Abby

“In Tevinter, the mages made the greatest possible mistake. They chose to rule. In doing so, they shackled themselves to desks and appointments, using their waking hours to command men when they could have been commanding the magical forces that underlie the very fabric of this world.”
― Chris Bain, Tevinter Nights

“Divinatory magic doesn’t generally work out well for many reasons, but one of them is because human beings aren’t very good at predicting what will make them happy. I don’t mean if you wish for something and then get it twisted in some horrible way like that stupid story about the monkey’s paw; I mean in the same prosaic way that you can sincerely be certain that you’d like a dress you see in a shop, and you buy it and take it home, and then it sits in your closet unused for years while you insist to yourself that one day you’re going to wear it, until finally you give it away with a sense of relief.”
― Naomi Novik, The Last Graduate

“Mother Tibbs made but an indifferent housemaid, for she spent most of her time at the garden gate, waving her handkerchief to the passers-by. And if, when at her work, she heard the sound of a fiddle or flute, however distant, she would instantly stop whatever she was doing and start dancing, brandishing wildly in the air broom, or warming-pan, or whatever domestic implement she may have been holding in her hands at the time.”
― Hope Mirrlees, Lud-in-the-Mist

“It was exactly what I wanted, only once I was in it, I didn’t want it after all.”
― Naomi Novik, The Golden Enclaves