C Quotes
Browse famous quotes beginning with C. This page is a child index of the full Popular Quotes A-Z directory.
“Carcosa, El Dorado!
It isn't a shimmering mirage, a distant dream that beckons with its golden allure, no it is real and it is more beautiful than we could have ever imagined!”
“Card players have a saying: "It's all right to play if you keep your eyes on the deck" - which is another way of saving, "Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty."”
“cardamom-laced hoşaf with apples and cherries (par-boiled and therefore more likely to float elegantly), bubbled in apple juice and freshened with a squeeze of lemon. A pink-hued quince variation with a little cinnamon. Simple prune, rich and dark. Apricot and orange blossom, with golden sultanas boiled with a spoonful of honey. Small, slightly unripe pears, peeled, then brought sweetly alive by heat and sugar. Whatever is in season or, in times of scarcity, dried fruit.”
Source: Cold Kitchen: A Year of Culinary Travels
“Cardan begins to strip off his shirt, showing an expanse of moon-pale skin and a back with a delicate tracery of faded scars.”
Source: The Cruel Prince
“Cardan comes over, stepping on my star chart, kicking over the ink-pot with his silver-tipped boots, sending the blood spilling across the paper, blotting out my marks. 'Come with me,' he says imperiously.
'I knew you liked her,' says Locke. 'That's why I had to have her first. Do you remember the party in my maze garden? How I kissed her while you watched?'
'I recall that your hands were on her, but her eyes were on me,' Cardan returns.
'That's not true!' I insist, but I remember Cardan on a blanket with a daffodil-haired faerie girl. She pressed her lips to the edge of his boot, and another girl kissed his throat. His gaze had turned to me when one of them began kissing his mouth. His eyes were coal-bright, wet as tar.
The memory comes with the slide of Locke's palm over my back, heat in my cheeks, and the feeling my skin was too tight, that everything was too much.”
Source: The Queen of Nothing
“Cardan draws a sharp breath and then lets it out slowly. 'I'd prefer to live.”
Source: The Cruel Prince
“Cardan gazes at a rosebush with petals so black and glossy they look like patent leather. ¨It was terrifying,¨ he says, ¨watching you fall. I mean, you´re generally terrifying, but I am unused to fearing for you. And then I was furious. I am not sure I have ever been that angry before.¨ ¨Mortals are fragile,¨ I say. ¨Not you,¨ he says in a way that sounds a little like a lament. ¨You never break.¨
Page 159”
Source: The Queen of Nothing
“Cardan gazes at a rosebush with petals so black and glossy they look like patent leather. 'It was terrifying,' he says, 'watching you fall. I mean, you're generally terrifying, but I am unused to fearing for you. And then, I was furious. I am not sure I have ever been that angry before.'
'Mortals are fragile,' I say.
'Not you,' he says in a way that sounds a little like a lament. 'You never break.'
Which is ridiculous, as hurt as I am. I feel like a constellation of wounds, held together with string and stubbornness. Still, I like hearing it. I like everything he's saying all too well.
That boy is your weakness.”
Source: The Queen of Nothing
“Cardan glances toward me, as though for help. When I am silent, he frowns, annoyed with both of us. 'Although I am wearing the cloak Mother Marrow made me, the one that will turn any blade, I still promise to run, tail between my legs. And since I have a tail, that should be amusing for everyone. Are you satisfied?”
Source: The Queen of Nothing
“Cardan grins at me as though we've been great friends all our lives. I forgot how charming he can be--and how dangerous that is.”
Source: The Cruel Prince
“Cardan had grown up in the palace, a wild thing to be cosseted by courtiers and scowled at by the High King. No one much liked him, and he told himself he cared little for anyone else. And if he sometimes thought about how he might do something to win his father's favour, something to make the Court respect him and love him, he kept that to himself. He certainly asked no one to tell him stories, and yet he found it was nice to be told one. He kept that to himself, too.”
Source: How the King of Elfhame Learned to Hate Stories
“Cardan had his polished boots resting on a rock and his head pillowed on the utterly ridiculous mortal book he'd been reading. Since the one with the girl and the rabbit and the bad queen, he'd discovered he had a taste for human novels. A hob in the market traded them to Cardan for roses smuggled out of the royal gardens.”
Source: How the King of Elfhame Learned to Hate Stories
“Cardan had trusted Nicasia not to hurt him, which was ridiculous, since he well knew that everyone hurts one another and that the people you loved hurt you the most grievously.”
