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And I think Alanna would quote Sean Connery from "The Untouchables" to you: "At the end of your shift, go home alive." She would say, Don't think about being brave or working hard
just do what you need to do. When you look back, you'll be surprised to see that this was exactly enough. -- Tamora Pierce
What trouble have you brought to my doorstep, Beka" she asked.
"I don't see where blaming me for things that began months ago will be useful," I replied. -- Tamora Pierce
And if they don't believe us, I can give them the ghost eyes, you can go all big and threatening, Farmer can do his cracknob simpleton, and my lady can don her nobleness. We'll do all right. -- Tamora Pierce
Free time is an illusion. It's what you get when you die and the gods reward you for a life spent working from dawn until midnight. -- Tamora Pierce
Not one word," Kel warned. "Tobe and I have reached an understanding."
Neal's lips twitched. "Why do I feel you did most of the understanding. -- Tamora Pierce
After I recovered from 'Lioness', I wanted to write something about animals because I really like mythical creatures, especially dragons. At 12, I was one of those semi-recluses who did better with animals than people. Out of that, came the character, Daine, who could communicate with animals. -- Tamora Pierce
Folk caught up in a riot aren't our cousins and sisters, our brothers and uncles. They are part of a big animal with many arms and claws, armed with stones and sticks. -- Tamora Pierce
A crow may put on human shape or crow shape, but we remain crows," he replied firmly. "Hawks, too, are the same, whether they are born in human nests or hawk ones. The nestlings must always be protected. Since you have chosen to protect these, I and mine will protect you. -- Tamora Pierce
I don't have so many friends that I can afford to turn my back on any of them. -- Tamora Pierce
Waves are the voices of tides. Tides are life," murmured Niko. "They bring new food for shore creatures, and take ships out to sea. They are the ocean's pulse, and our own heartbeat. -- Tamora Pierce
Dale: "No, no
curse it, Beka, you're the prickliest woman I've ever met!"
Goodwin: "No, I am. But she comes very close, I have to say."
- Dale Rowan and Clara Goodwin when Beka didn't want to accept money for being Dale's "luck -- Tamora Pierce
Sometimes there's nothing you can do. [ ... ] Sometimes they don't have enough to fight with. -- Tamora Pierce
Sandry: "There has to be something we can do."
Lark: "We're mages. We do what we can, but some problems are too big to fix."
Sandry: "Then I wish I weren't a mage. What good is magic, if you can't use it to help people. -- Tamora Pierce
Stefan spat. Oh, aye, he fell. O' course, Master Ralon helped him fall, several times. Poor li'l tyke didn't have a chance. -- Tamora Pierce
Anyone who tells you they don't need to rewrite, they're usually the ones who need it worst. -- Tamora Pierce
Don't let him upset you," Niko told the four softly. "He's old and he's frightened."
"You're as old as him, and you aren't scared of us," Briar pointed out.
Niko glared at him. "Thank you so much," he retorted waspishly. -- Tamora Pierce
What if custom is wrong? demanded the part of her that believed in the code of chivalry. A knight must set things right. -- Tamora Pierce
Feelings, she learned, were hard to fight. She treasured his smiles and compliments and tried not to dwell on the fact that he gave this things to his friend Kel.
His dreamy-eyed gazes, poems, and fits of passionate melancholy were for Uline. It was hard not to resent the older girl. -- Tamora Pierce
I've written short stories in first person, but you have so much more control writing in third person. Third person, you know what everybody's thinking. First person is very limiting, and I could never sustain a first person novel before. -- Tamora Pierce
That's Lalasa, Kel's maid. She sews and knows all sorts of ways to hurt you. -- Tamora Pierce
Never express anger with a friend or a subordinate in public," Vedris always said. "They might forgive a private expression of anger or a deserved scolding, but they never forget a public humiliation. It is the surest way to destroy a friendship and to create enemies. -- Tamora Pierce
Men broke into their homes, killed their families, threatened you
and you won't let them do anything for fear you'll be hurt. That's selfish. How would you like it if I took your bow and said I cared too much about you to let you fight? -- Tamora Pierce
You are brave, kicking a chained prisoner. They must sing heroic ballads about you on winter nights! (Alanna) -- Tamora Pierce
I'm not so fond of people myself, Evvy, but I took my vows for a reason. There are two classes of people in the world, the destroyers and the builders. I want to build, not destroy. You need to ask yourself who you're going to be. -- Tamora Pierce
She got to her feet and tucked her fingers into her armpits to warm them, glaring at Briar and Parahan as she walked over to the mules. It wasn't fair that men didn't have to twist themselves into knots to pee! -- Tamora Pierce
Lokeij whistled. "Make the king's warriors vanish if
they come ... what a deceitful turtledove you are."
