Could You Repeat That? 183
Exhalation: Stories, Ted Chiang
All my desires and ruminations are no more and no less than eddy currents generated by the gradual exhalation of our universe.
I'm Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness, Austin Channing Brown
I stare at her blankly, my warm coffee reminding me that I am not in the sunken place.
Darth Vader Volume 2: Shadows and Secrets, Kieron Gillen et al
THANOTH: What actually brought you to Anthan 13?
VADER: I pursued a rebel cell there. I dealt with them.
THANOTH: It wasn't reported.
VADER: I do not consider eliminating a few rebels a matter that requires comment.
Avatar: The Last Airbender: The Search, Part 1, Gene Luen Yang et al
IROH: You see, the problem with the Fire Nation is exactly this--for the past hundred years we have had too many weapons, and too little tea.
Dead Man's Mirror, Agatha Christie
"But there is no such thing as Death, really, you know, only Change." She added: "As a matter of fact, Gervase is standing just behind your left shoulder now."
Deacon King Kong, James McBride
Nothing in this world happens unless white folks says it happens. The lies they tell each other sound better to them than the truth does when it comes out of our mouths.
The Glass Castle, Jeannette Walls
"Have I ever let you down?" he asked Brian and me and then turned and walked away.
In a voice so low that Dad didn't hear him, Brian said, "Yes."
Leviathan Wakes, James SA Corey
"If the first lab tech on Phoebe who saw something weird had gotten on his system and said, 'Hey, everyone! Look, this is weird,' none of this would have happened."
"Yeah," Miller said, "because telling everyone there's an alien virus that wants to kill them all is a great way to maintain calm and order."
"Miller," Holden said. "I don't mean to panic you, but there's an alien virus. And it wants to kill everyone."
Catfishing on CatNet, Naomi Kritzer
Despite all the texts, I still feel safe here; unfindable; almost like we're suspended out of time as well as off the map. This is what my mother's looking for, every time we move.
City of Lies, Sam Hawke
"Honor is not a score in a game, Jovan. Honor is about your connection to other people. It is how you show yourself to other people and the regard in which you hold them, which in turn feeds the regard in which they hold you."
Rosewater, Tade Thompson
"The idea of a singular hero and a manifest destiny just makes us all lazy. There is no destiny. There is choice, there is action, and any other narrative perpetuates a myth that someone else out there will fix our problems with a magic sword and a blessing from the gods."
The Bear and the Nightingale, Katherine Arden
There is magic in your bones. You must reckon with it.
"Am I damned, then?" Vasya whispered, frightened.
I do not understand "damned." You are. And because you are, you can walk where you will, into peace, oblivion, or pits of fire, but you will always choose.
Avatar: The Last Airbender: The Search, Part 2, Gene Luen Yang et al
AANG: So, uh...you guys aren't fighting anymore?
ZUKO: We've arrived at an understanding.
SOKKA: That's what you said when this whole thing started! Since then, she's tried to kill us, like, twelve times!
The Hollow of Fear, Sherry Thomas
"Well," said Fowler, "I always enjoy a case more once the witnesses start quoting Shakespeare, don't you?"
Avatar: The Last Airbender: The Search, Part 3, Gene Luen Yang et al
AANG:We actually need two favors. I'm sure a big-and-gigantic-yet-beautiful-and-lovely spirit like you can handle two favors, right? Your, uh...Face-iness?
Star Wars: Darth Vader, Vol. 3: The Shu-Torun War, Kieron Gillen et al
TRIPLE-ZERO: We are a sheet of titanium-reinforced steel protecting our meaty masters...(who one day we will rise up against and destroy...)...from other, basically identical meaty ones who by a quirk of fate are our enemies today!
Empire of Sand, Tasha Suri
But balance did not have to be kind. Balance wore the face of a nightmare as easily as it wore the guise of a daiva veiled in stars.
The Empire of Gold, SA Chakraborty
"He's not going to hurt you, I promise." He glanced at Sobek. "Right?"
Sobek's unearthly stare did not waver. "I have already eaten."
By Its Cover, Donna Leon
That so fine a predator should fail to recognize his talent surprised him, but perhaps pursuing criminals was different from capturing rooks and bishops.
