Flora > Flora's Quotes

“You must be strong enough to strike and strike and strike again without tiring. The first lesson is to make yourself that strong.”
― Holly Black, The Wicked King

“I have said that he has the power to deliver a compliment and make it hurt. So, too, he can say something that ought to be insulting and deliver it in such a way that it feels like being truly seen.”
― Holly Black, The Wicked King

“Watching my back is the perfect opportunity to stick a knife in it.”
― Holly Black, The Wicked King

“I’ve wanted this and feared it, and now that it’s happening, I don’t know how I will ever want anything else.”
― Holly Black, The Wicked King

“You can take a thing when no one’s looking. But defending it, even with all the advantage on your side, is no easy task,” Madoc told her with a laugh. She looked up to find him offering her a hand. “Power is much easier to acquire than it is to hold on to.”
― Holly Black, The Wicked King

“His mouth curls into a smile. His eyes shine with wicked intent. “Look at them all, your subjects. A shame not a one knows who their true ruler is.”
― Holly Black, The Wicked King

“You said that you thought Queen Orlagh was waiting for an advantage to declare war. Instead, I think she is trying a new ruler—one she hopes she can trick or replace with another indebted to her. She thinks me young and feckless and means to take my measure.”

“So what?” I ask. “Our choice is to endure her games, no matter how deadly, or engage in a war we cannot win?”

Cardan shakes his head and drinks another cup of tea. “We show her that I am no feckless High King.”

“And how do we do that?” I ask.

“With great difficulty,” he says. “Since I fear she is right.”
― Holly Black, The Wicked King

“Sweet Jude, you’re my dearest punishment”
― Holly Black, The Wicked King

“Yes, my great villan, my darling god. I will be as sober as a stone carving, just as soon as I can”
― Holly Black, The Wicked King

“A king is a living symbol, a beating heart, a star upon which Elfhame's future is written. Surely you have noticed that since his reign began, the isles are different. Storms come in faster. Colors are a bit more vivid, smells are sharper.... When he becomes drunk, his subjects becomes tipsy without knowing why. When his blood falls, things grow.”
― Holly Black, The Wicked King

“I wasn't kind, Jude. Not to many people. Not to you. I wasn't sure if I wanted you or if I wanted you gone from my sight so that I would stop feeling as I did, which made me even more unkind. But when you were gone—truly gone beneath the waves—I hated myself as I never have before.”
― Holly Black, The Wicked King

“The disturbing thing about Cardan is how well he plays the fool to disguise his own cleverness.”
― Holly Black, The Wicked King

“He kisses the scar of my palm.
I still have his brother’s blood under my fingernails.
I don’t have a ring for him.
Above us, the buds are blooming. The whole room smells of flowers.”
― Holly Black, The Wicked King

“Yeah, Cardan should definitely trust you more. You seem really trustworthy. It's not like you're actually currently betraying him.”
― Holly Black, The Wicked King

“I kissed him on the mouth, and then I threatened to kiss him some more if he didn't do exactly what I wanted.”
― Holly Black, The Wicked King

“I have heard that for mortals, the feeling of falling in love is very like the feeling of fear. Your heart beats fast. Your senses are heightened. You grow light-headed, maybe even dizzy.”
― Holly Black, The Wicked King

“Parece que tengo un gusto singular por las mujeres que me amenazan.”
― Holly Black, The Wicked King

“Algunos entre nosotros no encuentran a los mortales hermosos. De hecho, algunos de ustedes podrían jurar que Jude es poco atractiva.
Pero yo creo que es sólo que su belleza es... única. Enloquecedora. Alarmante. Angustiante.”
― Holly Black, The Wicked King

“If I cannot be better than them, I will become so much worse.”
― Holly Black, The Cruel Prince

“Most of all, I hate you because I think of you. Often. It's disgusting, and I can't stop.”
― Holly Black, The Cruel Prince

“If you hurt me, I wouldn't cry. I would hurt you back.”
― Holly Black, The Cruel Prince

“So I am to sit here and feed you information,” Cardan says, leaning against a hickory tree. “And you’re to go charm royalty? That seems entirely backward.”
I fix him with a look. “I can be charming. I charmed you, didn’t I?”
He rolls his eyes. “Do not expect others to share my depraved tastes.”
― Holly Black, The Cruel Prince

“Nice things don’t happen in storybooks,” Taryn says. “Or when they do happen, something bad happens next. Because otherwise the story would be boring, and no one would read it.”
― Holly Black, The Cruel Prince

“I am going to keep on defying you. I am going to shame you with my defiance. You remind me that I am a mere mortal and you are a prince of Faerie. Well, let me remind you that means you have much to lose and I have nothing. You may win in the end, you may ensorcell me and hurt me and humiliate me, but I will make sure you lose everything I can take from you on the way down. I promise you this is the least of what I can do.”
― Holly Black, The Cruel Prince

“Have I told you how hideous you look tonight?” Cardan asks, leaning back in the elaborately carved chair, the warmth of his words turning the question into something like a compliment.
“No” I say, glad to be annoyed back into the present. “Tell me.”
"I can't.”
― Holly Black, The Cruel Prince

“Let's have a toast. To the incompetence of our enemies.”
― Holly Black, The Cruel Prince

“That’s what comes of hungering for something; you forget to check if it’s rotten before you gobble it down”
― Holly Black, The Cruel Prince

“There you are," Cardan says as I take my place beside him. "How has the night been going for you? Mine has been full of dull conversation about how my head is going to find itself on a spike.”
― Holly Black, The Cruel Prince

“I stand in front of my window and imagine myself a fearless knight, imagine myself a witch who hid her heart in her finger and then chopped her finger off.”
― Holly Black, The Cruel Prince

“I am tired of caring,” I say. “Why should I?”

“Because they could kill you!”

“They better,” I say to her. “Because anything less than that isn’t going to work.”
― Holly Black, The Cruel Prince