American Novels

"How can it be?" she wondered. "I suppose I could understand it if men had simply forgotten unicorns or if they had changed so that they hated all unicorns now and tried to kill them when they saw them. But not to see them at all, to look at them and see something else — what do they look like to one another, then? What do trees look like to them, or houses, or real horses, or their own children?"

"No, no, listen. Don't listen to me, listen. You can find your people if you are brave. They passed down all the roads long ago, and the Red Bull ran close behind them and covered their footprints."

"In the long-ago year of 1968, post-Tolkien fantasy was just entering its first great bloom — suddenly you could find fantasy novels everywhere, old classics as well as bright new stuff. I bought The Last Unicorn because the cover was a lovely take on the medieval unicorn tapestries — I was unsure about the title, because it seemed a distinct possibility that it would be a sticky, fluffy, rhinestone sort of book and I didn't like those. I'd been introduced to fantasy through Tolkien and Mervyn Peake and E. R. Eddison, and I liked some power in my fantasy. The Last Unicorn proceeded to run 220 volts through my little 110-volt brain."

"To the memory of Dr. Olfert Dapper, who saw a wild unicorn in the Maine woods in 1673, and for Robert Nathan, who has seen one or two in Los Angeles."

"Doing good, like love, cannot be valued for what it accomplishes, since the unicorn flatly declares, "You are a man, and men can do nothing that makes any difference." Loving and doing good must be chosen, as Lir and Schmendrick choose them, for the beauty and pleasure and wonder of doing good."

"My people are in the world again. No sorrow will live in my heart as long as that joy — save one, and I thank you for that, too. Farewell, good magician. I will try to go home."

"You are a true and mortal wizard now, as you always wished. Does it make you happy?" "Yes," he replied with a quiet laugh. "I'm not poor Haggard, to lose my heart's desire in the having of it. But there are wizards and wizards; there is black magic and white magic, and the infinite shades of gray between — and I see now that it is all the same. Whether I decide to be what men would call a wise and good magician — aiding heroes, thwarting witches, wicked lords, and unreasonable parents; making rain, curing woolsorter's disease and the mad staggers, getting cats down from trees — or whether I choose the retorts full of elixirs and essences, the powders and herbs and banes, the padlocked books of gramarye bound in skins better left unnamed, the muddy mist darkening in the chamber and the sweet voice lisping therein — why, life is short, and how many can I help or harm? I have my power at last, but the world is still too heavy for me to move, though my friend Lír might think otherwise." And he laughed again in his dream, a little sadly. The unicorn said, "That is true. You are a man, and men can do nothing that makes any difference." But her voice was strangely slow and burdened. She asked, "Which will you choose?" The magician laughed for a third time. "Oh, it will be the kind magic, undoubtedly, because you would like it more. I do not think that I will ever see you again, but I will try to do what would please you if you knew...."

"As for you and your heart and the things you said and didn't say, she will remember them all when men are fairy tales in books written by rabbits."

"Your true task has just begun, and you may not know in your life if you have succeeded in it, but only if you fail."

"Then Schmendrick stepped out into the open and said a few words. They were short words, undistinguished either by melody or harshness, and Schmendrick himself could not hear them for the Red Bull's dreadful bawling. But he knew what they meant, and he knew exactly how to say them, and he knew that he could say them again when he wanted to, in the same way or in a different way. Now he spoke them gently and with joy, and as did so he felt his immortality fall from him like an armour, or like a shroud."

"Prince Lír stood between her body and the Bull, weaponless, but with his hands up as though he thought he still held a sword and shield. Once more in that endless night the prince said, "No." He looked very foolish, and he was about to be trampled flat. The Red Bull could not see him, and would kill him without ever knowing that he had been in the way. Wonder and love and great sorrow shook Schmendrick the Magician then, and came together inside him and filled him, filled him until he felt himself brimming and flowing with something that was none of these. He did not believe it, but it came to him anyway, as it had touched him twice before and left him more barren than he had been. This time, there was too much of it for him to hold; it spilled through his fingers and toes, welled up equally in his eyes and his hair and the hollows of his shoulders. There was too much to hold — too much ever to use; and still he found himself weeping with the pain of his impossible greed. He thought, or said, or sang, I did not know that I was so empty, to be so full."