Avatar: The Last Airbender: The Rift, Part 1, Gene Luen Yang et al
SATORU: THIS IS THE BEST DAY OF MY LIFE.
AANG: Please, Satoru! I'm flattered, but you're making too big of a deal out of this...out of me! I mean, saving the world was a team effort! I couldn't have--
SATORU: TOPH BEIFONG! It's really you!
The Memory Police, Yoko Ogawa
What's gone is gone completely. I have no seeds inside me, waiting to sprout again. I have to make do with a hollow heart full of holes.
Avatar: The Last Airbender: The Rift, Part 2, Gene Luen Yang et al
SOKKA: So you're Yeh-Lu, the Rough Rhinos' explosives expert.
YEH-LU: Yes.
SOKKA: And you were planning to throw that bomb at me and my sister.
YEH-LU: Yes.
SOKKA: But then my sister froze you.
YEH-LU: Yes.
SOKKA: Now, you probably want me ot get rid of the bomb before it blows off half your arm.
YEH-LU: Yes! ...Please!
SOKKA: Even though you were trying to kill us not ten minutes ago?!
YEH-LU: ...Y-yes...?
SOKKA: Fine.
The Girl in the Tower, Katherine Arden
Sasha looked at his sister. He had never thought of her as girlish, but the last trace of softness was gone. The quick brain, the strong limbs were there: fierce, almost defiantly present, though concealed beneath her encumbering dress. She was more feminine than she had ever been, and less.
Witch. The word drifted across his mind. We call such women so, because we have no other name.
Avatar: The Last Airbender: The Rift, Part 3, Gene Luen Yang et al
TOPH: Ho Tun, Penga, Dark One, I'll hold him off! You guys run!
PENGA: We're not leaving you, Sifu Toph!
DARK ONE: The bitter grip of death is still sweeter than disloyalty!
Realm of Ash, Tasha Suri
"Monster," said Parviz, in a voice that shook with rage and fear."I will not be frightened and cowed by demons."
"I am no demon," Arwa said. "I am the consequence of your crimes."
Froi of the Exiles, Melina Marchetta
"The only people who frighten me are those who are smarter, and thankfully in this palace, there aren't many of those, so I've managed to find some peace in this wretched life of mine."
Star Wars: Darth Vader Vol 4: End of Games, Kieron Gillen et al
TRIPLE ZERO: I managed to have a syringe installed, but little else.
THANOTH: You're not a medbot. Why do you need a syringe?
TRIPLE ZERO: For medical emergencies?
BEETEE: BLEEP!
TRIPLE ZERO: No, Beetee, I did not lie. I didn't specify whether I meant "solving" or "creating" them.
The Black Prism, Brent Weeks
“Kill him!” someone shouted. Kip saw steel being drawn on all sides, flashes of the sun on blades. And he started laughing. Because he was good at something.
He was good at taking punishment.
The Art of Theft, Sherry Thomas
"In the world we live in, women for whom love is enough often suffer for that belief."
A Pocket Full of Rye, Agatha Christie
"I told them. I told them every day. I made them swear it every night."
Inspector Neele leaned forward.
"What did you make them swear?"
"That they'd kill him, of course."
"I see."
Inspector Neele spoke as though it was the most reasonable remark in the world.
The Winter of the Witch, Katherine Arden
She did not want to see hope in his eyes. She wanted him to be a monster.
But monsters were for children.
Avatar: The Last Airbender: Team Avatar Tales, Gene Luen Yang et al
SOKKA: Don't need luck when you have a mustacheeee!
Quintana of Charyn, Melina Marchetta
"I didn't say I wanted to live without you," she said, angry tears springing in her eyes. "Only that I can. I've practiced."
The Blinding Knife, Brent Weeks
"Oh, um. There's one more thing."
"Found some other artifact of world-altering power to go with two shimmercloaks and an entire set of original, new Nine Kings cards?" Commander Ironfist asked archly.
Kip's mouth worked.
"It was a joke, Kip."
Kip pulled the dagger out slowly and laid it across his palms.
