Quotes from The Invasion of the Tearling

“When it fails, they do call it madness, Lazarus. But when it succeeds, they call it genius.”
― Erika Johansen, quote from The Invasion of the Tearling

“This, I think, is the crux of evil in this world, Majesty: those who feel entitled to whatever they want, whatever they can grab. Such people never ask themselves if they have the right. They consider no cost to anyone but themselves.”
― Erika Johansen, quote from The Invasion of the Tearling

“Corruption begins with a single moment of weakness.”
― Erika Johansen, quote from The Invasion of the Tearling

“Even small gestures of kindness have the potential to reap enormous rewards. Only the shortsighted man believes otherwise.”
― Erika Johansen, quote from The Invasion of the Tearling

“And Kelsea wondered suddenly whether humanity ever actually changed. Did people grow and learn at all as the centuries past? Or was humanity merely like the tide, enlightenment advancing and then retreating as circumstances shifted? The most defining characteristic of the species might be lapse.”
― Erika Johansen, quote from The Invasion of the Tearling

“Always, we think we know what courage means. If I were called upon, we say, I would answer the call. I would not hesitate. Until the moment is upon us, and then we realize that the demands of true courage are very different from what we had envisioned, long ago on that bright morning when we felt brave.”
― Erika Johansen, quote from The Invasion of the Tearling

“Pen?”
“Lady?”
“You think I’m pretty.”
He blinked in surprise. “I always found you so, Lady. But it’s true that your face has changed.”
“You always found me pretty?”
Pen shrugged. “It doesn’t matter, Lady. Some women are defined by their appearance, but you have never been one of them.”
― Erika Johansen, quote from The Invasion of the Tearling

“Whenever she had a problem to consider, she invariably found herself in the library, for it was easier to think when she was surrounded by books.”
― Erika Johansen, quote from The Invasion of the Tearling

“If we could be better people,” she would say, “if we could care about each other as much as we do about ourselves, think about it, Lily! Think what the world would be!”
― Erika Johansen, quote from The Invasion of the Tearling

“Love was a real thing, Aisa thought, but secondary. Certainly love was not as real as her sword.”
― Erika Johansen, quote from The Invasion of the Tearling

“This is a fool’s errand,” Mace grumbled.
“You think all of my errands are foolish, Lazarus. I’m not impressed.”
― Erika Johansen, quote from The Invasion of the Tearling

“Selfishness and self-destruction, riding hand in hand, as they so often did.”
― Erika Johansen, quote from The Invasion of the Tearling

“There's a better world out there, so close we can almost touch it.”
― Erika Johansen, quote from The Invasion of the Tearling

“You can defend your kingdom, or you can defend your people, Majesty. You don’t have the manpower to do both at once.”
“People are more important than land.”
― Erika Johansen, quote from The Invasion of the Tearling

“Anger was the indulgence of a child, not a queen.”
― Erika Johansen, quote from The Invasion of the Tearling

“Only a fool blames the dealer”
― Erika Johansen, quote from The Invasion of the Tearling

“Do you always eat with so many of your Guard, Majesty?”
“Usually.”
“Are security concerns so great?”
“Not at all. I prefer to eat with my Guard.”
“Perhaps when you begin a family, that will change.”
Kelsea narrowed her eyes as Milla began to ladle soup into her bowl. “My Guard are my family.”
― Erika Johansen, quote from The Invasion of the Tearling

“The King of Cadare cannot have an alliance on an equal footing with a woman. Marriage ensures that Your Majesty is seen to submit her will to my master in all things.”
Mace moved in sharply, blocking off Kelsea’s right side. She blinked in surprise, for she had sensed no threat from the ambassador or his guards. It took a few moments for her to see it: Mace had actually moved to protect the ambassador. Some of Kelsea’s anger ebbed away then; she smiled at Mace, and felt a rush of affection when he smiled back.”
― Erika Johansen, quote from The Invasion of the Tearling

“It’s just … difficult.”
“You’ve noticed the change in her, then.”
“I never cared which face she wore.”
“Ah. So this isn’t new.”
“No.”
“That makes it worse, I think.”
― Erika Johansen, quote from The Invasion of the Tearling

“I don’t want to die, Arlen, but I would lay down my life for any of these men, or they for me. That’s a real thing, sacrifice, but you will never understand it.”
― Erika Johansen, quote from The Invasion of the Tearling

“Sometime in the last forty-eight hours, Lily had discovered the great secret of pain: it thrived on the unknown, on the knowledge that there was a greater pain out there, something more excruciating that might yet be breached. The body was constantly waiting. When you took away the uncertainty, when you controlled the pain yourself, it was definitely easier to bear,...”
― Erika Johansen, quote from The Invasion of the Tearling

