Book Quotes
"We'll go out through the kitchen."
~Tanis, Dragonlance
"You must tell me everything I've missed. What changes are in the palace, and at the university? Are you married; may I kill your husband--"
~Numair to Varice, the Daine quartet
"We get around it by generating the magnetic field we need to rest in. Simple electronics, but it gives us freedom."
"You mean you don't cart around your native earth?"
"I'm not a potted plant!"
~Titus and Inea, some book about vampires in space
"Don't look downcast. You will have a chance to die."
~Dalamar to Palin Majere, Dragons of Summer Flame
"This is crazy. I hope you realize that!"
"We wouldn't be here if we were sane, would we?"
~Caramon and Tanis, Dragons of Winter Night, p.326, 1st paragraph
"Ya know, I think after awhile the authors of these books just started pointing at random objects and naming characters after them. Like, 'Oh, we need a name? How about ... Television Lampshade?'!"
~Emily to Jenni about trashy romance novels
"I'm ..."
"FIZBAN!"
~Fizban and Tas, numerous times
"It's the right, sane thing to do. So we're obviously not going to do it."
~Tanis, Dragons of Autumn Twilight
"This time we're going to die! If I have to kill you myself!"
~Flint to Tas
"The sun is a candle."
~Flint and Jenni
"I know you aren't terribly tall, Flint, but you are a bit on the dense side."
~Tanis, Kindred Spirits, p.103, 4th paragraph
"I made love to a beautiful woman and I didn't know it. Just my luck."
~Raistlin, a loser, Dragons of Summer Flame
"The owner never saw me. The necklace didn't either."
~Tas to Jenna, Dragons of Summer Flame
"Are you telling me that Usha's a ... a thief?"
"Sad, isn't it ... Stealing from people is a very wicked crime, and you'd never catch me--"
~Palin and Tas, Dragons of Summer Flame
"I know, you see, because I hang around gods a lot."
~Tax, on knowing Dougan is Reorx, Dragons of Summer Flame
Kender Mourning Song - Sung by Tas in Dragons of Spring Dawning
Always before, the spring returned.
The bright world in its cycle spun
In air and flowers, grass and fern,
Assured and cradled by the sun.
Always before, you could explain
The turning darkness of the earth,
And how that dark embraced the rain,
And gave the ferns and flowers birth.
Already I forget those things,
And how a vein of gold
Survives the mining of a thousand springs,
The seasons of a thousand lives.
Now winter is my memory, now autumn,
Now the summer light--
So every spring from now will be
Another season into night.
"What does that have to do with the price of peas in Persnopolis?"
~Daine, Realm of the Gods
"Breathe deep, seek peace."
~Dinotopian greeting
"I'm just wondering whose silver tongue or golden pen is telling the tale we find ourselves in."
~Camille to Raseri, Once Upon a Winter's Night
"It seems one cannot see the full flow of time lest one starts at the beginning."
~Raseri
"This is my story, the Story of Oar. It is a wonderful story. I was in another story once, but it was not so wonderful, as I died in the end. That was most sad indeed. But it turns out I am not such a one as stays dead forever, especially when I only fell eighty floors to the pavement. I am made of sterner stuff than that.
Actually, I am made of glass: see-through glass. I am therefore extremely beautiful ... more beautiful than you, but you should not feel bad about that, because you cannot help being opaque. People who are not beautiful--or strong and clever and wise, as I also am--should take comfort from being ugly and boring, because you will never be Called By Fate to undertake Difficult Adventures. Fate does not invite ugly boring people to save the world; and if you do try to save the world (without being beautiful, strong, clever, or wise), you will soon die pointlessly and how much adventure is there in that?"
~Oar, Ascending
"If this wine was any stronger, it would leap out of the bottle and mug you."
~Gaunt, The Adventures of Hawk and Fisher
"What happened to your eye?"
"I lost it in a card game."
~Katherine and Hawk, The Adventures of Hawk and Fisher
"Then we'll have to arrest you."
"On what charge?"
"We'll think of something."
~Fisher and Gaunt, The Adventures of Hawk and Fisher
"You do realize we should all be put in a nice, cozy room somewhere with muscular people to keep us from harming ourselves?"
~Neal, the Kel quartet
"Miss Blake is right: Everyone here needs therapy."
~Olga Gonzalez, Remnants #3
"Something strange is about, yes. Something dangerous. But I will find it, and I'll kill it, and that will be an end to it."
~Aspar White, from The Briar King by Greg Keyes
"Like as not, we'll end this meeting in a dungeon."
"Well, at least we'll go well-dressed."
~Aspar White and Winna, from The Charnel Prince by Greg Keyes
From Radiant, by James Alan Gardner:
"I don't consider purple jelly my superior."
"I consider orange marmalade your superior."
~Li and Ubatu
"You pray too, Ma Youn. Maybe the spirits will heal your cheek."
"They aren't spirits, Mother. They're aliens."