Aly smiled at the sky. "Oh, don't,"she replied in the
tones of a flirtatious court lady. "Stop, I insist. Your
flattery makes me blush. -- Tamora Pierce
Face it," Gary told her kindly. "You'll never catch up. You just do as much as you can and take the punishments without saying anything. Sometimes I wonder if that isn't what they're really trying to teach us
to take plenty and keep our mouths shut. -- Tamora Pierce
Beka: 'Will you keep me here forever? My hands are sticky.'
Dale: 'I'll lick the honey off, -- Tamora Pierce
Most important of all, there is no right or wrong way to write - there's only what works for you. I was taught to write every day, but I know a writer (a bestseller at that!) who only writes on weekends. -- Tamora Pierce
Not too fast," called Raoul. "Let's not scare anyone."
"His majesty said with all deliberate speed!" chirped the courier. He flinched under Lerant's glare.
"That's how we're doing it," Raoul told him. "Deliberately. -- Tamora Pierce
Never before had she seen such creatures, though they looked much live very large, very shaggy white goats. Thin black horns punctuated the top of their long faces.
You look like a collection of grandfathers, she thought, amused. -- Tamora Pierce
Tris: "What if I don't want to cut up aloe leaves?"
Rosethorn: "Ask me if I care what you want. -- Tamora Pierce
Not all nine-fingered girls have hatchets, she said in Tradertalk. Some of us just tried to have a conversation with a snapping turtle.
(Sandry to Daja, referring to her conversation with Tris.) -- Tamora Pierce
We can't just act without thinking anymore, Tris. They've been trying to teach as that all along. I guess if we're mages, we can't exactly be kids, can we?
- Sandry after the pirate attack -- Tamora Pierce
I distrust any advice that contains the words 'ought' or 'should'. -- Tamora Pierce
I forgot my purse of laughter when I dressed this mornin'," she told me. "Have you not bought anythin' the last few days? Prices have gone up. Pay or starve, it's all one to me. -- Tamora Pierce
Curiosity killed the cat," Fesgao remarked, his dark eyes unreadable.
Aly rolled her eyes. Why did everyone say that to her? "People always forget the rest of the saying," she complained. "'And satisfaction brought it back. -- Tamora Pierce
Teen problem novels? I can go through them like a box of chocolates. And there are fantasy books out now that need a lot more editing. Fantasy got to be so popular that people began to think 'We don't need to be as diligent with the razor blade,' but they do. -- Tamora Pierce
My new knight mistress is famed for wielding sharp edges: Sword, Knife and Tongue! -- Tamora Pierce
George looked at her for a long moment. Finally he replied, And why do you find it so hard to think someone might like you and want to do things for you? -- Tamora Pierce
I come from a dysfunctional family, so my views of parents and parenting used to be highly mixed. -- Tamora Pierce
I'm sorry," she said humbly. "I haven't wanted to lie to you."
"I should hope so. You're the worst liar I've ever met." He thought about it for a moment, then added, "
or the best. Now I'm all confused. -- Tamora Pierce
You'll see. I'm as good as any boy. I'm better. - Kel -- Tamora Pierce
You must tell Lady Alanna that sometime. I'd do it from a distance. -- Tamora Pierce
Girl, boy or dancing bear, you're the finest page-the finest squire-to-be-at court. (Jon to Alanna) -- Tamora Pierce
If you've a story, make sure it's a whole one, with details close to hand. It's the difference between a good lie and getting caught. -- Tamora Pierce
Alanna: All I know is that I'm to jump when I'm told and I have no free time. -- Tamora Pierce
Excuse me," she said politely. "But you can't have him. Not yet. He's going to come back with me. -- Tamora Pierce
When in doubt, shoot the wizard. -- Tamora Pierce
I love you," he whispered. "If you get yourself killed, I will never forgive you. -- Tamora Pierce
There is a saying in the Islands. Beware the women of the warrior class, for all they touch is both decorative and deadly.-Yuki -- Tamora Pierce
She's all over us like maggots on garbage, just because I interfered with one pickpocket yesterday. -- Tamora Pierce
There is power and there is power, my dear. My power can be vast, in the right places. -- Tamora Pierce
She has teeth like stars and hair like sheep fuzz -- Tamora Pierce
Without patience, magic would be undiscovered - in rushing everything, we would never hear its whisper inside. -- Tamora Pierce
When in doubt," the mage Numair Salmalin had taught the pages, "Shoot the wizard. -- Tamora Pierce
Why does he speak of them that way?" The crow-man wanted to know. "They are humans, just like he is."
"I don't think he sees them as just like him." Ally explained.
"He is foolish then," said Nawat. "There are more raka than Bronaus. -- Tamora Pierce
I believe that we haven't begun to understand the many forces that bind the physical world, any more than we understand our own minds and what they're capable of. -- Tamora Pierce
Don't call me 'gentleman'. I work for a livin'. -- Tamora Pierce
We're just frisking like little captive lambkins. -- Tamora Pierce
A knight must develop all his abilities, to the fullest. -- Tamora Pierce
I wanted to have something good to remember about today," she replied quietly. "Something that wasn't petty and mean. Sometimes you have to provide such moments yourself. -- Tamora Pierce
I bet his mother was a wyvern.
