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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“I got back into my car and followed the trucks; at the end of the road, the Polizei unloaded the women and children, who rejoined the men arriving on foot. A number of Jews, as they walked, were singing religious songs; few tried to run away; the ones who did were soon stopped by the cordon or shot down. From the top, you could hear the gun bursts clearly, and the women especially were starting to panic. But there was nothing they could do. The condemned were divided into little groups and a noncom sitting at a table counted them; then our Askaris took them and led them over the brink of the ravine. After each volley, another group left, it went very quickly. I walked around the ravine by the west to join the other officers, who had taken up positions above the north slope. From there, the ravine stretched out in front of me: it must have been some fifty meters wide and maybe thirty meters deep, and went on for several kilometers; the little stream at the bottom ran into the Syrets, which gave its name to the neighborhood. Boards had been placed over this stream so the Jews and their shooters could cross easily; beyond, scattered pretty much everywhere on the bare sides of the ravine, the little white clusters were multiplying. The Ukrainian “packers” dragged their charges to these piles and forced them to lie down over them or next to them; the men from the firing squad then advanced and passed along the rows of people lying down almost naked, shooting each one with a submachine bullet in the neck; there were three firing squads in all. Between the executions some officers inspected the bodies and finished them off with a pistol. To one side, on a hill overlooking the scene, stood groups of officers from the SS and the Wehrmacht. Jeckeln was there with his entourage, flanked by Dr. Rasch; I also recognized some high-ranking officers of the Sixth Army. I saw Thomas, who noticed me but didn’t return my greeting. On the other side, the little groups tumbled down the flank of the ravine and joined the clusters of bodies that stretched farther and farther out. The cold was becoming biting, but some rum was being passed around, and I drank a little. Blobel emerged suddenly from a car on our side of the ravine, he must have driven around it; he was drinking from a little flask and shouting, complaining that things weren’t going fast enough. But the pace of the operations had been stepped up as much as possible. The shooters were relieved every hour, and those who weren’t shooting supplied them with rum and reloaded the clips. The officers weren’t talking much; some were trying to hide their distress. The Ortskommandantur had set up a field kitchen, and a military pastor was preparing some tea to warm up the Orpos and the members of the Sonderkommando. At lunchtime, the superior officers returned to the city, but the subalterns stayed to eat with the men. Since the executions had to continue without pause, the canteen had been set up farther down, in a hollow from which you couldn’t see the ravine. The Group was responsible for the food supplies; when the cases were broken open, the men, seeing rations of blood pudding, started raging and shouting violently. Häfner, who had just spent an hour administering deathshots, was yelling and throwing the open cans onto the ground: “What the hell is this shit?” Behind me, a Waffen-SS was noisily vomiting. I myself was livid, the sight of the pudding made my stomach turn. I went up to Hartl, the Group’s Verwaltungsführer, and asked him how he could have done that. But Hartl, standing there in his ridiculously wide riding breeches, remained indifferent. Then I shouted at him that it was a disgrace: “In this situation, we can do without such food!”
― Jonathan Littell, quote from The Kindly Ones

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