Home > Work > Forest of a Thousand Lanterns (Rise of the Empress, #1)
21 " Love does not always come with marriage, Your Majesty. Marriage may strengthen a woman, but love weakens her. She has more to lose. "
― Julie C. Dao , Forest of a Thousand Lanterns (Rise of the Empress, #1)
22 " You leave pieces of yourself in the ones you love. It’s that not the greatest power, to endure in that way? "
23 " You understand, as I do, that wealth and family mean nothing if a person is not willing to prove his full worth. "
24 " Being underestimated can be a blessing in disguise,” Xifeng said. “That is to say, it gives us a chance to astonish those who doubt our true worth. "
25 " Love killed your mother, Guma had always warned her. Give your heart and you lose your soul. "
26 " Only kings are arrogant enough to believe the world too small to hold other men. "
27 " Women are complicated creatures. "
28 " A ruler has little time for kindness. He does not give without expecting something in return. He can’t afford to. "
29 " Cry not, for your tears are no more than rain upon your enemy’s face. "
30 " Save me, she thought. Save me from this love dark road. "
31 " How their slippery hearts had scorched her throat, how the hot metallic tang of blood had given way to a roar of satisfaction that shook her whole being. "
32 " For that is the way of the world,' Guma's voice echoed. 'Some are given a rope to the moon, and others claw up the sky. "
33 " It must be like using an apothecary's scale....Knowing when to add more of this or that. Evening out the two sides so they seem equal, though one may hold only dirt and the other gold dust. "
34 " You will be Empress only if you are willing to take the dark road there. But you are not the only exceptional one, and you are not alone in being favored for greatness. The sooner you understand that, the better your choices will be. "
35 " Some of us must rely on friends to see the best within us. That is how we find balance....And balance is what you need to succeed at court...like that apothecary's scale you so aptly mentioned. "
36 " I was born a woman into this world," she said, echoing the concubine's words. "And I will play the game, but I won't lose. "
37 " I tell you a throne is a greater imposition than it is a gift. "
38 " There will be no peace on Feng Lu. I have seen how humans adapt to a cruel world. I have watched this continent of peace and plenty become the grasping, violent place it is now. "
39 " When one has the misfortune of being born small among the tall and handsome, one must prove oneself in any way possible. What better choice than politics, the realm of the powerful? "
40 " throw away a certainty for a possibility. "