-Scamp -- Tamora Pierce
I met the oddest little fellow today, Alan of Trebond. -- Tamora Pierce
That's all this job is, Daine," she explained. "Trying to please everyone and pleasing no one. And it will only get worse, not better. -- Tamora Pierce
What happens to each of my female heroes, certainly, is they find something bigger than themselves that they are honored to serve. It's not giving up your family. -- Tamora Pierce
If I say you're a goatherd's son, you say, 'Yes, Lord Ralon.'"
Alanna gasped with fury. "I'd as soon kiss a pig! Is that what you've been doing-kissing pigs? Or being kissed? -- Tamora Pierce
Alanna didn't approve of lying, but in a pinch a lie was sometimes better than the truth. -- Tamora Pierce
Military folk," Neal said with exaggerated patience, shaking his head. "The only way you know to solve problems is by beating them with a stick. -- Tamora Pierce
As I recall, this word's use means somewhere there is a tree that is now a - a two-legger.
-Numair Salmalin -- Tamora Pierce
It's always better to attack than to defend," Coram had told her when they talked about fencing late at night. "Always. Ye don't win with defense
ye only hold the other feller off, or wear him down. Attack and have done with it! -- Tamora Pierce
Have I mentioned that I hate it when you're right?", she asked instead.
Alanna shook her head. "No, I don't believe you have. As far as I could tell, you never thought I was right. -- Tamora Pierce
At the house, the gathering broke up quickly. Sarai announced that she had a headache and needed to lie down. Without her to hold them together, the young nobles chose to go home. The gloss had been stripped from the afternoon. -- Tamora Pierce
Why do I get the feeling that if you give me a hard time, I'll tell all of our year-mates your family nickname is Meathead? -- Tamora Pierce
The god inside the man glanced at Aly. "This is your chessboard, I believe, my dear."
Aly beamed at him. "So it is. And the game begins. -- Tamora Pierce
Your life might be easier if you were. A fool for love is happier than a Dog with a heart that's all leather. -- Tamora Pierce
Does anyone in this land act like they're supposed to? -- Tamora Pierce
I'm about to commence four years of obeying the cause of a bruiser on a horse. I refuse to put down what might be the last book I see for months. -- Tamora Pierce
If I have to 'catch' a man to get a husband, I don't want one. -- Tamora Pierce
Gods curse it, Kel, you heard what he said!"
"I heard a fart," Kel said grimly. You know where those come from. Let it go." -Faleron and Kel -- Tamora Pierce
Faithful: When will you learn to leave well enough alone?
Alanna sighed. When I want to stop learning, I guess. -- Tamora Pierce
Libraries are places where the damaged go to find friends -- Tamora Pierce
I love meeting fans. They're always fun, they always have good things to say, smart questions to ask, and plenty of ideas for me to explore in the future. -- Tamora Pierce
We could mate. In a year our nestlings would be large enough to mob anyone we like ... Should I begin to court you? Do you like grubs or ants better? ... I will be here. In case you change your mind about mating. -- Tamora Pierce
A cat understands how to be pleasant in the morning. He doesn't talk. -- Tamora Pierce
Rosto cupped laddybuck in one hand and grabed the back of my neck with the other pulling me in and kissing me right on the mouth. i should have punched him but his lips were soft and sweet. i will punch him next time.
-beka after she realizes that rosto the piper is the new rouge -- Tamora Pierce
Don't threaten someone unless you're certain you can carry out the threat. -- Tamora Pierce
Buri rode along with her own Group Askew and two more Rider Groups, the Sixth, called Thayet's Dogs, and the Fifteenth, Stickers. -- Tamora Pierce
My husband and I click wedding rings sometimes and say, 'By the power of the Castle of Greyskull!' -- Tamora Pierce
I love you, Jonathan," she whispered.
A long arm snaked around her, and he pulled her against his side.
"I know," he said. "I just wanted to be sure you knew it, too. -- Tamora Pierce
Daja: "He and Rosethorn work together? They hate each other."
Lark: "I didn't say they liked it.
- Daja and Lark referring to Rosethorn and Crane's cooperation on finding the cures for new diseases -- Tamora Pierce
I just want to be a warrior maiden and go on adventures. I don't want to fall in love, -- Tamora Pierce
Either i've turned stupid, or life's turned hard. -- Tamora Pierce
I well knew the rules to follow with our training Dogs: Speak when you're spoken to. Keep out of the way. Obey all orders. Get killed on your own time. -- Tamora Pierce
Stefan shook his head. Th' lad's got guts , he thought. Not much sense, but guts. -- Tamora Pierce
You know, ogres only sound stupid. Most are pretty smart."
