The Masked City Quotes

“The perfect Librarian is calm, cool, collected, intelligent, multilingual, a crack shot, a martial artist, an Olympic-level runner (at both the sprint and marathon), a good swimmer, an expert thief, and a genius con artist. They can steal a dozen books from a top-security strongbox in the morning, discuss literature all afternoon, have dinner with the cream of society in the evening, and then stay up until midnight dancing, before stealing some more interesting tomes at three a.m. That's what a perfect Librarian would do. In practice, most Librarians would rather spend their time reading a good book.”
― Genevieve Cogman, The Masked City

“This is a place built to store books, by people who wanted to preserve books, and used by people who want to read those books. I am not alone.”
― Genevieve Cogman, The Masked City

“And Irene hadn’t broken the letter of any ordinances – she hoped. She’d just jumped up and down on the spirit of them, then taken them down a dark alley and made some pointed suggestions at knife-point.”
― Genevieve Cogman, The Masked City

“I plan for the worst,’ Silver said. ‘That way, at least I’m dressed for the occasion.”
― Genevieve Cogman, The Masked City

“We are what we make ourselves”
― Genevieve Cogman, The Masked City

“All right, Irene thought, I have officially met someone who makes even more reckless plans than I do. ‘This could indeed be the beginning of a beautiful friendship,’ she agreed, and she couldn’t help smiling.”
― Genevieve Cogman, The Masked City

“My life isn’t all running around and screaming, you know.”
― Genevieve Cogman, The Masked City

“They are unchanging, because they have utterly become themselves and will never be otherwise.”
― Genevieve Cogman, The Masked City

“Maybe if Irene uses the Language—how did you get here? We’re down in the far end of chaos.”
― Genevieve Cogman, The Masked City

“. It was so full of light. The huge public square had what must be the Basilica at one end, topped with bulbous domes and covered with marble and mosaics. It was imposing and glorious and, yes, utterly beautiful.”
― Genevieve Cogman, The Masked City

“Do you doubt the Ten, my lord?”
― Genevieve Cogman, The Masked City

“I plan for the worst,” Silver said. “That way, at least I’m dressed for the occasion.”
― Genevieve Cogman, The Masked City

“She hadn’t thought things could get any worse, but here they were. Just another cherry on the cake.”
― Genevieve Cogman, The Masked City

“People remember fame and stories, but they remember failure too. Get out while you can.”
― Genevieve Cogman, The Masked City

“And Irene hadn’t broken the letter of any ordinances—she hoped. She’d just jumped up and down on the spirit of them, then taken them down a dark alley and made some pointed suggestions at knifepoint.”
― Genevieve Cogman, The Masked City

“That was the problem with asking questions—people asked them back.”
― Genevieve Cogman, The Masked City

“Oh, I admit that not all stories have happy endings, but people prefer what they’re used to.”
― Genevieve Cogman, The Masked City

“There’s immediate peril of death, which is one thing, and then there’s immediate peril of a fate worse than death, which is something else again. And then there’s the less-immediate fear of potential death. And all scenarios should be handled on a case-by-case basis. I’d rather talk than do something irretrievable.”
― Genevieve Cogman, The Masked City

“I just can’t stay away from a good library. It’s an addiction with me.”
― Genevieve Cogman, The Masked City

“One of the most important strategic virtues was knowing when to concede a loss.”
― Genevieve Cogman, The Masked City

“Oh, history. You’ll be talking about reality next, as if it were something special too.”
― Genevieve Cogman, The Masked City

“If there was a literary trope requiring an early start to fit in a full day’s worth of debauchery, Irene had yet to encounter it.”
― Genevieve Cogman, The Masked City

“It wasn’t the dark that bothered her—it was what might be hidden within it.”
― Genevieve Cogman, The Masked City

“If you can’t trust a total stranger whom you meet on the train, who can you trust?”
― Genevieve Cogman, The Masked City

“Even the great can die. The path is eternal, but we who walk it are rarely so. Do not be in haste to limit yourself, child.”
― Genevieve Cogman, The Masked City

“No story is ever about the protagonist alone!”
― Genevieve Cogman, The Masked City

“Paranoia only makes you look suspicious.”
― Genevieve Cogman, The Masked City

“When the course of events became quite so impossibly dangerous, the best thing to do was to ride with it.”
― Genevieve Cogman, The Masked City

“I plan for the worst. That way, at least I’m dressed for the occasion.”
― Genevieve Cogman, The Masked City

“Being responsible has a lot to answer for.”
― Genevieve Cogman, The Masked City