Genevieve Cogman Quotes

Blind faith is just another word for slavery.

And, really, Erda had put the basic problem in a nutshell. Everyone here viewed damage to their own particular interest as more significant than damage to anyone else’s. Whatever the scale of the damage.

I don’t care about politics or the greater good or universal peace or whatever. I just want to be left in peace with books.

What business is it of mine if they should want to kill each other? I'd say they both show excellent judgement."
"Sounds about right to me," Evariste said harshly. "Not my circus, not my monkeys. If they want to tear each other to bits, they can get on with it, and good luck to them.

The room on the other side was elegant and gracious, even in the moonlight that slanted in through the long rectangular windows. It breathed with the scent of old books and wax polish: the dark volumes that filled the shelves promised countless secrets, and Irene itched just to reach out and touch them.

The atmosphere of the place soothed her automatically; the rich lantern-lights, the sheer scent of paper and leather, and the fact that everywhere she looked, there were books, books, beautiful books.

The problem with paranoia was that if you let it rule all your decisions, then you would miss some perfectly good opportunities.

It was only a hypothesis, but it made an uncomfortable amount of sense.

If my friends—my brothers and sisters—have sacrificed themselves, then it was their choice. You, on the other hand, have lied to us and kept us in the dark and used us. You’re probably going to tell me that you did it for a higher cause, that you were just protecting us. But true higher causes don’t have everyone deserting them when they find out the truth, grandmother. Genuine ethical purposes don’t have everyone walking out once they know what’s really going on. And causes that people care enough to die for…”

Irene realized she was on the point of shouting. Worse, of being ungrammatical. She took a deep breath.

I think the time for blind trust is long over. Now I need answers.

First things first. Get the facts, then decide what to do next. And hope that there is a next.

You must surely know by now, Winters, that a leader’s authority is limited to giving her followers orders that they will actually obey.

You mean me entering the Library may have destroyed the universe?" Catherine asked
"You don't need to sound quite so impressed by it," Irene chided. "It's not something you want on your yearly performance review.

Indigo was precisely the sort of person who would declare that a just revolution was worth a million deaths. As long as she wasn’t one of them, of course.