Dueling Quotes

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You weren't able to talk sense into him?" Well, we kind of tried to kill each other in a duel to the death." I see. You tried the diplomatic approach.
Rick Riordan (The Sea of Monsters (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, #2))
I thoroughly disapprove of duels. If a man should challenge me, I would take him kindly and forgivingly by the hand and lead him to a quiet place and kill him.
Mark Twain
We turned at a dozen paces, for love is a duel, and looked at each other for the last time.
Jack Kerouac
I would prefer a sword to fight duel, but a pen to plan a war.
Robert Thier (Storm and Silence (Storm and Silence, #1))
Human relationships didn't work anyhow. Only the first two weeks had any zing, then the participants lost their interest. Masks dropped away and real people began to appear: cranks, imbeciles, the demented, the vengeful, sadists, killers. Modern society had created its own kind and they feasted on each other. It was a duel to the death--in a cesspool.
Charles Bukowski (Women)
Stop it!" I hissed glaring at both in turn. "Stop it right now! Put your weapons up, both of you! Ash, you're in no condition to fight, and, Puck, shame on you, agreeing to duel him when he's obviously hurt. Sit down and shut up." -Meghan
Julie Kagawa (The Iron King (The Iron Fey, #1))
I've never lost a duel to the death. Not one.
Jim Butcher (Captain's Fury (Codex Alera, #4))
But people only die in proper duels, you know, with real wizards. The most you and Malfoy’ll be able to do is send sparks at each other. Neither of you knows enough magic to do any real damage. I bet he expected you to refuse, anyway.” “And what if I wave my wand and nothing happens?” “Throw it away and punch him on the nose,” Ron suggested.
J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (Harry Potter, #1))
The monster I kill every day is the monster of realism. The monster who attacks me every day is destruction. Out of the duel comes the transformation. I turn destruction into creation over and over again.
Anaïs Nin (Henry and June: From "A Journal of Love": The Unexpurgated Diary of Anaïs Nin, 1931-1932)
Ash!" I called. "What are you doing? Come on!" "Meghan." Ash's voice despite the pain below the surface, was calm. "I hope you find your brother. If you see Puck again tell him I regret having to step out of our duel." "Ash, no! Don't do this!" I felt him smile. "You made me feel alive again," he murmured. Screeching, the greemlins attacked.
Julie Kagawa (The Iron King (The Iron Fey, #1))
I won the only duel I ever lost.
Patrick Rothfuss (The Wise Man’s Fear (The Kingkiller Chronicle, #2))
All of those faeries and duels and mad queens and so on, and no one quoted old Billy Shakespeare. Not even once.
Jim Butcher (Summer Knight (The Dresden Files, #4))
Scared?" Malfoy muttered, so that Lockhart couldn't hear him. "You wish." said Harry out of the corner of his mouth.
J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Harry Potter, #2))
My wallpaper and I are fighting a duel to the death. One or the other of us has to go.
Oscar Wilde
And, truth be told, I'm curious myself. I wouldn't want Goodfellow dying before we ever resolved our duel. That would be unfortunate.
Julie Kagawa (Winter's Passage (Iron Fey, #1.5))
Because Anno Domini, in the Year of Our Lord, is fine for Christians, but Thor gets a little upset. He still holds a grudge that Jesus never showed up for that duel he challenged him to.” “Say what now?
Rick Riordan (The Sword of Summer (Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard, #1))
You're going to keep a low profile throughout the entire competition... You're going to stay solidly in the middle, where no one will look your way, because you're not a threat, because they'll think that you'll be eliminated sooner or later, and they should focus their attention on getting rid of bigger, stronger, faster champions like Cain. 'But you're going to outlast them,' Chaol continued. 'And when they wake up the morning of the final duel and find that you are their opponent, and that you have beaten them, the look on their faces will make all of the insults and lack of attention worthwhile.
Sarah J. Maas (Throne of Glass (Throne of Glass, #1))
A duel, a duel, a duel. Is there anything more exciting, more romantic ... or more utterly moronic?
Julia Quinn (The Duke and I (Bridgertons, #1))
Mira, me duele aquí, entre el hígado, el corazón y el amor propio, ¿cómo no voy a pinche guacarear, si tengo putas náuseas en el alma?
Xavier Velasco (Diablo Guardián)
For long the two enemies looked at one another, Hook shuddering slightly, and Peter with the strange smile upon his face. "So, Pan," said Hook at last, "this is all your doing." "Ay, James Hook," came the stern answer, "it is all my doing." "Proud and insolent youth," said Hook, "prepare to meet thy doom." "Dark and sinister man," Peter answered, "have at thee.
J.M. Barrie (Peter Pan)
What do you want, MacGuffin, a duel?” “No.” Julian held out both hands, one palm flat, the other held over it in a fist. “Rock, paper, scissors. Two out of three.” Ty rolled his eyes and held out his fist, apparently willing to play. Julian hit his palm three times, and Ty kept time with his fist in the air. But when Julian threw a paper, Ty reached into his jacket with his other hand and pulled his gun, aiming it at Julian. “Ty!” Zane said in exasperation from the front seat. “Glock, paper, scissors. I win.” “You are an ass,” Julian muttered.
