Siege and Storm (The Shadow and Bone Trilogy, #2)

by Leigh Bardugo

Besides, I like to have powerful enemies. Makes me feel important.” Mal crossed his arms and considered the privateer. “I can’t decide if you’re crazy or stupid.” “I have so many good qualities,” Sturmhond said. “It can be hard to choose.”

“Might want to leave him alone,” Sturmhond said. “That type needs plenty of time for brooding and self-recrimination. Otherwise they get cranky.”

“Of course not,” said Sturmhond. “Anything worth doing always starts as a bad idea.”

“When people say impossible, they usually mean improbable.”

“Trust me.” “Every time you say ‘trust me,’ I trust you a little less,”

“We’re giving them hope. That’s better than nothing.” “Spoken like a man who’s never had nothing,”

The less you say, the more weight your words will carry.

Don’t argue. Never deign to deny. Meet insults with laughter.

Weakness is a guise. Wear it when they need to know you’re human, but never when you feel it.

I wanted to throttle him so badly my fingers itched.

“Oh, and the easiest way to make someone furious is to tell her to calm down.”

“It’s simply a question of finding the right incentive. Pauper or prince, every man can be bought.”

“Only a prince would complain about too much butter.”

I could blame my desperation, but it didn’t ease my shame.

The ox feels the yoke, but does the bird feel the weight of its wings?

No matter what I said, we both knew the hard truth. We do our best. We try. And usually, it makes no difference at all.

My life would be allegiance instead of love, fealty instead of friendship. I would weigh each decision, consider every action, trust no one. It would be life observed from a distance.

I didn’t know whether I wanted to cry or stand up and start hurling dishes against the wall.

I’m not interested in characters who are just one thing, who are wholly evil or wholly good. People aren’t like that. We all have our own darkness to contend with, and that isn’t necessarily a bad thing.