The Heart Forger (The Bone Witch, #2)

by Rin Chupeco

“The dead do not need rest,” she told me, “only the living believe the grave can bring you peace.”

What you have in ability, Tea, you lack in wisdom.

Arrogance is not a virtue, sister.”

“It’s not such a bad thing, to feel powerless sometimes. It teaches us that some situations are inevitable and that we should spend what little time we have in the company of the people that matter most.

“You talk like a recipe exists to accustom one to death,”

I’ll try my best not to keep anything from you again,” I said, reaching out to squeeze his hand. “I like how you say ‘try,’ like you would do it again if you thought it would spare me the trouble.”

“The world will turn even when you are not awake to busy yourself in it.”

“That is the nature of grief. But to grieve means you have loved. To love opens up the possibility for grief. There cannot be one without the other.”

“People need someone to hate. And it’s easier to see that in others than to find it in themselves.

“Kings and emperors need the people more than the people need them, princess. Kings are kings only because one ancestor was quicker than another to place a crown on his own head. Bravery and courage are not passed down through blood. Kings and emperors do not require valor or good works; all they require is submission.”

“Patience is the long pause between action and its consequences. Lengthier silences open you up to introspection, and I’ve known a lot of solitude.”

“Cities are the same the world over,” Councilor Ludvig said. “The greater the stench of the city’s poor, the more extravagant the lives of the city’s rich.”

“You say, ‘comfortable.’ I say, ‘it’s a freaking flying three-headed dragon, you sod.’”

I don’t chase after people who don’t feel the same way about me as I do about them—who

You worry too much about being a good person to be a bad one.

It felt so wonderful and strange to know you are your own person but begin to understand how you could also belong wholeheartedly to someone else.

I’m slowly realizing that when it comes to matters of the heart, nearly anything is possible.”

Lies are sweet to the palate, but the truth is often spat out, bitter and rancid.