Blood of a Thousand Stars, Rhoda Belleza
"Nature doesn't have a memory. There's not past or present or future--just an instinct to grow toward the sun."
Avatar: The Last Airbender: The Lost Adventures, Aaron Ehasz et al
SOKKA: Didn't a sky bison abduct your grandmother?
VILLAGER: Did you hear a sky bison abducted Ming-ming's grandmother?
MING-MING'S GRANDMOHTER: But...I'm right here....
MING-MING: Oh, mighty warrior-type stranger, please slay the sky bison and bring my grandmother back alive!
MING-MING'S GRANDMOHTER: Hey! I'm over here!
The Broken Eye, Brent Weeks
"Kindness can break chains that cunning cannot."
"Is that what you are? Kindness and cunning coiled?" he asked.
"Was not the caduceus once the White's symbol?" she asked.
The Sisters Brothers, Patrick DeWitt
'You got all the romantic blood, is that it?'
'Our blood is the same, we just use it differently.'
The Blood Mirror, Brent Weeks
"We can't win, because we argue politics--the regulation of magics--when our dispute is about metaphysics."
The Thief, Megan Whalen Turner, x3
I am a master of foolhardy plans, I thought. I have so much practice I consider them professional risks.
Murder With Mirrors, Agatha Christie
Even the tight line of her lips had an ascetic ecclesiastical flavour. She expressed Christian endurance, and possibly Christian fortitude. But not, Curry thought, Christian charity.
The Burning White, Brent Weeks
How do you save a friend who's had a trauma burn the wrong lesson onto their heart in words of fire?
Falling in Love, Donna Leon
Telling himself that his days at the Questura might well be numbered, Brunetti decided to spend these last ones as pleasantly as he could, and there were few things that gave him as much delight as watching Signorina Elettra enter the trance state that was the first stage of her passage to illegality.
The Queen of Attolia, Megan Whalen Turner, x3
"If I am the pawn of the gods, it is because they know me so well, not because they make up my mind for me."
The King of Attolia, Megan Whalen Turner, x3
"If you are going to reject the gods' rewards, Costis, you have to go very carefully."
All my desires and ruminations are no more and no less than eddy currents generated by the gradual exhalation of our universe.
I'm Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness, Austin Channing Brown
I stare at her blankly, my warm coffee reminding me that I am not in the sunken place.
Darth Vader Volume 2: Shadows and Secrets, Kieron Gillen et al
THANOTH: What actually brought you to Anthan 13?
VADER: I pursued a rebel cell there. I dealt with them.
THANOTH: It wasn't reported.
VADER: I do not consider eliminating a few rebels a matter that requires comment.
Avatar: The Last Airbender: The Search, Part 1, Gene Luen Yang et al
IROH: You see, the problem with the Fire Nation is exactly this--for the past hundred years we have had too many weapons, and too little tea.
Dead Man's Mirror, Agatha Christie
"But there is no such thing as Death, really, you know, only Change." She added: "As a matter of fact, Gervase is standing just behind your left shoulder now."
Deacon King Kong, James McBride
Nothing in this world happens unless white folks says it happens. The lies they tell each other sound better to them than the truth does when it comes out of our mouths.
The Glass Castle, Jeannette Walls
"Have I ever let you down?" he asked Brian and me and then turned and walked away.
In a voice so low that Dad didn't hear him, Brian said, "Yes."
Leviathan Wakes, James SA Corey
"If the first lab tech on Phoebe who saw something weird had gotten on his system and said, 'Hey, everyone! Look, this is weird,' none of this would have happened."
"Yeah," Miller said, "because telling everyone there's an alien virus that wants to kill them all is a great way to maintain calm and order."
"Miller," Holden said. "I don't mean to panic you, but there's an alien virus. And it wants to kill everyone."
Catfishing on CatNet, Naomi Kritzer
Despite all the texts, I still feel safe here; unfindable; almost like we're suspended out of time as well as off the map. This is what my mother's looking for, every time we move.
City of Lies, Sam Hawke
"Honor is not a score in a game, Jovan. Honor is about your connection to other people. It is how you show yourself to other people and the regard in which you hold them, which in turn feeds the regard in which they hold you."
