Thorn Quotes

“Should I run so far that I reach the sea, I should not have run far enough, for the thing I run from rides on my back and in my blood and will not be shaken.”
― Intisar Khanani, Thorn

“We all need our quiet, I think. We all have our unspoken wishes, hopes we cannot mention, choices we may yet regret.”
― Intisar Khanani, Thorn

“It may not be pretty, but sometimes justice has to be hard to keep the rest of us straight and safe.”
― Intisar Khanani, Thorn

“Perhaps I cannot fix everything in this moment. But I can do this: start somewhere and keep going.”
― Intisar Khanani, Thorn

“Justice for the poor?” He laughs, sitting back. “There is justice for the rich here, and justice for the powerful. But for the rest of us, there is very little of anything.”
― Intisar Khanani, Thorn

“This is how you survive: one breath to the next, refusing each thought as it comes to you. This is how you get through the worst of things.”
― Intisar Khanani, Thorn

“Your Highness, you have seen enough of the world to know that there is never only one truth, one side of a story.”
― Intisar Khanani, Thorn

“This is the life I’ve made for myself, and I want it in a way I haven’t wanted anything else I can remember. It is a wanting that is quiet, and steady, and deep as the beat of my heart.”
― Intisar Khanani, Thorn

“Which of us has not made mistakes when faced with more than we can handle?”
― Intisar Khanani, Thorn

“Justice is not men beating each other up." Sage says quietly. "Justice is teaching men that there is law and, if they don't abide by it, there is an established punishment.”
― Intisar Khanani, Thorn

“As a thief . . . I've found that acting when you are afraid is the greatest sign of courage there is.”
― Intisar Khanani, Thorn

“This is justice. Don’t be afraid to look at it.” He smiles as I look at him. “It may not be pretty, but sometimes justice has to be hard to keep the rest of us straight and safe.”
― Intisar Khanani, Thorn

“The princess intends to win the love of the common folk with apple cakes. You would offer me similar items of little worth to yourself in order to win my loyalty, wouldn’t you?”
― Intisar Khanani, Thorn

“He wants to be a baker. I believe he thinks that then he’ll never go hungry.”
― Intisar Khanani, Thorn

“Murder makes one cold . . . It takes away your soul, piece by piece. It turns your heart to stone. Is that what you want?”
― Intisar Khanani, Thorn

“You are neither goose girl nor veria, but something better than them
both.”
― Intisar Khanani, Thorn

“We all need our quiet. We all have our unspoken sorrows, hopes we cannot mention, choices we may yet regret.”
― Intisar Khanani, Thorn

“Perhaps I cannot fix everything in this moment - stop the snatchers, or keep the women of this city safe, or even protect my own people from a king such as my brother. But I can do this" start somewhere and keep going.”
― Intisar Khanani, Thorn

“is the law that a traitor must die, Lady. And it was you who made her into that traitor, made her so convincing that the king would not have suspected her. No doubt, one by one, she would have given them over to you as she could. For that, she cannot hope for forgiveness … it is justice, but a cruel and ugly justice. I wish that it were tempered by mercy, that she might have an easy death.”
― Intisar Khanani, Thorn

“The power of silence was perhaps the only thing I learned from my family, and it has taken me months to learn to find strength in breaking my silence. But that’s not why the Lady is helping me now. I am almost too tired to try to work it out, but this conversation is a rare thing, and I dare not waste it. I must focus.”
― Intisar Khanani, Thorn

“Kestrin is trying, I know he is, but these guards don’t care. They don’t want to know, and they’d rather pin the fault on Violet than find the men who did this to her. Kestrin might be able to change how these things are handled in the future, but I want justice now. I want these men stopped. Somehow.”
― Intisar Khanani, Thorn

“You will always and only be an impostor. Do not think you won’t be found out. This is your one chance to walk away unscathed.” “Wretch!”
― Intisar Khanani, Thorn

“Have you forgotten why you were exiled from our hall? Because you cared nothing for the life of a servant. I do not think that has changed now that you are princess.”
― Intisar Khanani, Thorn

“I stare at her. They are both right, of course. I have already seen Tarkit’s and Torto’s excitement over food, and can only imagine their ecstasy at having such a precious, unexpected treat as an apple cake. They would remember it well. And, considering the opulence of what must be a normal dinner here before me, apple cakes are indeed the very smallest thing that might be given.”
― Intisar Khanani, Thorn

“However grim Kestrin’s future might be with the Lady hunting him, I no longer believe he intended to give me up to save himself.”
― Intisar Khanani, Thorn

“For all my efforts, I feel like nothing more than a servant playing at dress-up, riding in a carriage meant for greater people.”
― Intisar Khanani, Thorn

“Mother is growing anxious with Valka, anxious that the alliance this marriage is meant to secure will be undermined by the princess’s politicking.”
― Intisar Khanani, Thorn

“They snatch our young women and children,” Rowan says, not a trace of laughter left in him now. “From the street, from their beds, from wherever. A score or more every month just from this city, I would guess. Perhaps more.”
― Intisar Khanani, Thorn

“You are very idealistic for a servant. You will end up hungry and on the street—or worse—if you are not careful.”
― Intisar Khanani, Thorn

“Corrupted by greed and wishing for glory, the humans grew power-hungry. They thirsted to be remembered by future generations, to gain a measure of immortality. They became warlords and princes, calling others to fight for them, continually killing for a piece of land over which they might have absolute control for a little time.”
― Intisar Khanani, Thorn