Source: How the King of Elfhame Learned to Hate Stories
“Cardan half-turns, and I shove him so hard that his back hits one of the trees. His eyes go wide. ¨I dont know what you said to her, but you dont ever go near my sister again,¨ I tell him,my hand still on the front of his velvet doublet.¨You gave her your word.¨ I can feel the eyes of all the other students on me. Everyones breath is drawn. For a moment, Cardan just stares at me with stupid, cow-black eyes. Then one corner of his mouth curls. ¨Oh,¨ He says. ¨You´re going to regret doing that.¨
page 66”
Source: The Cruel Prince
“Cardan has stopped beside a boy with long copper hair and a pair of small moth wings- a boy who isn't bowing. The boy laughs and Cardan lunges. Between one eyeblink and the next, the prince's balled fist strikes the boy hard across the jaw, sending him sprawling. As the boy falls, Cardan grabs one of his wings. It tears like paper. The boy's scream is thin and reedy. He curls up into himself on the ground, agony plain on his face. I wonder if faerie wings grow back; I know that butterflies that lose a wing never fly again.”
Source: The Cruel Prince
“Cardan, I hope your brother won't be angry. I'm afraid I may have set one of the guests on fire.”
Source: How the King of Elfhame Learned to Hate Stories
“Cardan is clever, but it's not a nice kind of cleverness.”
Source: The Cruel Prince
“Cardan is lying on a blanket, his head tipped back and his loose white shirt unbuttoned. Although it is still early in the night, he appears to be very drunk. HIs mouth is flaked with gold. A horned girl I don't know is kissing his throat, and another, this one with daffodil hair, presses her mouth against the calf of his leg, just above the top of his boot.
...
Cardan's gaze goes to me. His eyes are barely open, but I can see the shine of them, wet as tar. He watches me as the girl kisses his mouth, watches me as she slides her hand beneath the hem of his silly, ruffly shirt.”
Source: The Cruel Prince
“Cardan is lying on the bed, bandaged and sulking, in a magnificent dressing gown. “I hate being unwell,” he says.
“You’re not sick,” Jude tells him. “You are recovering from being stabbed—or rather, throwing yourself on a knife.”
“You would have done the same for me,” he says airily.
“I would not,” Jude snaps.
“Liar,” Cardan says fondly.”
Source: The Prisoner’s Throne
“Cardan is waiting for me when I get off the field. I am struck suddenly be his height, by the arrogant sneer he wears like a crown. He would seem like a prince even dressed in rags. Cardan grabs my face, fingers splayed against my neck. His breath is against my cheek. His other hand grabs my hair, winding it in to a rope. 'Do you know what mortal means? It means born to die. It means deserving of death. That's what you are, what defines you- dying. And yet here you stand, determined to oppose me even as you rot away from the inside out, you corrupt, corrosive mortal creature. Tell me how that is. Do you really think you can win against me? Against a prince of Faerie?'
I swallow hard. 'No,' I say.
His black eyes simmer with rage. 'So you're not completely lacking in some small amount of animal cunning. Good. Now, beg my forgiveness.'
I take a step back and tug, trying to wrench free of his grasp. He holds on to my braid, staring down in to my face with hungry eyes and a small, awful smile. Then he opens his hand, letting me stagger free. Individual strands of hair flutter through the air.”
Source: The Cruel Prince
“Cardan is wearing a high jewelled collar of jet on a stiff black doublet. Over the top of his pointed ears are knifelike caps of gold, matching the gold along his cheekbones. His expression is remote.”
Source: The Queen of Nothing
“Cardan is wearing his usual scowl, accessorised with kohl under his eyes and a circlet of gold in his midnight hair. He has on a long black coat with a high, jagged collar, the whole thing stitched with a pattern of constellations. Valerian is in deep red, cabochon rubies sparkling on his cuffs, each like a drop of frozen blood. Nicasia's hair is the blue-green of the ocean, crowned with a diadem of pearls. A glittering cobweb net covers her braids. Locke brings up the rear, looking bored, his hair the precise colour of fox fur.”
Source: The Cruel Prince
“Cardan lies on the rug with one arm propping up his head and the other slung across Jude's waist. He understands everything and nothing he sees on the screen- just as he understands everything and nothing about being here with her family. He feels like a feral cat that might bite out of habit.”
Source: How the King of Elfhame Learned to Hate Stories
“Cardan looks at me as though he's never seen me before. He looks at me as though no one has ever spoken to him like this. Maybe no one has.”