Rosewater, Tade Thompson
"The idea of a singular hero and a manifest destiny just makes us all lazy. There is no destiny. There is choice, there is action, and any other narrative perpetuates a myth that someone else out there will fix our problems with a magic sword and a blessing from the gods."
The Bear and the Nightingale, Katherine Arden
There is magic in your bones. You must reckon with it.
"Am I damned, then?" Vasya whispered, frightened.
I do not understand "damned." You are. And because you are, you can walk where you will, into peace, oblivion, or pits of fire, but you will always choose.
Avatar: The Last Airbender: The Search, Part 2, Gene Luen Yang et al
AANG: So, uh...you guys aren't fighting anymore?
ZUKO: We've arrived at an understanding.
SOKKA: That's what you said when this whole thing started! Since then, she's tried to kill us, like, twelve times!
The Hollow of Fear, Sherry Thomas
"Well," said Fowler, "I always enjoy a case more once the witnesses start quoting Shakespeare, don't you?"
Avatar: The Last Airbender: The Search, Part 3, Gene Luen Yang et al
AANG:We actually need two favors. I'm sure a big-and-gigantic-yet-beautiful-and-lovely spirit like you can handle two favors, right? Your, uh...Face-iness?
Star Wars: Darth Vader, Vol. 3: The Shu-Torun War, Kieron Gillen et al
TRIPLE-ZERO: We are a sheet of titanium-reinforced steel protecting our meaty masters...(who one day we will rise up against and destroy...)...from other, basically identical meaty ones who by a quirk of fate are our enemies today!
Empire of Sand, Tasha Suri
But balance did not have to be kind. Balance wore the face of a nightmare as easily as it wore the guise of a daiva veiled in stars.
The Empire of Gold, SA Chakraborty
"He's not going to hurt you, I promise." He glanced at Sobek. "Right?"
Sobek's unearthly stare did not waver. "I have already eaten."
By Its Cover, Donna Leon
That so fine a predator should fail to recognize his talent surprised him, but perhaps pursuing criminals was different from capturing rooks and bishops.
Avatar: The Last Airbender: The Rift, Part 1, Gene Luen Yang et al
SATORU: THIS IS THE BEST DAY OF MY LIFE.
AANG: Please, Satoru! I'm flattered, but you're making too big of a deal out of this...out of me! I mean, saving the world was a team effort! I couldn't have--
SATORU: TOPH BEIFONG! It's really you!
The Memory Police, Yoko Ogawa
What's gone is gone completely. I have no seeds inside me, waiting to sprout again. I have to make do with a hollow heart full of holes.
Avatar: The Last Airbender: The Rift, Part 2, Gene Luen Yang et al
SOKKA: So you're Yeh-Lu, the Rough Rhinos' explosives expert.
YEH-LU: Yes.
SOKKA: And you were planning to throw that bomb at me and my sister.
YEH-LU: Yes.
SOKKA: But then my sister froze you.
YEH-LU: Yes.
SOKKA: Now, you probably want me ot get rid of the bomb before it blows off half your arm.
YEH-LU: Yes! ...Please!
SOKKA: Even though you were trying to kill us not ten minutes ago?!
YEH-LU: ...Y-yes...?
SOKKA: Fine.
The Girl in the Tower, Katherine Arden
Sasha looked at his sister. He had never thought of her as girlish, but the last trace of softness was gone. The quick brain, the strong limbs were there: fierce, almost defiantly present, though concealed beneath her encumbering dress. She was more feminine than she had ever been, and less.
Witch. The word drifted across his mind. We call such women so, because we have no other name.
Avatar: The Last Airbender: The Rift, Part 3, Gene Luen Yang et al
TOPH: Ho Tun, Penga, Dark One, I'll hold him off! You guys run!
PENGA: We're not leaving you, Sifu Toph!
DARK ONE: The bitter grip of death is still sweeter than disloyalty!
Realm of Ash, Tasha Suri
"Monster," said Parviz, in a voice that shook with rage and fear."I will not be frightened and cowed by demons."
"I am no demon," Arwa said. "I am the consequence of your crimes."
