E.K. Johnston > Quotes

“I do fear him,” I said, which was close to the truth. “I fear him as I fear the desert sun and poisonous snakes. They are all part of the life I live. But the sun gives light, and snakes will feed a caravan if they are caught and cooked.”
― E.K. Johnston, A Thousand Nights

“If you listen long enough to the whispers, you will hear the truth. Until then, I will tell you this: the world is made safe by a woman. She bound the monster up and cast him out, and the man who was left was saved.”
― E.K. Johnston, A Thousand Nights

“My sister is no fool and she is not tender-hearted,” I said. “My sister fights for her home, and takes what risks she must. That is why I put myself before her today—why I would not let you have her. My sister burns, and she does not burn for you.”
― E.K. Johnston, A Thousand Nights

“My sister burns, and she does not burn for you.”
― E.K. Johnston, A Thousand Nights

“That was where he was wrong. She wasn't weaponless. No Jedi ever was.”
― E.K. Johnston, Ahsoka

“If you think I'm going to apologize for being drugged and raped, you have another thing coming.”
― E.K. Johnston, Exit, Pursued by a Bear

“Good men fall to monsters every day.”
― E.K. Johnston, A Thousand Nights

“I am yours to command, husband,” I said to him, and met his eyes.
When my mother spoke to our father, she often said that. He liked it, the way she put herself in his hands. Until just now, I had not realized that since my mother was the one who allowed it, she had more power than even he might have realized. Lo-Melkhiin thought I was less than him; but his was not the only tally.”
― E.K. Johnston, A Thousand Nights

“Let me get this straight...You are sending me out in a minivan whose date of manufacture predates the year of my birth, so that I can watch two dragon slayers track down enormous fire-breathing animals, in an effort to prevent me from spending time in the library?”
― E.K. Johnston, Dragon Slayer of Trondheim

“You have to remember every piece that's been played, even the ones removed from the board, because some of them might count against you in the end.”
― E.K. Johnston, Ahsoka

“Always, it seemed, men would overlook unpleasant things for the sake of those that went well. The statues’ eyes for the melodious sounds of the fountain. The deaths of their daughters for the bounty of their trade.
There was great beauty in this qasr, but there was also great ugliness and fear. I would not be like those men who turned their eyes from one to see the other. I would remember what those things cost.”
― E.K. Johnston, A Thousand Nights

“They'll stall you," Organa said. "I know it's a horrifying situation, but you can't fight every evil in the galaxy."
"Evil? " Padmé said. "I've fought evil and it was easy: I shot it. It's apathy I can't stand.”
― E.K. Johnston, Queen's Shadow

“There is life, and there is living.”
― E.K. Johnston, A Thousand Nights

“We are brave, your highness.”
― E.K. Johnston, Queen's Shadow

“And if someone does figure it out and starts a rumour, we'll just deal with it," Polly says. "What doesn't kill you, makes you stronger, and all that crap."
"Do you ever dream of the day when your life can no longer be adequately summarized by Kelly Clarkson songs?" I ask.
"All the time," Polly says.”
― E.K. Johnston, Exit, Pursued by a Bear

“I've fought evil, and it was easy: I shot it. It's apathy I can't stand.”
― E.K. Johnston, Queen's Shadow

“When Ahsoka opened her hands, she was not surprised to find that two lightsabers, rough and unfinished, were waiting. They would need more work, but they were hers. When she turned them on, they shone the brightest white.”
― E.K. Johnston, Ahsoka

“Maybe he is starting to understand. I don't really care, though. I do not want to be anyone's model for becoming a better person.”
― E.K. Johnston, Exit, Pursued by a Bear

“There’s two kinds of family,” Miara said after a moment. “There’s the kind like me and Kaeden, where you get born in the right place to the right people and you’re stuck with one another. If you’re lucky, it turns out okay. The other kind of family is the kind you find.”
― E.K. Johnston, Ahsoka

“I didn't used to overthink my choices quite so much. Then someone made what I've always been told is a very important choice for me, and now I tend to overthink everything else.”
― E.K. Johnston, Exit, Pursued by a Bear

“You are an idealist," Bonteri said. "That's not a bad thing."
"I know," Padmé said. "I have worked very hard at it.”
― E.K. Johnston, Queen's Shadow

“Of course, if I were dead, they could just bury me, and move on. Broken is harder to deal with.”
― E.K. Johnston, Exit, Pursued by a Bear

“The monster tested her, pulling at her soul and rending her spirit. She clung to life, and in the clinging she might have become a monster too, except she chose the path her story would take. She chose white stone walls and a golden crown. She chose to debate words of law, and to never grind her own grain. She chose to fight men every day, and then fight their sons, who thought they knew better than their fathers.<...> If you listen long enough to the whispers, you will hear the truth. Until then, I will tell you this: the world is made safe by a woman.”
― E.K. Johnston, A Thousand Nights

“I've never met any of these women before, and I will never see any of them after today. I don't know their names and they don't know mine. I've been on teams and in clubs my whole life, surrounded by people who are united by a common purpose, and I have never felt anything like this. Maybe it's the gas, but until this moment, I have never felt such a kinship with a person who was not actually family. I love every person in this room, and I'm pretty sure that if they asked, I'd do anything for them.

Anything, except have a baby.”
― E.K. Johnston, Exit, Pursued by a Bear

“She went through her days trying not to think about her loss, lest her grief incapacitate her, but that just meant that every time it came up, it hurt like new.”
― E.K. Johnston, Ahsoka

“There was, apparently, no honor in driver's ed.”
― E.K. Johnston, Dragon Slayer of Trondheim

“Padmé Amidala was completely still. The brown halo of her hair spread out around her, softened here and there by white blossoms that had blown through the air to find their rest amongst her curls. Her skin was pale and perfect. Her face was peaceful. Her eyes were closed and her hands were clasped across her stomach as she floated. Naboo carried on without her.

Even now, at the end, she was watched.”
― E.K. Johnston, Queen's Shadow

“There is life, and there is living—and that is what she learned.”
― E.K. Johnston, A Thousand Nights

“Watch your world burn, light of my heart. Tomorrow we will find another one and burn that too.”
― E.K. Johnston, A Thousand Nights

“Any path can be a poor one if it goes blindly in one direction.”
― E.K. Johnston, Queen's Shadow