Source: The Cruel Prince
“Cardan looks at me with helpless rage... The fury in his eyes is familiar, the glitter of them like banked fire, like coals burning hotter than flames ever could. This time I deserve it. I promised he was going to be able to walk away from the Court and all its manipulations. I promised he would be free from all this. I lied.”
Source: The Cruel Prince
“Cardan manages to persuade my sister to tell him a little about the mortal world. He sounds delighted at her description of slushy machines, with their violently bright colours and sugary strangeness. She is hallway through an explanation on gummy worms when we are back at the palace and climbing down from the carriage.”
Source: The Queen of Nothing
“Cardan ought to have been the boy with the heart of stone in Aslog’s story, but somehow he had let his heart turn to glass.”
Source: How the King of Elfhame Learned to Hate Stories
“Cardan ought to have been the boy with the heart of stone in Aslog's story, but somehow he had let his heart turn to glass. He could feel the shattered shards of it lodged in his lungs, making his every breath painful.
Cardan had trusted Nicasia not to hurt him, which was ridiculous, since he well knew that everyone hurts one another and that the people you loved hurt you the most grievously. Since he was well aware that they both took delight in hurting everyone else that they could, how could he have thought himself safe?”
Source: How the King of Elfhame Learned to Hate Stories
“Cardan pulls a pin from his coat, a glittering, filigree thing in the shape of an acorn with an oak leaf behind it. For a delirious moment, I think he's going to give it to Locke in exchange for leaving me there. That seems impossible, even to my wild mind.
Then Cardan takes hold of my hand, which seems even less possible. His fingers are overwarm against my skin. He stabs the point of his pin into my thumb.
'Ow,' I say, pulling away from him and putting the injured digit in my mouth. My own blood is metallic against my tongue.
'Have a nice walk home,' he tells me.
...
I suck on my injured thumb, feeling odd. My head is still swimming, but not like it was. Something's wrong. A moment later, I realise what. There's salt in human blood.
My stomach lurches.”
Source: The Cruel Prince
“Cardan puts up a hand. 'No, no, enough. It's all too tedious to explain. I declare this meeting at an end.' His fingers make a flicking gesture towards the door. 'Leave us. I tire of the lot of you.'
I have a long way to go before I can manage that level of shameless arrogance.”
Source: The Queen of Nothing
“Cardan puts up a hand.¨No, no, enough. Its all too tedious to explain. I declare this meeting at an end.¨ His fingers making a flicking gesture toward the door. ¨Leave us. I tire of the lot of you.¨
Page 165”
Source: The Queen of Nothing
“Cardan removes his glamour, glad to be free of it, drinking in the fragrance of moss and loam. The moonlight shines down, reflecting off leaf and stone.”
Source: How the King of Elfhame Learned to Hate Stories
“Cardan's clothes are disarranged from crawling under tables or being captured and tied, and his infamous tail is showing under the white lawn of his shirt. It it slim, nearly hairless, with a tuft of black fur at the tip. As I watch, the tail forms one wavering curve after another snaking back and forth, betraying his cool face, telling its own story of uncertainty and fear.
I can see why he hides that thing away.”
Source: The Cruel Prince
“Cardan's face is serious, almost grave, in a way that he seldom allows himself to be. "When my father sent me way, at first i tried to prove that i was nothing like he thought me. But when that didn't work, I tried to be exactly what he believed i was instead. If he thought i was bad, i would be worse. If he thought i was cruel, i would be horrifying. I would live down to his every expectation. If i couldn't have his favor, then i would have his wrath.”
Source: The Wicked King
“Cardan's fingers dig into my back. He's trembling, and whether it is from ebbing magic or horror, I am not sure. But he holds me as though I am the only solid thing in the world.”
Source: The Queen of Nothing
“Cardan's hands are deftly splitting the deck of cards, but his glittering black eyes are on me.”
Source: The Cruel Prince
“Cardan stands over me. His jacket is thrown on a nearby chair, the velvet soaked through with some dark substance. His white sleeves are rolled up, and he's washing my hands with a wet cloth. Getting the blood off them.
I try to speak, but my mouth feels like it is full of honey. I slide back into the syrupy dark.”
Source: The Queen of Nothing
“Cardan stands, too. 'Everyone finds different lessons in stories, I suppose, but here's one. Having a heart is terrible, but you need one anyway.”
