In the Labyrinth of Drakes Quotes

“I sometimes imagine there is a clerk behind a desk situated between the brain and the mouth. It is his job to examine utterances on their way out, and stamp them with approval or send them back for reconsideration. If such a clerk exists, mine must be very harried and overworked; and on occasion he puts his head down on the desk in despair, letting things pass without so much as a second glance.”
― Marie Brennan, In the Labyrinth of Drakes

“You and I are not held to the same standards, Andrew. People will forgive a slip, a weakness, a minor personal folly — when it comes from a man. They may click their tongues at you, even gossip about your behavior…but at worst, it will only reflect on you.

“If I misstep, it goes far beyond me. Errors on my part are proof that women are unsuited to professional work.”
― Marie Brennan, In the Labyrinth of Drakes

“...A widow has freedoms a wife does not. But when I look at you, I do not see obstacles for my career, I see-" My face burned even more. "I see wings. A way to fly higher and further than I can on my own.”
― Marie Brennan, In the Labyrinth of Drakes

“I honestly cannot tell whether you are the most practical women I have ever met or the most deranged."
"Why can't I be both”
― Marie Brennan, In the Labyrinth of Drakes

“I have made myself exceptional. It is a wonderful game, is it not? Because I am exceptional, anything I achieve does not reflect on my own sex, for of course I am not like them. Strange, though, how that division seems to vanish when we are speaking instead of my shortcomings. Then I am a woman, like any other.”
― Marie Brennan, In the Labyrinth of Drakes

“There is very little pleasure in being snubbed over a task for which one is well qualified. There is, however, quite a bit of pleasure in watching the ones who did the snubbing later eat their own words.”
― Marie Brennan, In the Labyrinth of Drakes

“There's a bit of difference between swimming in shark-infested water because you're trying to retrieve something from the bottom, and staying in just because you're already there and haven't been eaten yet.”
― Marie Brennan, In the Labyrinth of Drakes

“... There may not be even two men living in the world whom I would have agreed to marry, certainly not on such short notice. But I do not need two; I only need one.”
― Marie Brennan, In the Labyrinth of Drakes

“It is not easy to fling oneself down stairs in a skirt; there is always the risk that you will tangle your legs and go headlong. But I made it.”
― Marie Brennan, In the Labyrinth of Drakes

“Jake accompanied us as well, having arrived in Akhia shortly before the excavation team departed. I did not tell him our destination until we were safely away from civilization, and found my caution abundantly justified: he whooped and danced about so much, he fell off his camel and broke his left arm.”
― Marie Brennan, In the Labyrinth of Drakes

“But rumour is a creature with many heads and no body, and I had no way to hunt it, any more than I could smooth over matters with my new relations.”
― Marie Brennan, In the Labyrinth of Drakes

“To travel like that, with a woman who is neither my kin nor my wife…” “Then what if we were married?” I sometimes imagine there is a clerk behind a desk situated between the brain and the mouth. It is his job to examine utterances on their way out, and stamp them with approval or send them back for reconsideration. If such a clerk exists, mine must be very harried and overworked; and on occasion he puts his head down on the desk in despair, letting things pass without so much as a second glance.”
― Marie Brennan, In the Labyrinth of Drakes

“В кои-то веки мы не столкнулись с вежливым (а порой и не слишком-то вежливым) изумлением, с которым столь часто воспринимают нашу работу. Многим людям трудно понять, отчего мы с Томом рискуем жизнью ради каких-то научных знаний… однако стоит сказать им, что эти знания можно применить в войне – и никому даже в голову не придет сомневаться в нашем умственном здравии.”
― Marie Brennan, In the Labyrinth of Drakes

“Люди охотно простят оплошность, слабость, мелкий личный каприз, если речь идет о мужчине. Поцокают языками, посплетничают о твоем поведении… но, в самом худшем случае, проступок твой бросит тень только на тебя самого. Если же оступлюсь я, это отразится далеко не только на мне. Любая допущенная мной ошибка – несомненное доказательство тому, что женщины не годятся для профессиональной деятельности, лишнее подтверждение того, что Короне не следовало допускать женщину к такой должности. Мои недостатки – вовсе не только мои. Вот почему я не могу позволить себе слабостей, способных укрепить мнение, сложившееся обо мне и обо всех женщинах на свете.

Эндрю нахмурился и наподдал ногой камешек, подняв в воздух облачко пыли.
— Бред! Прости за грубость, Изабелла, но… ты совсем не такая, как другие женщины. И люди об этом знают.
— О да, – с сарказмом сказала я. – Я сделалась исключением из правила. Прекрасная увертка, не так ли? Если я – исключение, все, чего я достигну, никак не отразится на прочих женщинах, потому что я не такая, как они. Но данное разграничение куда-то исчезает, словно по волшебству, когда речь заходит о моих огрехах. Вот в этом случае – да, уж тут я – такая же женщина, как и все остальные.”
― Marie Brennan , In the Labyrinth of Drakes