N. K. Jemisin Quotes

Well. Adolescence is all about making mistakes.

The Leadership legends have the air of a myth concocted to justify their place in society.

There is no greater warrior than a mother protecting her child.

“I keep hoping you’ll tell me. You’re the god, after all. If I prayed to you for guidance, and you decided to answer, what would you tell me?”
“I wouldn’t answer.”
“Because you don’t care? Or because you wouldn’t know what to say?”
More silence.

Otherwise it was quiet—that eerie, not-quite-comforting quiet one finds in small towns before dawn.

Mother always said that if one must do something unpleasant, one should do it wholeheartedly and not waste effort on regret.

Nassun gasps. “That’s horrible!
I don’t bother to explain that just because something is horrible does not make it any less true.

Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall; Death is the Fifth, and master of all.

I had never been able to truly hate anyone who’d suffered, no matter what evils they’d done in the aftermath.

When we say that “the world has ended,” remember—it is usually a lie. The planet is just fine.

Peace is meaningless without freedom.

(Book that...everyone should read:) One of the many books by queer and POC authors that are under challenge by conservatives, via your local library. If they’re no longer available at your library because the conservatives got there first, join your local Library Board and fight to reinstate them. Reading–and the freedom to speak truth to power–is part of a framework of equity and justice that is under attack in a way not seen for a generation. Fight for all books. Or else.

It takes great strength to compromise, Shahar. More than it does to threaten and destroy, since you must fight your own pride as well as the enemy.

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.

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.