"They're smart aliens with advanced technology. That makes them better than spirits."
~Youn Suu's mother and Youn Suu
"Darned robots."
"They prefer the term 'cyborg.' "
"I prefer the term 'morons.' "
~Li and Ubatu
"There's one universal rule of prophecy, recognized by every thread of human culture: you don't get to ask clarifying questions. You just listen and suck it up."
~DreamKaisho Namida
"Are you ready to hear the message?"
::nods::
"Okay. Give her the message, Kaisho."
"I thought you had the message."
"How can I have the message?"
~DreamYoun Suu, Youn Suu, DreamKaisho Namida
"Seriously, Auntie. What's wrong with being a god?"
"Seriously? Deep in my bones, something cries out that gods are something you defy, not something you become. Humans should be standing on mountaintops, screaming challenges at the divine rather than coveting divinity ourselves. We should admire Prometheus, not Zeus ... Job, not Jehovah. Becoming a god, or a godlike being, is selling out to the enemy. From the Greeks to the Norse to the Garden of Eden, gods are capricious a-holes with impulse control problems. Joining their ranks would be a step down."
"... I'm with Festina on this. Godhood is a phase of existence for those who aren't mature enough to be born human. Buddhists would never hurl defiance at the gods--that's just rude--but we don't envy the divine condition. The gods are stuck in celestial kindergarten: flashy powers, fancy toys, people prostrating themselves before your alter ... it's just childish wish fulfillment. Hardly a situation that encourages enlightenment. If your karma condemns you to birth as a god, the best you can do is resist the urge to throw thunderbolts and hope that in the next life you'll get to be human."
~Tut, Festina, Youn Suu
"If you get in my way, we all might die."
"If you go in without me, you'll be out of your depth."
"Why? Because you're an enlightened Buddhist know-it-all, and I'm not?"
"Because every mythic hero needs some brainy beauty to explain how to kill the hydra or escape the labyrinth."
"I've always considered myself the brainy beauty."
"No, you haven't. Neither have I. We grew up thinking we were Ugly Screaming Stink-Girls ... which is ridiculous, because we are brainy beauties. But now I'm wise as well as brainy, so you need me. Western heroes never wise up till it's too late, and everyone else is dead. Just ask Oedipus. Or Hamlet."
"Just you wait. When this mission is over, I'm going to study Eastern mythology so I can make cheap-ass put-downs about your metaphysical shortcomings."
~Festina and Youn Suu
"Am I the only one on this planet who isn't possessed by something?"
"Give it time. The morning's still young."
~Festina and Youn Suu
"Eat someone's brain, learn a new language."
"The planarian approach to linguistics."
~Youn Suu and Festina
"All right, your Buddha-ness, any suggestions for a fuzzy gray exorcism?"
"We could try gentle persuasion. Show them the error of their ways."
"Or, we could kick their ass. ... Never underestimate a Western champion, you Eastern alsoran. We always have a trick up our sleeve ... a magic sword, a flask of holy water, or spiffy ruby slippers."
~Festina and Youn Suu
::to the Divine moss:: "You're lousy at negotiation."
"Perhaps it's because the Divine have just eaten Li and Ubatu. Neither of them were good at diplomacy either."
"If they ate you, would they get all enlightened?"
"If they asked politely, they could have the bottom half of my right leg. It wouldn't be enough to bring out their entire Buddha nature ... but it might raise their IQ forty or fifty points, and it would even me up nicely."
"Bilateral symmetry is so important."
~Festina and Youn Suu
"Eastern heroes specialize in the big picture. Ultimate truths of the cosmos, not what's going to happen in the next ten seconds. Although, hanging from this wire reminds me of a story."
"Feel free to share ..."
"Once upon a time, a monk was chased by a tiger. While running away, he accidentally fell off a cliff; he just barely saved himself by grabbing a vine on the cliff's edge. So there he was dangling, with the tiger roaring just above his head and a deadly plunge beneath his feet."
"I'll like this story a lot if the monk has a clever way to escape."
"This isn't that kind of story. The monk noticed the vine he was holding had berries on it. He caught a berry in his mouth and ate it. 'Ahh,' he said. 'How sweet.' And that's the end of the story."
...
"Youn Suu, I'm having trouble seeing the berry here. Unless ..."
"Grr-arrh. Grr-arrh. Grr-arrh!"
"Okay. Berry ... bear ... it's a stretch, but I get the point."
~Youn Suu, Festina, and Tut (aka the bear)
"Western heroes ride off into the sunset. Eastern heroes end up sitting alone in the dawn. I like your way better."
~Festina to Youn Suu
I grasp the stars and take the light to heart. I walk like plush and teach the rabbits how. I weep sweet diamonds and drop the sparkles one by one. There is nothing to learn and I learn it very well. I stand alone and fill my arms with wind. I grasp the stars. I grasp the stars.
~from The Collected Flights of Prudence Clarke
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