Princess Academy Quotes
"The east says it’s dawn, My mouth speaks a yawn, My bed clings to me and begs me to stay."
"The world was as dark as eyes closed, but perhaps the goats could smell dawn seeping through the cracks."
"My throat burned. She would make him proud."
"Even better. Her mouth watered at the thought of hot sweet cakes, honeyed nuts for a holiday, and a bit saved to drizzle on biscuits some bleak winter evening."
"It was the cost of living beside a quarry."
"Water in the porridge, And more salt in the gruel, Doesn’t make a belly, Full, not a bellyful."
"The sky was rust and yellow in the east, illuminating the village as though by firelight."
"I’ve a lever for a bandit, And a chisel for a rat, I’ve a mallet for a she-wolf, And a hammer for a cat."
"My toes are colder than my feet, My feet are colder than my ribs, My ribs are colder than my breath, My breath is colder than my lips, And my lips are purple and blue, purple and blue."
"You must know your rank and that of your interlocutor," said Olana.
"The person of lower rank always defers to the other."
"Never offer any information about yourself," said Olana. "Not only for courtesy, but also to protect your secrets."
"Tell the truth as plainly as possible," Olana read from a book.
"Listen carefully to your allies and enemies to know their minds."
"The best solutions don’t come through force."
"Acknowledge your faults and declare your plan to amend them."
"Quarry-speech used memories to carry messages."
"No wolf falters before the bite. So strike. No hawk wavers before the dive. Just strike."
"Mud in the stream, and earth in the air. Clay in my ears, and stone in my stare."
"Look no farther than your hand, make a choice and take a stand."
"She’s as lovely as a girl with flowers in her hair, the mountain, my lady."
"All I know are scraps, flakes, chips, rocks, all below are stones, shards, bits, dross."
"It’s easy to believe the traders will cheat us as much as they can, but what can we do about it?"
"But now she was aware of the kingdom beyond her mountain, hundreds of years of history, and a thousand things she could be."
"The mountain was the world and my labor a mite."
"Miri tried to remember when every curtsy had begun to feel more important than breakfast."
"The mountain knows the feel of an outsider's boot, and the mountain will not support its weight."
"I'm not accustomed to being spoken to in such a tone."
"Truth is when your gut and your mind agree."
"I make an impression because I'm so short."
"We all scored one hundred percent on this portion of the exam. I didn't expect that."
"How am I supposed to know all of you? I hoped that one girl would just seem right."
"Despite all her assurances that she would not be chosen, Britta was as anxious as any of them."
"Mount Eskel feels the boots of outsiders."
"Next thing, the mountain will bury us alive and no one will cry, or those men will lop off my arms."
"Everyone stay still. We'll be gone soon, and you look for your girls come spring thaw."
"I don’t think we’ll rest easy in this house anymore."
"Empty your mind of troubles and dreams. Empty your heart of all daylight things."
"The mountain was home—the linder dust, the rhythm of the quarry, the chain of mountains, the people she knew as well as the feel of her own skin."
"I'm a thief and a murderer, remember? You can’t trust me not to kill her out of spite."
"The mountain was home. Her pa was home. And Peder . . . She allowed herself to hope for Peder."
"Her wishes were too big for a hillside of miri flowers."
"Plumb line is swinging, Spring hawk is winging, Eskel is singing."