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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

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Megan Whalen Turner
Age: 59
Born: 1965
Born: January 1
Novelist
Writer
Thought
Advice
Used
Learned
Take
Forever
Learn
Surprised
Wish
Patience
Process
Figure
Tell
Figures
Didn
Beginning

More quotes by Megan Whalen Turner

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I'll be your minister-- Of the exchequer? You'd rob me blind. I would never steal from you, he'd said hotly. Oh? Where is my tourmaline necklace? Where are my missing earrings? That necklace was hideous. It was the only way to keep you from wearing it. My earrings? What earrings?
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I'm dying of boredom. Or maybe just dying.
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He couldn't offend the gods with a pointed stick.
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The queen had passed him, so close he'd felt the stir of air, and he guessed that if she had turned her head, only a little, and met his eyes, he might have died right there.
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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.
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The room was quiet, the others flicking glances at me. I ignored them. After years in Sounis's palaces being eyed with disgust by my uncle and my own father and courtier after courtier, I assure you I am unrivaled at pretending not to notice other people's glances.
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Costis bowed stiffly. “I am here to make sure that you stay in bed, Your Majesty, because if this offends you and you order me summarily executed, it is no loss. Politically speaking.
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Today, she had yielded the sovereignty of her country to Eugenides, who had given up everything he had ever hoped for, to be her King.
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What a strange world it is, where prisoners are left their weapons and the written word is a mortal danger.
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I wanted Ambiades to understand that I considered myself a hierarchy of one.
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And the Earth had no name. The gods know themselves and have no need of names. It is man who names all things, even gods.
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Why did you come if not to murder my king? I came to steal his magus. You can't, said the magus in question. I can steal anything, Eugenides corrected him, even with one hand.
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She was the stone-faced queen, then and ever after. She had needed the mask to rule, and she had been glad to have it. She wondered if Eugenides was glad of his.
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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.
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When we opened the doors, we saw that the entire room was scorched black and you were on the floor possibly dead, surrounded by broken glass. Window glass is expensive, you realize that? Yes, Your Majesty, he said meekly.
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Before you make a decision, he said, I want you to know that I love you.
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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.
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He looked at their shabby clothes in puzzlement. “We were traveling anonymously for safety—” explained the magus. “But surely—” “—and then we were robbed on the road.” “Ah,” said the king, “the danger in being anonymous.
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How do you know that, Philo, dear? But Philologos had had enough of being condescended to. Because, Lamion, I am not as dumb as you think I am, even if you are. By the time Lamion had parsed this to make sure that there was in fact an insult at the end of it, Hilarion had laid a restraining hand on his arm.
Megan Whalen Turner
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One of us might be assassinated and then my heir will be king. Don't give up hope just because chances are slim. For the assassination or the heir, your majesty?
Megan Whalen Turner