Abigail Roux (Armed & Dangerous (Cut & Run, #5))
You, there, girl! Halt!" Who in the universe ever halts when the enemy tells them to?
Sherwood Smith (Crown Duel (Crown & Court, #1-2))
Marriage is a duel to the death which no man of honour should decline.
G.K. Chesterton
You don't think I regret what I did, every single day? You lost Ariella, but I lost you both! Believe it or not, I was kind of a mess too, Ash. It got to a point where I actually looked forward to our random duels, because that was the only time I could talk to you. When you were freaking trying to kill me!
Julie Kagawa (The Iron Knight (The Iron Fey, #4))
Breeze strolled over to the table and chose a seat with his characteristic decorum. The portly man raised his dueling cane, pointing it at Ham. 'I see that my period of intellectual respite has come to an end.' Ham smiled. 'I thought up a couple beastly questions while I was gone, and I've been saving them just for you, Breeze.' 'I'm dying of anticipation,' Breeze said. He turned his cane toward Lestibournes. 'Spook, drink.' Spook rushed over and fetched Breeze a cup of wine. 'He's such a fine lad,' Breeze noted, accepting the drink. 'I barely even have to nudge him Allomantically. If only the rest of you ruffians were so accommodating.' Spook frowned. 'Niceing the not on the playing without.' 'I have no idea what you just said, child,' Breeze said. 'So I'm simply going to pretend it was coherent, then move on.' Kelsier rolled his eyes. 'Losing the stress on the nip,' he said. 'Notting without the needing of care.' 'Riding the rile of the rids to the right,' Spook said with a nod. 'What are you two babbling about?' Breeze said testily. 'Wasing the was of brightness,' Spook said. 'Nip the having of wishing of this.' 'Ever wasing the doing of this,' Kelsier agreed. 'Ever wasing the wish of having the have,' Ham added with a smile. 'Brighting the wish of wasing the not.' Breeze turned to Dockson with exasperation. 'I believe our companions have finally lost their minds, dear friend.' Dockson shrugged. Then, with a perfectly straight face, he said, 'Wasing not of wasing is.
Brandon Sanderson (The Final Empire (Mistborn, #1))
Dude. If that was a Shakespearean quote duel, he just kicked your ass.
Kevin Hearne (Hexed (The Iron Druid Chronicles, #2))
I challenge you to a duel!” screamed the cat, sailing over their heads on the swinging chandelier.
Mikhail Bulgakov (The Master and Margarita)
You both ... you both saved me?" "Come on," said Luis. "You make it sound like it was hard for Val to go to the Unseelie Court, strike a deal with Roiben, challenge Mabry to a duel, win back your heart, and then get back here during rush hour.
Holly Black (Valiant (Modern Faerie Tales, #2))
One night we argued for a solid hour over who would win in a duel between Lord Voldemort and Darth Vader. I'm surprised we're still friends.
Adam Silvera (History Is All You Left Me)
I'm not going to accept your challenge. There will be no duel." "Why not? Because I'm a woman?" "No, because I've seen the way you spinsters handle a pistol. You'd shoot me dead where I stood.
Tessa Dare (A Night to Surrender (Spindle Cove, #1))
It's a damn shame that duels don't play a role in the modern world anymore.
Elle Kennedy (The Mistake (Off-Campus, #2))
Emotionlessly she kissed me in the vineyard and walked off down the row. We turned at a dozen paces, for love is a duel, and looked up at each other for the last time.
Jack Kerouac
When two evil guys fight in a duel, the worst of both will be the winner.
Toba Beta (My Ancestor Was an Ancient Astronaut)
It's time to duel!
Kazuki Takahashi
Poetry is a rich, full-bodied whistle, cracked ice crunching in pails, the night that numbs the leaf, the duel of two nightingales, the sweet pea that has run wild, Creation's tears in shoulder blades.
Boris Pasternak
Hammett gave murder back to the kind of people that commit it for reasons, not just to provide a corpse; and with the means at hand, not hand-wrought dueling pistols, curare and tropical fish.
Raymond Chandler (The Simple Art of Murder)
Except. What is normal at any given time? We change just as the seasons change, and each spring brings new growth. So nothing is ever quite the same.
Sherwood Smith (Crown Duel (Crown & Court, #1-2))
...we'll have a duel in the morning on the moors. Plenty of fog. It will be quite dramatic, I daresay.
Julianne Donaldson (Blackmoore)
- ¿Cómo sabe una si está realmente enamorada de un hombre? - Eso es fácil. Sólo querés estar con él, sentir su presencia, mirarlo, olerlo. Querés que te toque y tocarlo. Cuando lo ves aparecer, te emocionás tanto que te duele la boca del estómago. Pensás en ese hombre día y noche. Te dormís pensando en él y te levantás pensando en él.
Florencia Bonelli (París (Caballo de Fuego #1))
I find it rude to laugh at a man with a sword.
Derek Landy (Mortal Coil (Skulduggery Pleasant, #5))
I don’t duel, boy. I kill as a soldier kills, which is as a butcher kills, as quickly, efficiently, and with as least risk to myself as I can arrange.
