Shadow Quotes

“But how do we know it's really you? I mean, I could put a saucepan on my head and call myself the God of Boiled Dumplings; wouldn't mean I was telling the truth.”
― K.J. Parker, Shadow

“He could feel himself sliding into sleep, there was a dream already open and waiting for him to fall into it.”
― K.J. Parker, Shadow

“What did normal people do after dark, the ones who weren’t nameless strangers with no memories, the ones who didn’t earn their livings in the death and intrigue business? He tried to work it out from first principles. The ones who worked hard all day would go home and sleep; if they weren’t tired they’d light a lamp and mend their clothes or their tools, sing, tell stories, make love, whatever. Somehow he couldn’t imagine it, any more than he could imagine what giants or elves or gods did in their spare time when they weren’t being legends. Far more plausible to assume that they didn’t exist in the dark, or if they didn’t simply disappear when nobody could see them they sat still and quiet, inanimate, waiting for daybreak and the turn of the next page.”
― K.J. Parker, Shadow

“Velico Sudel was staring at Copis as if she were some fearsome legendary monster he’d never actually believed in but who’d suddenly appeared in his office and started building a nest.”
― K.J. Parker, Shadow

“I think that’s all the facts I can remember. If you like we can talk a bit more about metaphysics, or I can tell you some stories about my life as a soldier; you could go back and check the references, to give you an idea of the quality of my memory and powers of observation. I’d rather not, though, since you might use them to work out who I could be; somebody important who was at the same battles as I was. Purely by coincidence, you understand.”
― K.J. Parker, Shadow

“It was typical of the polished efficiency and dislike of waste that detailed interrogations doubled as anatomy lecturers, with a class of novices standing respectfully at the back of the room taking notes in their tablets, their lecturer pointing out, naming and describing the function of each organ and component as it was laid open by the interrogator’s scalpel.”
― K.J. Parker, Shadow

“Getting out of the briar tangle was significantly harder than getting in . . . The brambles ran their fingers down his face and tugged at his clothes like children wanting attention, as if they were sorry to see him go.”
― K.J. Parker, Shadow

“...the exceptionally profound is always, by definition, basic and mundane.”
― K.J. Parker, Shadow