"And it's a shallow person who judges anyone by the way they sound. I'm so shallow I'm surprised I don't reflect myself. -- Tamora Pierce
Sweetheart, never listen to what my enemies say. They're very confused people. I know they are because I've spent years making them that way. -- Tamora Pierce
You do not take your place in your father's tent, letting men make your decisions. 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 noise about being able to." As -- Tamora Pierce
The person who commits an action is the one responsible for it, not the people he commits the action upon. -- Tamora Pierce
He knows about things like betrayal, and being afraid, and the looks on people's faces when they know you did something they thought impossible -- Tamora Pierce
Scummer, pox and wound rot!" roared Tunstall, slamming his fist down on the bed. "Gods cursed the pig-tarsed mammering craven currish beef-witted bum-licking gut-griping louts that did this to me! May every flea, leech and hookworm in all creation find and feast upon them! -- Tamora Pierce
Ishabal: "If you may correct your vision as you like, why do you wear spectacles?"
Tris: "Because I like them. Because I have better things to do with my magic than fixing my vision when ordinary glass will do. -- Tamora Pierce
I wish we had a sign that this flaming dragon is part of an attack or something. Those dung heaps might think it's just one of their own monsters enjoying the sunrise. -- Tamora Pierce
This may be my only chance to see humans before these two are made into fertilizer for Moonwind's rosebushes. -- Tamora Pierce
But I've only been at this mage business four years. I have some catching up to do - -- Tamora Pierce
I will tell the stork-man. -- Tamora Pierce
You mortals are like fish swimming in a globe of glass. That globe is your world. You do not see beyond it. -- Tamora Pierce
She promised herself that from now on she would try to sit as close to Neal as possible. She could not kick someone eight chairs away. -- Tamora Pierce
Nestor beckoned to me and I dismounted with care.I handed the reins to the boy with thanks. I do not wish to see that hard-charging bag of bones again, unless it is in my soup. -- Tamora Pierce
He doesn't need my help coming up with pranks. He's got too many ideas of his own.
- Daja referring to Briar in their first year at Discipline cottage -- Tamora Pierce
Things change," Daja said softly. "We change with them. We sail before the wind. We become adults. As adults, we keep our minds and our secrets hidden, and our wounds. It's safer. -- Tamora Pierce
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
If we pick a fight, then we're just as bad as them. Combat should be used just to help people who can't defend themselves, period."
"Well, if I don't fight back and they pound on me, then I'm one of the people I should be defending. -- Tamora Pierce
I was stark raving mad, and my family was too polite to mention it. That's what living with the Yamanis does to people. They get so well-mannered they won't mention you're crazy. -- Tamora Pierce
Men died as she watched, and they didn't care about what they had fought for. -- Tamora Pierce
Do you know, sire, I think that if we live to tell our grandchildren about this war, they will accuse us of making it up.'
-Marielle -- Tamora Pierce
He's just rather more lively than most fossils. -- Tamora Pierce
If her rump were any stiffer, she'd break it every time she rides', I thought to Pounce.
'If she fell on the steps, they would never be able to put her together again', he replied. -- Tamora Pierce
She rides as a man, goes unveiled as a man, fights as a man. Let her prove herself worthy as a man, worthy of her weapons and of our friendship. -- Tamora Pierce
I wish you would thrash him. He deserves it."
She looked back at him. "I will one day, sir. I'm getting tired of falling down. -- Tamora Pierce
Then I'll Dog him, and I'll catch him, and I'll cage him again,' I said. 'And again, and again, and again, until his patron tires if him and the Snake tires of me.'
'Or until he kills you,' someone else said.
'Nobody's killing Beka,' Rosto told them, his eyes turned to black stone. -- Tamora Pierce
Inside I am a beautiful woman,' Okha said ... 'The Trickster tapped me in my mother's womb and placed me in this man's shell. -- Tamora Pierce
Money talks and walks, but it does not bark. -- Tamora Pierce
You look as scary as a buttered muffin. -- Tamora Pierce
He has artistry," he repeated. "Because that's what it takes to blow things up. And cook his arm. -- Tamora Pierce
Why do you look like cheese, Beka?" Nestor asked me quietly. "We've got help."