Lois McMaster Bujold (The Curse of Chalion (World of the Five Gods, #1))
The study of beauty is a duel in which the artist cries out in terror before being vanquished.
Charles Baudelaire (Twenty Prose Poems)
Memory warps time, as it does the sights and sounds and smells of reality; for what shapes it is emotion, which can twist what seems clear, just as the surface of a pond seems to bend the stick thrust into the water.
Sherwood Smith (Crown Duel (Crown & Court, #1))
The difference between listening and pretending to listen, I discovered, is enormous. One is fluid, the other is rigid. One is alive, the other is stuffed. Eventually, I found a radical way of thinking about listening. Real listening is a willingness to let the other person change you. When I’m willing to let them change me, something happens between us that’s more interesting than a pair of dueling monologues.
Alan Alda (Never Have Your Dog Stuffed: And Other Things I've Learned)
¿No te duele un poco decirle subdesarrollado al país? ¿y que quieres que le diga?. Un país amateur
Quino (Mafalda 2 (Spanish Edition))
Your insult has offended me. If we were at the Peaks, we would have to duel in traditional alil'tiki'i fashion." "Which is what?" Teft asked. "With spears?" Rock laughed. "No, no. We upon the Peaks are not barbarians like you down here." "How then?" Kaladin asked, genuinely curious. "Well," Rock said, "is involving much mudbeer and singing." “How's that a duel?” "He who can still sing after the most drinks is winner. Plus, soon' everyone is so drunk that they forget what argument was about." Teft laughed. "Beats knives at dawn, I suppose.
Brandon Sanderson (The Way of Kings (The Stormlight Archive, #1))
A red-gold glow burst suddenly across the enchanted sky above them as an edge of dazzling sun appeared over the sill of the nearest window. The light hit both of their faces at the same time, so that Voldemort's was suddenly a flaming blur. Harry heard the high voice shriek as he too yelled his best hope to the heavens, pointing Draco's wand: "Avada Kedavra!" "Expelliarmus!" The bang was like a cannon blast, and the golden flames that erupted between them, at the dead center of the circle they had been treading, marked the point where the spells collided. Harry saw Voldemort's green jet meet his own spell, saw the Elder Wand fly high, dark against the sunrise, spinning across the enchanted ceiling, spinning through the air toward the master it would not kill, who had come to take full possession of it at last.
J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Harry Potter, #7))
Why is it the songs all end with the good people winning, but in life they don't?" They don't make songs when the good lose," I muttered. "They make war chants against the bad. So there won't be any songs for us.
Sherwood Smith (Crown Duel (Crown & Court, #1-2))
To the pain means this: if we duel and you win, death for me. If we duel and I win, life for you. But life on my terms. The first thing you lose will be your feet. Below the ankle. You will have stumps available to use within six months. Then your hands, at the wrists. They heal somewhat quicker. Five months is a fair average. Next your nose. No smell of dawn for you. Followed by your tongue. Deeply cut away. Not even a stump left. And then your left eye—" And then my right eye, and then my ears, and shall we get on with it?" the Prince said. Wrong!" Westley’s voice rang across the room. "Your ears you keep, so that every shriek of every child shall be yours to cherish—every babe that weeps in fear at your approach, every woman that cries 'Dear God, what is that thing?' will reverberate forever with your perfect ears.
William Goldman (The Princess Bride)
El corazón siempre sabe cuándo ha llegado el momento de terminar algo. Es el que mejor entiende de puntos finales. Pero se hace el ciego, el sordo y el mudo porque le duele romperse aunque el golpe sea inminente.
Maria Martinez (La fragilidad de un corazón bajo la lluvia)
te remuerden los días te culpan las noches te duele la vida tanto tanto desesperada, ¿adónde vas? desesperada ¡nada más!
Alejandra Pizarnik (Poesía completa)
We fought.' 'A duel?' 'Nothing that formal. A simultaneous decision to murder one another is more like it.
Roger Zelazny (The Guns of Avalon (The Chronicles of Amber, #2))
Odysseus had told me once that half of a duel is maneuvering around the sun, trying to get the light to stab at your enemy's eyes. But I was the blood of Helios, and no light could blind me.
Madeline Miller (Circe)
... What do you want, Ash?" "Your head," Ash answered softly. "On a pike. But what I want doesn't matter this time." He pointed his sword at me. "I've come for her." I gasped as my heart and stomach began careening around my chest. He's here for me, to kill me, like he promised at Elysium. "Over my dead body." Puck smiled, as if this was a friendly conversation on the street, but I felt muscles coiling under his skin. "This was part of the plan." The prince raised his sword, the icy blade wreathed in mist. "I will avenge her today, and put her memory to rest." For a moment, a shadow of anguish flitted across his face, and he closed his eyes. When he opened them, they were cold and glittered with malice. "Prepare yourself." "Stay back, princess," Puck warned, pushing me out of the way. He reached into his boot and pullet out a dagger, the curved blade clear as glass. "This might get a little rough." "Puck, no." I clutched at his sleeve. "Don't fight him. Someone could die." "Duels to the death tend to end that way." Puck grinned, but it was a savage thing, grim and frightening. "But I'm touched that you care. One moment, princeling," he called to Ash, who inclined his head. Taking my wrist, Puck steered me behind the fountain and bent close, his breath warm on my face. "I have to do this, princess," he said firmly. "Ash won't let us go without a fight, and this has been coming for a long time now." For a moment, a shadow of regret flickered across his face, but then it was gone. "So," he murmured, grinning as he tilted my chin up, "before I march off to battle, how 'bout a kiss for luck?" I hesitated, wondering why now, of all times, he would ask for a kiss. He certainly didn't think of me in that way... did he?
