The Knight and the Moth Quotes

“You don’t have to be good, or useful, for someone to care about you.”
― Rachel Gillig, The Knight and the Moth

“When you do the right thing for the wrong reason, no one praises you. When you do the wrong thing for the right reason, everyone does, even though what is right and wrong depends entirely on the story you’re living in. And no one says they need recognition or praise or love, but we all hunger for it. We all want to be special.”
― Rachel Gillig, The Knight and the Moth

“Which is more intricate?” he mused. “The designs of men, trying to reach gods, or that of gods, trying to reach men?” My hammer collided with a chunk of granite. “What is either to the intricacies of women, who reach both?”
― Rachel Gillig, The Knight and the Moth

“People who love you for your usefulness don't love you at all.”
― Rachel Gillig, The Knight and the Moth

“You want to throw me down. And I, prideful, disdainful, godless, want to drag you into the dirt with me.”
― Rachel Gillig, The Knight and the Moth

“You know this story, Bartholomew, though you do not remember it. I'll tell it to you as best I can and promise to be honest in my talebearing. If I'm not, that's hardly my fault. To tell a story is in part to tell a lie, isn't it?”
― Rachel Gillig, The Knight and the Moth

“It's hard to see who I am when I am lost in what's expected of me.”
― Rachel Gillig, The Knight and the Moth

“Fear not, Bartholomew! Every day has its dog.”
― Rachel Gillig, The Knight and the Moth

“If you only ever look up at something, can you ever see it clearly?”
― Rachel Gillig, The Knight and the Moth

“It is easier, swearing ourselves to someone else's cause than to sit with who we are without one.”
― Rachel Gillig, The Knight and the Moth

“To the child in each of us, yearning to be special. Take my hand, you strange little creature, and together we shall walk beyond the wall.”
― Rachel Gillig, The Knight and the Moth

“It sounds awful when I say it out loud.” “True things often do.”
― Rachel Gillig, The Knight and the Moth

“You are more special than you realize. I don’t even know your name”—he drew in a breath—“and I would do anything for you.”
― Rachel Gillig, The Knight and the Moth

“I confess horses are not the intelligent beasts I imagined them to be. Though I don’t think that merits the abuse they suffer postmortem.” That one took me a moment. “No one actually beats dead horses, gargoyle. It’s an expression.” “Really? How morbid.”
― Rachel Gillig, The Knight and the Moth

“I cannot decide which I like best. The sunrise, or the sunset. They are like life, and her quiet companion, death.”
― Rachel Gillig, The Knight and the Moth

“I was losing my faith in everything. But the two of us meeting… it felt almost divine.”
― Rachel Gillig, The Knight and the Moth

“Just as well. Sometimes, Bartholomew, I think her quite the bitch.”
― Rachel Gillig, The Knight and the Moth

“To tell a story is in some part to tell a lie, isn’t it?”
― Rachel Gillig, The Knight and the Moth

“How undignified.” The gargoyle let out a whimper. “Did anyone see me fall?”
― Rachel Gillig, The Knight and the Moth

“Please, Rory. Take it off. I want someone to see me.” I whispered against his lips. “I want it to be you.”
― Rachel Gillig, The Knight and the Moth

“No honor among thieves, and even less among gods.”
― Rachel Gillig, The Knight and the Moth

“My armor may dent, my sword may break, but I will never diminish.”
― Rachel Gillig, The Knight and the Moth

“Once, there was a foundling boy who didn’t believe in anything. He grew up, became a worldly knight, and still he struggled to believe. He bore hardly any hope, and a mountain of disdain. And that should have been the end.” He took my hand, squeezed it, tightening my hold on my hammer. “But then he came to a cathedral upon a tor, and met a woman there. And all the tales he’d troubled himself with about cruelty, about unfairness and godlessness… he started to forget. He was afforded another chance, as if by magic, to believe in something. He’d never be a very good knight, but every time he looked at the woman, he had the distinct faith”—his eyes roved my face—“that things could be better than they’d been.”
― Rachel Gillig, The Knight and the Moth

“I washed the Divining robes this morning." The gargoyle led me down the nave. On the final pew, six silk robes waited. "It was an abundant chore. I am within myself with fatigue."

"Beside," I murmured, peeling off my clothes. " 'Beside myself with fatigue' is the proper expression."

The gargoyle's stone brow knit. "If I were beside myself, there would be two of me, and the washing would have taken half the time.”
― Rachel Gillig, The Knight and the Moth

“I’ll do anything you ask of me.”
― Rachel Gillig, The Knight and the Moth

“He held me in his gaze like he needed to. “Do you want to know how it ends?” “Does it end?” He nodded. “It ends a handful of minutes from now. After you’ve won, and there is one less Omen in the world.” He grinned. “It ends when you kiss me.” “You mean it ends after I’ve won, and there is one less Omen in the world—and I hit you as hard as I can.” “With your mouth.”
― Rachel Gillig, The Knight and the Moth

“She's a guest of the king's. Affront her in any way, the knighthood will answer. Attempt to look beneath her shroud, and she and the gargoyle will respond as they see fit. With full immunity to any carnage tended."

The gargoyle batted his eyes. "Oh, Bartholomew. He's dreamy.”
― Rachel Gillig, The Knight and the Moth

“You want to throw me down,” Rory said, eyelids dropping as he whispered into my parted lips. “And I, prideful, disdainful, godless, want to drag you into the dirt with me.”
― Rachel Gillig, The Knight and the Moth

“Will everyone kindly leave my fucking boots alone—”
― Rachel Gillig, The Knight and the Moth

“Which one, Diviner?” Rory’s voice was deathly calm. He looked over his shoulder at me. “Which one marked up your face?”
― Rachel Gillig, The Knight and the Moth