Source: How the King of Elfhame Learned to Hate Stories
“Cardan steps close to me, his gaze devouring. I am not sure I can bear his cutting me down again. Luckily, he seems at a loss for words.
'I hate you,' I whisper before he can speak.
He tilts my face to him.
'Say it again,' he says as the imps comb my hair and place the ugly stinking crown on my head. HIs voice is low. The words are for me alone.
I pull out of his grip, but not before I see his expression. He looks as he did when he was forced to answer my questions, when he admitted his desire for me. He looks as though he's confessing.”
Source: The Wicked King
“Cardan steps in front of me, pulling his cloak up. The metal needles glance off the fabric, falling to the floor. For a moment, we stare at each other, wide-eyed. He looks as surprised as I am that he protected me.”
Source: The Queen of Nothing
“Cardan turns back to me, gazing down at me as he did in my imaginings. 'When you forced me into working for the Court of Shadows, I never thought of the things I could do- frightening people, charming people- as talents, no less ones that might be valuable. But you did. You showed me how to use them to be useful. I never minded being a minor villain, but it's possible I might have grown into something else, a High King as monstrous as Dain. And if I did- if I fulfilled the prophecy- I ought to be stopped. And I believe that you would stop me.'
'Stop you?' I echo. 'Sure. If you're a huge jerk and a threat to Elfhame, I'll pop your head right off.'
'Good.' His expression is wistful. 'That's one reason I didn't want to believe you'd joined up with Madoc. The other is that I want you here by my side, as my queen.'
It's a strange speech, and there's little of love in it, but it doesn't seem like a trick, either. And if it stings a little that he admires me primarily for my ruthlessness, well, I suppose there should be some comfort that he admires me at all. He wants me with him, and maybe he wants me in other ways, too. Desiring more than that from him is just greed.
He gives me a half smile. 'But now that you're High Queen and back in charge, I won't be doing anything of consequence anyway. If I destroy the crown and ruin the throne, it will only be through neglect.'
That startles a laugh out of me. 'So that's your excuse for not doing any of the work? You must be draped in decadence at all times because if you aren't kept busy, you might fulfil some half-baked prophecy?'
'Exactly.”
Source: The Queen of Nothing
“Cardan was left to be suckled by a little black cat whose kittens came stillborn.'
'He survived on cat milk?' I exclaim.
...
I think again of the globe I held in Eldred's study, of Cardan dressed in rags, looking to the woman in my chamber for approval, which came only when he was awful. An abandoned prince, weaned on cat milk and cruelty, left to roam the palace like a little ghost.”
Source: The Wicked King
“Cardan was not an easy child to love, and he's only grown worse with time. He would scream to be held, and then once picked up he would bite and kick his way out of my arms. He would find a game and obsess over it until it was conquered, then burn all the pieces. Once you're no longer a challenge, he will despise you.'
I stare at her. 'And you're giving me this warning out of the kindness of your heart?'
She smiles. 'I am giving you this warning because it doesn't matter. You're already doomed, Queen of Elfhame. You already love him. You already loved him when you questioned me about him instead of your own mother. And you will still love him, mortal girl, long after his feelings evaporate like morning dew.'
...
'Is that why you intercepted the letters he sent? To protect me? Or was it because you're afraid that he won't tire of me? Because, my lady, I will always be a challenge.”
Source: The Queen of Nothing
“Cardan won't forgive you for what you're doing with her.'
I pause, unable to pass by without listening for his answer.
But Locke only laughs. 'Is he more angry that you chose me over him or that I chose a mortal over you?”
Source: The Cruel Prince
“Cardboard cutouts of cheerleaders operated by arthritic monkeys would move more fluidly.”
Source: What Goes Around: Two Books In One: Cracked Up to Be & Some Girls Are
“Cardboard is another material that's ubiquitous and everybody hates, yet when I made furniture with it everybody loved it.”
“Cardiac depression is very powerful, it's very black, it's very dark. What I've learned to do is get out of my head and get into my heart. And it just sounds like an easy thing - it was difficult at first - to truly recognize moment to moment how fortunate I am.”
“Cardiff Stadium was a warm up for the 3 Hyde Park shows. James Brown opened. And I think it may be the only time we played Mini Epic live.”
“Cardinal arithmetic will be quite important for us, so we spend some time on it. Since, however, it tends to be trivial, we shall not need to spend much of this time on proofs.”
“Cardinal Arithmetics is much older than Number Theory. People used to exchange things way before there were numbers. Expressing numbers like 762 is already a sign of a very advanced civilization.”