Julie Kagawa (The Iron King (The Iron Fey, #1))
I’m going to tell you something once and then whether you die is strictly up to you," Westley said, lying pleasantly on the bed. "What I’m going to tell you is this: drop your sword, and if you do, then I will leave with this baggage here"—he glanced at Buttercup—"and you will be tied up but not fatally, and will be free to go about your business. And if you choose to fight, well, then, we will not both leave alive." You are only alive now because you said 'to the pain.' I want that phrase explained." My pleasure. To the pain means this: if we duel and you win, death for me. If we duel and I win, life for you. But life on my terms. The first thing you lose will be your feet. Below the ankle. You will have stumps available to use within six months. Then your hands, at the wrists. They heal somewhat quicker. Five months is a fair average. Next your nose. No smell of dawn for you. Followed by your tongue. Deeply cut away. Not even a stump left. And then your left eye—" And then my right eye, and then my ears, and shall we get on with it?" the Prince said. Wrong!" Westley’s voice rang across the room. "Your ears you keep, so that every shriek of every child shall be yours to cherish—every babe that weeps in fear at your approach, every woman that cries 'Dear God, what is that thing?' will reverberate forever with your perfect ears. That is what 'to the pain' means. It means that I leave you in anguish, in humiliation, in freakish misery until you can stand it no more; so there you have it, pig, there you know, you miserable vomitous mass, and I say this now, and live or die, it’s up to you: Drop your sword!" The sword crashed to the floor.
William Goldman (The Princess Bride)
Prince Balekin smiles back as though their smiles could duel without the rest of them even being involved.
Holly Black (The Cruel Prince (The Folk of the Air, #1))
As we duel, as we chat, there's an understanding that "your black is not my black" and "your weird is not my weird" and "your beautiful is not my beautiful," and that's okay. It' brings tears to my eyes if I think about it too long.
Brittney Morris (Slay)
Duele que te dejen de lado cuando sufres una tragedia. Duele que resten importancia a algo que ha cambiado tu vida.
Laura Gallego
Lucien," Gavriel said, "if you're proposing a duel, I believe she gets to pick the weapon. I hope she picks me.
Holly Black (The Coldest Girl in Coldtown)
This isn’t the first time I’ve faced death, and I don’t intend for it to be the last,” I said, repeating the same words he’d told me before fighting in that fateful duel. “I’ve chosen to live a dangerous life, but it’s who I am, and that wouldn’t change even if we’d never met.
Jeaniene Frost (One Grave at a Time (Night Huntress, #6))
Somos defectuosos, imperfectos y, aun así, orgullosos. Pensamos que las cosas van a ser para siempre. Que somos invencibles y que, por ello, lo que nos rodea también lo es. Y sin embargo, un buen día nos despertamos y descubrimos nuestro engaño, que el ayer duele y que el mañana ya no existe.
Anissa B. Damom (Revelación (Éxodo, #2))
Your mother was a hero. She developed a spell for gnomeatic fever. And she was the youngest headmaster in Watford history.” Baz is looking at Penny like they’ve never met. “And,” Penny goes on, “she defended your father in three duels before he accepted her proposal.” “That sounds barbaric,” I say. “It was traditional,” Baz says. “It was brilliant,” Penny says. “I’ve read the minutes.” “Where?” Baz asks her. “We have them in our library at home,” she says “My dad loves marriage rites. Any sort of family magic, actually. He and my mother are bound together in five dimensions.
Rainbow Rowell (Carry On (Simon Snow, #1))
¿Ha estado alguna vez enamorado? Horrible, ¿no? Te hace tan vulnerable. Te abre el pecho y el corazón y eso significa que alguien puede meterse dentro de ti y revolver todo. Construyes todas estas defensas, todo fuerte y armadura, para que nada pueda hacerte daño y entonces, llega esta estúpida persona, no diferente de cualquier otra estúpida persona, y se mete en tu estúpida vida… Le das un pedazo de ti, que no te pidió. Hace algo tonto algún día, como besarte o sonreírte y es entonces cuando tu vida ya no te pertenece nunca más. El amor toma rehenes. Llega hasta lo más profundo dentro de ti. Te va carcomiendo y te deja llorando en la oscuridad; una frase tan simple como “quizá deberíamos ser sólo amigos” se convierte en una astilla de vidrio que se te va hundiendo en el corazón. Duele. No sólo en la imaginación. No sólo en la mente. Es un alma herida, un verdadero dolor que se te mete dentro y te rasga en pedazos. Odio el amor.
