Kushiel's Justice Quotes

“To my surprise, Joscelin rose. ‘Phedre-’ He began, then halted. Sitting below him, I watched him smile to himself, quiet and private. ‘Phedre yields with a willow’s grace,’ he said softly. ‘And endures with the strength of mountains. Without her, life would be calm; and yet lack all meaning.”
― Jacqueline Carey, Kushiel's Justice

“Joscelin, is love supposed to make you feel like you’re sick and dying, and mad enough to hit someone and drunk with joy, and your heart’s a boulder n your chest trying to burst into a thousand pieces all at once?”
“Mm-hmm.” He finished his ale. “That would be love.”
― Jacqueline Carey, Kushiel's Justice

“That was the problem ... with trusting to the written word ... We were human, mortal and fallible. We forgot, we made errors, argued ambiguities, and twisted meanings to suit our own ends.

And in doing so, mayhap we reshaped the gods themselves.”
― Jacqueline Carey, Kushiel's Justice

“Again and again, I pushed my memories away. There were days when it was easy and days when it was hard. My love ... was a boulder in my heart. I sought to let go of it and let it sink. Let it sink below the surface, carrying my heart with it. Let it come to rest on the stream's bottom, a vast hidden bulwark, dividing the current. Let it stay there, hidden and unseen. Forgotten. Betimes it worked. Betimes it didn't. It was the best I could do.”
― Jacqueline Carey, Kushiel's Justice

“By morning, Joscelin was resigned. "You know, betimes I think you are a little mad, Imriel no Montreve," he said to me in the courtyard outside the stable, holding the Bastard's reins.

"You never said that to Phedre," I reminded him.

"Ah, well." He grinned despite himself. "In her case, there is no question.”
― Jacqueline Carey, Kushiel's Justice

“I discovered that we liked each other. But I was fearful of giving free rein to my emotions. Fearful that all those emotions and longings I suppressed would spill forth, rendering me bitter and cruel.”
― Jacqueline Carey, Kushiel's Justice

“We might embody those qualities we desire to possess by embracing them, over and over, until the line between seeming and being is no more.”
― Jacqueline Carey, Kushiel's Justice

“I wanted it, I wanted it all. All the ardent beginnings and the confused between-times and the bittersweet dregs.
All of the aches and sorrows, all of the soaring joys.
All of it.”
― Jacqueline Carey, Kushiel's Justice

“I thought about what a priest of Elua had told me about love many years ago, the first time I kept his vigil on the Longest Night. You will find it and lose it, again and again. And with each finding and each loss, you will become more than before. What you make of it is yours to choose. It was true.”
― Jacqueline Carey, Kushiel's Justice

“Merely surviving without doing harm seemed chore enough.”
― Jacqueline Carey, Kushiel's Justice

“Tis a lonely business, being miserable when happiness abounds. I did my best to hide it, although the people who knew me well, knew.”
― Jacqueline Carey, Kushiel's Justice

“I wondered if, by the time we'd been together as long as Phèdre and Joscelin, I'd be able to predict her reactions.
I wasn't sure I would.
I wasn't sure I wanted to, either.”
― Jacqueline Carey, Kushiel's Justice

“Joscelin, is love supposed to make you feel like you’re sick and dying, and mad enough to hit someone, and drunk with joy, and your heart’s a boulder in your chest trying to burst into a thousand pieces, all at once?” “Mm-hmm.” He finished his ale. “That would be love.”
― Jacqueline Carey, Kushiel's Justice

“He had never been one to care about appearances or heroics or receiving accolades for his deeds. I daresay keeping Phèdre in one piece had kept him too busy; and then later, protecting me, too.”
― Jacqueline Carey, Kushiel's Justice

“Because people can be foolish,” Drustan said. “And fearful of heroes not their own.”
― Jacqueline Carey, Kushiel's Justice

“For good or for ill, some people seem to love more fiercely, want more powerfully, burn more brightly.”
― Jacqueline Carey, Kushiel's Justice

“And somewhere along the way, I found a little bit of healing. It wasn’t enough to undo all of the damage done to me when I was a child; that, I think, cuts too deep. But enough.”
― Jacqueline Carey, Kushiel's Justice

“I will say to you what I have said to others: Blessed Elua cared naught for crowns or thrones. It is a human game, a mortal game. I imagine you will say it was not worth the cost of innocent blood spilled in the process, since it is what Phèdre nó Delaunay once said to me. Mayhap it is true. And yet, countless numbers of those she would deem innocent never hesitated to engage in a death-struggle for these things, these mortal tokens of power.

What does it mean to be innocent? It is impossible to move through this life without making choices that injure others. My choices were bolder than others'; and yet. If they had not chosen as they did, they would not have suffered for it. We are all driven by desires, some simple and some complex. In the end, we all make choices.

In the end, no one is truly innocent.”
― Jacqueline Carey, Kushiel's Justice

“It is a dangerous thing to bring a dream to life....I have watched my deepest, dearest hopes take shape, and I am not entirely sure I like the shape they have taken.”
― Jacqueline Carey, Kushiel's Justice

“We forgot, we made errors, argued ambiguities, and twisted meanings to suit our own ends. And in so doing, mayhap we reshaped the gods themselves. Now”
― Jacqueline Carey, Kushiel's Justice

“And in so doing, mayhap we reshaped the gods themselves. Now that was a thought made me shudder to the bone. I wondered if it were true, and if it were, what would happen when some deity bent out of true by mortal ambition returned to set the record straight.”
― Jacqueline Carey, Kushiel's Justice

“Ah, well.” She favored him with another sweet, disarming smile. “I would have negotiated first.”
― Jacqueline Carey, Kushiel's Justice

“Tis strange how many leavetakings one life can hold.”
― Jacqueline Carey, Kushiel's Justice

“In the end, I didn’t know why I loved her to the point of distraction. I knew only that I did.”
― Jacqueline Carey, Kushiel's Justice

“We were human, mortal and fallible. We forgot, we made errors, argued ambiguities, and twisted meanings to suit our own ends. And in so doing, mayhap we reshaped the gods themselves.”
― Jacqueline Carey, Kushiel's Justice

“We were human, mortal and fallible. We forgot, we made errors, argued ambiguities, and twisted meanings to suit our own ends.”
― Jacqueline Carey, Kushiel's Justice

“Vengeance and love didn’t make for good bedfellows.”
― Jacqueline Carey, Kushiel's Justice

“You’ve a way of putting matters into perspective.” “You’re young.” Urist smiled slightly. “You’ll learn the trick of it.”
― Jacqueline Carey, Kushiel's Justice

“One never thinks, until one is badly injured, about the myriad intricate ways in which the parts of one’s body are connected.”
― Jacqueline Carey, Kushiel's Justice

“It wouldn’t last, of course. I had no illusions on that score. But while it did, I meant to relish every moment of the respite.”
― Jacqueline Carey, Kushiel's Justice