Megan Whalen Turner Quotes
Sometimes, if you want to change a man's mind, you have to change the mind of the man next to him first.
The queen was settling on the edge of the bed, ungainly with hesitation and at the same time exquisite in her grace, like a heron landing in a treetop.
I was not so comfortable with my new authority that I could say 'We eat the chicken now!' but the magus had seen that I was considering it.
But there are other words for privacy and independence. They are isolation and loneliness.
He didn't marry you to become king. He became king because he wanted to marry you.
It isn't an easy thing to give your loyalty to someone you don't know, especially when that person chooses to reveal nothing of himself.
Will there be poppy juice in it?" Phresine shook her head. "Good. My wife and I agreed that only my wine was to be poisoned.
Then come out," said the king, helping him, "knowing you'll never die of a fall unless the god himself drops you.
If I am the pawn of the gods, it is because they know me so well, not because they make my mind up for me.
From shadow queen to puppet queen in one rule. That's very impressive. When he rules your country and he tells you he loves you, I hope you believe him. At least that's one lie I didn't tell you.
Her queen danced like a flame in the wind, and the mercurial king like the weight at the center of the earth.
No 'Glory shall be your reward' for me. Oh, no, for me, it is, 'Stop whining' and 'Go to bed'.
Who knows but that you will get up to find that the world has inverted itself yet again?
Today, she had yielded the sovereignty of her country to Eugenides, who had given up everything he had ever hoped for, to be her King.
Why did you come if not to murder my king?" "I came to steal his magus." "You can't," said the magus in question. "I can steal anything," Eugenides corrected him, "even with one hand.
Are you badly hurt?" "Hideously," said the king, without sounding injured at all. "I am disemboweled. My insides may in an instant become my outsides as I stand here before you.
She's like a prisoner inside stone walls, and every day the walls get a little thicker, the doorways a little narrower.
You're awake," he said. "Phresine is not," pointed out the queen. "Oh?" "You gave her lethium." "She gave it to me first.
That is ridiculous," she said. The king agreed. "Like falling in love with a landslide. Only you could fail to notice.
He lies to himself. If Eugenides talked in his sleep, he'd lie then, too.
I sometimes believe his lies are the truth, but I have never mistaken his truth for a lie.
I am a master of foolhardy plans, I thought. I have so much practice I consider them professional risks.
I am not sure I trust you." "You can trust me with your life, My King." "But not with my wine, obviously. Give it back.
I wonder if people always choose what will make them unhappy.
No man can choose to serve only himself when he has something to offer his state. No one can put his own wishes above the needs of so many.
I know that if you don't look for an alternative, Sophos, you certainly won't find one.
He whines, he complains, he ducks out of the most obvious responsibility. He is vain, petty and maddening, but he doesn't ever quit.
No friend had I made there, but I wasn't with this group to make friends, and besides, he sneered too much. I've found that people who sneer are almost always sneering at me.
I knew I would be in the story somewhere," Eugenides interjected. "Oh no," said Phresine, "This was a humble servant." "Ouch." "Though very courageous." "Not me," whispered Eugenides to his pillow.
I have a whole guard room full of brawny veterans who'd enjoy a chance to drag two Eddisians out of here, particularly if you kicked a lot and they could kick you back.
Sophos turned red, and I wondered about the circulation of his blood; maybe his body kept an extra supply of it in his head, ready for blushing.
Tell me a story then...keep me occupied." "A story?...What makes you think I can tell a story?" "Insight," said the king, "Go on.
What he brought out was a wooden gag they put in someone's mouth before doing something drastic, like cutting off a leg.
As soon as the guards where gone, I lay down on my stone bench and dumped the king and his threats out of my head without ceremony. They were too unpleasant to worry over anyway.
...That he'd seen...two people, a young man and a woman, sitting on invisible furniture with their feet up, reading books and eating chocolates.
All I wanted to do was lie in the dry grass with my feet in a ditch forever. I could be a convenient sort of milemarker, I thought. Get to the thief and you know you're halfway to Methana.
Anyone who can steal the king's seal ring can manage the locks on his record room.
She was the stone-faced queen, then and ever after. She had needed the mask to rule, and she had been glad to have it. She wondered if Eugenides was glad of his.