Neil Gaiman
Love this job," Sanya murmured. "Just love it." "I need to challenge more people to duels," Thomas said in agreement. "Men are pigs," Murphy said. "Amen," said Molly. Lea gave me a prim look and said, "I've not sacrificed a holy virgin in ages.
Jim Butcher (Changes (The Dresden Files, #12))
If you do not apologize to Lady Honoria,” Marcus said, his voice so mild as to be terrifying, “I will kill you.” There was a collective gasp, and Daisy faked a swoon, sliding elegantly into Iris, who promptly stepped aside and let her hit the floor. “Oh, come now,” Mr. Grimston said. “Surely it won’t come to pistols at dawn.” “I’m not talking about a duel,” Marcus said. “I mean I will kill you right here.
Julia Quinn (Just Like Heaven (Smythe-Smith Quartet, #1))
You don't think I know that?” Puck was shouting now, green eyes feverish. “You don't think I regret what I did, every single day? You lost Ariella, but I lost you both! Believe it or not, I was kind of a mess, too, Ash. It got to a point where I actually looked forward to our random duels, because that was the only time I could talk to you. When you were freaking trying to kill me!” “Don't compare your loss to mine,” I snarled. “You have no idea what I went through, what you caused.” “You think I don't know pain?” Puck shook his head at me. “Or loss? I've been around a lot longer than you, prince! I know what love is, and I've lost my fair share, too. Just because we have a different way of handling it, doesn't mean I don't have scars of my own.” “Name one,” I scoffed. “Give me one instance where you haven't—” “Meghan Chase!” Puck roared, startling me into silence.
Julie Kagawa (The Iron Knight (The Iron Fey, #4))
So let me end with the wish that you find the same kind of happyiness, and laughter, and love, that I have found, and that you have the wisdon to make them last.
Sherwood Smith (Court Duel (Crown & Court, #2))
Always it is thus with my new students, and especially with the human ones; the mind is the last muscle they train or use, and the one that they regard the least. Ask them about swordplay and they can list every blow from a duel a month old, but ask them to solve a problem or make a coherent statement and... well, I would be lucky to get more than a blank stare in return.
Christopher Paolini (Eldest (The Inheritance Cycle, #2))
Because you showed one face to all the rest of the world, and another to me.
Sherwood Smith (Crown Duel (Crown & Court, #1-2))
A wager?" I repeated. "Yes," he said, and gave me a slow smile, bright with challenge. ... "Stake?" I asked cautiously. He was still smiling, an odd sort of smile, hard to define. "A kiss." My first reaction was outrage, but then I remembered that I was on my way to Court, and that had to be the kind of thing they did at Court. And if I win I don't have to collect. I hesitated only a moment longer, lured by the thought of open sky, and speed, and winning. "Done," I said.
Sherwood Smith (Crown Duel (Crown & Court, #1-2))
No, I don't think I could fall in love with him, handsome though he is, because I don't accept any of that huff he gives me about my great beauty and all that. I'd have to trust a man's words before I could love him. I think.
Sherwood Smith (Court Duel (Crown & Court, #2))
Moral law is an invention of mankind for the disenfranchisement of the powerful in favor of the weak. Historical law subverts it at every turn. A moral view can never be proven right or wrong by any ultimate test. A man falling dead in a duel is not thought thereby to be proven in error as to his views. His very involvement in such a trial gives evidence of a new and broader view. The willingness of the principals to forgo further argument as the triviality which it in fact is and to petition directly the chambers of the historical absolute clearly indicates of how little moment are the opinions and of what great moment the divergences thereof. For the argument is indeed trivial, but not so the separate wills thereby made manifest. Man's vanity may well approach the infinite in capacity but his knowledge remains imperfect and howevermuch he comes to value his judgments ultimately he must submit them before a higher court. Here there can be no special pleading. Here are considerations of equity and rectitude and moral right rendered void and without warrant and here are the views of the litigants despised. Decisions of life and death, of what shall be and what shall not, beggar all question of right. In elections of these magnitudes are all lesser ones subsumed, moral, spiritual, natural.
