Archery Quotes

We've searched our database for all the quotes and captions related to Archery. Here they are! All 100 of them:

And one more thing. About my name — Artemis — you were right. In London, it is generally a female name, after the Greek goddess of archery. But every now and then a male comes along with such a talent for hunting that he earns the right to use the name. I am that male. Artemis the hunter. I hunted you.
Eoin Colfer (The Eternity Code (Artemis Fowl, #3))
Seniors get to do all the jolly things," Owen complained as they walked to archery practice that first day. Neal glared at the chubby second-year with all the royal disdain of a vexed lion. He was limping from a staff blow to the knee. "You are a bloody minded-savage," he informed Owen sternly. "I hope you are kidnapped by centaurs.
Tamora Pierce (Page (Protector of the Small, #2))
Don't think of what you have to do, don't consider how to carry it out!" he exclaimed. "The shot will only go smoothly when it takes the archer himself by surprise.
Eugen Herrigel (Zen in the Art of Archery)
I can't believe you're going to sacrifice your archery mojo for MacReive." Lucia would forfeit her fantastical skill with a bow if she was unchaste. "Who am I going to hang out with when your a talentless nobody?
Kresley Cole (Dreams of a Dark Warrior (Immortals After Dark, #10))
Keep practicing," he told her. "Until I get it right?" she said. But he corrected her. "No. Until you don't get it wrong.
John Flanagan (The Royal Ranger (Ranger's Apprentice #12 Ranger's Apprentice: The Royal Ranger #1))
The archer is the true weapon; the bow is just a long piece of wood.
Sebastien de Castell (Traitor's Blade (Greatcoats #1))
The clue to everything a man should love and fear in her was there right from the start in the ironic smile that primed and swelled the archery of her full lips. There was pride in that smile and confidence in the set of her fine nose. Without understanding why I knew beyond question that a lot of people would mistake her pride for arrogance and confuse her confidence with impassivity. I didn't make that mistake. My eyes were lost swimming floating free in the shimmering lagoon of her steady even stare. Her eyes were large and spectacularly green. It was the green that trees are in vivid dreams. It was the green that the sea would be if the sea were perfect.
Gregory David Roberts (Shantaram)
Kurtis came to see me earlier," Magnus said, before Cleo could reply. "Do you know why?" "To tell you I've quit archery?" "No, but it's adorable that you think I'd care about something so trivial.
Morgan Rhodes (Frozen Tides (Falling Kingdoms, #4))
Archery is definitely easier outside, as I can attest after that one time I tried target practice in my father's throne room. And driving the sun...well, that's not really an indoor sport either.
Rick Riordan (The Hidden Oracle (The Trials of Apollo, #1))
What stands in your way is that you have a much too willful will. You think that what you do not do yourself does not happen.
Eugen Herrigel (Zen in the Art of Archery)
People shouldn't be throwing away their history when it's still doing archery practice forty miles up the road.
Natasha Pulley
I wish you’d be quiet,” I muttered. “I also wish we had snowshoes.” “You’d need Uller for that,” said the goat. “Who?” “The god of snowshoes,” said Otis. “He invented them. Also archery and…I don’t know, other stuff.
Rick Riordan (The Sword of Summer (Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard, #1))
The lord of distant archery, Apollo, answered: "Lord of earthquake, sound of mind you could not call me if I strove with you for the sake of mortals, poor things that they are. Ephemeral as the flamelike budding leaves, men flourish on the ripe wheat of the grainland, then in spiritless age they waste and die.
Homer (The Iliad)
It’s good to know you won’t be giving the god of archery a swirly.
Rick Riordan (The Hidden Oracle (The Trials of Apollo, #1))
If you understand real practice, then archery or other activities can be zen. If you don't understand how to practice archery in its true sense, then even though you practice very hard, what you acquire is just technique. It won't help you through and through. Perhaps you can hit the mark without trying, but without a bow and arrow you cannot do anything. If you understand the point of practice, then even without a bow and arrow the archery will help you. How you get that kind of power or ability is only through right practice.
Shunryu Suzuki (Not Always So: Practicing the True Spirit of Zen)
If love be blind, love cannot hit the mark.
William Shakespeare (Romeo and Juliet)
We went about our usual routines - combat practice, volleyball practice, archery practice, strawberry-picking practice (don't ask), lava-wall-climbing practice ... You'll find we practice a lot here.
Rick Riordan (Camp Half-Blood Confidential (The Trials of Apollo))
You worry yourself unnecessarily. Put the thought of hitting right out of your mind!
Eugen Herrigel (Zen in the Art of Archery)
Sin, in the Greek, means missing the mark. An archery term. That’s all it is. That which has kept you from God.
