The Assassin's Curse Quotes

“She moved like water, graceful and soft and lovely. Every part of me wanted to stick out my foot and trip her, just to see her stumble.”
― Cassandra Rose Clarke, The Assassin's Curse

“You don't realize how much you miss something till it comes back to you, and then you wonder how you went so long without it.”
― Cassandra Rose Clarke, The Assassin's Curse

“I can't believe this," I muttered, cradling the skein of water up close to my chest. "Two weeks in the desert all on account of some assassin who doesn't know how to look out for snakes."    

"If you hadn't killed that snake," Naji said calmly, "I would have killed you."

" Oh, shut up.”
― Cassandra Rose Clarke, The Assassin's Curse

“I'd handed my heart over to him, a damned blood magic assassin, without even realizing it.”
― Cassandra Rose Clarke, The Assassin's Curse

“Well, look who's on my front porch," he said, speaking Empire with this odd hissing accent. "A murderer and a cross-dressing pirate."

I looked down at my clothes, ripped and shredded and covered in mud and sand and dried blood. I'd forgotten I was dressed like a boy.

"So are you here to kill me or to rob me?" the man said. "I generally don't find it useful to glow when undertaking acts of subterfuge, but then, I'm just a wizard”
― Cassandra Rose Clarke, The Assassin's Curse

“I was dozing on the sand, drowsy from the heat of the fire, when Naji shook me awake hours later. I rolled over and looked at him. "You're alive," he said. "Course I'm alive," I snapped. "You're the one who keeps passing out.”
― Cassandra Rose Clarke, The Assassin's Curse

“He smelled like magic and sweat and the sea, but there was something else beneath all that, something sweet and warm like honey, and just for a moment I didn't feel afraid anymore.”
― Cassandra Rose Clarke, The Assassin's Curse

“Beautiful people, things are to easy for them. They don't know how to survive in this world. Somebody's ugly, or even plain, normal-looking, that means they got to work twice as hard for things. For anything. Just to get peple to listen to 'em, or take 'em serious. So yeah. I don't trust beautiful people.”
― Cassandra Rose Clarke, The Assassin's Curse

“You!" I shouted. "What's wrong with you?"
He blinked at me.
"I thought you got turned into a fern."
"Oh. Oh, Ananna, I'm sorry I didn't think-”
― Cassandra Rose Clarke, The Assassin's Curse

“Nobody writes down stories." [Ananna]
"They do when they're trapped at sea and bored senseless." [Naji]”
― Cassandra Rose Clarke, The Assassin's Curse

“What stopped you? Why didn't you help her?" [Naji]
"Cause you're my friend," I said. [Ananna]
All the hardness in his features melted away. "Oh.”
― Cassandra Rose Clarke, The Assassin's Curse

“You know, that pissed me off. We'd traveled half around the world to get to him, and there were monsters chasing us and Naji's curse was impossible to break, and here he was cracking jokes about our professions.”
― Cassandra Rose Clarke, The Assassin's Curse

“What kinda vows?" Celibacy? I thought, though I didn't say it. Nobody keeps a celibacy vow anyway.”
― Cassandra Rose Clarke, The Assassin's Curse

“I thought the assassin was moving kind of slow for an assassin. Maybe the magic had done something after all. Or maybe he felt sorry for me. That sort of thing happens among cutthroats more often than you'd expect.”
― Cassandra Rose Clarke, The Assassin's Curse

“This was why I hated beautiful people. They build you up and then they destroy you. And we let 'em.”
― Cassandra Rose Clarke, The Assassin's Curse

“You can't escape an assasin," He leaned forward, shadows swallowing his eyes. "Hangings, bumbling bureaucrats, dishonest crewman, jail - those you can talk your way out of, you try hard enough. But this kind of death is the is the only kind of death.”
― Cassandra Rose Clarke, The Assassin's Curse

“I wasn't really going to go. I ain't so heartless I'm gonna let someone be struck down with pain on account of me. Even if that someone is a murderer and a liar. Hell, murderers and liars used to sing me to sleep.”
― Cassandra Rose Clarke, The Assassin's Curse

“Then I saw that sparkle in Naji's eye and knew he was laughing at me.
"See?" he said. "Now you know how it feels"
I glared at him for a few seconds. He looked kind of pleased with himself, but he also looked kind of happy, and that was enough for me to turn back to my equations.”
― Cassandra Rose Clarke, The Assassin's Curse

“But if a girl don't have her intuition, she don't got anything.”
― Cassandra Rose Clarke, The Assassin's Curse

“That made me sad. Sure, sirens are a pain in the ass, but how could he not see all the beauty that was out there-- the starlight leaving stains of brightness in the water, the salt-kissed wind? I wanted to find a way to share it with him, show him there was more in the world than blood and shadow.”
― Cassandra Rose Clarke, The Assassin's Curse

“They wouldn't have rescued you," he said. "They wouldn't risk bringing an outsider through Kajjil."

"Guess I just ruin everything for you, don't I? Give you headaches and keep you from getting rescued-"

"I told them no," he said, "even when I thought - when I hoped - the Eirnin would have cured me.”
― Cassandra Rose Clarke, The Assassin's Curse

“Cockiness is useful to fake on occasion, but it'll only get you killed if you believe it.”
― Cassandra Rose Clarke, The Assassin's Curse

“He didn't ask - of course he didn't ask - but he did show up at the captain's quarters one evening after dinner looking sheepish.”
― Cassandra Rose Clarke, The Assassin's Curse

“Tell any grizzled old cutthroat a sob story about a double-cross and a broken heart and he'll eat right out of your hand.”
― Cassandra Rose Clarke, The Assassin's Curse

“That weird feeling of wanting to be found and not wanting to be found stuck with me.”
― Cassandra Rose Clarke, The Assassin's Curse

“Your enthusiasm for learning gives me hope for the future," he said. "We can start right now if you'd like. You don't seem to be...working”
― Cassandra Rose Clarke, The Assassin's Curse

“I wanted to find a way to share it with him, show him there was more in the world than blood and shadow.”
― Cassandra Rose Clarke, The Assassin's Curse

“One of the first things I learned. You get stranded, look for water. Then find a place to protect yourself.”
― Cassandra Rose Clarke, The Assassin's Curse

“There are three ways of bettering yourself in the Pirates' Confederation, Mama told me once: murder, mutiny, and marriage.”
― Cassandra Rose Clarke, The Assassin's Curse

“If I wanted to let myself get morose, I could do it after I had money”
― Cassandra Rose Clarke, The Assassin's Curse