Quotessence
Home / Quotes / Quote by Ilona Andrews

Quote by Ilona Andrews

“All men are liars. All women are liars, too. I learned that fact when I was two years old and my grandmother told me that if I was a good girl and sat still, the shot the doctor was about to give me wouldn’t hurt. It was the first time my young brain connected the unsettling feeling of my magic talent detecting a lie to the actions of other people. People lie for many reasons: to save themselves, to get out of trouble, to avoid hurting someone’s feelings. Manipulators lie to get what they want. Narcissists lie to make themselves seem grand to others and themselves. Recovering alcoholics lie to safeguard their tattered reputations. And those who love us most lie to us most of all, because life is a bumpy ride and they want to smooth it out as much as possible.”

Quote by Ilona Andrews

Work

Burn for Me

Browse quotes and source details for this work. more

Author

Ilona Andrews
Ilona Andrews

Ilona Andrews is an American science fiction novelist known for her unique world-building and engaging storytelling. Her works have gained popularity among readers for their imaginative plots and profound themes. more

You May Also Like

“So much contempt for your own species." "Yes, contempt! If you had seen what I have seen, watched what a human may become when left alone in the dark, you would share it. You were lucky, Jaghatai. Your world was no Caliban. We tell you of Old Night and you barely believe us, but that is not how most places were. The lie is noble. It is there to protect, to guard, not to deceive, for they are not ready." I have heard this before. There were empires on my homeworld that offered freedom to their slave castes, but only when they were ready. That moment, strangely enough, never came. In the end, they had to take it for themselves, to die for it, and even then there were some who said the day had come too soon. The truth will come out. You won't be able to hold the blindfold in place, and once it slips, the fury of those you deceived will be limitless.”

“The Power of Patient Waiting Waiting is never easy. It drains your enthusiasm, making you restless to charge ahead, seize the moment, and pour your all into the fight. Only a fool would choose hesitation, and only the idle would welcome delay in the heat of action. Yet, waiting is the vulture’s strength. It watches, poised, biding its time for the perfect strike. To the untrained eye, the waiting vulture seems foolish—but its patience is not passivity. It is strategy and intentionality in motion, turning restraint into reward, trading haste for precision. Patience is not mere inconvenience—it is necessity. Though it may feel like time wasted, its true cost is only short-term. Waiting sharpens focus, hones skill, and prepares you for what lies ahead. It clears the mind of bias, aligns action with purpose, and leads to wiser choices. In patience, energy is preserved, and ability is refined. It is the cure for reckless impulse. No victory comes without patience. Only faith that is accompanied by patience inherit the promise of a desired end. For everyone that waits actively and purposely, triumph is inevitable.”

“So much of the story we tell about history is really the story that we tell about ourselves, about our mothers and our fathers and their mothers and their fathers, as far back as our lineages will take us. Throughout our lives we are told certain stories and they are stories that we choose to believe--stories that become embedded in our identities in ways we are not always fully cognizant of. For many of the people I met at Blandford, the story of the Confederacy is the story of their home, of their family--and the story of their family is the story of them. So when they are asked to reckon with the fact that their ancestors fought a war to keep my ancestors enslaved, there is resistance to facts that have been documented by primary sources and contemporaneous evidence. They are forced to confront the lies they have upheld. They are forced to confront the flaws of their ancestors. As Greg Stewart, a member of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, told the New York Times in the aftermath of the 2015 Charleston massacre, "You're asking me to agree that my great-grandparents and great-great-grandparents were monsters." Accepting such a reality would, for them, mean the deterioration of a narrative that has long been a part of their lineage, and the disintegration of so much of who they believed themselves to be in the world. But as I think of Blandford, I'm left wondering if we are all just patchworks of the stories we've been told. What would it take--what does it take--for you to confront a false history even if it means shattering the stories you have been told throughout your life? Even if it means having to fundamentally reexamine who you are and who your family has been? Just because something is difficult to accept doesn't mean you should refuse to accept it. Just because someone tells you a story doesn't make that story true.”