Christina Haag (Come to the Edge)
All my years as a god of archery had not prepared me for playing therapist to an arrow.
Rick Riordan (The Tower of Nero (The Trials of Apollo, #5))
The shot will only go smoothly when it takes the archer himself by surprise.
Eugen Herrigel (Zen in the Art of Archery)
But life knows when to throw in a plot twist. It is an idle but seasoned screenwriter, drinking beers alone and cultivating its archery.
Lisa Taddeo (Three Women)
Alan: "I had terrible stage fright." Sin: "I'm not familiar with the concept of 'stage fright.'" A: "It's pretty awful. You end up having to picture the entire audience in their underwear. Phyllis was in that audience, you know." S: "Why, Alan, I had no idea your tastes ran that way." A: "Phyllis is a very nice lady. And I do not consider her so much aged as matured, like a fine wine. But I still think you owe me an archery lesson.
Sarah Rees Brennan (The Demon's Surrender)
Boredom is that awful state of inaction when the very medicine ― that is, activity ― which could solve it, is seen as odious. Archery? It is too cold, and besides, the butts need re-covering; the rats have been at the straw. Music? To hear it is tedious; to compose it, too taxing. And so on. Of all the afflictions, boredom is ultimately the most unmanning. Eventually, it transforms you into a great nothing who does nothing ― a cousin to sloth and a brother to melancholy.
Margaret George (The Autobiography of Henry VIII: With Notes by His Fool, Will Somers)
Behind me, somebody cleared his throat. It was one of Annabeth’s half-brothers, Malcolm. His face was bright red. “Um, sorry,” he said. “Archery practice is starting, Annabeth. Chiron said to come find you.” I stepped away from Annabeth. “We were just looking at maps,” I said stupidly. Malcolm stared at me. “Okay.” “Tell Chiron I’ll be right there,” Annabeth said, and Malcolm left in a hurry.
Rick Riordan (The Battle of the Labyrinth (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, #4))
...being able to wait without purpose in the state of highest tension...without continually asking yourself: Shall I be able to manage it? Wait patiently, as see what comes - and how it comes!
Eugen Herrigel (Zen in the Art of Archery)
Frank rose, tugged at his shirt, then didn’t seem to know what to do with his hands. At one time, I would have been used to such nervous behavior from mortals I encountered, but now, it took me a moment to realize Frank was still in awe of me. Perhaps, being a shape-shifter, Frank was more willing than most to believe that, despite my unimpressive mortal appearance, I was still the same old god of archery inside. You see? I told you Frank was adorable.
Rick Riordan (The Tyrant’s Tomb (The Trials of Apollo, #4))
When you're betting for tiles in an archery contest, you shoot with skill. When you're betting for fancy belt buckles, you worry about your aim. And when you're betting for real gold, you're a nervous wreck. Your skill is the same in all three cases - but because one prize means more to you than another, you let outside considerations weigh on your mind. He who looks too hard at the outside gets clumsy on the inside.
Zhuangzi (The Complete Works of Chuang Tzu)
The right art," cried the Master, "is purposeless, aimless! The more obstinately you try to learn how to shoot the arrow for the sake of hitting the goal, the less you will succeed in the one and the further the other will recede. What stands in your way is that you have a much too willful will. You think that what you do not do yourself does not happen.
Eugen Herrigel
The right shot at the right moment does not come because you do not let go of yourself. You do not wait for fulfillment, but brace yourself for failure.
Eugen Herrigel (Zen in the Art of Archery)
You must learn to wait properly... By letting go of yourself, leaving yourself and everything yours behind you so decisively that nothing more is left of you but a purposeless tension
Eugen Herrigel (Zen in the Art of Archery)
Should we try to get a little archery practice in before class?" George asked. "That's jock talk, George," said Simon. "I've asked you not to do that. But sure.
Cassandra Clare (Born to Endless Night (Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy, #9))
Apollo was god of poetry as well as archery, and I'd heard him recite in person. I'd almost rather get shot by an arrow
Rick Riordan (The Last Olympian (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, #5))
64. Surprising and Distressing Things While one is cleaning a decorative comb, something catches in the teeth and the comb breaks. A carriage overturns. One would have imagined that such a solid, bulky object would remain forever on its wheels. It all seems like a dream -- astonishing and senseless. A child or grown-up blurts out something that is bound to make people uncomfortable. All night long one has been waiting for a man who one thought was sure to arrive. At dawn, just when one has forgotten about him for a moment and dozed off, a crow caws loudly. One wakes up with a start and sees that it is daytime -- most astonishing. One of the bowmen in an archery contest stands trembling for a long time before shooting; when finally he does release his arrow, it goes in the wrong direction.
