The Witness for the Dead Quotes

“But in grieving for a murderer, thou art not grieving for the monstrous. Thou grievest for the man who failed to reject the monstrous act.”
― Katherine Addison, The Witness for the Dead

“I drank my tea and finished my scone and acknowledged that I did not know how to solve any of my problems.”
― Katherine Addison, The Witness for the Dead

“I went home, shared sardines with the cats that were not mine, meditated, went to bed, and dreamed nothing that I remembered.”
― Katherine Addison, The Witness for the Dead

“I’ll have to tell my mother that being gaudy has its uses”
― Katherine Addison, The Witness for the Dead

“a prayer that asked for quiet—for peace and for silence—and itself twisted and turned around the line strength in tranquility and tranquility in strength. I’d always understood “strength in tranquility” and taken “tranquility in strength” to mean that if one was strong, one could make the tranquility one needed. But now, twisting and turning through the corn maze, I began to see it differently, that “tranquility in strength” meant having the strength to keep one’s tranquility of mind, no matter what the world brought. It meant being tranquil—peaceful—even when one was strong, not bullying or picking fights.”
― Katherine Addison, The Witness for the Dead

“He stared at me as if I’d told him I could hear fishes singing.”
― Katherine Addison, The Witness for the Dead

“I went home, shared sardines with the cats that were not mine, meditated, went to bed, and dreamed nothing that I remembered. I woke in the middle of the night, as I sometimes did, and could not remember where I was.”
― Katherine Addison, The Witness for the Dead

“I’m not about to punish anyone for being in love.”
― Katherine Addison, The Witness for the Dead

“I felt the ghoul’s hand close around my ankle, and it started to drag me back.”
― Katherine Addison, The Witness for the Dead

“he was a man to charge his own shadow for the right to stick to his heels.”
― Katherine Addison, The Witness for the Dead

“I admit to a fondness for boring stories.”
― Katherine Addison, The Witness for the Dead

“Two women, sisters by the look of it, were both reading the same copy of the Herald of Amalo, spread flat on the table between them, one sister reading right side up and one sister reading upside down.”
― Katherine Addison, The Witness for the Dead

“She showed me her quilt, scraps of fabric pieced together into the pattern called Valmata’s Return. She was now stitching the top and batting and backing together, overlaying Valmata’s Return with a pattern called Scorpion Dance—appropriate to the story of Valmata, who returned from war and poisoned his father in order to take control of the family estates. They sang the ballad in Lohaiso.”
― Katherine Addison, The Witness for the Dead

“but she was as close-mouthed as a turtle.”
― Katherine Addison, The Witness for the Dead

“They were very good, soft rolls stuffed with ham and tangy white cheese and then heated just enough to make the rolls crispy on the outside and to melt the cheese on the inside.”
― Katherine Addison, The Witness for the Dead

“I’d always understood “strength in tranquility” and taken “tranquility in strength” to mean that if one was strong, one could make the tranquility one needed. But now, twisting and turning through the corn maze, I began to see it differently, that “tranquility in strength” meant having the strength to keep one’s tranquility of mind, no matter what the world brought. It meant being tranquil—peaceful—even when one was strong, not bullying or picking fights.”
― Katherine Addison, The Witness for the Dead

“Only a monster would value his name so little.”
― Katherine Addison, The Witness for the Dead

“chaotic in the way that any residence of a small child is chaotic.”
― Katherine Addison, The Witness for the Dead