Quotes from The Stone Sky

“I think,” Hoa says slowly, “that if you love someone, you don’t get to choose how they love you back.”
― N.K. Jemisin, quote from The Stone Sky

“They’re afraid because we exist, she says. There’s nothing we did to provoke their fear, other than exist. There’s nothing we can do to earn their approval, except stop existing – so we can either die like they want, or laugh at their cowardice and go on with our lives.”
― N.K. Jemisin, quote from The Stone Sky

“But there are none so frightened, or so strange in their fear, as conquerors. They conjure phantoms endlessly, terrified that their victims will someday do back what was done to them—even if, in truth, their victims couldn’t care less about such pettiness and have moved on. Conquerors live in dread of the day when they are shown to be, not superior, but simply lucky.”
― N.K. Jemisin, quote from The Stone Sky

“Well, some worlds are built on a fault line of pain, held up by nightmares. Don’t lament when those worlds fall. Rage that they were built doomed in the first place.”
― N.K. Jemisin, quote from The Stone Sky

“But for a society build on exploitation, there is no greater threat than having no one left to oppress.”
― N.K. Jemisin, quote from The Stone Sky

“How can we prepare for the future if we won’t acknowledge the past?”
― N.K. Jemisin, quote from The Stone Sky

“When a slave rebels, it is nothing much to the people who read about it later. Just thin words on thinner paper worn finer by the friction of history. (“So you were slaves, so what?” they whisper. Like it’s nothing.)”
― N.K. Jemisin, quote from The Stone Sky

“When we say that “the world has ended,” remember – it is usually a lie. The planet is just fine.”
― N.K. Jemisin, quote from The Stone Sky

“To those who’ve survived: Breathe. That’s it. Once more. Good. You’re good. Even if you’re not, you’re alive. That is a victory.”
― N.K. Jemisin, quote from The Stone Sky

“Conquerors live in dread of the day when they are shown to be, not superior, but simply lucky.”
― N.K. Jemisin, quote from The Stone Sky

“The Fulcrum is not the first institution to have learned an eternal truth of humankind: No need for guards when you can convince people to collaborate in their own internment.”
― N.K. Jemisin, quote from The Stone Sky

“But breathing doesn’t always mean living, and maybe… maybe genocide doesn’t always leave bodies.”
― N.K. Jemisin, quote from The Stone Sky

“Don’t be patient. Don’t ever be. This is the way a new world begins.”
― N.K. Jemisin, quote from The Stone Sky

“Syl Anagist's assimilation of the world had been over a century before I was ever made; all cities were Syl Anagist. All languages had become Sylanagistine. But there were none so frightened, or so strange in their fear, as conquerors. They conjure phantoms endlessly, terrified that their victims will someday do back what was done to them - even if, in truth, their victims couldn't care less about such pettiness and have moved on. Conquerors live in dread of the day when they are shown to be, not superior, but simply lucky.”
― N.K. Jemisin, quote from The Stone Sky

“And then we will understand that people cannot be possessions. And because we are both and this should not be, a new concept will take shape within us, though we have never heard the word for it because the conductors are forbidden to even mention it in our presence. Revolution.”
― N.K. Jemisin, quote from The Stone Sky

“Nassun frowns. “What’s genocide?” He smiles again, but it is sad. “If every orogene is hunted down and slain, and if the neck of every orogene infant born thereafter is wrung, and if every one like me who carries the trait is killed or effectively sterilized, and if even the notion that orogenes are human is denied … that would be genocide. Killing a people, down to the very idea of them as a people.” “Oh.” Nassun feels queasy again, inexplicably. “But that’s …” Schaffa inclines his head, acknowledging her unspoken But that’s what’s been happening”
― N.K. Jemisin, quote from The Stone Sky

“Orogene.” It’s petty, maybe. Because of Ykka’s insistence on making rogga a use-caste name, all the stills are tossing the word around like it doesn’t mean anything. It’s not petty. It means something. “Not ‘rogga.’ You don’t get to say ‘rogga.’ You haven’t earned that.”
― N.K. Jemisin, quote from The Stone Sky

“Say nothing to me of innocent bystanders, unearned suffering, heartless vengeance. When a comm builds atop a fault line, do you blame its walls when they inevitably crush the people inside? No; you blame whoever was stupid enough to think they could defy the laws of nature forever. Well, some worlds are built on a fault line of pain, held up by nightmares. Don’t lament when those worlds fall. Rage that they were built doomed in the first place.”
― N.K. Jemisin, quote from The Stone Sky