Sei Shōnagon (The Pillow Book)
A certain man who was learning archery faced the target with two arrows in his hand. But his instructor said, ' A beginner ought never to have a second arrow; for as long as he relies upon the other, he will be careless with his first one. At each shot he ought to think that he is bound to settle it with this particular shaft at any cost.' Doubtless he would not intentionally act foolishly before his instructor with one arrow, when he has but a couple. But, though he may not himself realize that he is being careless, his teacher knows it. You should bear this advice in mind on every occasion. (In the same way) he who follows the path of learning thinks confidently in the evening that the morning is coming, and in the morning that the evening is coming, and that he will then have plenty of time to study more carefully ; less likely still is he to recognize the waste of a single moment. How hard indeed is it to do a thing at once-now, the instant that you think of it !
Yoshida Kenkō (Essays in Idleness: The Tsurezuregusa of Kenkō)
I may seem smaller than I look, but what people don't know about me is that I once weight-lifted my own weight when I was in high school, ran more miles than anyone else in Physical Education in my class in high school, and was trained by a Shaolin Kung Fu monk while being the only girl in class. I am also trained in archery and firearms. So when it comes to being physically small or petite and even looking like a girly girl; it doesn't matter. I am strong. I am awared and disciplined. And I can leverage the playing field because I am trained. - Kailin Gow in Strong by Kailin Gow
Kailin Gow
Again, like the Zen approach to archery or anything else, you identify the goal and then forget about it and concentrate on the process. Measure
Yvon Chouinard (Let My People Go Surfing: The Education of a Reluctant Businessman--Including 10 More Years of Business Unusual)
Apparently being princess wasn't all about beautiful palaces, fantastic castles, shopping, archery lessons, wearing awesome crowns and kickass underwear and being married to a hot guy who named his ship after you. Apparently there were drawbacks
Kristen Ashley (Wildest Dreams (Fantasyland, #1))
The way to write is to throw your body at the mark when all your arrows are spent.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Surrender. An archer tries to master his bow, to force the arrow where he wants it to go. He tries with strength and focus and discipline to master it. He uses tougher gloves and stronger bowstrings and stiffer limbs, and restraint. But arrows are winged creatures, and will not be restrained. To shoot like that, one must surrender control.
Meagan Spooner (Sherwood)
Their bewilderment is so great that, when one of the girls spoke of archery clubs being fashionable in the States, somebody blurted out: "I suppose the Indians taught you?"; and I am constantly expecting to ask Mrs. St. George how she heats her wigwam in winter.
Edith Wharton (The Buccaneers)
But arrows are winged creatures.
Meagan Spooner (Sherwood)
Such a deadly thing, a feather.
Meagan Spooner (Sherwood)
I learned to lose myself so effortlessly in the breathing that I sometimes had the feeling that I myself was not breathing but—strange as this may sound—being breathed.
Eugen Herrigel (Zen in the Art of Archery)
He who has a hundred miles to walk should reckon ninety as half the journey,” he replied, quoting the proverb.
Eugen Herrigel (Zen in the Art of Archery)
How do you have an armed siege without guns?’ ‘She used Olympic standard archery equipment,
Livia Day (A Trifle Dead (Cafe La Femme, #1))
archery is still a matter of life and death to the extent that it is a contest of the archer with himself;
Eugen Herrigel (Zen in the Art of Archery)
People shouldn’t be throwing away their history when it’s still doing archery practice forty miles up the road.
Natasha Pulley (The Watchmaker of Filigree Street (Watchmaker of Filigree Street, #1))
First things first,” said Archery Captain Arceus.
Steve the Noob (Diary of Steve the Noob 34)
In the classic Zen in the Art of Archery, Eugen Herrigel’s teacher urged him always to take his next shot unburdened by previous failures to hit the target; as he improved, his teacher urged him not to be influenced by his successes either, to stay in the present moment.
Alex Soojung-Kim Pang (The Distraction Addiction: Getting the Information You Need and the Communication You Want, Without Enraging Your Family, Annoying Your Colleagues, and Destroying Your Soul)
What’s the best practical joke you’ve ever played on another camper? Connor: The golden mango! Travis: Oh, dude, that was awesome. Connor: So anyway, we took this mango and spray painted it gold, right? We wrote: “For the hottest” on it and left it in the Aphrodite cabin while they were at archery class. When they came back, they started fighting over it, trying to figure out which of them was the hottest. It was so funny. Travis: Gucci shoes were flying out the windows. The Aphrodite kids were ripping each other’s clothes and throwing lipstick and jewelry. It was like a rabid herd of wild Bratz. Connor: Then they figured out what we’d done, and they tracked us down. Travis: That was not cool. I didn’t know they made permanent makeup. I looked like a clown for a month. Connor: Yeah. They put a curse on me so that no matter what I wore, my clothes were two sizes too small and I felt like a geek. Travis: You are a geek.