Cormac McCarthy (Blood Meridian, or, the Evening Redness in the West)
The first thing you notice about New Orleans are the burying grounds - the cemeteries - and they're a cold proposition, one of the best things there are here. Going by, you try to be as quiet as possible, better to let them sleep. Greek, Roman, sepulchres- palatial mausoleums made to order, phantomesque, signs and symbols of hidden decay - ghosts of women and men who have sinned and who've died and are now living in tombs. The past doesn't pass away so quickly here. You could be dead for a long time. The ghosts race towards the light, you can almost hear the heavy breathing spirits, all determined to get somewhere. New Orleans, unlike a lot of those places you go back to and that don't have the magic anymore, still has got it. Night can swallow you up, yet none of it touches you. Around any corner, there's a promise of something daring and ideal and things are just getting going. There's something obscenely joyful behind every door, either that or somebody crying with their head in their hands. A lazy rhythm looms in the dreamy air and the atmosphere pulsates with bygone duels, past-life romance, comrades requesting comrades to aid them in some way. You can't see it, but you know it's here. Somebody is always sinking. Everyone seems to be from some very old Southern families. Either that or a foreigner. I like the way it is. There are a lot of places I like, but I like New Orleans better. There's a thousand different angles at any moment. At any time you could run into a ritual honoring some vaguely known queen. Bluebloods, titled persons like crazy drunks, lean weakly against the walls and drag themselves through the gutter. Even they seem to have insights you might want to listen to. No action seems inappropriate here. The city is one very long poem. Gardens full of pansies, pink petunias, opiates. Flower-bedecked shrines, white myrtles, bougainvillea and purple oleander stimulate your senses, make you feel cool and clear inside. Everything in New Orleans is a good idea. Bijou temple-type cottages and lyric cathedrals side by side. Houses and mansions, structures of wild grace. Italianate, Gothic, Romanesque, Greek Revival standing in a long line in the rain. Roman Catholic art. Sweeping front porches, turrets, cast-iron balconies, colonnades- 30-foot columns, gloriously beautiful- double pitched roofs, all the architecture of the whole wide world and it doesn't move. All that and a town square where public executions took place. In New Orleans you could almost see other dimensions. There's only one day at a time here, then it's tonight and then tomorrow will be today again. Chronic melancholia hanging from the trees. You never get tired of it. After a while you start to feel like a ghost from one of the tombs, like you're in a wax museum below crimson clouds. Spirit empire. Wealthy empire. One of Napoleon's generals, Lallemaud, was said to have come here to check it out, looking for a place for his commander to seek refuge after Waterloo. He scouted around and left, said that here the devil is damned, just like everybody else, only worse. The devil comes here and sighs. New Orleans. Exquisite, old-fashioned. A great place to live vicariously. Nothing makes any difference and you never feel hurt, a great place to really hit on things. Somebody puts something in front of you here and you might as well drink it. Great place to be intimate or do nothing. A place to come and hope you'll get smart - to feed pigeons looking for handouts
Bob Dylan (Chronicles, Volume One)
Aprendí que cuando te mueres por los huesos de alguien y no vas a ser correspondido, el mejor favor que te pueden hacer es darte con la puerta en las narices. Nada duele más en estos casos que un poco de compasión, porque con la esperanza se abre una herida que no deja de supurar.
Rocío Carmona (La gramática del amor)
In a duel, man to man, sword against sword, it can be a lack of skill that gets you killed. Often as not, though, it'll be a matter of luck, or if it goes on too long, then it'll be the man who tires first that tends to die. In the end it's about staying power. They should put that on headstones, "Got tired.
Mark Lawrence (Prince of Thorns (The Broken Empire, #1))
Callar es respetar el dolor ajeno, puede ser. Pero eso no cura nada y yo ya no tengo tiempo ni ganas para esperar a que la gente se atreva a decir. Porque si algo me han enseñado los años y los colgajos es que el tiempo no perdona ni cura. Lo que cura es la verdad, y si duele, mala suerte.
Alejandro Palomas (El tiempo que nos une)
Despite how entertaining certain stories were, at the bottom of every item of gossip there was someone getting hurt.
Sherwood Smith (Crown Duel (Crown & Court, #1))
A long marriage is two people trying to dance a duet and two solos at the same time.
Anne Taylor Fleming
You’re awfully quiet, Princess,” Puck said as he arranged the firewood into a tepee. His slanted green eyes shot me a knowing look. “In fact, you haven’t said a word since his royal iciness left. What’s wrong?” “Oh.” I cast about for an excuse. No way was I telling Puck about my feelings for Ash. He’d probably challenge him to a duel the moment he walked through the door. “I…um…I’m just weirded out, you know, with all those wiremen bodies around. It’s kinda creepy, like they might come to life and attack us while we’re sleeping.
Julie Kagawa (The Iron Daughter (The Iron Fey, #2))
It would have been funny if I had been an observer and not a participant, an idea that gave me a disconcerting insight into gossip. As I walked beside the silent Tamara, I realized that despite how entertaining certain stories were, at the bottom of every item of gossip there was someone getting hurt.
Sherwood Smith (Court Duel (Crown & Court, #2))
—Entonces... ¿Habéis dormido bien? ¿No te duele nada, Caleb? —preguntó Cahal cruzándose de brazos y sonriéndoles. —Ayer estabas bastante indispuesto. Aileen lo miró echando fuego por los ojos. —Muy bien, Cahal —contestó Caleb. —Ya no me duele nada. —¿Qué le dolía, señor? —preguntó María untando los gofres de chocolate. Aquella conversación se estaba saliendo del tiesto. —Los huevos —comentó Menw haciendo que todos se partieran de la risa. -¿Perdón? —dijo María agrandando los ojos de una manera no demasiado inocente. —Huevos —corrigió él. —¿Podría hacerme unos huevos fritos, también? —Claro —contestó María achicando los ojos. —Señorita Daanna, ¿me acercas los huevos de Menw? Aquel comentario tomó a todos desprevenidos y de repente estallaron a carcajadas. No se podían aguantar. María, Mewn, Cahal, Danna, Caleb & Aileen Serie Vanir -Libro de Jade
Lena Valenti (El libro de Jade (Saga Vanir #1))
The writer is the duelist who never fights at the stated hour, who gathers up an insult, like another curious object, a collector's item, spreads it out on his desk later, and then engages in a duel with it verbally. Some people call it weakness. I call it postponement. What is weakness in the man becomes a quality in the writer. For he preserves, collects what will explode later in his work. That is why the writer is the loneliest man in the world; because he lives, fights, dies, is reborn always alone; all his roles are played behind a curtain. In life he is an incongruous figure.
