Quotes from The Curse of Chalion

“Ignorance is not stupidity, but it might as well be. And I do not like feeling stupid.”
― Lois McMaster Bujold, quote from The Curse of Chalion

“Events may be horrible or inescapable. Men have always a choice - if not whether, then how, they may endure.”
― Lois McMaster Bujold, quote from The Curse of Chalion

“The gods' most savage curses come upon us as answers to our own prayers. Prayer is a dangerous business.”
― Lois McMaster Bujold, quote from The Curse of Chalion

“Any man can be kind when he is comfortable. I'd always thought kindness a trivial virtue, therefore. But when we were hungry, thirsty, sick, frightened, with our deaths shouting at us, in the heart of horror, you were still as unfailingly courteous as a gentleman at ease before his own hearth.”
― Lois McMaster Bujold, quote from The Curse of Chalion

“I need words that mean more than they mean, words not just with height and width, but depth and weight and, and other dimensions that I cannot even name.”
― Lois McMaster Bujold, quote from The Curse of Chalion

“This wasn't prayer anyway, it was just argument with the gods.
Prayer, he suspected as he hoisted himself up and turned for the door, was putting one foot in front of the other. Moving all the same.”
― Lois McMaster Bujold, quote from The Curse of Chalion

“Well, what is a blessing but a curse from another point of view?”
― Lois McMaster Bujold, quote from The Curse of Chalion

“I'd storm heaven for you, if I knew where it was.”
― Lois McMaster Bujold, quote from The Curse of Chalion

“The world demands I make good choices on no information, and then blames my maidenhood for my mistakes, as if my maidenhood were responsible for my ignorance. Ignorance is not stupidity, but it might as well be. And I do not like feeling stupid.”
― Lois McMaster Bujold, quote from The Curse of Chalion

“When the souls rise up in glory, yours shall not be shunned nor sunderered, but shall be the prize of the gods' gardens. Even your darkness shall be treasured then, and all your pain made holy.”
― Lois McMaster Bujold, quote from The Curse of Chalion

“I don’t duel, boy. I kill as a soldier kills, which is as a butcher kills, as quickly, efficiently, and with as least risk to myself as I can arrange.”
― Lois McMaster Bujold, quote from The Curse of Chalion

“Any man can be kind when he is comfortable. I'd always thought kindness a trivial virtue therefore. But when we were hungry, thirsty, sick, frightened, with our deaths shouting at us, in the heart of horror, you were still as unfailingly courteous as a gentleman at his ease before his own hearth.'

'Events may be horrible or inescapable. Men have always a choice - if not whether, then how they may endure.'

-Bergon and Cazaril talking over the past”
― Lois McMaster Bujold, quote from The Curse of Chalion

“His outflung hands traced over the threads of his rug, passed loop by loop through some patient woman's hands. Or maybe she hadn't been patient. Maybe she'd been tired, or irritated, or distracted, or hungry, or angry. Maybe she had been dying. But her hands had kept moving, all the same.”
― Lois McMaster Bujold, quote from The Curse of Chalion

“So you’re saying that I could die at any moment!” “Yes. And this is different from your life yesterday in what way?”
― Lois McMaster Bujold, quote from The Curse of Chalion

“Well, it is a particular sin to permit grief for what is gone to poison the praise for what blessings remain to us.”
― Lois McMaster Bujold, quote from The Curse of Chalion

“In mysticism, knowledge cannot be separated from a certain way of life which becomes its living manifestation. To acquire mystical knowledge means to undergo a transformation; one could even say that the knowledge is the transformation. Scientific knowledge, on the other hand, can often stay abstract and theoretical. Thus most of today’s physicists do not seem to realize the philosophical, cultural and spiritual implications of their theories.”
― Lois McMaster Bujold, quote from The Curse of Chalion

“It wasn't a case of storming heaven. It was a case of letting heaven storm you.”
― Lois McMaster Bujold, quote from The Curse of Chalion

“Take heart, sir," Cazaril consoled him. "It is not your destiny today to win a royacy for your son. It is to win an empire for your grandson.”
― Lois McMaster Bujold, quote from The Curse of Chalion

“Not all prisons are made of iron bars, some are made of feather beds.”
― Lois McMaster Bujold, quote from The Curse of Chalion

“Men have always a choice - if not whether, then how, they may endure.”
― Lois McMaster Bujold, quote from The Curse of Chalion

“Your Reverence, I do not hate any man in this world enough to inflict the results of my prayers upon him.”
― Lois McMaster Bujold, quote from The Curse of Chalion

“You cannot outguess the gods. Hold to virtue—if you can identify it—and trust that the duty set before you is the duty desired of you. And that the talents given to you are the talents you should place in the gods’ service. Believe that the gods ask for nothing back that they have not first lent to you. Not even your life.”
― Lois McMaster Bujold, quote from The Curse of Chalion

“We have what we can hold, dear boy, and never let them see you flinch or falter.”
― Lois McMaster Bujold, quote from The Curse of Chalion

“Your divine should not have used water. It just doesn't hold the attention properly. Wine. Or blood, in a pinch. Some liquid that matters.”
― Lois McMaster Bujold, quote from The Curse of Chalion

“To a man of certain age... all young ladies start to look delightful. It's the first symptom of senility.”
― Lois McMaster Bujold, quote from The Curse of Chalion

“The gods do not grant miracles for our purposes, but for theirs. If you are become their tool, it is for a greater reason, an urgent reason. But you are the tool. You are not the work.”
― Lois McMaster Bujold, quote from The Curse of Chalion

“A saint is not a virtuous soul, but an empty one. He—or she—freely gives the gift of their will to their god. And in renouncing action, makes action possible.”
― Lois McMaster Bujold, quote from The Curse of Chalion

“I have had another thought on such fates that denies neither gods nor man. Perhaps, instead of controlling every step, the gods have started a hundred or a thousand Cazarils and Umegats down this road, and only those arrive who choose to.”
― Lois McMaster Bujold, quote from The Curse of Chalion

“the key was to take the initiative from the first moment, and keep it thereafter. He could be as hollow as a drum, so long as he was as loud.”
― Lois McMaster Bujold, quote from The Curse of Chalion

About the author

Popular quotes

“Until now, I never noticed how much fantasy had to do with reality.”
― James Patterson, quote from Witch & Wizard

“I quote others only in order the better to express myself.”
― Michel de Montaigne, quote from The Complete Essays

“Behind these two booths was an enormous roller coaster, a phrase which here mean 'a series of small carts where people can sit and race up and down steep and frightening hills of tracks, for no discernible reason”
― Lemony Snicket, quote from The Carnivorous Carnival

“You came to my life
with what you were bringing,
made
of light and bread and shadow I expected you,
and Like this I need you,
Like this I love you,
and to those who want to hear tomorrow
that which I will not tell them, let them read it here,
and let them back off today because it is early
for these arguments.”
― Pablo Neruda, quote from The Poetry of Pablo Neruda

“I had hated these ponies for the part they played in my father's death but now I realized the notion was fanciful, that it was wrong to charge blame to these pretty beasts who knew neither good nor evil but only innocence. I say that of these ponies. I have known some horses and a good many more pigs who I believe harbored evil intent in their hearts. I will go further and say all cats are wicked, though often useful. Who has not seen Satan in their sly faces? Some preachers will say, well, that is superstitious "claptrap." My answer is this: Preacher, go to your Bible and read Luke 8: 26-33”
― Charles Portis, quote from True Grit

Interesting books

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.