I was too flummoxed to tell him I hadn't expected help to come so fast. Miracles aren't for the likes of me, didn't Nestor know that? Only the nobility gets them. -- Tamora Pierce
The god touched me once, Beka. I'd soon not get his attention again. -- Tamora Pierce
If Cape wasn't your last name, what was your real one?" I asked, deathly curious now. "Ahhhh," he complained. "Pincas Huckleburr. -- Tamora Pierce
If we just allowed women and men more leeway in our culture and more acceptance, I think they would be able to make better compromises. -- Tamora Pierce
Your ma was a leech with bad teeth," she taunted. Onua laughed in spite of herself. "Your da was a peahen. I know chickens with more brains than you! -- Tamora Pierce
Neil Gaiman's 'Sandman' just rocked my world in the late '80s and early '90s. I couldn't read them fast enough. -- Tamora Pierce
A bully fights people littler and weaker than he is because he thinks it's fun. -- Tamora Pierce
So long as there are nobles and commoners, the wealthy and the poor, those with power will be heard, and those without ignored. That's the world. -- Tamora Pierce
You haven't been bit till a dragon does it. -- Tamora Pierce
She would have kissed him, if she kissed stupid men. -- Tamora Pierce
These mages," Kol asked, a wicked glint in his eye, "what kind of fees will they charge? Will I get a two-for-one discount, since they're twins? -- Tamora Pierce
People are jackals, always willing to feed off someone else's kill. -- Tamora Pierce
Don't we teach our women to view all men according to the actions of a few? -- Tamora Pierce
Don't go thinking you can bounce me all over the ground just because I look like somebody's grandmother," the woman said dryly. "Some grandchildren need more raising than others, and I supply it," she grinned, showing very white teeth. -- Esa Bell, Shang Wildcat -- Tamora Pierce
When it was her own doing, she was always tempted to skip a day, or just glance down, then get back to the ground. Kel had to force herself to keep her vow. -- Tamora Pierce
You get too excited over big flashes, Tunstall. Mages rely on that to make you think they have more power than you. -- Tamora Pierce
A good friend will help you up when you fall. A best friend will laugh and try to trip you again.
- I'm not sure -- Tamora Pierce
I imbue this place with my essence, every stone and every drop. My visit will do wonders for the flowers."
Aly propped her chin on her hand. "So does manure," she observed. -- Tamora Pierce
The bravest person I know is afraid of the dark. She sleeps with a night lamp always, but if her friends are threatened? She suddenly thinks she's a bear twelve feet tall and attacks whoever scared her friends. -- Tamora Pierce
All these things Alanna knew from her father's books and maps, but the reality took her breath away as a paragraph written in a book never could. -- Tamora Pierce
Every now and then I like to do as I'm told, just to confuse people. -- Tamora Pierce
Horses are calmer people. They also don't throw things at cats. -- Tamora Pierce
Turnstall's view of what men could and couldn't do was sometimes odd. Our old parter Goodwin and I agreed that there was no manly or unwomanly, only what you chose to do. -- Tamora Pierce
Sadly for my wedding plans, I learned that Nestor is a bardash. I envy the men who enjoy his favors. He has always treated me with friendship which I now value more than my old romantic feelings. -- Tamora Pierce
They had almost reached their horses when Neal's unmistakable drawl sounded through the stable: Joren is so pretty. Say, Garvey, are you two friends because you can have him? -- Tamora Pierce
Now to find Tristan, if he survived the excitement. I hope he did. I have some things to say to him, and none of them are 'Goddess bless'.
-Numair Salmalin -- Tamora Pierce
Why do boys say someone acts like a girl as if it were an insult? -- Tamora Pierce
I'd like to find whoever taught the Stump that extra work builds character and push him down the stairs, Neal told Kel at lunch. -- Tamora Pierce
I truly love our Code of Chivalry. We are taught that noblemen must take everything and say nothing. Noblemen must stand alone. Well, we're men, and men aren't born to stand alone.
-Myles of Olau -- Tamora Pierce
You have an audience that is fairly well grounded in the real world. You serve them and yourself best by making everything as real as possible. -- Tamora Pierce
Oh, Daja," moaned Jory, "you sound just like my parents." She ran from the schoolroom.
"Well, there's no reason to insult me, "muttered Daja, half offended. -- Tamora Pierce
A friend had commented once that Neal had a gift for making someone want to punch him just for saying hello. -- Tamora Pierce
We are what we're made to be. -- Tamora Pierce
We're men, and men aren't born to stand alone. -- Tamora Pierce
It's your own fault for encouraging him ... , you know. Now he thinks he's a human being.
Neal of Queens cove -- Tamora Pierce
I think it's fair rude to make him a tree and not know what kind he is. -- Tamora Pierce
Someday I must read this scholar Everyone. He seems to have written so much
all of it wrong. -- Tamora Pierce
Adults and pups alike, they surrounded her in the greeting ceremony, licking her face and wagging their tails. Brokefang let the girl hug him fiercely about the neck and nuzzled her in reply. -- Tamora Pierce
Why does this mean so much to you, Jon?"
