The largest website for English phrases and quotes

The largest website for English phrases and quotes

Category: Marie Brennan

Utopias bore me. I’m interested in constructing messy, complicated societies that are full of flaws and then saying, ooh, this is interesting, let’s see what happens if I poke it here. And concurrently with this and the previous point, I’m interested in making up cultures that are different

culture, writing

One does not cease to treasure a gem simply because one owns another that is larger.

experience, treasures, value

There is no faster way to harden my determination than to assume I will fail at it.

determination, failure

When I finally did confront Mr. Arcott, after my return to Falchester, he had the cheek to try and argue that his intellectual thievery had been a compliment and a favor. After all, it meant my work was good enough to be accepted into ibn Khattusi’s series — but of course they never would have taken a submission from a woman, so he submitted it on my behalf. What I said in reply is not fit to be printed here, as by then I had spent a good deal of time in the company of sailors, and had at my disposal a vocabulary not commonly available to ladies of quality.

cursing, intellectual-property-theft, publishing, sailors, sexism

I had rather face wild beasts and diseases than the perils of civilization.”There is a proverb, which Tom was kind enough not to voice: be careful what you wish for. Unfortunately, not only did I get it, but so did those around me.

civilization, foreshadowing, naturalism, wishes

There is nothing in the world so enticing as that which you have been told you may not have.

Your people understand the forest: how the animals behave, where to find them, and so on. I want something similar—but instead of the forest as a whole, I want to understand dragons. They are not only here, you know; there are dragons in the savannah—” Mekeesawa nodded. “Well, there are more than that, all over the world. They live in the mountains and on the plains and maybe even in the ocean. I want to know them as you know the creatures of this forest.”“But why?” Mekeesawa asked. His eyes were still merry with laughter, but his question was serious. “You don’t live in all those places.”With the amount of time I have spent traveling in my life, one might make the argument that I do live in all those places, if only temporarily. But Mekeesawa’s point was a good one, and not easily dismissed. The Moulish understood the creatures of the Green Hell because their survival depended on it; my survival did not depend on my traveling the globe to find dragons. (Indeed, it has on more than one occasion nearly been detrimental to my life expectancy.) How could I answer him?Thinking back on the matter now, it is possible my only true answer to that question is now in its second volume, with more to come. These memoirs are not only an accounting of my life; they are an accounting for it.

dragons, knowledge, life-s-work, memoir

Their characteristics are well-known. They’re beautiful — when they’re not astoundingly ugly. They’re both goddesses for men to worship, and demons for them to flee. They adore children, sometimes to the point of unhealthy obsession. They have a strong association with nature, from which they’re often assumed to draw magical power. Their anger is a terrible thing to behold, and all the more fearsome because anything can spark it; the rules by which these creatures operate are not those of rational men. They are creatures of fanciful whim, and they never, ever, can be understood.I’m talking, of course, about women.

faeries, fantasy, women

…A widow has freedoms a wife does not. But when I look at you, I do not see obstacles for my career, I see-” My face burned even more. “I see wings. A way to fly higher and further than I can on my own.

freedom, love, marriage

I have often found this to be true since, that matters which seem terribly important in the early days of such a journey (what will people back home say?) fade into triviality with the passage of time.

etiquette, society, travel

The lack of a husband was, for some applicants, a selling point. I imagine many of my readers are aware of the awkward position in which governesses often find themselves — or, rather, the awkward position into which their male employers often put them, for it does no one any service to pretend this happens by some natural and inexorable process, devoid of connection with anyone’s behaviour.

everyday-sexism, feminism, sexism

Jake shrugged, in the way that only nine-year-old children can manage — and usually male children at that, girls not being permitted the same kind of insouciance.

children, sexism