"All paths are present, always... and we can but choose among them."
— Jacqueline Carey (Kushiel's Chosen)

"Love as thou wilt"
— Jacqueline Carey (Kushiel's Chosen)

"That which yields is not always weak."
— Jacqueline Carey (Kushiel's Dart)

"If I had to fall from Cassiel's grace, at least I know it took a courtesan worthy of Kings to do it."
— Jacqueline Carey (Kushiel's Dart)

"Happiness is the highest form of wisdom."
— Jacqueline Carey (Kushiel's Mercy)

"It's funny, how one can look back on a sorrow one thought one might well die of at the time, and know that one had not yet reckoned the tenth part of true grief."
— Jacqueline Carey (Kushiel's Dart)

"Why is there ever this perverse cruelty in humankind, that makes us hurt most those we love best?"
— Jacqueline Carey (Kushiel's Chosen)

"It is not wise to meddle with D'Angelines in matters of love."
— Jacqueline Carey (Kushiel's Mercy)

"The pain of the flesh is naught to that of the heart"
— Jacqueline Carey (Kushiel's Chosen)

"When Love cast me out, it was Cruelty who took pity upon me"
— Jacqueline Carey (Kushiel's Dart)

"There is no fulfillment that is not made sweeter for the prolonging of desire"
— Jacqueline Carey (Kushiel's Dart)

"Surely if we knew what bitterness fate held in store, we would shrink back in fear and let the cup of life pass us by untasted"
— Jacqueline Carey (Kushiel's Dart)

"Yes my lord, but questions are dangerous, for they have answers"
— Jacqueline Carey (Kushiel's Dart)

"Oh love and hate are two sides of the same blade"
— Jacqueline Carey (Kushiel's Dart)

"It is a fine line, in all of us, between civilization and savagery. To any who think they would never cross it, I can only say, if you have never known what it is to be utterly betrayed and abandoned, you cannot know how close it is."
— Jacqueline Carey

"It is my observations, though, that happiness limits the amount of suffering one is willing to inflict upon others"
— Jacqueline Carey (Kushiel's Dart)

"Garner knowledge, by any means possible"
— Jacqueline Carey (Kushiel's Dart)

"To have a traitor for an ally is to have an enemy in waiting"
— Jacqueline Carey (Kushiel's Dart)

"We pay for sins we do not remember, and seek to do a will we can scarce fathom. That is what it is, to be a god's chosen. "
— Jacqueline Carey (Kushiel's Avatar)

"For this too I learned, that a storyteller's tale may end, but history goes on always. These events, so distant in legend, play a part in shaping the very events we witness about us, each and every day."
— Jacqueline Carey (Kushiel's Dart)

"Nothing spoils idle pleasure like too much awareness"
— Jacqueline Carey (Kushiel's Dart)

"Only insofar as you enjoy being sorry, my dear, which, while it is a considerable amount, occurs only after the fact, thus making it a singularly ineffective deterrent, yes?"
— Jacqueline Carey (Kushiel's Dart)

"Wars come and go; politics endure."
— Jacqueline Carey (Kushiel's Dart)

"If you thought better of me, you would not be so surprised"
— Jacqueline Carey (Kushiel's Chosen)

"Stand at the crossroads if you will, but if you'll not choose, I'll move on without you"
— Jacqueline Carey (Kushiel's Dart)

"All knowledge is worth having"
— Jacqueline Carey (Kushiel's Dart)

"It's the same questions we ask of our existence, and the answer is always the same. The mystery lies not in the question nor the answer, but in the asking and answering themselves, over and over again, and the end is engendered in the beginning. "
— Jacqueline Carey (Kushiel's Avatar)

"We are all these things [...]. Pride, desire, compassion, cleverness, belligerence, fruitfulness, loyalty...and guilt. But above it all stands love. And if we desire to be more than human, that is the star by which we must set our sights. "
— Jacqueline Carey (Kushiel's Avatar)

"Let the warriors clamor after gods of blood and thunder; love is hard, harder than steel and thrice as cruel. "
— Jacqueline Carey (Kushiel's Chosen)

"If you will not die for us, you cannot ask us to die for you"
— Jacqueline Carey (Kushiel's Dart)

"This is the secret that none dares tell who fights for a cause. Dying, we are all alike."
— Jacqueline Carey (Kushiel's Dart)

"I would that I could have stopped time and preserved that day forever. It was a perfect day. There was the shadow of sorrow, yes. It would always be there. But that was the nature of life. The bright mirror and the dark, reflecting one another. And today there was so much brightness."
— Jacqueline Carey (Kushiel's Mercy)

"Spontaneity is the province of youth"
— Jacqueline Carey (Kushiel's Chosen)

"Battle for the sake of honor may be a fine thing for bards to sing of, but it is no way to preserve one's homeland"
— Jacqueline Carey (Kushiel's Chosen)

"There's more to clothing than just adornment. It does more than merely change how the world perceives us. It changes how we perceive ourselves."
— Jacqueline Carey (Naamah's Kiss)

"I wish sometimes that the gods would either choose better, or make their wishes clearer"
— Jacqueline Carey (Kushiel's Chosen)

"It is not everyday that one learns an entire militia has sworn unbeknownest to obey you"
— Jacqueline Carey (Kushiel's Chosen)

"A nervous silence loosens tongues"
— Jacqueline Carey (Kushiel's Chosen)

"But slight mistakes accumulate, and grow to gross errors if unchecked."
— Jacqueline Carey (Kushiel's Chosen)

"There are patterns which emerge in one's life, circling and returning anew, an endless variation of a theme"
— Jacqueline Carey (Kushiel's Chosen)

"One must gauge one's trust carefully."
— Jacqueline Carey (Kushiel's Chosen)

"Sidonie, I know you don't remember it, but you once promised to trust me beyond all reason. And I swear to you that all that I am, all that I possess, including this gem-stone, is yours. I need you. I can't do this alone. Forget your memories. Look into your heart. And if you can find somewhere there, some lingering spark of trust that owes naught to reason, I beg you to speak the word written here."
— Jacqueline Carey

"It's funny how despair can soon become an old companion"
— Jacqueline Carey (Kushiel's Dart)

"My lord. It is too much, and not enough"
— Jacqueline Carey (Kushiel's Chosen)

""Sidonie, I know you don't remember it, but you once promised to trust me beyond all reason. And I swear to you that all that I am, all that I possess, including this gem-stone, is yours. I need you. I can't do this alone. Forget your memories. Look into your heart. And if you can find somewhere there, some lingering spark of trust that owes naught to reason, I beg you to speak the word written here.""
— Jacqueline Carey (Kushiel's Mercy)

"Your dreaming self seeks to tell you something your waking ears will not hear"
— Jacqueline Carey (Kushiel's Chosen)

"I can see patterns in events, and behaviors; in mathematics, I follow slower"
— Jacqueline Carey (Kushiel's Chosen)

"Well, I was living it, but a shared dream half-lived is a hollow thing"
— Jacqueline Carey (Kushiel's Chosen)

"And for a price, I will pretend absolutely nothing."
— Jacqueline Carey (Kushiel's Chosen)

"Stupid to speak of blame when the wills of the immortals are involved."
— Jacqueline Carey (Kushiel's Chosen)