Mercedes Lackey Quotations

Why should you find a mind attractive enough to put up with a crippled, aging body? I'm half again your age-why is it that when we're talking you make me feel no age at all? or every age? How is it that you challenge my mind as well as my heart? How did you make me come alive again?

There's always going to be fighting. People of honor have to be a part of that, because if they aren't, the only ones fighting will be the ones who don't care, who have no honor, and no concern for how many others die if all the fighting is done by people with no conscience, there won't be any safety anywhere for the people who only want peace.

In a calm, clear voice, she suggested that the wyrsa in question could do several highly improbable, athletically difficult and possibly biologically impractical things involving its own mother, a few household implements, and a dead fish.

Witch' is just a religion, okay? No baby-sacrificing, no Black Masses, no sending imps out to scare the dog-snot out of kids, trying to make them think they're crazy. We don't do things like that. Our number-one law is 'Have fun in this lifetime, but don't hurt anybody.' Nice little paraphrase of "An it harm none, do as ye will" if I do say so myself.

Getting angry over something that won't change is like seeing what happens if you hit your hand with a hammer over and over again, and being surprised each time when it hurts. So you might as well stop doing it.

In a dog's world, only three states existed: "now," "in a while," and "forever." If someone left, he was gone "forever," and when he returned they rejoiced as much as if he were back from the dead precisely because he'd been gone "forever.

He isn't stupid, but his interests are so narrow I doubt I could slip a sheet of paper in between them

Nevertheless, now that I have met you, I know that all that I am, and all that I have, could not match what you are worth.

Doctor MacKenzie says "Sometimes I think the Victorians had the right idea. When you lost a family member back then you were suppose to be in full mourning, dress in nothing but black, for a whole year. Then you went into something they called 'half mourning' for another full year, adn during those two years, you were pretty much expected to have emotional breakdowns, you could do it whenever you felt you needed to, and everybody would support you. Now?, A month after a tragedy, maybe two, and you're expected to be all better-or down pills so you can pretend you are.

Although you feel relief now, this is likely to be the source of many sleepless nights for you. You will lie awake, look upon your heart, and find it unlovely. You will be certain that (...) you are the greatest of monsters. This is a good thing; although you may forgive yourself, you must never come to think that your actions were in any way justifiable. But- (...) Being a sane, honorable human being is not always comfortable.

There will always be bad times... It's the getting back up again that counts." - Gallen in "Intrigues

Pretend long enough that you belong, and eventually even you will believe it." - Gallen

Fanatics can justify practically any atrocity to themselves. The more untenable their position becomes, the harder they hold to it, and the worse the things they are willing to do to support it.

There’s no such thing as `one, true way’; the only answers worth having are the ones you find for yourself; leave the world better than you found it. Love, freedom, and the chance to do some good — they’re the things worth living and dying for, and if you aren’t willing to die for the things worth living for, you might as well turn in your membership in the human race.

How DARE the villainous cads be as clever as the heroes.

The freedom to swing your fist ends at my nose.

Not forgiving someone hurts you worse than it hurts him...even if he doesn't deserve to be forgiven...Not forgiving someone is like not pulling a thorn out of your foot just because you weren't the one who put it there.

If I'm walking on thin ice, I might as well dance my way across

... sometimes good people [are] helpless... terrible things happen... to good people... there [are] sad endings as well as happy ones.

A quaint conceit, don't you think?

Certainly no one has ever died of an unrequited passion—it's usually the ones that are requited that get people in trouble.

Magic, like technology, is a tool.

Change or stagnate. Keep moving or die.

Caught between glass and wood, that which breaks and that which bends, that which sings and that which survive. So our lives go.

The people who keep coping, keep trying, no matter how many blows Fate takes at them. Nobody'll make a song about them, but they're heroes all the same.

It makes sense for people who are good at fighting to go out and do it-because if they're good at it, that means the fewest number of other people die.

If there are going to be people out there making war on other people, don't you think it's a good idea for some of those people to at least follow a code of ethics? Not 'honor' but something you can pin down and be sure of, something with the same rules for everybody.

The hatched chick cannot go back to the shell, the falcon who has found the sky does not willingly sit the nest.

Sympathy can be addictive and can kill strong men as surely as a diet of nothing but sugar.

I always work from an outline, so I know all the of the broad events and some of the finer details before I begin writing the book.

When warriors feel afraid they lack something, it is only because they are forgetful. They have forgotten how capable they truly are.

You don't spend most of your life in other people's heads without losing every prejudice you ever had.

I try to use all of my senses when describing a setting, and try to think of everything that would impact a character in any given scene.

Three things know a secret- First; the lady in a dream, The dog that barks no warning, And a maid that does not scream.

Three things never trust in- The maiden sworn as pure, The vows a king has given, And an ambush that is sure.

Three things trust and cherish well- The horse on which you ride, The beast that guards and watches, And your shield-mate at your side.

Some must be warriors, that others may live in peace.

Do you know the kind of things that live up there?...things without names 'cause no one who's seen 'em has lived long enough to give them any name besides 'AAAARG!

Three things see no end- A flower blighted ere it bloomed, A message that was wasted, And a journey that was doomed.

...Though drowned was just as dead as any other way of dying.

Of three things be wary- of a feather on a cat, The shepherd eating mutton, And a guardsman that is fat.

Three things never anger or you'll not live for long; A wolf with cubs, A man with power, And a woman's sense of wrong.

One day,' Orest said, looking at him comically, 'you will say something that is less than practical and sensible, something that is driven by no forethought and nothing but passion, and I will probably collapse with shock.

Truth and trust are the means by which civilization holds off barbarism.

