Pero no sería muy lógico que te matara a ti, así que limitaré la cantidad de fuerza que utilice.
-Agradezco tu consideración, Lúmino, en serio.”
― N.K. Jemisin, quote from The Broken Kingdoms

“La soledad es la oscuridad del alma”
― N.K. Jemisin, quote from The Broken Kingdoms

“... la luz depende de la presencia de otras luces. Si las quitas, el resultado es la oscuridad. Pero lo contrario no es cierto: si eliminas la oscuridad, el resultado es solo más oscuridad. La oscuridad puede existir por si sola. La luz no.”
― N.K. Jemisin, quote from The Broken Kingdoms

“Do you try to pick up all the mortal girls you almost kill?"
“Just the ones who don’t scream and run,” he said. And then he startled me further by touching my face, just under one eye. I tensed just a little, as I always did when someone noticed my eyes. Bracing myself for the if only.
But there was no revulsion in his gaze and nothing but fascination in his touch. “And the ones with pretty eyes,” he added.”
― N.K. Jemisin, quote from The Broken Kingdoms

“eyes whose color I would never be able to fully describe, even if I someday learn the words. The best I can do is compare it to things I do know: the heavy thickness of red gold, the smell of brass on a hot day, desire and pride.”
― N.K. Jemisin, quote from The Broken Kingdoms

“I was growing used to him, I realized bitterly. That had hurt far less than I’d expected.”
― N.K. Jemisin, quote from The Broken Kingdoms

“Perhaps we mortals actually have more than five senses. Perhaps along with taste and smell and the rest there is detecting the special. I see the specialness with my eyes, but others do it in some different way.”
― N.K. Jemisin, quote from The Broken Kingdoms

“Though it would not be the first lie our family has told until it forgot the truth.”
― N.K. Jemisin, quote from The Broken Kingdoms

“I had never seen a godling child before, but I had an inkling they were not all that different from human children. Human children could be merciless, especially when they had power.”
― N.K. Jemisin, quote from The Broken Kingdoms

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“You aren’t going to die,” Kiernan whispered through the darkness.
We sat in one of the bedchambers for pilgrims, me on the cot and Kiernan on the floor. He was sitting with his knees bent, elbows resting on them. If I looked at him, I knew I would see his eyes flash even in the dark. So I leaned my head back against the stone wall and said nothing.
“She might not have meant you,” he continued. “It could be Orianne, or even the real Nalia.”
That did make me look at him. “Great,” I said sarcastically. “So we find the real Nalia and then somehow get her killed. That would certainly be doing the kingdom a favor.”
Kiernan huffed in irritation, then took a breath. “I didn’t mean it that way. And besides, not all of those visions come true. The one that started this whole mess didn’t.”
I didn’t answer. I felt numb, had felt that way since stumbling out of the temple. Even the key hidden inside my fist hadn’t been enough to bring me back to myself. I had allowed Kiernan to lead me to the pilgrims’ quarters, overheard him tell Brother Paxson that I was too weary with study to leave that night. I had eaten the food brought to us, nodding mechanically in thanks, then sat down on the cot and let my mind wander.
A triangle. One side crumbled away, leaving only two. Try as I might, I could think of nothing else it could mean. Only that if I found the real princess, one of us--Nalia, Orianne, or me--would die.
“And even if it was a true prophecy, we can fight it. We know about it now, so we can be…alert, careful. We can keep them safe. We’ll keep you safe--I’ll keep you safe.” Kiernan pushed himself up off the bed and came to sit next to me. “Come on,” he said, reaching out a tentative arm and putting it around my shoulders. “I just got you back. I’m not going to let you die.”
Closing my eyes, I let myself lean against him. He smelled nice, even after days of travel on horseback. And he was warm and solid, and my friend.
We stayed like that long enough that I felt a little of the numbness leave, melted away by Kiernan’s warmth. “Sorry,” I said finally. My voice sounded a little choked, which made me pull away from him in embarrassment. “It’s a strange thing to hear, that’s all.”
Kiernan had let his arm drop from my shoulders, but his fingers now brushed my arm nearest to him. “I’m sure it is,” he said. He was gazing into my eyes as he said it, though more deeply than seemed necessary.
My heart was suddenly hammering in my ears, and I was overly aware of how close we were. “It must be near midnight,” I stuttered. “We should…We should probably try the, uh, library.”
Kiernan blinked, then pushed himself up, one corner of his mouth pulled in. “Of course,” he said. Then a mischievous grin broke across his face. “Now, this should be fun.”
― Eilis O'Neal, quote from The False Princess

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