Mel > Mel's Quotes

“If I need something you can't give, I need to walk away, because sooner or later, all I'll see is what you can't give. I won't be able to see what you can.”
― Michelle Sagara

“There wasn't a colloquial phrase, or curse, that went something like, "May your day be full of angry dragons" or, "May every dragon you meet today be pissed off." But, there should have been.”
― Michelle Sagara, Cast in Ruin

“Success and failure are two edges of the same blade, two sides of the same coin. To fear one is to forever deny the possibility of the other.”
― Michelle Sagara West, Cast in Courtlight

“ Generally, I like to appear smart. I don't admit being stupid when there's any hope I'm not.”
― Michelle Sagara West, Cast in Secret

“The look he gave her made her turn away for a moment. Sometimes you couldn’t look too closely at another person’s pain.”
― Michelle Sagara West, Silence

“You'll be with me, won't you?"
"indeed."
"Then what could go wrong?"
Lord Sanabalis visibly grimaced. "You clearly do not believe in angry gods.”
― Michelle Sagara West, Cast in Secret

“Truth, like beauty, is in the eyes of the beholder.”
― Michelle Sagara West, Cast in Shadow

“History is not our guide, it is not our friend. It is a passing stranger, one which shadows legend, sprinkling it with the seeds of truth.”
― Michelle Sagara West, Cast in Shadow

“Lies were something you told other people to make things easier, somehow - hopefully, for them, but often more selfishly for yourself.”
― Michelle Sagara West, Silence

“Is there anyone’s life story you don’t want to know?”

“Not really.” His expression was unexpectedly serious. “Because people make a story of their lives.
Gains, losses, tragedy and triumph—you can tell a lot about someone simply by what they put into each
category. You can learn a lot about what you put into each category by your reaction to them. They
teach you about yourself without ever intending to do it—and they teach you a lot about life.”
― Michelle Sagara West, Cast in Fury

“Sanabalis never seemed to eat, and he deflected most of her questions about Dragon cuisine. Then again, he deflected most of her questions about Dragons, period. Which was annoying because he was one, and could in theory be authorative.”
― Michelle Sagara West, Cast in Silence

“It was true: hope could be unkind. You opened yourself up to the worst of wounds because you wanted to believe that something good could finally happen. But if you didn't? You missed this. This intense and prefect moment in which, while the world was almost literally going to hells all around you, hope and reality blended in a single, perfect note.”
― Michelle Sagara, Cast in Ruin

“I hate being the only mortal in a gathering full of Immortals who think killing each other cleverly is the height of good manners.”
― Michelle Sagara, Cast in Peril

“I don't make the laws, I just enforce them."
"Then remind me to introduce a new set of laws, since the ones we have clearly assume a level of common sense that's lacking.”
― Michelle Sagara West, Cast in Ruin

“If hearts really could sink, Kaylin's was busily rearranging her internal organs.”
― Michelle Sagara, Cast in Secret

“You are an... animal? A talking animal?"
Without missing a beat, Teela said, "Of course not. She's much, much harder to train.”
― Michelle Sagara West, Cast in Peril

“She wanted to die. She wanted to die. Because then it would be over. All the loss, all the grief, all the pain, the emptiness - over. And she had said nothing then. Nothing. Nor had she crawled into her room and swallowed her mother’s pills, or crawled into her bath and opened up her own wrists. As if death were somehow personal. As if death were somehow an enemy that could be faced and stared down, she would not give it the satisfaction of seeing how badly it had hurt her. Again.”
― Michelle Sagara West, Silence

“Can you hold off on the whole war thing until after I'm dead?”
― Michelle Sagara West, Cast in Peril

“I don’t understand.”
The Consort’s smile was bitter. “No. No more do I.”
“I doubt that.”
“Do you imply that I lie, Lord Kaylin?”
“Clumsy of me. I’m not usually that subtle.”
― Michelle Sagara, Cast in Sorrow

“What would this have been, if it had more power to give?"
"This may come as a surprise to you," he replied dryly, "But I am not an Ancient. Nor am I, human philosophy aside, a living construct."
"Which means you don't know."
"Which means, as you so succinctly put it, I do not know." - Kaylin & Tiamaris”
― Michelle Sagara West, Cast in Silence

“Kill me now."
"Nonsense. Dead, you will provide no relief from the interminable boredom."
Everyone needed a purpose in life. Kaylin, however, wished fervently for a better one at this moment.”
― Michelle Sagara West, Cast in Peril

“Stop judging your life only by the failures," he whispered.
"What should I do?" she whispered. "I'm always going to fail."
"We all do," he said softly, his voice closer now. "We all fail. But none of us fail all the time.”
― Michelle Sagara West, Cast in Silence

“Teela turned to Severn. "I'm having trouble remembering why I haven't
strangled her yet."
Severn shrugged. "I have that problem myself some days. At the moment,
though, the only betting pool in the office seems to be on the Sergeant."
"Ha-ha." Kaylin said with a distinct lack of cheer. And then, because she
was a fiefling, "What odds?" He cuffed the top of her head.”
― Michelle Sagara West, Cast in Courtlight

“And I’ll stop with the lecture now. I don’t like people much—they irritate and annoy me. But I’m
fascinated by them anyway.”
― Michelle Sagara West, Cast in Fury

“Bellusdeo laughed. It was, for a moment, the only sound in the quiet of the fief’s night, and it was warmer and deeper than the lingering night chill. When her laughter faded, she glanced at Kaylin. “I was not like this before. I thought that the Shadows had not touched me.” She lowered her head a moment.
Kaylin understood this, as well. “It seems so unfair,” she finally said.
“Life is unfair. Which part of it pains you?”
“We suffer, and it breaks something. When we win free—by gaining our name, by crossing a bloody bridge—we still live in a cage of scars. If life were fair, we would never have suffered what we suffered at all; having suffered it and survived, we’re still reacting to things that don’t exist anymore.”
“But they did.”
“Yes. I hate that they still define me.” Voice lower, she said to Bellusdeo, “I want that to change. I don’t know how to change it. But I’m willing to spend the rest of my life trying.” Shaking her head, she forced herself to smile; it was surprisingly easy. There was something about Bellusdeo that she liked. “Home is a strange thing.”
“What do you mean?”
“We lose it, and we think it’s gone forever. That’s how I felt the first time I lost mine. It took me years to understand that I could find—and make—another. I couldn’t do it on my own, though; I don’t think—for me—home exists in isolation.”
― Michelle Sagara West, Cast in Ruin

“Holy shit," I breathed. "Hellhounds."
"Harry," Michael said sternly. "You know I hate it when you swear."
"You're right. Sorry. Holy shit," I breathed, "heckhounds.”
― Jim Butcher, Grave Peril

“Son. Everyone dies alone. That's what it is. It's a door. It's one person wide. When you go through it, you do it alone. But it doesn't mean you've got to be alone before you go through the door. And believe me, you aren't alone on the other side.”
― Jim Butcher, Dead Beat

“But the only way never to do the wrong thing is never to do anything.”
― Jim Butcher, White Night

“You know how confusing the whole good-evil concept is for me.”
― Jim Butcher, Proven Guilty

“I'd made the vampire cry. Great. I felt like a real superhero. Harry Dresden, breaker of monsters' hearts.”
― Jim Butcher, Storm Front