The Prince turned. "Because he's my friend. Because I always know where he stands, and where I stand with him. Because I think he'd die for me and
and I think I'd die for him. Is that enough? -- Tamora Pierce
A library is a gateway to others' minds, hearts, and lives. -- Tamora Pierce
What's dry?' 'Good question. Next question! -- Tamora Pierce
The sands drift always, yet the desert remains the same. -- Tamora Pierce
You fed it.' The badger sighed. 'Sometimes I think you'll feed anything. -- Tamora Pierce
Publishers have realized that, unlike the previous time period, American teenagers are both smarter and require more topical material than they had been giving them before that. For one thing, they'll read thicker books. Besides, has anybody looked at the news or read the newspapers recently? -- Tamora Pierce
She decided to be quiet for now. There was a Yamani saying: "You need never unsay anything that you did not say in the first place. -- Tamora Pierce
Cats aren't special advisers. They advise us all the time, whether we want them to or no. -- Tamora Pierce
I said I fell down.
Ah. The ground bloodied your nose, split yer lip, and punched ye in th' eye, all at once.
I said I don't want to talk about it. -- Tamora Pierce
Moral issues rarely have yes or no answers.
-Myles to Alanna when she asks about the Gift -- Tamora Pierce
We build up pretty pictures of men, when we want to be in love. We hate to have them ruined. -- Tamora Pierce
One of the things I strive for is realism. I need to be as real as possible in the dilemmas my characters face. -- Tamora Pierce
Books are still the main yardstick by which I measure true wealth. -- Tamora Pierce
Shut your gob, You tell me nothing in my kennel. Here, I am Queen Bitch, and you will muzzle yourself. Kebibi Ahuda to prisoner -- Tamora Pierce
Dreadful sorry mistress. Ma always said I was too silly to die -- Tamora Pierce
If thanks was what I wanted," Sandry replied in the same language, "I would be sad indeed. Since I don't want it, I won't miss it. -- Tamora Pierce
When people say a knight's job is all glory, I laugh and laugh and laugh. Often I can stop laughing before they edge away and talk about soothing drinks. -- Tamora Pierce
But, Sergeant Osbern, Sir, I like my head. -- Tamora Pierce
And she told you something about yourself you really ought to know: that you're beautiful, and worth loving. -- Tamora Pierce
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
Ralon didn't make anyone else put his tack away?" Alex wanted to know. "You didn't see anything strange?"
Alanna didn't look up. "No." It wasn't strange , she excused her lie mentally. Ralon does things like that all the time. -- Tamora Pierce
My heart bleeds buttermilk.
-Daine -- Tamora Pierce
Men don't think and differently from women - they just make more noise about being able to. -- Tamora Pierce
Cats must always be cats, even when they are gods, or constellations. -- Tamora Pierce
You can tell all Namorn this is what happens when I am vexed," she informed him softly.
"Little *bitch*," he snapped.
Sandry looked him over soberly. "If you had understood that earlier, we could have avoided this unpleasantness," she replied. -- Tamora Pierce
Oh! I'm stupid as well as insane. -- Tamora Pierce
Didn't they realize that the only way to change things was to act? -- Tamora Pierce
It occurred to Keth for the first time that perhaps magic wasn't simply a matter of fires, lightning, and power in the air, if spoken words could also create such a transformation. -- Tamora Pierce
All things change," she told Alanna frankly. "It does not hurt men to know women have power, too." Alanna -- Tamora Pierce
You've been nipping at cook's wine!! -- Tamora Pierce
Tortall and the Queens Riders! -- Tamora Pierce
Without reading, we are all without light in the dark, without fire in the cold. -- Tamora Pierce
Lark: "You shouldn't yell at her."
Frostpine: "Of course I should. Gods bless us all, Lark, but our Water dedicates would try the patience of a stone."
- Dedicates Lark and Frostpine when the latter found out that the Water Temple had run out of warded boxes -- Tamora Pierce
Threats are the last resort of a man with no vocabulary. -- Tamora Pierce
I'm to attend balls and banquets without my squire?" demanded Raoul, all innocence. "I can't handle things like requesting water to shave with, or getting my clothes pressed. I need Kel. -- Tamora Pierce
Shouldn't you know what love's like, before you begin renouncin' it
George Cooper -- Tamora Pierce
The wolf who sings alone is not happy. -- Tamora Pierce
The first thing every mage should learn is that magic makes fools of us. Now you may call yourself a mage. You have learned the most important lesson. -- Tamora Pierce
The girl looked at the mess she had made, at the ax, the shattered immortal, and the gouts of dark blood all around, and vomited. -- Tamora Pierce
Don't you ever get tired of asking questions?'
'Never. They're mother's milk to me. -- Tamora Pierce
You're more trouble than you're worth."
"I'm a girl. That's my job. -- Tamora Pierce
It's not just children who need heroes. -- Tamora Pierce
I'm sorry, I didn't mean--"
"To speak of it?" asked the K'mir. Diane nodded. "You have to, just to bleed off the poison from the memory. -- Tamora Pierce
Don't worry. We'll farm, soon's he finishes wi' that new-style Scanran fertilizer. -- Tamora Pierce
I'm sick of this. Call me what you like, say I'm without honor, I don't care. I'm not getting on any more horses to whack you people with a stick. -- Tamora Pierce
I--buy, and I sell."