“I know all about the wildness of youth, believe me. But regret has a terrible ability to follow you, long after youth has vanished”
― Erika Johansen, quote from The Invasion of the Tearling

“The problems of the past.
How the problems of the past, uncorrected, inevitably became the problems of the future.”
― Erika Johansen, quote from The Invasion of the Tearling

“We have trust, Lady, you and I?”
“I trust you with my life, Andalie.”
― Erika Johansen, quote from The Invasion of the Tearling

“It didn’t matter then, anyway. Elyssa had about as much use for books as a cat has for a riding crop. But now …”
Tyler heard the Mace’s unspoken thought easily. Queen Elyssa may not have cared about illiteracy, but Queen Kelsea would care, very much. “But the Queen would never kick you out of the Guard.”
“Of course she wouldn’t. I just don’t want her to know.”
― Erika Johansen, quote from The Invasion of the Tearling

“The hawk ripped out his jugular, spraying the morning sunlight with a fine mist of blood.”
― Erika Johansen, quote from The Invasion of the Tearling

“The wrongs of the past are not less significant, they’re just harder to fix. And the longer you ignore them in favor of more pressing issues, the worse the harm, until the problems of the past actually create the problems of the future.”
― Erika Johansen, quote from The Invasion of the Tearling

“I’m sober.”
“That’s not my concern. I know you’ll never make that mistake again.”
“Then what’s your concern?” the younger man asked, his tone aggressive.
“You and her.”
― Erika Johansen, quote from The Invasion of the Tearling

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“Baggy and the boys were in the Bar Room on the third floor, not directly under the cupola, but not far from it. In fact, they were probably the closest humans to the sniper when he began his target practice. After the shooting resumed for the ninth or tenth time, they evidently became even more frightened and, convinced they were about to be slaughtered, decided they had to take matters into their own hands. Somehow they managed to pry open the intractable window of their little hideaway. We watched as an electrical cord was thrown out and fell almost to the ground, forty feet below. Baggy’s right leg appeared next as he flung it over the brick sill and wiggled his portly body through the opening. Not surprisingly, Baggy had insisted on going first. “Oh my God,” Wiley said, somewhat gleefully, and raised his camera. “They’re drunk as skunks.” Clutching the electrical cord with all the grit he could muster, Baggy sprung free from the window and began his descent to safety. His strategy was not apparent. He appeared to give no slack on the cord, his hands frozen to it just above his head. Evidently there was plenty of cord left in the Bar Room, and his cohorts were supposed to ease him down. As his hands rose higher above his head, his pants became shorter. Soon they were just below his knees, leaving a long gap of pale white skin before his black socks bunched around his ankles. Baggy wasn’t concerned about appearances—before, during, or after the sniper incident. The shooting stopped, and for a while Baggy just hung there, slowly twisting against the building, about three feet below the window. Major could be seen inside, clinging fiercely to the cord. He had only one leg though, and I worried that it would quickly give out. Behind him I could see two figures, probably Wobble Tackett and Chick Elliot, the usual poker gang. Wiley began laughing, a low suppressed laugh that shook his entire body. With each lull in the shooting, the town took a breath, peeked around, and hoped it was over. And each new round scared us more than the last. Two shots rang out. Baggy lurched as if he’d been hit—though in reality there was no possible way the sniper could even see him, and the suddenness evidently put too much pressure on Major’s leg. It collapsed, the cord sprang free, and Baggy screamed as he dropped like a cinder block into a row of thick boxwoods that had been planted by the Daughters of the Confederacy. The boxwoods absorbed the load, and, much like a trampoline, recoiled and sent Baggy to the sidewalk, where he landed like a melon and became the only casualty of the entire episode. I heard laughter in the distance. Without a trace of mercy, Wiley recorded the entire spectacle. The photos would be furtively passed around Clanton for years to come. For a long time Baggy didn’t move. “Leave the sumbitch out there,” I heard a cop yell below us. “You can’t hurt a drunk,” Wiley said as he caught his breath. Eventually, Baggy rose to all fours. Slowly and painfully, he crawled, like a dog hit by a truck, into the boxwoods that had saved his life, and there he rode out the storm.”
― John Grisham, quote from The Last Juror

“But such was her faith in Simon that it colored her faith in God; unable to conceive of defeat, she never doubted that the Lord, too, willed Simon to win, and falling asleep in Simon’s arms, she did not dread the morrow, so secure was she in the strength of her yesterdays.”
― Sharon Kay Penman, quote from Falls the Shadow

“The skin was not skin at all, but bone. Ectoskeleton.”
― John Steakley, quote from Armor

“No matter how afraid you are - you can still make the choice to fight. You can still make the choice to walk through the fire- he said to do it afraid.”
― Rachel Van Dyken, quote from Ruin

“I try to hook you up every day. What's the point of calendars without dates?”
― Lauren Kate, quote from Teardrop

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