Assume the attitude of prayer, and in time, the attitude will become prayer.

She just dropped it and ran!!

If it is stupid but it works, it isn't stupid. (a Shin'a'in saying)

If they projected the fact that they are dangerous any harder, there would be little puddles of "danger" on the floor around them. Look, it's "danger", don't step in it!

To treat a person like a carpet, it is necessary that one do the walking, and one allow himself to be walked on. --Shin'a'in saying

The dragonets found the carpenters to be even more fascinating than the furniture, and followed the poor men from pen to pen, crowding around to watch, tasting the wooden planks, trying to steal the tools. It made for an interesting day for everyone, as the boys tried to keep the dragonets away from the carpenters, and the dragonets tried to get at the carpenters, and the carpenters worked probably a great deal faster than they ever had in their lives, sure that the dragonets would go from tasting the wood to tasting them.

. . . from what he knew about the Creatures of the Dark they wouldn't waste their time laying elaborate traps. They'd just eat someone.

Better watch out said a second voice from somewhere under the Beetle. Don't park those two kraut cars too close together; it's springtime, and they might decide to mate. then Charlie'll be stuck with a garage full of little orange safety cones

It isn't wise to be rude to one's mother. She knows everything about your childhood that is potentially embarassing.

Mister Cameron - I have read the unexpurgated Ovid, the love poems of Sappho, the Decameron in the original, and a great many texts in Greek and Latin histories that were not though fit for proper gentlemen to read, much less proper ladies. I know in precise detail what Caligula did to, and with, his sisters, and I can quote it to you in Latin or in my own translation if you wish. I am interested in historical truth, and truth in history is often unpleasant and distasteful to those of fine sensibility. I frankly doubt that you will produce anything to shock me.

If he didn't get out of here - right now - Harrier was either going to break into hysterical laughter or strangle somebody.

[Harrier] locked eyes with Zanattar. He couldn't remember another time in his life when he'd been this angry and hadn't hit something.

A book's alright when the weather's foul and there's nothing else to do, but why sit and read when the wind is calling your name?

Time doesn't. All that Time does is make it more distant, put more space between you and what happened. It doesn't heal anything. I don't know how or what does the healing, but it isn't Time.

Once the blinders are off, it's rather hard to go back to seeing things the way you used to.

Parents always know what strings control your heart and soul. After all, they are the ones who tied them there.

... everything written is at least in part fantasy. Except maybe the national budget. That's horror.

It's hard being a rock; they have such a strange sense of time - and priorities.

I'm not a legend or a hero, I don't slay dragons, I don't do any of the things that a real hero can. But I can make things better, one day at a time, for most of the kingdom.

This I think I have learned: where there is love, the form does not matter, and the gods are pleased. This I have observed: what occurs in nature, comes by the hand of nature, and if the gods did not approve, it would not be there ~ Moondance k'Treva (Magic's Pawn)

If you would rise, do so alone.

Harrier twisted himself sideways on his saddle to stare at him [Tiercel]. 'You had a vision,' he said flaty. Yes. No. I don't know. I...Yes. No.

Evil working in subtler fashion; marriages that proved to be no more then legalized slavery, and the careful manipulation of a bright and sensitive mind until its owner truly believed with all her heart in her own worthlessness. Betrayal, not once, but many times over.

You jackass. We're all going to die here. You know that, right?' Harrier said. Yeah," Eugens said shakily. '...Guess I might as well die here with you as out on the desert with a bunch of other jackasses.

Yeah, well, that's what you said the last time it did this, and it was doing it that time too,' Tiercel said waspishly. Clear as mud,' Harrier muttered.

I think I know why you never married, Sarah." "Well, and I reckoned if I wanted something that'd come and go as he pleased, take me for granted, and ignore me when he chose, I'd get a cat. And if I wanted something I'd always have to be picking up after, getting into trouble, but slavishly devoted, I'd get a dog.

It's only gossip if you repeat it. Until then, it's gathering information.

You are human and mortal; we are the sum of our weak moments and our strong.

We're none of us quite so sure of our place in the world that we can't be rocked off our feet by bad times. It's the getting back up again that counts. Not that you fall, but getting back up again counts for more in the long run.

Zen Hugs - the hugs that you would get, if we were there, if we could hug you, but we aren't, and we can't.

It's just as easy to be lonely in a city as out in the wilderness. Easier, really. It's harder to get to know someone when you meet in a crowded place. People can freely ignore you in the city; they can assume they don't have any responsibility for you. When there are fewer people, (...) they begin assuming some kind of responsibility, simply because you naturally do the same.

I have no place in my life for someone who is sure he can do everything. --Steelmind

Inexperience can be overcome, ignorance can be enlightened, but prejudice will destroy you.

Honor was never taking the easy way when it was also the wrong one. Never telling a falsehood unless the truth was painful and unnecessary, or a lie was necessary to save others. Never manipulating the truth to serve only yourself. Protecting the weak and helpless; standing fast even when fear made you weak. Keeping your word.

Give your enemy a face, If he is human, do not dehumanize him. Know him and know why he is your enemy. If your enemy is within you, understand what it is and why you are afraid. Put a face on your fear. When you understand it, and it is no longer vague and shapeless, you will find that your fear is no longer so formidable.

The great love is gone. There are still little loves - friend to friend, brother to sister, student to teacher. Will you deny yourself comfort at the hearthfire of a cottage because you may no longer sit by the fireplace of a palace? Will you deny yourself to those who reach out to you in hopes of warming themselves at your hearthfire?

If only. Those must be the two saddest words in the world.

Adventure, yeah. I guess that's what you call it when everybody comes back alive.