Rick Riordan (The Demigod Files (Percy Jackson and the Olympians))
Fernando de Ismelda," Enrico says. "You won the kingdom's archery competition. I gather it was quite a surprise to everyone." "Not to me," the boy says. I decide that I like Fernando de Ismelda.
Rae Carson (The King's Guard (Fire and Thorns, #0.7))
I'd say," the Ranger answered after a few seconds' deliberation, "that he'll be heading south now that he has the chance. Back into Araluen." "How do you know that?" Horace asked. He was always impressed at the two Rangers' ability to read a situation and come up with the correct answer to a problem. Sometimes, he thought, they almost seemed to have divine guidance. "I'm guessing," Halt told him.
John Flanagan (Halt's Peril (Ranger's Apprentice, #9))
... the Master's warning that we should not practice anything except self-detaching immersion.
Eugen Herrigel (Zen in the Art of Archery)
The more one concentrates on breathing, the more the external stimuli fade into the background.
Eugen Herrigel (Zen in the Art of Archery)
The more one concentrates on breathing, the more the external stimuli fade into the background... In due course one even grows immune to larger stimuli, and at the same time detachment from them becomes easier and quicker. Care has only to be taken that the body is relaxed whether standing, sitting or lying, and if one then concentrates on breathing one soon feels oneself shut in by impermeable layers of silence. One only knows and feels that one breathes. And, to detach oneself from this feeling and knowing, no fresh decision is required, for the breathing slows down of its own accord, becomes more and more economical in the use of breath, and finally, slipping by degrees into a blurred monotone, escapes one's attention altogether.
Eugen Herrigel (Zen in the Art of Archery)
This exquisite state of unconcerned immersion in oneself is not, unfortunately, of long duration. It is liable to be disturbed from inside. As though sprung from nowhere, moods, feelings, desires, worries and even thoughts incontinently rise up, in a meaningless jumble.... The only successful way of rendering this disturbance inoperative is to keep on breathing quietly and unconcernedly, to enter into friendly relations with whatever appears on the scene, to accustom oneself to it, to look at it equably and at last grow weary of looking.
Eugen Herrigel (Zen in the Art of Archery)
You have described only too well," replied the Master, "where the difficulty lies...The right shot at the right moment does not come because you do not let go of yourself. You...brace yourself for failure. So long as that is so, you have no choice but to call forth something yourself that ought to happen independently of you, and so long as you call it forth your hand will not open in the right way--like the hand of a child.
Eugen Herrigel
And what impels him to repeat this process at every single lesson, and, with the same remorseless insistence, to make his pupils copy it without the least alteration? He sticks to this traditional custom because he knows from experience that the preparations for working put him simultaneously in the right frame of mind for creating. The meditative repose in which he performs them gives him that vital loosening and equability of all his powers, that collectedness and presence of mind, without which no right work can be done.
Eugen Herrigel (Zen in the Art of Archery)
Neurons that fire together, wire together,’ meaning that activities that repeatedly activate a constellation of neurons cause those neurons to connect more closely, so if a child goes through puberty doing archery, or painting, or video games, or social media. It will cause lasting structural changes in the brain, especially if the activity is rewarding. This is how cultural experience changes the brain, producing a young adult who feels American instead of Japanese, or what is habitually in discover mode as opposed to defend mode.
Jonathan Haidt (The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Caused an Epidemic of Mental Illness)
And the One will take the Sword of the Western Sun and triumph over the enemy with boldness and insight. The arm of the One is steady and heads will roll. Snow Giants will battle
Barbara T. Cerny (Shield of the Palidine)
And the One will reveal the Bow of the Southern Star and conquer the enemy with courage and fine judgment. The sight of the One is true and the enemy cannot hide. Griffon will fly
Barbara T. Cerny (Shield of the Palidine)
How far the pupil will go is not the concern of the teacher and Master. Hardly has he shown him the right way when he must let him go on alone.
Eugen Herrigel (Zen in the Art of Archery)
The instructor’s business is not to show the way itself, but to enable the pupil to get the feel of this way to the goal by adapting it to his individual peculiarities
Eugen Herrigel (Zen in the Art of Archery)
There's none to rival me in archery, that's the thing I most rue. Only Avtandil is like me at all, because I taught him true.
Shota Rustaveli (The Knight in the Panther's Skin)
Your arrows do not carry,’ observed the Master, ‘because they do not reach far enough spiritually.’ Eugen Herrigel Zen and the Art of Archery
Michael E. Gerber (The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don't Work and What to Do About It)
A member of the Archery Club tries to say that we are all foreigners and we should give the country back to the Native Americans, but she's buried under disagreement.
