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Quotes from The Broken Kingdoms — N. K. Jemisin

born 1972 United States

← All quotes by N. K. Jemisin

16 quotes

What happened when people who’d once possessed absolute power suddenly lost it?

The Broken Kingdoms (2010)

I had never been able to truly hate anyone who’d suffered, no matter what evils they’d done in the aftermath.

The Broken Kingdoms (2010)

Love betrayed has an entirely different sound from hatred outright.

The Broken Kingdoms (2010)

Good intentions are pointless without the will to implement them.

The Broken Kingdoms (2010)

There’s not such thing as magic that does no harm.

The Broken Kingdoms (2010)

But though I repeated my plea, and waited on my knees for nearly an hour, there was no answer.

The Broken Kingdoms (2010)

Otherwise it was quiet—that eerie, not-quite-comforting quiet one finds in small towns before dawn.

The Broken Kingdoms (2010)

I understand that mutual dissatisfaction is a factor in their collaboration. I imagine it isn’t a far step from mutual goals to mutual respect, and from there to love.

The Broken Kingdoms (2010)

I knew as well as anyone that the priests taught what they wanted us to know, not necessarily what was true. And sometimes even when they told the truth, they got it wrong.

The Broken Kingdoms (2010)

When people questioned this, the priests simply said, The world has changed. We must change with it.
You can imagine how well that went over.

The Broken Kingdoms (2010)

It’s all right to need help. All of us have things we can’t do alone.

The Broken Kingdoms (2010)

They live forever, but many of them are even more lonely and miserable than we are. Why do you think they bother with us? We teach them life’s value.

The Broken Kingdoms (2010)

I...regret...what I did. It was wrong. Very wrong. But regret is meaningless.

The Broken Kingdoms (2010)

Very quickly I fell in with others like me—newcomers, dreamers, young people drawn to the city in spite of its dangers because sometimes, for some of us, tedium and familiarity feel worse than risking your life.

The Broken Kingdoms (2010)

“They follow the creed of the Bright: that which disturbs the order of society must be eliminated, regardless of whether it caused the disturbance.” She rolled her eyes. “You’d think they’d get tired of parroting Itempas and start thinking for themselves after two thousand years.”

The Broken Kingdoms (2010)

“I keep hoping you’ll tell me. You’re the god, after all. If I prayed to you for guidance, and you decided to answer, what would you tell me?”
“I wouldn’t answer.”
“Because you don’t care? Or because you wouldn’t know what to say?”
More silence.

The Broken Kingdoms (2010)

Attribution

Quotes and notes from Wikiquote: N. K. Jemisin (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0.