Anaïs Nin (The Diary of Anaïs Nin, Vol. 1: 1931-1934)
One doesn't lose a self, like a pair of gloves or a pine. We learn and change, or we harden into stone.
Sherwood Smith (Crown Duel (Crown & Court, #1-2))
No sé qué hacer, Luca, porque tome la decisión que tome, tanto si es lanzarme a tus brazos como no volver a verte, ambas me hacen un agujero en el pecho. No es que me hagas daño, Luca, es que me dueles; puede parecer lo mismo, pero no lo es, porque algo que te duele está dentro de ti y no hay manera de desprenderse de ello.
Neïra (Fuiste mi verano)
... You are the closest I will ever come to heaven, either here on Earth or in the afterlife, and I will not regret it, not even at the cost of your tears. So I go to my grave an unrepentant sinner, I’m afraid. There is no use in mourning one such as I, dearest... -Simon to Lucy in a letter before the last duel.
Elizabeth Hoyt (The Serpent Prince (Princes Trilogy, #3))
A prudent silence will frequently be taken for wisdom and a sentence or two cautiously thrown in will sometimes gain the palm of knowledge, while a man well informed but indiscreet and unreserved will not uncommonly talk himself out of all consideration and weight. (Alexander Hamilton's 'thesis on discretion' written to his son James shortly before his fatal duel with Burr.)
Ron Chernow (Alexander Hamilton)
They're safe,'' he said. "And you're not made of glass". He swept me up in his arms. I laughed. "And I'm not made of glass." He carried me into our room and kicked the door shut behind us.
Sherwood Smith (Court Duel (Crown & Court, #2))
If more people recognized the difference between friendship and mere attraction, and how love must partake of both to prosper, I expect there'd be more happy people.
Sherwood Smith (Crown Duel (Crown & Court, #1-2))
Chater: You dare to call me that. I demand satisfaction! Septimus: Mrs Chater demanded satisfaction and now you are demanding satisfaction. I cannot spend my time day and night satisfying the demands of the Chater family.
Tom Stoppard (Arcadia)
The idea of someone who can play with their emotions, who can 'mystically' get them to do certain things, makes them uncomfortable. What they do not realize-and what you must realize-is that manipulating others is something that all people do. In fact, manipulation is at the core of our social interaction." He settled back, raising his dueling cane and gesturing with it slightly as he spoke. "Think about it. What is a man doing when he seeks the affection of a young lady? Why, he is trying to manipulate her to regard him favorably. What happens when two old friends sit down for a drink? They tell stories, trying to impress each other. Life as a human being is about posturing and influence. This isn't a bad thing-in fact, we depend upon it. These interactions teach us how to respond to others." -Breeze
Brandon Sanderson (The Final Empire (Mistborn, #1))
Ron told Pippa that during the six years he had spent on the book, Valerie Chernow had developed a powerful identification with Hamilton’s wife. “She used to say, ‘Eliza is like me: She’s good, she’s true, she’s loyal, she’s not ambitious.’ There was a purity and a goodness about the character, and that was like Valerie,” he says. In 2006, after 27 years of marriage, Valerie passed away. For her gravestone, Ron chose a line from the letter that Hamilton wrote to Eliza on the night before the duel: “Best of wives and best of women.
Lin-Manuel Miranda (Hamilton: The Revolution)
It desolates me to disappoint you, but your brother is not here. Despite two really praiseworthy attempts at rescue." ... The hint of amusement irritated me, and sick and hurt as I was, I simply had to retort something. "Glad... at least... you're desolated.
Sherwood Smith (Crown Duel (Crown & Court, #1-2))
I could have done even better, miss, and I'd know a lot more, if it wasn't for my destiny ever since childhood. I'd have killed a man in a duel with a pistol for calling me low-born, because I came from Stinking Lizaveta without a father, and they were shoving that in my face in Moscow. It spread there thanks to Grigory Vasilievich. Grigory Vasilievich reproaches me for rebelling against my nativity: 'You opened her matrix,' he says. I don't know about her matrix, but I'd have let them kill me in the womb, so as not to come out into the world at all, miss.
Fyodor Dostoevsky (The Brothers Karamazov)
All mankind is of one author, and is one volume; when one man dies, one chapter is not torn out of the book, but translated into a better language; and every chapter must be so translated... As therefore the bell that rings to a sermon, calls not upon the preacher only, but upon the congregation to come: so this bell calls us all... No man is an island, entire of itself... any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind; and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.