Laurie Halse Anderson (Speak)
I must only warn you of one thing. You have become a different person in the course of these years. For this is what the art of archery means: a profound and far−reaching contest of the archer with himself. Perhaps you have hardly noticed it yet, but you will feel it very strongly when you meet your friends and acquaintances again in your own country: things will no longer harmonize as before. You will see with other eyes and measure with other measures. It has happened to me too, and it happens to all who are touched by the spirit of this art.
Eugen Herrigel (Zen in the Art of Archery)
I'm not sure why anyone on the face of the planet would want to use a bow and arrow. I mean, it seems like a fairly limited field of expertise and usefulness. Unless your name is Katniss.
Andrea Portes (Liberty: The Spy Who (Kind of) Liked Me)
This, then, is what counts: a lightning reaction which has no further need of conscious observation. In this respect at least the pupil makes himself independent of all conscious purpose.
Eugen Herrigel
You had to suffer shipwreck through your own efforts before you were ready to seize the lifebelt he threw you. Believe me, I know from my own experience that the Master knows you and each of his pupils much better than we know ourselves. He reads in the souls of his pupils more than they care to admit.
Eugen Herrigel (Zen in the Art of Archery)
Put the thought of hitting right out of your mind! You can be a Master even if every shot does not hit. The hits on the target is only an outward proof and confirmation of your purposelessness at its highest, of your egolessness, your self-abandonment, or whatever you like to call this state. There are different grades of mastery, and only when you have made the last grade will you be sure of not missing the goal.
Eugen Herrigel (Zen in the Art of Archery)
You’d call this fellow out, whoever he is?” “In a bloody heartbeat. When this silly house party is over, we’re going into Town and buying my duchess a handsome little pistol to carry in her reticule, and we’re showing her how to use it. Then we’ll explain bullwhips to her, and get her an archery set as well.” Harlan took the terrace steps two at a time. “Noah, what are you going on about?” “Marital bliss, Harlan, wooing my duchess, and the kind of family we are now.
Grace Burrowes (The Duke's Disaster (Lonely Lords, #14))
It is dark for archery,’ said Gimli. ‘Indeed it is time for sleep. Sleep! I feel the need of it, as never I thought any dwarf could. Riding is tiring work. Yet my axe is restless in my hand. Give me a row of orc-necks and room to swing and all weariness will fall from me!
J.R.R. Tolkien (The Lord of the Rings)
I must only warn you of one thing. You have become a different person in the course of these years. For this is what the art of archery means: a profound and far-reaching contest of the archer with himself. Perhaps you have hardly noticed it yet, but you will feel it very strongly when you meet your friends and acquaintances again in your own country: things will no longer harmonize as before. You will see with other eyes and measure with other measures. It has happened to me too, and it happens to all who are touched by the spirit of this art.
Eugen Herrigel (Zen in the Art of Archery)
That's because I was in love with this girl who taught archery there. Marie, her name was. Every night I prayed and prayed for her to love me back. I said, 'God, if you'll do this one thing for me I'll believe in you forever and I'll never ask another favor.' But she preferred the lifeguard and they started going out together. After that, why, me and God just never have been that chummy.' Ian said, 'Well, what does that prove? Good grief! You act as if it proves something. But all it proves is, you didn't know what was best for you. You were asking for a girl who wasn't right for you.
Anne Tyler (Saint Maybe)
She shook her head. “I don’t know the details, exactly, but he was a lobbyist for the Minnesota Apiary Association.” “You mean, archery?” Jeff asked. “No, apiary, Daddy. You know, honey bees. There was some kind of licensing thing going on,” Brittany said. “The state was going to put on a fee, and some of the bee guys said they wouldn’t bring their hives into Minnesota if that happened, and Tubbs thought that the bees were interstate commerce and so only the feds were allowed to regulate it. Or something like that. I don’t know. I wasn’t interested enough to follow it. But Bob was around.
John Sandford (Silken Prey (Lucas Davenport #23))
Hamartia was originally an archery term, and it meant to miss the mark or target. There are many ways that a target can be missed. Frequently, in my clinical practice—and in my personal life—I observed that people did not get what they needed (or, equally importantly perhaps, what they wanted) because they never made it clear to themselves or others what that was. It is impossible to hit a target, after all, unless you aim at it. In keeping with this: People are more commonly upset by what they did not even try to do than by the errors they actively committed while engaging with the world.
Jordan B. Peterson (Beyond Order: 12 More Rules for Life)
Mother?” I rested one hand on the doorpost, with its carved pattern of palm branches. “Mother, will you teach me how to hunt?” She gave me a strange look. “Gladly. But why?” “Because if I do choose to go back to the training ground and Father finds out and wants me to stop, I want to bring him a whole cauldron of stewed rabbit so he’ll change his mind.” When Mother stopped laughing, she took me outside, off into the olive grove, and gave me my first archery lesson. I didn’t hit anything, but as Mother told me (with a perfectly straight face), I did manage to scare the olives off a couple of trees.