“Some worlds are built on a fault line of pain, held up by nightmares. Don’t lament when those worlds fall. Rage that they were built doomed in the first place.”
― N.K. Jemisin, quote from The Stone Sky

“You know the end to this. Don't you? How could you be here listening to this tale if you didn't? But sometimes it is the how of a thing, not just the endgame, that matters most.”
― N.K. Jemisin, quote from The Stone Sky

“We will never be anything but strange to them.
I answer in angry basso push-wave throbs. This is not about them.”
― N.K. Jemisin, quote from The Stone Sky

“So where they should have seen a living being, they saw only another thing to exploit. Where they should have asked, or left alone, they raped.”
― N.K. Jemisin, quote from The Stone Sky

“Because that is how one survives eternity,” I say, “or even a few years. Friends. Family. Moving with them. Moving forward.”
― N.K. Jemisin, quote from The Stone Sky

“This is our role: To weave together those disparate energies. To manipulate and mitigate and, through the prism of our awareness, produce a singular force that cannot be denied. To make of cacophony, symphony.”
― N.K. Jemisin, quote from The Stone Sky

“Time grows short, my love. Let’s end with the beginning of the world, shall we? Yes. We shall.”
― N.K. Jemisin, quote from The Stone Sky

“and that this was the source of their magical peculiarity. This was what made them not the same kind of human as everyone else. Eventually: not as human as everyone else. Finally: not human at all.”
― N.K. Jemisin, quote from The Stone Sky

“And yet because you are essential, you cannot be permitted to have a choice in the matter. You must be tools—and tools cannot be people. Guardians keep the tool … and to the degree possible, while still retaining the tool’s usefulness, kill the person.”
― N.K. Jemisin, quote from The Stone Sky

“I definitely haven’t been in the best place while working on this book, but I can say this much: Where there is pain in this book, it is real pain; where there is anger, it is real anger; where there is love, it is real love. You’ve been taking this journey with me, and you’re always going to get the best of what I’ve got. That’s what my mother would want.”
― N.K. Jemisin, quote from The Stone Sky

“for a society built on exploitation, there is no greater threat than having no one left to oppress.”
― N.K. Jemisin, quote from The Stone Sky

“Don’t lament when those worlds fall. Rage that they were built doomed in the first place.”
― N.K. Jemisin, quote from The Stone Sky

About the author

Popular quotes

“We were told that the name Dalai Lama is not used in Tibet at all. It is a Mongolian expression meaning “Broad Ocean.” Normally the Dalai Lama is referred to as the “Gyalpo Rimpoche,” which means “Precious King.” His parents and brothers use another title in speaking of him. They call him “Kundün,” which simply means “Presence.” The”
― Heinrich Harrer, quote from Seven Years in Tibet (Paladin Books)

“Ni en la guerra debe haber muertos inutiles. Usted me entiende, vaya al colegio y trate en el futuro de que la muerte del cadete Arana sirve para algo.”
― Mario Vargas Llosa, quote from The Time of the Hero

“No son of mine is going to be a goddamn liberal, Kennedy interjected. Now, now Joe, Luce answered, of course he’s got to run as a liberal. A Democrat has to run left of center to get the vote in the big northern cities, so don’t hold it against him if he’s left of center, because we won’t. We know his problems and what he has to do. So we won’t fight him there. But on foreign affairs, Luce continued, if he shows any sign of weakness toward the anti-Communist cause—or, as Luce decided to put it more positively—if he shows any weakness in defending the cause of the free world, we’ll turn on him. There’s no chance of that, Joe Kennedy had guaranteed; no son of mine is going to be soft on Communism.”
― David Halberstam, quote from The Best and the Brightest

“Peer pressure is when you decide to lob a few warheads at this week's Nazi because CNN told you to.”
― Nick Cole, quote from The Old Man and the Wasteland

“In happiness and misery, remember one thing. Sex and wealth are the great symbols of manhood. They are inspiring symbols. They sustain life. But they are unbridled. There is no knowing when they will run amuck. Their reins must at all times be in the hands of duty.’ Oh man, desire is never satisfied by indulgence. Like the sacrificial fire, it ever grows with every offering.”
― Vishnu Sakharam Khandekar, quote from Yayati: A Classic Tale of Lust

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.