The Grief of Stones Quotes

“The grief of the stones was grief for every man killed in the building of the wall, for every man who died defending or attacking, for every man executed by being thrown off the battlements. “But those are our worst criminals!” the king protests, and the young man says, “That doesn’t matter to the stones.”
― Katherine Addison, The Grief of Stones

“The sable queen butted my shin imperiously with her head, and I obediently began petting her. Her purr was extravagant, a tremendous noise from such a small and delicate-looking creature. It changed nothing, but, for that long moment, until she turned her head and caught my hand gently between her teeth, it made me feel better, as if all problems were inherently solvable, as if no answer I chose would be wrong.”
― Katherine Addison, The Grief of Stones

“I could not lay down the grief I carried, but I could name it for what it was, and by naming it ease the burden;”
― Katherine Addison, The Grief of Stones

“To win the hand of the princess, the young man had to do three increasingly impossible things, the last of which was to learn the grief of stones. He went to the castle’s great defensive wall at midnight and dripped three drops of his own blood on a stone of the foundation. The grief of the stones was grief for every man killed in the building of the wall, for every man who died defending or attacking, for every man executed by being thrown off the battlements. “But those are our worst criminals!” the king protests, and the young man says, “That doesn’t matter to the stones.” There were different endings to the story. In”
― Katherine Addison, The Grief of Stones