Esther M. Friesner (Nobody's Princess (Nobody's Princess, #1))
On the following day, the boys seeming disposed to carry out my wishes by muscular exercise of all sorts, I encouraged them by saying I meant to prepare a curious new weapon for them, only they must promise not to neglect the practice of archery; as to their guns, I had no reason to fear they would be laid aside.
Johann David Wyss (Swiss Family Robinson)
The clue to everything a man should love and fear in her was there, right from the start, in the ironic smile that primed and swelled the archery of her full lips. There was pride in that smile, and confidence in the set of her fine nose. Without understanding why, I knew beyond question that a lot of people would mistake her pride for arrogance, and confuse her confidence with impassivity. I didn’t make that mistake. My eyes were lost, swimming, floating free in the shimmering lagoon of her steady, even stare. Her eyes were large and spectacularly green. It was the green that trees are, in vivid dreams. It was the green that the sea would be, if the sea were perfect.
Gregory David Roberts (Shantaram)
...the preparations for working put him simultaneously in the right frame of mind for creating... that collectedness and presence of mind...the right frame of mind for the artist is only reached when the preparing and the creating, the technical and the artistic, the material and the spiritual, the project and the object, flow together without a break.
Eugen Herrigel (Zen in the Art of Archery)
Thousands of repetitions and out of one's true self perfection emerges.
Kenneth Kushner (One Arrow, One Life: Zen, Archery, Enlightenment)
Harlequin, probably derived from the old French Hellequin: a troop of the devil’s horsemen.
Bernard Cornwell (The Archer's Tale (The Grail Quest, #1))
If you are upset or nervous, that is proof you lack something. Do not be sad or gloomy - foster virtue, feel compassion, and you can save even devils.
Awa Kenzo - Zen Bow, Zen Arrow
We went about our usual routines – combat practice, volleyball practice, archery practice, strawberry-picking practice (don’t ask), lava-wall-climbing practice … You’ll find we practise a lot here. We would have spent the evening in the usual way, too, with a campfire sing-along, if not for an offhand comment Nico di Angelo dropped at dinner. We were talking about what changes each of us would make if we ran the camp, and Nico said: ‘First thing I’d do is make sure the poor newbie demigods don’t have to suffer through the orientation film.’ All conversation stopped. ‘What orientation film?’ Will Solace asked. Nico looked puzzled. ‘You know …’ He glanced side to side, clearly uncomfortable with everybody watching him. Finally he cleared his throat and sang in a warbly voice to the tune of ‘The Hokey Cokey’: ‘It lets the demigods in! It shuts the monsters out! It keeps the half-bloods safe, but turns mortals all about! It’s Misty, and it’s magic, and it makes me want to shout: the border is all about!’ He punctuated the last line of the song with some half-hearted claps. We stared at him in stunned silence. ‘Nico.’ Will patted his boyfriend’s arm. ‘You’re scaring the other campers.’ ‘More than usual,’ Julia Feingold muttered
Rick Riordan (Camp Half-Blood Confidential (The Trials of Apollo))
In our relationship, what is it that you like the most?’ Sita had asked Rama one day. ‘Protecting you like an eyelid protects the eye. If a thorn pierces your foot, I must pluck it out. I must, myself, kill the wild animals that approach you. The thought that I’m protecting you gives me greater pride and pleasure than sovereignty over Ayodhya,’ Rama had said. ‘I can protect myself. I can match you in archery,’ Sita had said, laughing. Rama’s face had fallen. ‘As long as I am alive, you will never have to protect yourself. Such a situation must never arise. You must look towards me for protection. You must turn to my strong arms for protection. If you take care of yourself, what am I for? Promise me that you will never do that.’ Sita had placed her hand in Rama’s. Abduction. Waiting in Ashoka Vanam—Sita had no alternative.
Volga (The Liberation of Sita)
In Antwerp, the more tongues you could master, the more you could succeed. If he lacked a phrase in one language, he had it in another, and his earnest vehemence made up for any gaps. He sought out, as he had in Italy, the company of sober elders, whose table talk was refined and who would give away their wisdom to a young foreigner who admired them, one who asks questions, questions, and looks impressed by the replies. Such dignitaries always need a repository for their secrets, just as they need a man who will take a confidential dispatch and be back with an answer before you notice he’s gone. The drawback is that one must consent to their indoor lives: no calcio, just polite archery on a Sunday. The courtyards where one trades in wool and money may be open to the sky, yet they cannot help but smell of tallow, ink and dinners, seeped into the wool of dark winter garments: he would walk, and under the shadow of the Steen with its warehouses take a breath of river air, and imagine the great world beyond. There were some hundred of his countrymen – Englishmen, that is – dwelling in or around their English House; they lived side by side with the Castilian nation, the Portuguese and the Germans, but they were cherished by the city because they paid so well for their privileges.