"You're a thief. -- Tamora Pierce
They are sparkly," Nawat said. "The griffins shed them. I thought if I brought you a present that was made of discarded things, no one would punish you for having them. -- Tamora Pierce
Frostpine made a face. Lifting the cup, he dumped its contents down his throat. "Auugghh!" he yelled, his voice stronger than it had been since his return from the harbor. "Are you trying to kill me, woman?"
"If I mean to kill someone, I do it," Rosethorn told him. "I don't try. -- Tamora Pierce
If you look hard and long, you can find us. If you listen hard and long, you can hear any of us, call any of us that you wish. -- Tamora Pierce
What has that to do with the price of peas in Persopolis? -- Tamora Pierce
Well, laddie, if you've let an old buzzard like me hurt you confidence, you couldn't have had much in the first place. -- Tamora Pierce
I wouldn't call it tamed, laddy-me-love. The lady of Pirate's Swoop shouldn't be tame. -- Tamora Pierce
If arrogance were shoes, he'd never go barefoot. -- Tamora Pierce
He's got courage," Alex said.
"Courage!" Raoul bellowed. "That coward almost kills him and-- -- Tamora Pierce
You turned into a hero when I wasn't watching. -- Tamora Pierce
Evvy: "Is she going to eat Jooba-hooba? She looks like she's going to bite him, at least."
Briar: "No - if she bit him, he'd die. -- Tamora Pierce
It's the only bad thing about animals," she told Cleon. "Most don't live as long as we do." "I know, sweet," Cleon said, kissing first one of her eyelids, then the other. "But think how bleak life would be without them. -- Tamora Pierce
Fear is a good thing. It mean you're paying attention. -- Tamora Pierce
It's been interesting, "Frostpine said casually. "I wanted Daja to get some experience of other smiths'-and other mages'- ways of doing things, if only so she can see mine is best. -- Tamora Pierce
Do we say, Oh now I'm going to be nice to the weak and the small? Or do we do as we learned when we were pages? -- Tamora Pierce
Oakbridge did his work with dramatics and prophecies that all would go horribly awry. Having dealt with him over midwinter, Kel wondered why the man hadn't died of a heart attack. Instead he seemed to thrive on disaster and finding people seated in the wrong places. -- Tamora Pierce
Just because I'm no jaw clacker doesn't mean there should be a ruction put up whenever I have sommat to say. -- Tamora Pierce
We'll be chopped up before you can say 'King Maggot'. -- Tamora Pierce
You don't think history gets rewritten, sometimes? -- Tamora Pierce
And if wishes were pies, I'd weigh more than I do.
Sir Myles of Barony Olau -- Tamora Pierce
Haven't you ever noticed that people who win say it's because the gods know they are in the right, but if they lose, it wasn't the gods who declared them wrong? Their opponent cheated, or their equipment was bad. -- Tamora Pierce
Why, I'm just as true and honest as dirt. And I'm even more charming than dirt. -- Tamora Pierce
It's harder to heal than it is to kill. -- Tamora Pierce
No more is your master a god, Nobility, but he wants offerings from all. When Black God claims us, who will be punished for giving worship and power to a false god? The prince? Or Banjiku? -- Tamora Pierce
Well, label me very impressed and ship me to Carthak! -- Tamora Pierce
If he were any stiffer, Alanna thought wryly, I'd paint a design on him and use him for a shield. -- Tamora Pierce
You didn't kill him. He would have killed you, but you didn't kill him."
"So? He was stupid. If I killed everyone who was stupid, I wouldn't have time to sleep. -- Tamora Pierce
If you have to hit--hit low. -- Tamora Pierce
I believe in deeds, not words. -- Tamora Pierce
If I were useful, you wouldn't know it was me. -- Tamora Pierce
Thus went my first Court Day.
I think i'm going to puke. -- Tamora Pierce
Your place in life you can always change, whether you have the gift or not. But you cannot change what the gods have made you. The sooner you accept that, the happier you'll be. -- Tamora Pierce
Girls are 50% of the population. We deserve to represent 50% of the heroes. -- Tamora Pierce
There are times in every rider's life when it is necessary to apologize to a horse ... -- Tamora Pierce
What people tell me they take away from my books is that they can shape their lives, they can achieve their own dreams. And certainly that's what I want them to take away. -- Tamora Pierce
Goodwin scowled at her cup. With all due respect, my lord, I hate it when you make sense. -- Tamora Pierce
Locks are for the unimaginative. -- Tamora Pierce
Our gods are much too busy in our lives for us to ignore them. (Myles) -- Tamora Pierce
Would I serve you or (Prince) Jon stolen goods? he asked. No, don't answer me. -- Tamora Pierce
Lord Raoul asked me to tell you that if you get yourself killed, he will never speak to you again. -- Tamora Pierce
I'm of the Samuel Goldwyn school of writing: If you need to send a message, call Western Union. Any messages people take away from my books are the ones they see in them. -- Tamora Pierce
You are the Protector of the Small. You see real people in the humans and animals overlooked by your peers. There will always be work for you. -- Tamora Pierce
It was time to work on his trees, to brew medicines and weed the rooftop plants before he forgot who he really was in all this running around. (Briar) -- Tamora Pierce
Most humans think the appearance of quiet is quiet. They do not see that sometimes the enemy is as quiet as the serpent. Only when it has stolen all of their eggs will they know bad walks in the quiet as well as the noisy. -- Tamora Pierce
I was nuts for stuff in the Middle Ages when I was just in the third and fourth grades. -- Tamora Pierce
Alan, you seem to think we won't like you unless you do things just like everyone else. Have you ever thought we might like you because you're different? -- Tamora Pierce
It isn't just children who need heros. -- Tamora Pierce
The Lower City is MINE, Its People are MINE.
