Quotes from The Woman Who Rides Like a Man

“There's plenty more fish in the sea than Prince Jonathan," he told her softly. "And this particular fish loves you with all his crooked heart."
-George to Alanna”
― Tamora Pierce, quote from The Woman Who Rides Like a Man

“Men don't think and differently from women - they just make more noise about being able to.”
― Tamora Pierce, quote from The Woman Who Rides Like a Man

“You are a terrifying creature," the Voice told her solemnly. "You do not take your place in your father's tent, letting men make your decisions for you. You ride as a man, you fight as a man, and you think as a man --"

"I think as a human being," she retorted hotly. "Men don't think any differently from women -- they just make more fuss about being able to.”
― Tamora Pierce, quote from The Woman Who Rides Like a Man

“You ride as a man, fight as a man, and you think as a man-"
"I think as a human being," she retorted hotly. "Men don't think any differently from women- they just make more noise about being able to.”
― Tamora Pierce, quote from The Woman Who Rides Like a Man

“Didn't they realize that the only way to change things was to act?”
― Tamora Pierce, quote from The Woman Who Rides Like a Man

“I am not wise, but I can always learn.”
― Tamora Pierce, quote from The Woman Who Rides Like a Man

“No can always be changed to yes, but it's very hard to change yes to no.”
― Tamora Pierce, quote from The Woman Who Rides Like a Man

“When I say I want time to think, I want time to think!"
Jonathan sighed wearily. "All right, you've had time to think. What's your answer?"
"That I need more time to think!”
― Tamora Pierce, quote from The Woman Who Rides Like a Man

“The sands drift always, yet the desert remains the same.”
― Tamora Pierce, quote from The Woman Who Rides Like a Man

“Knowing to whom she owed the new warmth, Alanna tried to thank Mari Fahrar. The old woman brushed her words aside. “All things change,” she told Alanna frankly. “It does not hurt men to know women have power, too.” Alanna had to laugh. Until Mari and Farda entered her life, she never realized that the tribeswomen viewed their men not with fear but with loving disrespect. Sometimes she felt that she was the one getting the education, not her pupils.”
― Tamora Pierce, quote from The Woman Who Rides Like a Man

About the author

Popular quotes

“Which is why we have spouses and children and parents and colleagues and friends, because someone has to know us better than we know ourselves. We need them to tell us. We need them to say, "I know you, Al. You are not the kind of man who.”
― Richard Russo, quote from Straight Man

“Well, now that you set him on fire, I'm sure we're well on the path to reconciliation.”
― Alexandra Adornetto, quote from Heaven

“Truth for anyone is a very complex thing. For a writer, what you leave out says as much as those things you include. What lies beyond the margin of the text? The photographer frames the shot; writers frame their world. Mrs Winterson objected to what I had put in, but it seemed to me that what I had left out was the story’s silent twin. There are so many things that we can’t say, because they are too painful. We hope that the things we can say will soothe the rest, or appease it in some way. Stories are compensatory. The world is unfair, unjust, unknowable, out of control. When we tell a story we exercise control, but in such a way as to leave a gap, an opening. It is a version, but never the final one. And perhaps we hope that the silences will be heard by someone else, and the story can continue, can be retold. When we write we offer the silence as much as the story. Words are the part of silence that can be spoken. Mrs Winterson would have preferred it if I had been silent.

Do you remember the story of Philomel who is raped and then has her tongue ripped out by the rapist so that she can never tell? I believe in fiction and the power of stories because that way we speak in tongues. We are not silenced. All of us, when in deep trauma, find we hesitate, we stammer; there are long pauses in our speech. The thing is stuck. We get our language back through the language of others. We can turn to the poem. We can open the book. Somebody has been there for us and deep-dived the words. I needed words because unhappy families are conspiracies of silence. The one who breaks the silence is never forgiven. He or she has to learn to forgive him or herself.”
― Jeanette Winterson, quote from Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal?

“Bodily haste and exertion usually leave our thoughts very much at the mercy of our feelings and imagination.”
― George Eliot, quote from Adam Bede

“As much as some people would like to believe, for their own peace of mind, that the appearance of evil in this world had a clean cause, the truth was never that simple.”
― Marisha Pessl, quote from Night Film

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.