Spinning Silver Quotes

“But I had not known that I was strong enough to do any of those things until they were over and I had done them. I had to do the work first, not knowing.”
― Naomi Novik, Spinning Silver

“But the world I wanted wasn't the world I lived in, and if I would do nothing until I could repair every terrible thing at once, I would do nothing forever.”
― Naomi Novik, Spinning Silver

“Hush, sweetheart. You don't have a mother anymore, but let me to speak to you with her voice a minute. Listen. Stepon told us what happened in your house. There are men who are wolves inside, and want to eat up other people to fill their bellies. That it what was in your house with you, all your life. But here you are with your brothers, and you are not eaten up, and there is not a wolf inside you. You have fed each other, and you kept the wolf away. That is all we can do for each other in the world, to keep the wolf away.”
― Naomi Novik, Spinning Silver

“A robber who steals a knife and cuts himself cannot cry out against the woman who kept it sharp.”
― Naomi Novik, Spinning Silver

“But it was all the same choice, every time. The choice between the one death and all the little ones.”
― Naomi Novik, Spinning Silver

“And more to the point, I was reasonably certain he wasn’t going to try and devour my soul. My expectations for a husband had lowered.”
― Naomi Novik, Spinning Silver

“He would only shrug and look at me expectantly again, waiting for high magic: magic that came only when you made some larger version of yourself with words and promises, and then stepped inside and somehow grew to fill it.”
― Naomi Novik, Spinning Silver

“You were challenged beyond the bounds of what could be done, and found a path to make it true.”
― Naomi Novik, Spinning Silver

“So the fairy silver brought you a monster of fire for a husband, and me a monster of ice. We should put them in a room together and let them make us both widows.”
― Naomi Novik, Spinning Silver

“My mother had enough magic to give me three blessings before she died,” I said, and he instinctively bent in to hear it. “The first was wit; the second beauty, and the third—that fools should recognize neither.” Irina”
― Naomi Novik, Spinning Silver

“Because my demon told me to” isn’t a generally accepted reason,”
― Naomi Novik, Spinning Silver

“I am not your subject or your servant, and if you want a cowering mouse for a wife, go find someone else who can turn silver to gold for you.”
― Naomi Novik, Spinning Silver

“And on the wedding contract, before me and my parents and the rabbi, and Wanda and Sergey for our witnesses, in silver ink he signed his name.

But I won't ever tell you what it is.”
― Naomi Novik, Spinning Silver

“A power claimed and challenged and thrice carried out is true”
― Naomi Novik, Spinning Silver

“There are men who are wolves inside, and want to eat up other people to fill their bellies. That is what was in your house with you, all your life. But here you are with your brothers, and you are not eaten up, and there is not a wolf inside you. You have fed each other, and you kept the wolf away.”
― Naomi Novik, Spinning Silver

“I wouldn't hold myself that cheap, to marry a man who'd love me less than everything else he had, even if what he had was a winter kingdom.”
― Naomi Novik, Spinning Silver

“The real story isn’t half as pretty as the one you’ve heard. The real story is, the miller’s daughter with her long golden hair wants to catch a lord, a prince, a rich man’s son, so she goes to the moneylender and borrows for a ring and a necklace and decks herself out for the festival. And she’s beautiful enough, so the lord, the prince, the rich man’s son notices her, and dances with her, and tumbles her in a quiet hayloft when the dancing is over, and afterwards he goes home and marries the rich woman his family has picked out for him. Then the miller’s despoiled daughter tells everyone that the moneylender’s in league with the devil, and the village runs him out or maybe even stones him, so at least she gets to keep the jewels for a dowry, and the blacksmith marries her before that firstborn child comes along a little early. Because that’s what the story’s really about: getting out of paying your debts.”
― Naomi Novik, Spinning Silver

“She was safe for another moment, one more moment, and all of life was only moments, after all.”
― Naomi Novik, Spinning Silver

“It's not seemly for a girl," my grandmother tried, but my grandfather snorted.

"Gold doesn't know the hand that holds it," he said, and frowned at me, but in a pleased way.”
― Naomi Novik, Spinning Silver

“That is all we can do for each other in the world, to keep the wolf away.”
― Naomi Novik, Spinning Silver

“With a demon wanting to devour me, I was feeling inclined to be devout . . .”
― Naomi Novik, Spinning Silver

“Of course I was afraid. But I had learned to fear other things more: being despised, whittled down one small piece of myself at a time, smirked at and taken advantage of. I put my chin up and said, as cold as I could be in answer, “And what will you give me in return?”
― Naomi Novik, Spinning Silver

“A crowd of women around me doing the ocean of women’s work that never subsided and never changed and always swallowed whatever time you gave it and wanted more, another hungry body of water. I submerged into it like a ritual bath and let it close over my head gladly.”
― Naomi Novik, Spinning Silver

“Anger was a fire in a grate, and I'd never had any wood to burn. Until now, it seemed.”
― Naomi Novik, Spinning Silver

“Because that's what the story's really about: getting out of paying your debts. That's not how they tell it, but I knew. My father was a moneylender, you see.”
― Naomi Novik, Spinning Silver

“My mother had enough magic to give me three blessings before she died,” I said, and he instinctively bent in to hear it. “The first was wit; the second beauty, and the third—that fools should recognize neither.”
― Naomi Novik, Spinning Silver

“There are men who are wolves inside, and want to eat up other people to fill their bellies. That is what was in your house with you, all your life. But here you are with your brothers, and you are not eaten up, and there is not a wolf inside you. You have fed each other, and you kept the wolf away. That is all we can do for each other in the world, to keep the wolf away.”
― Naomi Novik, Spinning Silver

“A power claimed and challenged and thrice carried out is true; the proving makes it so.”
― Naomi Novik, Spinning Silver

“The only thing that had ever done me any good in my father's house was thinking: no one had cared what I wanted, or whether I was happy. I'd had to find my own way to anything I wanted. I'd never been grateful for that before now, when what I wanted was my life.”
― Naomi Novik, Spinning Silver

“Rich meant that this room with three beds and a table and chairs and a window filled with glass was something to say sorry for.”
― Naomi Novik, Spinning Silver