Quotes from The Scorpion Rules

Erin Bow ·  384 pages

Rating: (5.2K votes)


“Let me tell you something that I learned from my youth, from a sage called the Road Runner. You can walk off a cliff and the air will hold you. Only, don't look down.”
― Erin Bow, quote from The Scorpion Rules


“Did you know, the man who invented the atomic bomb once said that keeping peace through deterrence was like keeping two scorpions in one bottle? You can picture that, right? They know they can't sting without getting stung. They can't kill without getting killed. And you'd think that would stop them." He gave the book another boot, and it flipped closed with a snick. "But it doesn't." He looked up and his eyes were the color of Cherenkov radiation, the color of an orbital weapon. "You've got a bit of nerve, little scorpion. All I did was invent the bottle.”
― Erin Bow, quote from The Scorpion Rules


“No, blowing up cities doesn't work, not in the long term. You've got to find something that the people in charge aren't willing to give up. A price they aren't willing to pay.

Which leads us to Talis's first rule for stopping wars: make it personal.”
― Erin Bow, quote from The Scorpion Rules


“I'm not a cruel man. I mean, technically I'm not a man at all.”
― Erin Bow, quote from The Scorpion Rules


“There was a space inside me, cupped and still. It was small as cupped hands; it was large as the sky. It was untouched and it was touch itself. It was empty and it was full. I held love there, like a treasure. I held my own name.”
― Erin Bow, quote from The Scorpion Rules



“You made tools of us. Have you never considered: the thing of a tool is that anyone may use it.”
― Erin Bow, quote from The Scorpion Rules


“The root of holiness, it turns out, is to do things deliberately.”
― Erin Bow, quote from The Scorpion Rules


“I wished for impossible things. It was never going to have been a fairy tale for us. There are no fairy tales about two princesses.”
― Erin Bow, quote from The Scorpion Rules


“and of course people started shooting, because that’s what passes for problem-solving among humans. See, guys, this is why you can’t have nice things. It”
― Erin Bow, quote from The Scorpion Rules


“It's a strange word, "twilight." It makes me think of endings, of things done or left undone, of things over, of evening. But there are two twilights in every day, and one of them does not foretell darkness, but dawn.”
― Erin Bow, quote from The Scorpion Rules



“My mother wanted out of politics. And I'll tell you, she got as far out as she could. Down nigh the Licking River."
"The Licking—" said Da-Xia, as if she couldn't believe her luck.
Elián scrubbed a hand over his face. "The south fork."
"Have you at this point heard all the jokes about that?" asked Grego.
"I'll bet there are more," said Thandi.
"Shut up," said Elián, majestically.”
― Erin Bow, quote from The Scorpion Rules


“Then he said: "Y'all really took that Socratic method shit to heart."
"The benefits," I intoned, "of a Precepture education ."
"Yes," deadpanned Grego. "We were raised on Latin and Greek instead of love.”
― Erin Bow, quote from The Scorpion Rules


“Elián, of course, missed it. "How advanced do you need your murders to be? Because I saw Grego die. It didn't look all that hard."
Talis smiled. "Keep snarling at me, Elián Palnik, and we'll see how hard I can make it.”
― Erin Bow, quote from The Scorpion Rules


“He was going to die. He deserved a chance to do it on his terms. No matter what it cost us.”
― Erin Bow, quote from The Scorpion Rules


“How useless are guns against those who are fearless. How foolish, to set force against innocence. Their own strength made them small. And”
― Erin Bow, quote from The Scorpion Rules



“It was strange. We were from opposing nations that were at the brink of war. We were days away from dying for that war. And yet I would have done almost anything for Elián.”
― Erin Bow, quote from The Scorpion Rules


“Stop the press," said Talis. "Ha! I haven't heard that in centuries. 'Stop the presses!' But do." The smile was sharp-edged. "Or I'll have your head on pikes.”
― Erin Bow, quote from The Scorpion Rules


“I- I. Sorry. This is what my father would call a fucking unfortunate image.”
― Erin Bow, quote from The Scorpion Rules


“Cranes traditionally represent a wish for peace. I closed my eyes and wished. Uselessly. Hard.”
― Erin Bow, quote from The Scorpion Rules


“Even as the nannies came into heat—one could tell because they grew louder than roosters and started to sexually assault the water barrels—I”
― Erin Bow, quote from The Scorpion Rules



“Why would I come back to you?”
― Erin Bow, quote from The Scorpion Rules


“It was once thought that if you died in your dreams you died in life. Thanks to dreamlock, we know this is not true. Most people can die at least six times before something them gives way.”
― Erin Bow, quote from The Scorpion Rules


About the author

Erin Bow
Born place: in Des Moines, Iowa, The United States
See more on GoodReads

Popular quotes

“But even so I can't stop writing even for a day--I'm doing it to save my life. These letters're the first time I've ever tried to talk about ideas because I need to, not just to amuse or entertain.”
― Chris Kraus, quote from I Love Dick


“The disappointments seemed to escape the family’s notice, though. That was another of their quirks: they had a talent for pretending that everything was fine. Or maybe it wasn’t a quirk at all. Maybe it was just further proof that the Whitshanks were not remarkable in any way whatsoever.”
― Anne Tyler, quote from A Spool of Blue Thread


“If you'll excuse me," Nurse Winter adds, "I must go and attend to some other matters, but I'll be around all day in case you need me. And you must let me know if you get any more information on the poor man's name, or how he died.”
― Amy Cross, quote from Asylum


“It takes awareness and effort to break the cycle of a thinking process that has become unconscious. First, we need to step out of our routines so we can look at our lives. Through contemplation and self-reflection, we can become aware of our unconscious scripts. Then, we must observe these thoughts without responding to them, so that they no longer initiate the automatic chemical responses that produce habitual behavior. Within all of us, we possess a level of self-awareness that can observe our thinking. We must learn how to be separate from these programs and when we do, we can willfully have dominion over them. Ultimately, we can exercise control over our thoughts. In doing so, we are neurologically breaking apart thoughts that have become hardwired in our brain. Since”
― Joe Dispenza, quote from Evolve Your Brain: The Science of Changing Your Mind


“Nazis were raiding French homes, looking for Jewish children. The tragedy of the year before was that Jean Moulin, one of the famed”
― Danielle Steel, quote from Echoes


Interesting books

Hereafter
(16.3K)
Hereafter
by Tara Hudson
Flashman
(9.9K)
Flashman
by George MacDonald Fraser
The Plot Against America
(31.5K)
The Plot Against Ame...
by Philip Roth
The Coffin Club
(24K)
The Coffin Club
by Ellen Schreiber
That Hideous Strength
(25K)
That Hideous Strengt...
by C.S. Lewis
The Winner Stands Alone
(27.5K)
The Winner Stands Al...
by Paulo Coelho

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.