N. K. Jemisin
60 quotes
Biography
Nora Keita Jemisin is an American science fiction and fantasy writer. Her fiction includes a wide range of themes, notably cultural conflict and oppression.
"There is no greater warrior than a mother protecting her child."
"But perhaps that was just the way of power: no such thing as too much."
"It is blasphemy to separate oneself from the earth and look down on it like a god. It is more than blasphemy, it is dangerous. We can never be gods, after all—but we can become something less than human with frightening ease."
"It is important to appreciate beauty, even when it is evil."
"Immortality gets very, very boring. You'd be surprised at how interesting the small mundanities of life can seem after a few millennia."
"There is no logic to grief."
"It’s all right to need help. All of us have things we can’t do alone."
"Love betrayed has an entirely different sound from hatred outright."
"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."
"There’s not such thing as magic that does no harm."
"“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.”"
"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."
"What happened when people who’d once possessed absolute power suddenly lost it?"
"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."
"Good intentions are pointless without the will to implement them."
"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."
"I knew what it was at last—the visible manifestation of my will. My power, inherited from my god ancestors and distilled through generations of humanity, given shape and energy and potential. That was all magic was, really, in the end. Possibility. With it I could create anything, provided I believed."
"Otherwise it was quiet—that eerie, not-quite-comforting quiet one finds in small towns before dawn."
"I had never been able to truly hate anyone who’d suffered, no matter what evils they’d done in the aftermath."
"“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?”"
"“When things are bad, change is good, right? Change means things will get better.”"
"Unconditional love: childhood’s greatest magic."
"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."
"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."
"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."