The Captive Kingdom Quotes

“And if doing what’s right makes someone angry with me, then may I cause rage and fury wherever I go.”
― Jennifer A. Nielsen, The Captive Kingdom

“I am willing to pay for the consequences of my actions, but when I let someone get to close to me, the consequences may come to them instead. I can't allow that.”
― Jennifer A. Nielsen, The Captive Kingdom

“But this new king is also my older brother. He was always the one to pick me up when I fell, to warn me of dangers I had not yet discovered, to teach me the wisdom I had yet to learn for myself. All my life, I thought if I could only be more like him, then I would somehow find the best in myself. All my life I have fallen short of that goal, and yet he believed in me anyway, and gave me hope of being a better person tomorrow.”
― Jennifer A. Nielsen, The Captive Kingdom

“I made jokes because the alternative was to scream as loudly on the outside as I was on the inside. Because I needed to laugh so that I wouldn't burn with anger at the injustices around me.”
― Jennifer A. Nielsen, The Captive Kingdom

“There was no commotion, only me doing a literal somersault across the meeting table and frightening Mistress Kitcher so much that she leapt away and lost her wig. Hence all the screaming. Mine, not hers.”
― Jennifer A. Nielsen, The Captive Kingdom

“One may ask, how is the great King Jaron described by those who know him? The answer rarely includes the word “great,” unless the word to follow is “fool,” though I have also heard “disappointment,” “frustration,” and “chance that he’ll get us all killed.” There are other answers, of course. “He was born to cause trouble, as if nothing else could make him happy.” My nursemaid said that, before I was even four years of age. I still believe her early judgments of me were unfair. Other than occasionally climbing over the castle balconies, and a failed attempt at riding a goat, what could I have possibly done to make her say such a thing? My childhood tutor: “Jaron has a brilliant mind, if one can pin him down long enough to teach him anything he doesn’t think he already knows. Which one rarely can.” It wasn’t that I thought I already knew everything. It was that I had already learned everything I cared to know from him, and besides, I didn’t see the importance of studying in the same way as my elder brother, Darius. He would become king. I would take a position among his advisors or assume leadership within our armies. My parents had long abandoned the idea of me becoming a priest, at the tearful request of our own priest, who once announced over the pulpit that I “belonged to the devils more than the saints.” To be fair, I had just set fire to the pulpit when he said it. Mostly by accident.”
― Jennifer A. Nielsen, The Captive Kingdom

“Every risk I ever took, every leap of faith, every step into the darkness, was to prove to myself that I could overcome any challenge that came my way. No matter how small I often felt, I needed to know that I could face the hard thing ahead because I’d already done harder things before.”
― Jennifer A. Nielsen, The Captive Kingdom

“Whether you realize it or not, Jaron, you cast a long shadow. Maybe Roden is tired of living in it.”
― Jennifer A. Nielsen, The Captive Kingdom

“Failure isn’t the end of a plan. Just keep pushing back until all that’s left is to win.”
― Jennifer A. Nielsen, The Captive Kingdom

“And just like that, the inevitable happened. Imogen had finally given up on me.”
― Jennifer A. Nielsen, The Captive Kingdom

“That was a long gulp," he said. "I just told you a gulp."
I frowned at him. "Maybe you should have explained the difference between a long gulp and a regular gulp."
"If I had intended for anything but a regular gulp, I would have said so.”
― Jennifer A. Nielsen, The Captive Kingdom

“By the time the cave was in view, I was sore and exhausted, and my temper was stirring. In other words, I felt almost normal.”
― Jennifer A. Nielsen, The Captive Kingdom

“Wilta”
― Jennifer A. Nielsen, The Captive Kingdom

“and the closest thing I had to a mortal wound was a bruise on my thigh from when I’d bumped into my own throne last month. In other words, I was bored.”
― Jennifer A. Nielsen, The Captive Kingdom

“One may ask, how is the great King Jaron described by those who know him? The answer rarely includes the word “great,” unless the word to follow is “fool,” though I have also heard “disappointment,” “frustration,” and “chance that he’ll get us all killed.” There are other answers, of course. “He was born to cause trouble, as if nothing else could make him happy.” My nursemaid said that, before I was even four years of age. I still believe her early judgments of me were unfair. Other than occasionally climbing over the castle balconies, and a failed attempt at riding a goat, what could I have possibly done to make her say such a thing?”
― Jennifer A. Nielsen, The Captive Kingdom

“One may ask, how is the great King Jaron described by those who know him? The answer rarely includes the word “great,” unless the word to follow is “fool,” though I have also heard “disappointment,” “frustration,” and “chance that he’ll get us all killed.”
― Jennifer A. Nielsen, The Captive Kingdom

“I coughed, loudly, and she stopped to look at me. “Forgive me,” I said. “But you are pronouncing ‘Carthya’ incorrectly, and I can’t stand it any longer. You spend far too much time on the final vowel. Is that typical of all Prozarians?”
― Jennifer A. Nielsen, The Captive Kingdom

“Now the narrow man entered the cell, almost seeming to carry his shadow with him. I immediately understood why. As physically intimidating as Lump was, this man was his very opposite: ghostly pale, thin and willowy, and controlled enough to hold his body together in a tight straight line. Round glasses distorted his long face, and not in a good way. They shrank his eyes into cold, almost lifeless, beads.”
― Jennifer A. Nielsen, The Captive Kingdom

“What you and I share is not so thin that I will react to every young woman who flirts with you, or offers you compliments, or seeks to become your favorite. I’ve seen it a thousand times before, and it does not bother me. But Wilta is different. She isn’t looking to you for an improvement in her social status, to grant her a title, or even to be able to boast to her friends that she earned a smile from you. She’s asking you to risk your life for her people.”
― Jennifer A. Nielsen, The Captive Kingdom

“You’re correct, Jaron. All I’m thinking about right now, all I care about right now, is Amarinda! And I’m thinking about how, sooner or later, you’ll force us to abandon her. Whatever happens to her now is your fault!”
― Jennifer A. Nielsen, The Captive Kingdom

“Wilta placed her hand on his cheek. “If there’s a way to gain her trust, we will find it together.” “Thank you, Wilta.”
― Jennifer A. Nielsen, The Captive Kingdom

“He was always the one to pick me up when I fell, to warn me of dangers I had not yet discovered, to teach me the wisdom I had yet to learn myself. All my life I thought if I could only be more like him, then I would somehow find the best in myself... yet he believed in me anyway, and gave me hope of becoming a better person tomorrow."
-Jaron”
― Jennifer A. Nielsen, The Captive Kingdom