John Donne (Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions and Death's Duel)
It was growing dark on this long southern evening, and suddenly, at the exact point her finger had indicated, the moon lifted a forehead of stunning gold above the horizon, lifted straight out of filigreed, light-intoxicated clouds that lay on the skyline in attendant veils. Behind us, the sun was setting in a simultaneous congruent withdrawal and the river turned to flame in a quiet duel of gold....The new gold of moon astonishing and ascendant, he depleted gold of sunset extinguishing itself in the long westward slide, it was the old dance of days in the Carolina marshes, the breathtaking death of days before the eyes of children, until the sun vanished, its final signature a ribbon of bullion strung across the tops of water oaks.
Pat Conroy (The Prince of Tides)
Ralston didn't care. He turned on his brother as the surgeon knelt next to him and inspected the wound. "She could have been killed!" And what about you?" This time, it was Callie who spoke, her own pent-up energy releasing in anger, and the men turned as one to look at her, surprised that she and found her voice. "What about you and your idiotic pland to somehow restore my honor by playing guns out in the middle of nowhere with OXFORD?" She said the baron's name in disdain. "Like children? Of all the ridiculous, unnecessary, thoughtless, MALE things to do...who even FIGHTS duels anymore?!
Sarah MacLean (Nine Rules to Break When Romancing a Rake (Love By Numbers, #1))
Another thing is war. I am naturally warlike. Attacking is one of my instincts. Being able to be an enemy, being an enemy — these require a strong nature, perhaps; in any case every strong nature presupposes them. It needs resistances, so it seeks resistance: aggressive pathos is just as integrally necessary to strength as the feeling of revenge and reaction is to weakness. Woman, forinstance, is vengeful: that is a condition of her weakness, as is her sensitivity to other people’s afflictions. — The strength of anattacker can in a way be gauged by the opposition he requires; allgrowth makes itself manifest by searching out a more powerful opponent — or problem: for a philosopher who is warlike challenges problems to duels, too. The task is not to master all resistances, but only those against which one has to pit one’s entire strength, suppleness, and mastery-at-arms — opponents who are equal...
Friedrich Nietzsche (Ecce Homo)
Todas las chicas tienen el corazón roto. Las carreteras están atascadas durante el fin de semana. Todo el mundo quiere estar lejos de donde ha nacido. Al menos el viernes por la noche. Los bares ya no dan dos por una y en esta ciudad tienes que ganar mucho para poder beber en el centro. Los camareros han enterrado sus sonrisas porque es viernes por la noche y la gente coge todo lo que brilla. Con o sin permiso. Las niñas bonitas siempre son las que están más tristes porque saben que hay más tipos dispuestos a hacerles daño. Las niñas feas se dejan ir y bailan toda la noche solas, o unas con otras y no tienen suerte ni atrayendo las desgracias. Los tíos con coche juegan con los dados trucados y los que tienen dinero nos están viendo a todos las cartas. Las madres no duermen en toda la noche porque saben que duele pero también saben que no hay nada mejor y no acaban de decidir qué es lo más peligroso. No hay nadie que no dispare el viernes por la noche, ni hay quien esquive los disparos. Sé que no puedo esperar que estés siempre sola, lo único que te pido es que no te lo creas todo. No te fíes de los anillos de oro, ni de las carrozas de plata. Todos mentimos bien los viernes por la noche.
Ray Loriga (Héroes)
Daughter of Merrow, leave your sleep, The ways of childhood no more to keep. The dream will die, a nightmare rise, Sleep no more, child, open your eyes... Daughter of Merrow, chosen one, The end begins, your time has come. The sands run out, our spell unwinds, Inch by inch, our chant unbinds... Daughter of Merrow, find the five Brave enough to keep hope alive. One whose heart will hold the light, One possessed of a prophet’s sight. One who does not yet believe, Thus has no choice but to deceive. One with spirit sure and strong, One who sings all creatures’ songs. Together find the talismans Belonging to the six who ruled, Hidden under treacherous waters After light and darkness dueled. These pieces must not be united, Not in anger, greed, or rage. They were scattered by brave Merrow, Lest they unlock destruction’s cage. Come to us from seas and rivers, Become one mind, one heart, one bond. Before the waters, and all creatures in them, Are laid to waste by Abbadon!
Jennifer Donnelly (Deep Blue (Waterfire Saga, #1))
Listen to me," Jordan begged urgently, somehow convinced that she would stay alive if she understood how much she meant to him. "Listen to what my life was like before you hurtled into it wearing that suit of armor— Life was empty. Colorless. And then you happened to me, and suddenly I felt feelings I never believed existed, and I saw things I'd never seen before. You don't believe that, do you, darling? But it's true, and I can prove it." His deep voice ragged with unshed tears, Jordan recited his proof: "The flowers in the meadow are blue," he told her brokenly. "The ones by the stream are white. And on the arch, by the arbor, the roses are red." Lifting her hand to his face, he rubbed his cheek against it. "And that's not all I noticed. I noticed that the clearing by the pavilion—the one where my plaque is—looks like the very same one where we had our duel a year ago. Oh, and darling, there's something else I have to tell you: I love you, Alexandra." Tears choked his voice and made it a tormented whisper. "I love you, and if you die I'll never be able to tell you that.
Judith McNaught (Something Wonderful (Sequels, #2))