If I Find Them That's Doing All This Kidnapping
And Murdering, They'd Best Pray For Mercy,
Because Once I Get My Teeth In 'Em
I Will NEVER Let Them Go. -- Tamora Pierce
Never break a promise to an animal. They're like babies - they won't understand. -- Tamora Pierce
I myself have noticed my growing resemblance to a daffodil. -- Tamora Pierce
As long as there's life, there's hope. -- Tamora Pierce
I wish he wouldn't do this when he's on me. It's really very upsetting. -- Tamora Pierce
Better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it. -- Tamora Pierce
He is a horse who will burn and bloat and explode in the sun. Put him back in the oven and let him cook until he's done. -- Tamora Pierce
Ozorne, my precious, where are you?
- Rikash Moonsword -- Tamora Pierce
Raoul: Age and treachery!
Neal: Youth and skill! -- Tamora Pierce
Where everyone else sees a straight line, you see a maze, and when I'm done talking to you, the maze starts to make more sense
Reply by Dove to Aly's silent inquiry -- Tamora Pierce
I swear the sparrows called us ten kinds of idiot when we did it. -- Tamora Pierce
I would apologize for my rudeness, if I had any manners. Happily, I don't. -- Tamora Pierce
She glared at him. "Why are you forever asking hard questions?"
He smiled. "Sooner or later you'll have to be able to answer one."
Daja shoved him, grinning. -- Tamora Pierce
So were you always mad, or did it come on you when you was took?"
Aly smiled. "I'm told it runs in the family. -- Tamora Pierce
Wouldn't
" Kel began to say, but the words stuck in her mouth. She swallowed and tried again. "Wouldn't it be well, not nice to flirt with somebody you don't want to fall in love with? -- Tamora Pierce
I am not wise, but I can always learn. -- Tamora Pierce
You're an obnoxious canker-blossom. Go ooze somewhere else. -- Tamora Pierce
I hate those things," grumbled Kel as she removed the bowstring. -- Tamora Pierce
Tris: "I was reading."
Sandry: "You're always reading. The only way people can ever talk to you is to interrupt."
Tris: "Then maybe they shouldn't talk to me. -- Tamora Pierce
Scary with you is better than scary without you -- Tamora Pierce
This is what I've come to," he said mournfully. "Following little birdies -- Tamora Pierce
With each book, in each place, I have to keep an ongoing map as I write because otherwise I don't know where I am. -- Tamora Pierce
If you aren't having fun, if you aren't anxious to find out what happens next as you write, then not only will you run out of steam on the story, but you won't be able to entertain anyone else, either. -- Tamora Pierce
You come from a race that spends more time murdering your own kind than do all the immortals put together, yet you insist you are better than us. -- Tamora Pierce
New learning never hurt anybody. -- Tamora Pierce
Sandry: "I am silly, now and then. My mother said I was, anyway."
Daja: "If you know, you can stop it."
Sandry: "Then you've never been silly or you'd know it just creeps up without any warning. -- Tamora Pierce
Reflect as if you have all of time, even when time is short. -- Tamora Pierce
No can always be changed to yes, but it's very hard to change yes to no. -- Tamora Pierce
[P]ride is something only folk with money can afford. -- Tamora Pierce
We live in a dark time. Books are as dark as what is available to teenagers through the media every day. -- Tamora Pierce
Briar: "So I guess I was the last to know."
Rosethorn: "Of course you are. You're a man, aren't you? -- Tamora Pierce
I want to marry her, when I grow up to be a man. -- Tamora Pierce
We're on a hunt, Cooper. When you're on a hunt, you do whatever it takes. -- Tamora Pierce
Marriage is for noblewomen with nothing else to do. -- Tamora Pierce
Not one word," Kel warned. "Tobe and I have reached an understanding." br>Neal's lips twitched. "Why do I feel you did most of the understanding. -- Tamora Pierce
