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Tanith Lee

200 quotes

“Far too soon a man is in his grave, and how small are the hurricanes and mountains of his life—vengeance, love, might, and conquest—compared to that tiny heap of bone dust at its end.”
Tanith Lee (1947–2015) said by 2015 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The plague came to be called Yellow Mantle. Men must name everything, as if, by giving it a name, they will decrease the nameless horror they experience.”
Tanith Lee (1947–2015) said by 2015 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I had a rare wine in my blood. Expiation was over, guilt washed out, terror canceled.”
Tanith Lee (1947–2015) said by 2015 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The grape of truth is often bitter, but not to taste it in its season would be to waste the vine.”
Tanith Lee (1947–2015) said by 2015 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A tomb contains the dead, who are properly immobile and unspeaking. Though Masrians leave lamps for the ghosts, nobody expects they will be lighted.”
Tanith Lee (1947–2015) said by 2015 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The absolute, as I had finally been shown, does not need the accompaniment of pipes and drums.”
Tanith Lee (1947–2015) said by 2015 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It is a phenomenon of such spots that any noise is encapsulated in this ringing stillness, and made strangely tiny, however loud. The shouts of bandits and the squeaks of fauna sound as if confined in bubbles, a symbol of their impermanence. Only the desert endures.”
Tanith Lee (1947–2015) said by 2015 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There is, too, a sort of relief in admitting defeat. Struggling to drag a mountain from my path, acknowledging at last the mountain would remain, lying down beneath the mountain, thankful for the shade of it.”
Tanith Lee (1947–2015) said by 2015 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Why aid me?” “God has moved me to help you. Or, if you prefer, it was my reasonless inclination to do so.”
Tanith Lee (1947–2015) said by 2015 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I woke in the dawn. The plains of the Wilderness were exploding into light. It was the first hour of day, one of the two most beautiful hours of the desert, where sunrise and sunset are the queen and king.”
Tanith Lee (1947–2015) said by 2015 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Destiny or gods or fortune—whatever one is pleased or innocent enough to call them—they seal men to their decree.”
Tanith Lee (1947–2015) said by 2015 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“He said quietly, “I see a jackal running. His name is I remember.”
Tanith Lee (1947–2015) said by 2015 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“In the tales of many lands, the prophet goes forth into the wilderness, the waste of sand or snow, or aloft on the barren black mountain, and when he returns to the people his eyes are great and luminous, his face is altered; he tells them he has seen God. I will suppose that God, if He is anywhere, is to be found in men, the nugget of gold buried inside the mud. I will suppose, too, that the wilderness washes off for a moment, or forever, the mud and the clay. Perhaps, then, the returning prophet should not say, “I have seen God”; but rather, “I have seen myself.”
Tanith Lee (1947–2015) said by 2015 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Westward and inland there was a form of government, some prince or other sitting on his backside ordering this or that.”
Tanith Lee (1947–2015) said by 2015 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I found a glimmering brown skull in the snow. I could not tell if it was mortal or god, and there seemed a sobering moral in that.”
Tanith Lee (1947–2015) said by 2015 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I had made vows and to spare, but the present cannot be ruled forever by the past.”
Tanith Lee (1947–2015) said by 2015 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“This much poison cannot pour in one’s ears without it will leave some trace.”
Tanith Lee (1947–2015) said by 2015 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The antithesis of myself. No fervor in him, no greed for life, only his ruthless craving to possess, which took no pleasure in possession.”
Tanith Lee (1947–2015) said by 2015 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“At that, I understood for sure I must not lose her, for the earth is not the earth without some light to see it by, and she was mine.”
Tanith Lee (1947–2015) said by 2015 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The countryside meant grain and herds, and a river meant fish. And if the sky meant anything, it meant a cruel God who took no notice of their pains and chastised them if they sinned.”
Tanith Lee (1947–2015) said by 2015 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Lir chiseled at the stone. It would take a month to make a perceptible impression on it. He had a few hours. Work harder, then.”
Tanith Lee (1947–2015) said by 2015 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Resist. Come, you’re tough enough, my lady, aren’t you, if you beg for death rather than inflict evil?”
Tanith Lee (1947–2015) said by 2015 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“What’s Hell?” inquired Wild-Eye. “You should visit before you pass judgement on a place. And have you never heard it said, the Dark One is a gentleman?”
Tanith Lee (1947–2015) said by 2015 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“She had never acquired in-between shades of character, had not had the opportunity. She had been utterly selfish, and was now selfless, because she had never become a whole person, did not like herself, or know herself. Nor had she ever gained sufficient wisdom to be properly horrified at what she meant to do. She couldn’t think that intensely.”
Tanith Lee (1947–2015) said by 2015 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The year was woven on the loom, finished and folded away upon the pile of other years in the tall chests of Time.”
Tanith Lee (1947–2015) said by 2015 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Within, in the lowest region of her soul and mind, unknown to herself, she was still a small voice crying for another glory to salve her hurts. She must better the best, none must withstand her, she must conquer what others dare not face, drink seas and trample mountains. She would never rest till death, the last battle, made mockery of all her victories.”
Tanith Lee (1947–2015) said by 2015 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“What else is she like?” The Eshva sighed at the touch of Azhrarn’s fingers. The sigh said this: Like a white moth at dusk, a night-blooming lily. Like music played by the reflection of a swan as it passes over the strings of a moonlit lake.”
