Forest of a Thousand Lanterns Quotes

“She would bloom where she was planted and let her roots close around the throats of her enemies.”
― Julie C. Dao, Forest of a Thousand Lanterns

“She was a monster, a bride of the darkness, and she rose to face her destiny as though it were the blood-red sunrise of a new day.”
― Julie C. Dao, Forest of a Thousand Lanterns

“But in weakness, you find your strength. It takes no small amount of courage to open yourself up,” the Empress said gently. “You leave pieces of yourself in the ones you love. Is that not the greatest power, to endure in that way?”
― Julie C. Dao, Forest of a Thousand Lanterns

“The beauty of this world is fading all too fast through the cruelty and thoughtlessness of men.”
― Julie C. Dao, Forest of a Thousand Lanterns

“She knew her own worth. She would seize her destiny with all the strength and spirit within her, and bend them all to her will: every man kneeling and every woman overshadowed.”
― Julie C. Dao, Forest of a Thousand Lanterns

“For that is the way of the world, Guma’s voice echoed. Some are given a rope to the moon, and others claw up the sky.”
― Julie C. Dao, Forest of a Thousand Lanterns

“Only kings are arrogant enough to believe the world is too small to hold other men.”
― Julie C. Dao, Forest of a Thousand Lanterns

“There was something unfinished about not saying farewell, like a door left open in the chill night.”
― Julie C. Dao, Forest of a Thousand Lanterns

“Xifeng tilted her face, a pale moon in the evening of the water. She felt like a goddess in the shimmering light. She was a poem come to life, each vein was a lyric.”
― Julie C. Dao, Forest of a Thousand Lanterns

“I want to mean something to a great deal of people. I am tired of being no one. As Empress, I would have the right to choose for myself. Guma could not command me, and Wei would not own me.”
― Julie C. Dao, Forest of a Thousand Lanterns

“If my beauty is my greatest weapon, vanity is the shield that protects me.”
― Julie C. Dao, Forest of a Thousand Lanterns

“Isn’t’ it better to give up a fraction of your freedom to gain tenfold in happiness, even for a short time?”
― Julie C. Dao, Forest of a Thousand Lanterns

“Beauty is all very well. But it is merely the gleam of the sword, the chief eunuch said. It is the mind that provides the sharp blade, and without that, well. We have a pretty piece of metal and not a weapon at all.”
― Julie C. Dao, Forest of a Thousand Lanterns

“Isn’t it better to wake up each day, living for the present rather than waiting for the future?”
― Julie C. Dao, Forest of a Thousand Lanterns

“Love is weakness. You open yourself up to choices you’d never make if you heart were your own.”
― Julie C. Dao, Forest of a Thousand Lanterns

“People in my town would laugh at the idea of calling books and music work. . . . How is it some men break their backs farming a dead land, whereas others sit in comfort and ruminate on stars and poetry?”
― Julie C. Dao, Forest of a Thousand Lanterns

“Sometimes it is necessary to do questionable deeds to achieve what the heavens ordain, Xifeng said, thinking of all she herself has done. But in our losses, we may gain ourselves. We take what is ours and find solace in the quiet places between death destruction.”
― Julie C. Dao, Forest of a Thousand Lanterns

“She, too, was part of this game in which women could only hope to survive by keeping each other down.”
― Julie C. Dao, Forest of a Thousand Lanterns

“You understand, as I do, that wealth and family mean nothing if a person is not willing to prove his full worth.”
― Julie C. Dao, Forest of a Thousand Lanterns

“You leave pieces of yourself in the ones you love. It’s that not the greatest power, to endure in that way?”
― Julie C. Dao, Forest of a Thousand Lanterns

“Love does not always come with marriage, Your Majesty. Marriage may strengthen a woman, but love weakens her. She has more to lose.”
― Julie C. Dao, Forest of a Thousand Lanterns

“I'm sick to death of lords and kings and emperors. What do they do but play games and let their people pay the price in blood?”
― Julie C. Dao, Forest of a Thousand Lanterns

“Love killed your mother, Guma had always warned her. Give your heart and you lose your soul.”
― Julie C. Dao, Forest of a Thousand Lanterns

“She would wrap her coils around him in tender confinement and be not his captive, but his captor.”
― Julie C. Dao, Forest of a Thousand Lanterns

“Being underestimated can be a blessing in disguise,” Xifeng said. “That is to say, it gives us a chance to astonish those who doubt our true worth.”
― Julie C. Dao, Forest of a Thousand Lanterns

“A ruler has little time for kindness. He does not give without expecting something in return. He can’t afford to.”
― Julie C. Dao, Forest of a Thousand Lanterns

“Women are complicated creatures.”
― Julie C. Dao, Forest of a Thousand Lanterns

“Only kings are arrogant enough to believe the world too small to hold other men.”
― Julie C. Dao, Forest of a Thousand Lanterns

“Save me, she thought. Save me from this love dark road.”
― Julie C. Dao, Forest of a Thousand Lanterns

“Cry not, for your tears are no more than rain upon your enemy’s face.”
― Julie C. Dao, Forest of a Thousand Lanterns