The Reluctant Queen Quotes

“Don't confuse mercy for forgiveness.”
― Sarah Beth Durst, The Reluctant Queen

“In the history of the world, telling someone to ‘calm down’ has never done anything but piss them off more.”
― Sarah Beth Durst, The Reluctant Queen

“Fear can be your friend. It tells you when to run and when to hide. The trick is that after you've run and hid, you have to tell your fear thank you very much, you're fine now, come back later.”
― Sarah Beth Durst, The Reluctant Queen

“She was our friend and our enemy, Chancellor Xanon," Naelin said. "We will mourn our friend who was killed by our enemy. Surely you understand that a life is more complex than a label. We can love who she was while we hate what she's done.”
― Sarah Beth Durst, The Reluctant Queen

“I loved him. And he thought that meant that he had no responsibilities.”
― Sarah Beth Durst, The Reluctant Queen

“I wanted to matter. For my life to matter. So many people die and no one knows they ever existed. They're ripples in a stream, disappearing when the wind blows.”
― Sarah Beth Durst, The Reluctant Queen

“The only fearless people I've met were frightfully stupid.”
― Sarah Beth Durst, The Reluctant Queen

“For some crazy reason, he believed in her, and that was extraordinary. No one had ever
believed in her before. Not her mother, who used to call her worthless every time she tried to help around the house and worse than worthless if she didn’t try to help. Not her father, who had informed her on her sixth birthday that she shouldn’t have been born, before he walked out the door never to come back. Not her sisters, who stole her clothes whenever she didn’t hide them. Not her
older brother, who used to hit her but only in places it wouldn’t show. Not her teacher, who’d called her a liar when she’d tried to say she felt spirits. Oh, how she’d loved the day he had been proved wrong! She’d loved the moment when it was her turn to walk out that door!”
― Sarah Beth Durst, The Reluctant Queen

“Forgettable is fine. I don't want fame; I want happy . . . . . . But I'll settle for content. I don't think that's so strange.”
― Sarah Beth Durst, The Reluctant Queen

“Mama, I’m scared.” “That’s good. Fear can be your friend. It tells you when to run and when to hide. The trick is that after you’ve run and hid, you have to tell your fear thank you very much, you’re fine now, come back later.”
― Sarah Beth Durst, The Reluctant Queen

“Are you well?” Ven asked the headmistress. “Old age,” she replied. “Nothing that a bit of death won’t cure.”
― Sarah Beth Durst, The Reluctant Queen

“What I want and what is true seldom have anything to do with each other,”
― Sarah Beth Durst, The Reluctant Queen

“For some
crazy reason, he believed in her, and that was extraordinary. No one had ever
believed in her before. Not her mother, who used to call her worthless every time
she tried to help around the house and worse than worthless if she didn’t try to
help. Not her father, who had informed her on her sixth birthday that she
shouldn’t have been born, before he walked out the door never to come back.
Not her sisters, who stole her clothes whenever she didn’t hide them. Not her
older brother, who used to hit her but only in places it wouldn’t show. Not her
teacher, who’d called her a liar when she’d tried to say she felt spirits. Oh, how
she’d loved the day he had been proved wrong! She’d loved the moment when it
was her turn to walk out that door!”
― Sarah Beth Durst, The Reluctant Queen

“Everything has a spirit: the willow tree with leaves that kiss the pond, the stream that feeds the river, the wind that exhales fresh snow . . .And those spirits want to kill you. It's the first lesson that every Renthian learns.”
― Sarah Beth Durst, The Reluctant Queen

“Naelin resisted rolling her eyes. This was absurd. She was consorting with born-from-the-womb heroes. She wasn't worthy if this.”
― Sarah Beth Durst, The Reluctant Queen

“Naelin loved the forest, all the layers and shades of green, so many shades that there weren't words to describe them all - a spectrum of green, from the hopeful green of new leaves to the contemplative moss green on the forest floor, so dark it was nearly black.”
― Sarah Beth Durst, The Reluctant Queen

“The forests of Aratay were as vast and deep as an ocean. There were dark paths that hadn't seen sunlight in a century, as well as quiet groves of new saplings with trunks only as thick as a child's finger. A few roads, glorified animal tracks, ran on the ground between the trees, and the wire paths ran through the upper canopy, but most towns were nestled in the branches, midforest level, and connected by bridges. Other towns and villages were within the trunks. A few others thrived on the forest floor, and a rare few men and women, primarily the canopy singers, lived in the top level, nearest the sun.”
― Sarah Beth Durst, The Reluctant Queen