Tanith Lee (1947–2015) said by 2015 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Superstitious, they did not go after her. They had a robber-god which they worshipped in a cave. His creed declared: ‘For every fifty travelers robbed and slain, let one go free. The gods care for excess in nothing.’”
Tanith Lee (1947–2015) said by 2015 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Who would dare invite such a smoke? To some it might be healing, but to others, bane. Breathed in at the nostrils, it seemed to fill the eyes and ears and brain. To a man who knew many things, it would reveal many more, to a man who knew little it would reveal too much. Its name was self-knowledge.”
Tanith Lee (1947–2015) said by 2015 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Flat or round, there has always been hate in the world.”
Tanith Lee (1947–2015) said by 2015 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Men cried to their gods. In the morning they would slay each other; by night, fresh from the battlefield, they raved before unreplying altars. So they came to hate even the gods, and smashed their images and defiled their sanctums. “There are no gods!” they cried. “Then who has done this thing to us?”
Tanith Lee (1947–2015) said by 2015 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Into her shrewd and youthful brain there came an inspiration. It was an inspiration of the sort to set heart banging, teeth jittering, hands cold and mouth dry. It was of the sort which comes only once, and must be hearkened to and acted on—or let go and ever regretted. Lylas chose not to regret.”
Tanith Lee (1947–2015) said by 2015 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The thought had taken hold: Only the best must survive, not a hierarchy of riff-raff. Gods, who had such power of life or death as he, must choose carefully. And one day he would have to choose: Shall I immortalize this one, or this? But not yet.”
Tanith Lee (1947–2015) said by 2015 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“To be dead was a state which played odd tricks on dreams of vengeance.”
Tanith Lee (1947–2015) said by 2015 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Sorcery is a strong wine, and you are drunk on it.” “Do not anticipate I shall sober.”
Tanith Lee (1947–2015) said by 2015 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Apostasy fired her blood as love had done.”
Tanith Lee (1947–2015) said by 2015 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The stink of madness is unsubtle here. Let us be going.”
Tanith Lee (1947–2015) said by 2015 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There was strong music in the sky: the music of sunset. In the west, a wall of clear red amber through which the sun went blazing down. The remainder of the sky was smoky rose, a color like a perfume—musk. The earth had given up its tinctures. Heights and depths and long dunes were melting into the air.”
Tanith Lee (1947–2015) said by 2015 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“And some who were not elegant said: “He is too elegant to be honest.” And some who were not tall said: “He is too tall to be trusted,” and some who were intuitive shuddered, though they were not sure why.”
Tanith Lee (1947–2015) said by 2015 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The dark storyteller did not look about. He said: “You have presumed the gods value man so much that they will hurry to his rescue. I think you misjudge the gods.” “And you,” declared the philosopher sternly, “suggest that they are merely as stones.” “There, I admit, I have maligned them. For if you strike a stone, it may disgorge a stream of water, or a precious jewel. Or you may build a house from it, or scratch words on its surface with a knife. Stones can be serviceable to men.”
Tanith Lee (1947–2015) said by 2015 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Human aspiration is often blind, its motto: I want, therefore I will have.”
Tanith Lee (1947–2015) said by 2015 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It is perhaps a fact, that to the truly good, life, and the ways of men, and goodness itself, are very simple things. What to others appeared as her virtuousness, was to her merely her state of being. She did not set out to be good. She was good naturally, as another breathed. Hate and bitterness and envy and despair, those four envenomed serpents gnawing the livers of mankind, could not get in at her. But to herself she was nothing special; only herself to herself.”
Tanith Lee (1947–2015) said by 2015 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“For you are mad, my dear, in following this vocation. Even your goodness is a craziness. But then, all the very good are mad, just as the very wicked are mad. In fact, there is hardly any difference between the holy and the profane, save in their ideals and their deeds. Both are fanatics. Both are ruthless.”
Tanith Lee (1947–2015) said by 2015 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The bitterness of joy lies in the knowledge that it cannot last. Nor should joy last beyond a certain season, for, after that season, even joy would become merely habit.”
Tanith Lee (1947–2015) said by 2015 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The gods will take notice, Mother, of our righteous distress, and come to my assistance.” In this pious belief she was, of course, quite mistaken (since in those days the gods cared nothing for mankind).”
Tanith Lee (1947–2015) said by 2015 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“What can we do?” said they, limping home. “We are only ordinary men.” By which they meant they thought themselves extraordinary enough that their skins must be saved at all costs.”
Tanith Lee (1947–2015) said by 2015 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Oloru slumped against the tree, shivering and shedding tears, white as death, calling to the gods piteously. “The gods?” inquired Sovaz. “You know they have no care for men. For yourself, what do you need with gods?”
Tanith Lee (1947–2015) said by 2015 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Is the only challenge in the world to be greed and viciousness? Is the only satisfying power the power of the ascent over men, the only dream, ambition? And must the alternative to greed, evil, ambition—be only sluggishness?”
Tanith Lee (1947–2015) said by 2015 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“You will go to any length, however sumptuous or cataclysmic, in order solely to avoid the words: it appears I am at fault.”
Tanith Lee (1947–2015) said by 2015 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Oh, dutiful daughter,” said Azhrarn. “You are to be a goddess somewhere, for I would teach this world the nature of gods.” “And what is their nature?” she said. “Indifferent and cruel. And loving not mankind.”
Tanith Lee (1947–2015) said by 2015 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source