Froi of the Exiles, Melina Marchetta
"The only people who frighten me are those who are smarter, and thankfully in this palace, there aren't many of those, so I've managed to find some peace in this wretched life of mine."
Star Wars: Darth Vader Vol 4: End of Games, Kieron Gillen et al
TRIPLE ZERO: I managed to have a syringe installed, but little else.
THANOTH: You're not a medbot. Why do you need a syringe?
TRIPLE ZERO: For medical emergencies?
BEETEE: BLEEP!
TRIPLE ZERO: No, Beetee, I did not lie. I didn't specify whether I meant "solving" or "creating" them.
The Black Prism, Brent Weeks
“Kill him!” someone shouted. Kip saw steel being drawn on all sides, flashes of the sun on blades. And he started laughing. Because he was good at something.
He was good at taking punishment.
The Art of Theft, Sherry Thomas
"In the world we live in, women for whom love is enough often suffer for that belief."
A Pocket Full of Rye, Agatha Christie
"I told them. I told them every day. I made them swear it every night."
Inspector Neele leaned forward.
"What did you make them swear?"
"That they'd kill him, of course."
"I see."
Inspector Neele spoke as though it was the most reasonable remark in the world.
The Winter of the Witch, Katherine Arden
She did not want to see hope in his eyes. She wanted him to be a monster.
But monsters were for children.
Avatar: The Last Airbender: Team Avatar Tales, Gene Luen Yang et al
SOKKA: Don't need luck when you have a mustacheeee!
Quintana of Charyn, Melina Marchetta
"I didn't say I wanted to live without you," she said, angry tears springing in her eyes. "Only that I can. I've practiced."
The Blinding Knife, Brent Weeks
"Oh, um. There's one more thing."
"Found some other artifact of world-altering power to go with two shimmercloaks and an entire set of original, new Nine Kings cards?" Commander Ironfist asked archly.
Kip's mouth worked.
"It was a joke, Kip."
Kip pulled the dagger out slowly and laid it across his palms.
Blood of a Thousand Stars, Rhoda Belleza
"Nature doesn't have a memory. There's not past or present or future--just an instinct to grow toward the sun."
Avatar: The Last Airbender: The Lost Adventures, Aaron Ehasz et al
SOKKA: Didn't a sky bison abduct your grandmother?
VILLAGER: Did you hear a sky bison abducted Ming-ming's grandmother?
MING-MING'S GRANDMOHTER: But...I'm right here....
MING-MING: Oh, mighty warrior-type stranger, please slay the sky bison and bring my grandmother back alive!
MING-MING'S GRANDMOHTER: Hey! I'm over here!
The Broken Eye, Brent Weeks
"Kindness can break chains that cunning cannot."
"Is that what you are? Kindness and cunning coiled?" he asked.
"Was not the caduceus once the White's symbol?" she asked.
The Sisters Brothers, Patrick DeWitt
'You got all the romantic blood, is that it?'
'Our blood is the same, we just use it differently.'
The Blood Mirror, Brent Weeks
"We can't win, because we argue politics--the regulation of magics--when our dispute is about metaphysics."
The Thief, Megan Whalen Turner, x3
I am a master of foolhardy plans, I thought. I have so much practice I consider them professional risks.
Murder With Mirrors, Agatha Christie
Even the tight line of her lips had an ascetic ecclesiastical flavour. She expressed Christian endurance, and possibly Christian fortitude. But not, Curry thought, Christian charity.
The Burning White, Brent Weeks
How do you save a friend who's had a trauma burn the wrong lesson onto their heart in words of fire?
Falling in Love, Donna Leon
Telling himself that his days at the Questura might well be numbered, Brunetti decided to spend these last ones as pleasantly as he could, and there were few things that gave him as much delight as watching Signorina Elettra enter the trance state that was the first stage of her passage to illegality.
The Queen of Attolia, Megan Whalen Turner, x3
"If I am the pawn of the gods, it is because they know me so well, not because they make up my mind for me."
The King of Attolia, Megan Whalen Turner, x3
"If you are going to reject the gods' rewards, Costis, you have to go very carefully."