Guy Gavriel Kay Quotes

There are no wrong turnings. Only paths we had not known we were meant to walk.

We salvage what we can, what truly matters to us, even at the gates of despair.

She was owner and captive, both, of a bitterly divided heart.

The deeds of men, as footprints in the desert. Nothing under the circling moons is fated to last. Even the sun goes down.

One didn't stop to talk with creatures from one's nightmares.

Ice is for death and endings.

After a while, you start to realize that you should write a book you would want to read. I try to write a book I would enjoy.

You'd never killed anyone. Then you had.

What man would dare believe that all he planned might come to pass?

By things so achingly small are lives measured and marred.

A hand fought best when it made a fist.

It can be hard to write a skillfully entertaining fiction, but a great book wants to be more, and wants more from us.

She had been a solitary child, and then solitary as a woman, drawn into an orbit of her own that took her away from others, even those who would be her friends.

It was different, though, knowing something in your thoughts and then hearing it confirmed, made real, planted in the world like a tree

What mortal knew the way their fate line would run?

When I'm all grown up, come what may, I'll build a boat to carry me away

The military preferred - invariably - those who could be readily defined, assigned roles, understood, and controlled.

It is always difficult, even with the best will in the world, to look back a long way and see anything resembling the truth.

As many have noted, the peril for authors is that our work space is too easily our play space.

Eanna love us, Adaon preserve us, Morian guard our souls.

Weariness, sometimes more than anything else, can bring an end to war.

There was some sadness in how that could happen, falling out of love with something that had shaped you. Or even people who had.

I have always argued, in a good novel, interesting things happen to interesting people.

The world could bring you poison in a jewelled cup, or surprising gifts. Sometimes you didn't know which of them it was.

Lazy poets try to elicit a reader's response with words designed to tug at the heart.

... everyone knew that all islands were worlds unto themselves, that to come to an island was to come to another world.

Liu Fang is a truly gifted, world-famous player of the pipa and the guzheng, classical Chinese stringed instruments.

Men made wagers with their judgment, their allegiances, their resources.

You have to be afraid for it to count as bravery.

One man sees a riselka: his life forks there. Two men see a riselka: one of them shall die. Three men see a riselka: one is blessed, one forks, one shall die.

Writing is never, ever easy but I wake up every morning grateful for the gift of being able to do this.

Do you know the wish of your heart?" - The Darkest Road

Irritation for some men was their response to strain.

I will not say I am sorry, but I can tell you that I grieve.

Sometimes you didn't really arrive at a conclusion about your life, you just discovered that you already had.

The heart has its own laws... and the truth is... the truth is that you are the law of mine.

We are the total of our longings.

Dave hung up. And unplugged the phone. With a fierce and bitter pain he stared at it, watching how, over and over again, it didn't ring.

We must be what we are, or we become our enemies.

most hated by the dark, for their name is light.

Why did becoming accustomed to something have to render its pleasures stale.

In this world, where we find ourselves, we need compassion more than anything, I think, or we are all alone.

Words were power, words tried to change you, to shape bridges of longing that no one could ever really cross.

How we remember changes how we have lived. Time runs both ways. We make stories of our lives.

But if you couldn't do everything, did that mean you did nothing?

Bright star of Eanna, forgive me the manner of this, but you are the harbor of my soul’s journeying.

[We let] the universality of fantasy, of once upon a time, allow escapist fiction to be more than just that - to also bring us home.

You have no idea how dearly I wish you were of my blood. My daughter, granddaughter. Will you allow me to take pride in what you are?"-- Sandre to Catriana

Reading is a collaboration between the writer and reader. Both parties must keep that in mind when dealing with a work of fiction.”{Guy Gavriel Kay}

That felt strange. How sharp a rent a handful of moments made in the fabric of a life.