Quote

She pulled the bedclothes up as far as they would go and suppressed a perverse wish to have her old nurse come to chase away the darkness, perverse because she didn't know if she wanted the shadows to be empty or not.

Megan Whalen Turner

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

TAGS & TOPICS

Megan Whalen Turner
Age: 59
Born: 1965
Born: January 1
Novelist
Writer
Come
Nurse
Would
Shadow
Empty
Darkness
Suppressed
Wish
Perverse
Away
Chase
Didn
Pulled
Wanted
Shadows

More quotes by Megan Whalen Turner

Image
The Magus must had eyes like a thief because he told Pol to stop and dismount to walk alongside me, one hand resting just above my knee ready to shake me if I fell asleep. He shook hard and resorted to pinching periodically.
Megan Whalen Turner
Image
I was not so comfortable with my new authority that I could say 'We eat the chicken now!' but the magus had seen that I was considering it.
Megan Whalen Turner
Image
He didn't marry you to become king. He became king because he wanted to marry you.
Megan Whalen Turner
Image
If I am the pawn of the gods, it is because they know me so well, not because they make my mind up for me.
Megan Whalen Turner
Image
Are you badly hurt? Hideously, said the king, without sounding injured at all. I am disemboweled. My insides may in an instant become my outsides as I stand here before you.
Megan Whalen Turner
Image
So Sophos thinks you're going to marry me. While I think you'll marry Sophos. I might. We'll see what he's like when he grows up.
Megan Whalen Turner
Image
That is ridiculous, she said. The king agreed. Like falling in love with a landslide. Only you could fail to notice.
Megan Whalen Turner
Image
Safety is an illusion, Costis. A Thief might fall at any time, and eventually the day must come when the god will let him. Whether I am on a rafter three stories up or on a staircase three steps up, I am in my god's hands. He will keep me safe, or he will not, here or on the stairs.
Megan Whalen Turner
Image
A thief never makes a noise by accident.
Megan Whalen Turner
Image
On the bed, Eugenides stirred restlessly. Upset at the sight of blood? he said. Not my wife, Ornon. Your blood, the ambassador pointed out. Eugenides glanced at the hook on his arm and conceded the point. Yes, he said. He seemed lost in memory. The room was quiet.
Megan Whalen Turner
Image
All my life they had made choices for me, and I had resented it. Now the choice was mine, and once it was made, I would have no right to blame anyone else for the consequences. Loss of that privilege, to blame others, unexpectedly stung.
Megan Whalen Turner
Image
Why didn't you tell me to take Attolia's advice from the beginning? I thought you should figure it out. What you learn for yourself, you will know forever, said Eugenides. Pol used to say that, said Sounis, surprised. I learned it from him. I just wish to my god that I had his patience for the process.
Megan Whalen Turner
Image
I am very good at groveling.
Megan Whalen Turner
Image
In the afternoon, the king and queen sat to hear the business of their kingdom. At least, the queen sat to hear the business Costis was still not sure what the king was doing.
Megan Whalen Turner
Image
I was listening, the king said, aggrieved. I closed my eyes to listen better. What did you hear? I'm not sure, he said. That's why I was listening so closely. I may have to ask the baron to repeat some parts of his report on his grain tax. I am sure you can arrange an appointment. I am sure I can too.
Megan Whalen Turner
Image
Tell me a story then...keep me occupied. A story?...What makes you think I can tell a story? Insight, said the king, Go on.
Megan Whalen Turner
Image
It made Costis wonder for the first time just how much the stoic man really wants to hide when he unsuccessfully pretends not to be in pain.
Megan Whalen Turner
Image
All I wanted to do was lie in the dry grass with my feet in a ditch forever. I could be a convenient sort of milemarker, I thought. Get to the thief and you know you're halfway to Methana.
Megan Whalen Turner
Image
Her queen danced like a flame in the wind, and the mercurial king like the weight at the center of the earth.
Megan Whalen Turner
Image
As a ten-year-old boy, the Thief of Eddis could stop a grown man in his tracks with a single look. Where had that look gone?
Megan Whalen Turner