Hilary Mantel (The Mirror & the Light (Thomas Cromwell, #3))
[EM] Forster was the only living writer whom he would have described as his master. In other people’s books he found examples of style which he wanted to imitate and learn from. In Forster he found a key to the whole art of writing. The Zen masters of archery—of whom, in those days, Christopher had never heard—start by teaching you the mental attitude with which you must pick up the bow. A Forster novel taught Christopher the mental attitude with which he must pick up the pen.
Christopher Isherwood
The whole day of Bel Tine would be taken up with singing and dancing and feasting, with time out for footraces, and contests in almost everything. Prizes would be given not only in archery, but for the best with the sling, and the quarterstaff. There would be contests at solving riddles and puzzles, at the rope tug, and lifting and tossing weights, prizes for the best singer, the best dancer and the best fiddle player, for the quickest to shear a sheep, even the best at bowls, and at darts.
Robert Jordan (The Eye of the World (The Wheel of Time, #1))
You only feel it because you haven’t really let go of yourself. It is all so simple. You can learn from an ordinary bamboo leaf what ought to happen. It bends lower and lower under the weight of snow. Suddenly the snow slips to the ground without the leaf having stirred. Stay like that at the point of highest tension until the shot falls from you. So, indeed, it is: when the tension is fulfilled, the shot must fall, it must fall from the archer like snow from a bamboo leaf, before he even thinks it.
Eugen Herrigel (Zen in the Art of Archery)
One time, over half of my warlords refused to attend a summit because I had failed to properly address them by the decorative titles my father had doled out like candy after the war: Minister of Horses, Master of Archery, Commissioner of Arts. Titles that had no weight in the council, because to be part of the council one actually needed to do some work. The warlords didn’t even have the decency to inform me they felt slighted. If I had known they would throw such massive sulks beforehand, I would’ve gone and made up extra titles just to please them. I’ve always wanted to use Secretary of the Dung Heap.
K.S. Villoso (The Wolf of Oren-Yaro (Chronicles of the Bitch Queen, #1))
You’re a very good dancer,” I say. “Thank you. It’s one of the few skills my father forced on me as a youth that I’m actually grateful to know how to do.” “Oh? What other skills did you learn?” “The usual. Horseback riding, fencing, archery…Like I said, useless.” “Those sound like a very useful skills to me.” He raises a brow. “When is a forger ever going to need to know how to nock an arrow?” “When he needs to shoot someone with said arrow, of course.” “Who am I going to shoot?” His eyes glint. “An evil warlord. Or maybe a bandit?” He lets out a full belly laugh. “Of course, how could I forget about all the bandits after me?” “Careless of you, really.
Jessica S. Olson (A Forgery of Roses)
There it is. Chemistrie. Professor Astrid Volya. I glance back over at Andras. “What’s her son like?” I wonder. “He’s quiet,” Aislinn whispers, looking over at him. “And he’s amazingly good at every sport: sword fighting, ax throwing, archery, you name it. And he’s a natural with horses, just like his mother. That’s his job. He cares for the horses stabled here. The Amaz can talk to their horses, you know—with their minds. He’s a skilled horse healer, too. Last year one of the Gardnerian military apprentices took a nasty fall on his horse, and the horse’s leg was broken. The animal was so wild with pain, no one could get near it. But Andras could. Within a week, he had the horse good as new.
Laurie Forest (The Black Witch (The Black Witch Chronicles, #1))
And then, so quickly that no one (unless they knew, as Peter did) could quite see how it happened, Edmund flashed his sword round with a peculiar twist, the Dwarf’s sword flew out of his grip, and Trumpkin was wringing his empty hand as you do after a “sting” from a cricket-bat. “Not hurt, I hope, my dear little friend?” said Edmund, panting a little and returning his own sword to its sheath. “I see the point,” said Trumpkin drily. “You know a trick I never learned.” “That’s quite true,” put in Peter. “The best swordsman in the world may be disarmed by a trick that’s new to him. I think it’s only fair to give Trumpkin a chance at something else. Will you have a shooting match with my sister? There are no tricks in archery, you know.” “Ah, you’re jokers, you are,” said the Dwarf. “I begin to see. As if I didn’t know how she can shoot, after what happened this morning. All the same, I’ll have a try.” He spoke gruffly, but his eyes brightened, for he was a famous bowman among his own people. All five of them came out into the courtyard. “What’s to be the target?” asked Peter. “I think that apple hanging over the wall on the branch there would do,” said Susan. “That’ll do nicely, lass,” said Trumpkin. “You mean the yellow one near the middle of the arch?” “No, not that,” said Susan. “The red one up above--over the battlement.” The Dwarf’s face fell. “Looks more like a cherry than an apple,” he muttered, but he said nothing out loud.
