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Quotes from The Kingdom of Gods — N. K. Jemisin

born 1972 United States

← All quotes by N. K. Jemisin

22 quotes

Those with power would always find some way to exert it over those who didn’t.

The Kingdom of Gods (2011)

If they will not love me, fear is an acceptable substitute.

The Kingdom of Gods (2011)

“When things are bad, change is good, right? Change means things will get better.”

The Kingdom of Gods (2011)

Mother always said that if one must do something unpleasant, one should do it wholeheartedly and not waste effort on regret.

The Kingdom of Gods (2011)

Unreasoning optimism is a fundamental element of childishness.

The Kingdom of Gods (2011)

“Well, isn’t that what fathers do?” He had no idea what fathers did. “Love you, even if you don’t love them? Miss you when you go away?”

The Kingdom of Gods (2011)

Funny thing, employment. If you keep doing it, you keep getting paid.

The Kingdom of Gods (2011)

It takes great strength to compromise, Shahar. More than it does to threaten and destroy, since you must fight your own pride as well as the enemy.

The Kingdom of Gods (2011)

Well. Adolescence is all about making mistakes.

The Kingdom of Gods (2011)

Fear was like poison to mortals; it killed their rationality.

The Kingdom of Gods (2011)

At least I’m done with adolescence. Never could stand it; if I don’t want to kill someone, I want to have sex with them.

The Kingdom of Gods (2011)

Magic is merely communication, after all.
Communication, and conduits.

The Kingdom of Gods (2011)

Peace is meaningless without freedom.

The Kingdom of Gods (2011)

It was the oldest of tricks, to sow dissension between groups that had common interests. Good for deflecting attention from greater mischief, too.

The Kingdom of Gods (2011)

I’d come down sick. (I had. It was called adolescence, an evil, evil disease.)

The Kingdom of Gods (2011)

That was the way of things, after all. Children had to grow up. They did not always become what others wanted.

The Kingdom of Gods (2011)

There was no point in making myself suffer unnecessarily. As a mortal, there would be pain enough in my life, whether I sought it out or not.

The Kingdom of Gods (2011)

This was what I’d asked her to give me. I had no right to complain just because it wasn’t what I wanted to hear.

The Kingdom of Gods (2011)

It is a massive palace, each spire of which could house a village; its chambers contain dozens of entertainments. All of these become tedious to the point of torment after two thousand years. Hells, after twenty.

The Kingdom of Gods (2011)

Sky’s forecourt had been designed by my late sister, Kurue, who had understood two key elements of the mortal psyche: they hate being reminded of their own insignificance, yet they simultaneously and instinctively expect their leaders to be overwhelmingly dominant.

The Kingdom of Gods (2011)

Attribution

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