The Dragon Keeper Quotes
"Ever since she was old enough to follow me up into the canopy or along the branchways, she has proved her worth."
"Dragons don’t kill their own kind, except in mating battles."
"A dragon carries within her the memories of all her dragon lineage."
"The right of the strong to feed on the weaker."
"A dragon’s roar is a declaration of identity."
"Meat and blood filled her jaws, comforting her."
"When a young man comes to call on you, it is only polite to treat him respectfully."
"Dragons had come back into the world … and here she was, trapped in Bingtown, shackled to a docile existence."
"That bit of paper had represented a promise to herself."
"Life in Bingtown had become a miserable existence."
"No grand park surrounded their home, only a humble rose garden."
"She had never been anyone’s idea of a 'good catch.'"
"Their history was woven through the ancient underground cities."
"Her studies, begun on a whim, had seized her imagination."
"Alise was aware of it, her parents were aware of it."
"I read about dragons. And Elderlings. They fascinate me."
"The night Tintaglia had landed outside the burned shell of the Traders’ Concourse and struck her bargain with the Traders."
"She had seen the great creature’s gleaming hide, her spinning eyes."
"The war with Chalced had obscured them entirely."
"She would sketch the scene and she would write of it authoritatively."
"She would have something that belonged to her."
"He rose as she approached, moving with the languid grace of a big cat."
"I’m calm. I’m not hurt. Nothing is wrong. I’ve lived up to the terms of my marriage contract."
"She set aside her girlish fancies and her anguish. Neither could save her from her fate."
"The simplicity of the dress belied how expensive it had been."
"Like any decision, once she had reached it, the world suddenly seemed simpler."
"She judged that if she had sold herself, at least she’d demanded a high price."
"I want to die as a free creature rather than as cattle."
"Kelsingra, I remember you! We all do, even those who wish we did not!"
"Because when a baby is born with claws instead of fingernails, the parents and the midwife know what they have to do. And they do it."
"Get rid of it. Put it somewhere, away from where people go. And leave it there."
"To die? Or be eaten by something, a tree cat or a big snake."
"Sometimes they strangle the baby or smother it so it doesn’t suffer too long."
"No, you haven’t. You’ve seen lots of folk with black nails. Even thick black nails. But not claws."
"You don’t look that much stranger to me than most of the folk in the Rain Wilds."
"No. They marked me to try to make people believe they owned me."
"I’ve seen lots of Rain Wild folk with claws."
"I am not a dragon. And neither are those creatures that you intend to visit and study." - Paragon
"I choose to recall nothing at all." - Paragon
"Sometimes, if you forget something, it’s because it’s better forgotten." - Althea
"I’ve committed a grave error, one that too many scholars fall prey to. I’ve let my expectations and hopes color my opinion." - Alise
"The least I must do is see them for myself." - Alise
"How can they be dragons when they emerge not knowing what a dragon is?" - Paragon
"I hate the thought of being away from my family for so long." - Sedric
"It’s time you were out on your own for a bit, son." - Sedric's father
"Because opportunities such as this don’t wait! They come along, and the man who seizes it is the man who finds a future in it."
"This is your golden chance, Sedric! And you’re going to turn it down because you ‘like things to be nice!’"
"I don’t understand you at all. Do you know what it’s taken for me to get this offer for you?"
"You’re my heir, Sedric, but what you’ll inherit if you don’t take hold soon, I don’t know."
"Well, their fathers have the money to raise useless idle boys, but I don’t!"
"It’s just not something that you expect the son of a Trader to do, even a younger son."
"For as handsome as Hest Finbok is and as wealthy as his family is, he has a reputation for being fickle in his pursuits."
"Don’t count on him to be someone you can depend on for the rest of your life, Sedric."
"Hitting someone was unusual behavior for Hest. He had other ways of expressing his domination and control."
"Nights were as cold as Hest himself. But he’d show Hest."
"Did any of us think we’d be doing this, a month ago? Preparing to meet dragons and escort them up the river?"
"I’m not the easiest fellow to get along with."
"I know what is mine, and I know that it’s my decision whether to share it or not."
"Lords of the Three Realms, they had once called themselves."
"If I were a man and married to a woman such as you, and she said to another fellow that her life as my wife wasn’t much different from her life when she’d been single, well, I’d wonder what I was doing wrong."
"I see nothing of the kind. I see that there is something here I do not know, something that propels the urgency of this expedition."
"Without us cutting them up into planks to build ships, more of them might have survived to hatch during that quake."
"If there had not been liveships, would you have been there at all?"
"The first step is to find the place. And get the dragons to safety."
"A dragon is never a mother as you know it, little milk-making creature."
"There have always been humans who cannot hear dragons."
"You live so short a time, and waste so much of it being stupid."
"A dragon’s true name is a thing to be earned, not given."
"We are never as helpless and stupid as humans are when they are first born."
"Skymaw says that even if you could understand her words, she thinks it likely you would be unable to comprehend either her intelligence or wisdom."
"If her poison glands were mature, you’d be melting right now."
"We never fuss about squealing babies or waste our days in tending to the wants of helpless young."
"You can see that it is hopeless for a human to try to understand dragonkind at all."
"Look, we got off to a bad start. And I don’t suppose I made things better when I startled you."
"I’m also a passable artist and intended to do sketches of the dragons, detailed sketches of their eyes, claws, teeth, and well, every part of them."
"Everyone knows that dragons don’t tell their real names immediately."
"She’s such a beauty, Thymara. Green as emeralds, green as sunlight through leaves."
"I think the sea serpents were too old and not as fat as they should have been, and they didn’t stay encased long enough."
"All parts of them grow—necks, legs, tails, and, yes, wings."
"It’s because of the way he looks at us, as if he’s always evaluating us."
"I wouldn’t allow anyone to take mine from me. He’s very satisfactory."
"I was repeating exactly what Skymaw was saying."
"It’s time to admit that you’ve learned all you can here."
"Kelsingra. That is where you belong. That is where we have to take you."
"I’ve put us both through so much to get here."
"How can I accompany you on this journey, how can I allow you to go?"
"No one had expected the dragons to stampede off like that."
"The plan had been that the barge would lead the way."
"If any of the young keepers overturned their canoes, there would be nothing he could do to help them."
"Now the dragons were completely out of sight."
"Now was no time to be wishing that he could sit her down in the galley and offer her a quiet cup of tea and some talk."
"She’d kept a stone face and a stern resolve all the way back to the barge."
"I wouldn’t know," Leftrin snapped back at him.
"He’s a Trader, Alise. You know that means he must travel."
"I’m not sorry," she finally said. "I’m not sorry I defied you and I’m not sorry that we’re headed up the river."
"I’m running toward the chance to have a little bit of a life of my own, for a little time."
"You want this," one of his hands suddenly grabbed a fistful of Sedric’s robe.
"Struggle as much as you think you should, or need to. I won’t let you win."
"I don’t have to ask ‘what do you want, please, sir?’ It was written all over your face as you stared at the happy couple."
"He pressed his body against him and spoke through clenched teeth."