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A Quotes

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All A Quotes

“Amos stopped before the entrance, which was the size of a garage door—a dark heavy square of timber with no visible handle or lock. “Carter after you.” “Um, how do I—” “How do you think?” Great another mystery. I was about to suggest we ram Amos’s head against it and see if that worked.”

“Amos [Tversky] liked to say that if you are asked to do anything—go to a party, give a speech, lift a finger—you should never answer right away, even if you are sure that you want to do it. Wait a day, Amos said, and you’ll be amazed how many of those invitations you would have accepted yesterday you’ll refuse after you have had a day to think it over. A corollary to his rule for dealing with demands upon his time was his approach to situations from which he wished to extract himself. A human being who finds himself stuck at some boring meeting or cocktail party often finds it difficult to invent an excuse to flee. Amos’s rule, whenever he wanted to leave any gathering, was to just get up and leave. Just start walking and you’ll be surprised how creative you will become and how fast you’ll find the words for your excuse, he said. His attitude to the clutter of daily life was of a piece with his strategy for dealing with social demands. Unless you are kicking yourself once a month for throwing something away, you are not throwing enough away, he said. Everything that didn’t seem to Amos obviously important he chucked, and thus what he saved acquired the interest of objects that have survived a pitiless culling.”

“Amos Vogel was a mentor, a guiding light for me. In his presence, you always rose. But his importance to me is of minor significance. What is significant is that with him an entire epoch ends. The Last Lion has left us.I am still not capable - or rather unwilling - to understand the fact that Amos passed away, because a man like him cannot be dead. His traces are everywhere.”

“Amphibians are dying out like crazy, and frogs and salamanders may be largely extinct by the end of the twenty-first century. Imagine an animal that begins its life in the water, but ends it on land - already, that's pretty weird. But, also, a lot of them are incredibly tiny and look wildly improbable. They have funny little toes, they stretch their throats into weird bubble shapes when they croak, and some of them are poisonous to the touch. I think kids from the twenty-second century might mythologize amphibians the way kids today mythologize dinosaurs.”

“Amren and Varian didn't even bother to join us. No, she'd just wrapped her legs around his waist, right there in front of us, and he'd stood, lifting her in one swift movement. I wasn't entirely sure how Varian managed to walk them out of the tent while still kissing her. Amren's hands dragging through his hair, letting out noises that were unnervingly like purring as they vanished into the camp. Rhys had let out a low laugh as we all gawked in their wake. 'I suppose that's how Varian decided he'd tell Amren he was feeling grateful she ordered us to go to Adriata.' Tarquin cringed. 'We'll alternate who has to deal with them on holidays.' Cassian chuckled hoarsely...”

“Amren had entirely given up on her. The debate about sending her up here had been different- Nesta knew that debate had been out of a desire to help her. She could acknowledge that now. This debate had been out of hatred and fear of her. The tiled rooftops became clear. Her legs were shaking. She didn't feel them. Didn't feel anything but that molten rage as the stairs suddenly stopped and she found herself before a door. It opened before her fingers could touch the handle. Sunlight flooded the stairwell, revealing cobblestones beyond. Rage rippling like a storm around her, Nesta stepped back into Velaris at last.”

“Amren said to her, 'I'm surprised you didn't take the king's head back to have stuffed and hung on your wall.' Nesta's eyes shot to her. Mor clicked her tongue. 'Some would consider that joke to be in bad taste, Amren.' 'I saved your asses. I'm entitled to say what I want.' And with that Amren stalked out of the house and into the city streets. 'The new Amren is even crankier than the old one,' Elain said softly.”

“Amren said, 'When Rhys came back, after Amarantha, he was a ghost. He pretended he wasn't, but he was. You made him come alive again.' Words stalled, and I didn't want to think about it, not when what ever good I'd done- whatever good we'd done for each other- might have been wiped away by what I'd said to him.”

“Amren smiled slightly- at me, at Varian. 'I watched them for so many eons. Humans- in my world, there were humans, too. And I watched them love, and hate- wage senseless war and find precious peace. Watched them build lives, build worlds. I was... I was never allowed such things. I had not been designed that way, had not been ordered to do so. So I watched. And that day I came here... it was the first selfish thing I had done. For a long, long while I thought it was punishment for disobeying my Father's orders, for wanting. I thought this world was some hell he'd locked me into for disobedience.' Amren swallowed. 'But I think...I wonder if my Father knew. If he saw how I watched them love and hate and build, and opened that rip in the world not as punishment... but as a gift.' Her eyes gleamed. 'For it has been a gift. This time- with you. With all of you. It has been a gift.”

“Amren,' Varian said, and sank onto his knees. 'I am begging you-' ... She looked to Varian, a wry smile on her red mouth. 'I watched them most- the humans who loved. I never understood it- how it happened. Why it happened.' She paused a step away from the Cauldron. 'I think I might have learned with you, though. Perhaps that was a last gift, too.' Varian's face twisted with anguish. But he made no further move to stop her.”

“Amusement should be used to do us good “like a medicine”: it must never be used as the food of the man...Many have had all holy thoughts and gracious resolutions stamped out by perpetual trifling. Pleasure so called is the murderer of thought. This is the age of excessive amusement: everybody craves for it, like a babe for its rattle.”