C.S. Lewis (Prince Caspian (Chronicles of Narnia, #2))
Let's just stand still. Maybe whoever it is won't notice us. It's dark out anyway." Both boys knew it could just be someone from the local village but their hearts were starting to beat faster anyways. Who wound be out at this time of night? Suddenly, out from the darkness came a voice. "I'll get you you mangy little...." There was the sound of something flying through the air and then a plunk as it landed somewhere nearby. Lionel winced. The voice was female.
Sadie Gray
This story belongs to the Princess Merida. Merida was less like the mannered royal you're imagining and more like a struck match, although matches did not yet exist. Red hair, keen eyes, quick brain, built to start fires but not to put them out. She was an absolute wizard with a bow and arrow. For over a decade, before the wee devil triplet princes arrived, she'd been the only child, and where other children might have had friends, Merida had her bow. She practiced her archery breathlessly, automatically, in every moment her mother hadn't scheduled her for lessons in embroidery, music, and reading. There was a stillness to archery she couldn't get anywhere else. Whenever she had a problem she couldn't solve, she went out to practice. Whenever she had a feeling she didn't understand, she went out to practice. Hour upon hour, she collected calluses on fingertips and bruises on forearms. At night, when she dreamt, she still sighted between trees and adjusted for strong highland winds.
Maggie Stiefvater (Bravely)
Dear Kenny, It’s the last day of camp and possibly the last time I will ever see you because we live so far apart. Remember on the second day, I was scared to do archery and you made a joke about minnows and it was so funny I nearly peed my pants? I stop reading. A joke about minnows? How funny could it have been? I was really homesick but you made me feel better. I think I might’ve left camp early if it hadn’t been for you, Kenny. So, thank you. Also you’re a really amazing swimmer and I like your laugh. I wish it had been me you kissed at the bonfire last night and not Blaire H. Take care, Kenny. Have a really good rest of the summer and a really good life. Love, Lara Jean I clutch the letter to my chest. This is the first love letter I ever wrote. I’m glad it came back to me. Though, I suppose it wouldn’t have been so bad if Kenny Donati got to know that he helped two people at camp that summer--the kid who almost drowned in the lake and twelve-year-old Lara Jean Song Covey.
Jenny Han (To All the Boys I've Loved Before (To All the Boys I've Loved Before, #1))
Ash watched her carefully, scrutinizing her every word and gesture. The question of her sanity came to mind. It was like the scent of something burning in the room. He swept a hand toward the book. “Are we talking about . . . reincarnation?” The word took its place in the room like a stranger come in from the cold. Arming himself with cold logic, Ash was ready to challenge any argument she might offer. “I don’t have all the answers, Ash.” Her voice was gentle and frank, her gray eyes like droplets of water flooded with light. “Hubert said that sometimes there are rare bonds between extraordinary people . . . bonds so strong they cannot be broken . . . not even by death.” She smiled and shrugged a shoulder. “That’s what he said.
Mark Warren (A Tale Twice Told)
Dinner with Trimalchio as explained on Angelfire.com Fragment 35 The next course is not as grand as Encolpius expects but it is novel. Trimalchio has a course made that represent the 12 signs of the Zodiac, again showing his superstitious nature. Over each sign of the zodiac is food that is connected with the subject of the sign of the zodiac. Ares the ram - chickpeas (the ram is a sign of virility and chickpeas represent the penis in satire) Taurus the bull - a beefsteak . Beef is from cattle and the bull represents strength. Gemini (The heavenly twins) - Testicles and kidneys (since they come in pairs!) Cancer the Crab- a garland (which looks like pincers) but we also learn later (fragment 39 ) that the is Trimalchios sign and by putting a garland over his sign he is honouring it. Leo the Lion - an African fig since lions were from Africa. Virgo the Virgin - a young sows udder , symbol of innocence. Libra the scales - A pair of balance pans with a different dessert in each! Scorpio - a sea scorpion Sagittarius the archer - a sea bream with eyespots, you need a good eye to practise archery. Capricorn- a lobster Aquarius the water carrier - a goose i.e. water fowl. Pisces the fish - two mullets (fish!) In the middle of the dish is a piece of grass and on the grass a honey comb. We are told by Trimalchio himself that this represents mother earth (fragment 39) who is round like a grassy knoll or an egg and has good things inside her like a honey comb.
Petronius (Satyricon & Fragments: Latin Text (Latin Edition))