"But at the same moment, Prince Lír said, "No." The word escaped him as suddenly as a sneeze, emerging in a questioning squeak — the voice of a silly young man mortally embarressed by a rich and terrible gift. "No," he repeated, and this time the word tolled in another voice, a kings's voice; not Haggard, but a king whose grief was not for what he did not have, but for what he could not give. "My lady," he said, "I am a hero. It is a trade, no more, like weaving or brewing, and like them it has its own tricks and knacks and small arts. There are ways of perceiving witches, and knowing of poison streams; there are certain weak spots that all dragons tend to have, and certain riddles that hooded strangers tend to set you. But the true secret in being a hero lies in knowing the order of things. The swineherd cannot already be wed to the princess when he embarks on his adventures, nor can the boy knock on the witch's door when she is already away on vacation. The wicked uncle cannot be found out and foiled before he does something wicked. Things must happen when it is time for them to happen. Quests may not simply be abandoned; prophecies may not be left to rot like unpicked fruit; unicorns may go unrescued for a very long time, but not forever. The happy ending cannot come in the middle of the story.""

"Richard: "I wonder what's bothering the chickens" Kahlan: "Maybe your grandfather is pestering them now, too. Or maybe they're grouchy because we kept them awake most of the night.""

"(Richard addressing the Sisters of the Light when he first arrives at the Palace of the Prophets) "His fingers tapped the Rada’Han around his neck. 'As long as you keep this collar on me you are my captors and I am your prisoner. Since I have committed no aggression against you that makes us enemies. We are at war. Sister Verna has made a pledge to me that I will be taught to control the gift and when I have learned what is required I will be set free. For now, as long as you keep that pledge we have a truce. But there are conditions. I have been collared before. The person who put that collar on me brought me pain, to punish me, to teach me, to subdue me. That is the sole purpose of a collar, you collar a beast, you collar your enemies. I made her much the same offer I am making you. I begged her to release me, she would not. I was forced to kill her. Not one of you could ever hope to be good enough to lick her boots. She did as she did because she was tortured and broken; made mad enough to use a collar to hurt people. She did it against her nature. You do it because you think it is your right. You enslave in the name of your Creator. I don’t know your creator. The only one beyond this world who I know would do as you do is the Keeper. As far as I am concerned you may as well be the Keeper's disciples. If you do as she, and use this collar to bring me pain the truce will be ended. You may think you hold the leash to this collar, but I promise you if the truce ends you will find that what you hold is a bolt of lightning.'" — Richard"

""[Zedd] always said that if you accept the possibility, then you make it real. I've decided that until someone proves it otherwise to me, I'm not going to accept his death. I believe in him. I believe he's alive and out there, somewhere, causing someone trouble." — Richard"

""Who could forget Richard? Trouble and wonder in one package." — Sister Simona"

""Once lucky, twice confident, and thrice dead." — Zedd, to the Prelate"

""You are a rare person, Richard Rahl." — Kahlan/Shar/Shota/Sliph/Adie"

""One way or another, you'll always be in my heart." — Richard, to Denna"

""I think Richard could find a way to make the sun rise at midnight." — Denna"

""We'll fix it. Together. Always together." — Kahlan, to Richard"

""Kahlan guide me. Kahlan teach me. Kahlan protect me. In your light I thrive. In your mercy I am sheltered. In your wisdom I am humbled. I live only to love you. My life is yours." — Richard"

""Richard loves Kahlan. That says it all - it says everything." — Nicci"

""Richard is a pebble in the pond - an individual at the center of so many things. He touches so many things. He has turned out to be a core element in all our lives. Everything turns on what he does, on the decisions he makes. If he takes a wrong step, we all fall down." — Ann"

"Richard leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. 'I know what it's like to feel regret for how you were born, for what you have, or don't have. I hated being born the way I was - with the gift. But I came to realize how senseless such feelings are, how completely wrong it was to think that way.' 'But it's different with me,' Jennsen said as she pushed at the sand with a finger, erasing the little ruts she'd made with the pebble/ 'There are others like you - wizards or sorceresses with the gift. Everyone else can at least see colors, as you put it. I'm the only one like this.' Richard gazed at his half sister, a beautiful, bright, un-gifted half sister that any previous Lord Rahl would have murdered on the spot, and was overcome with a radiant smile. 'Jennsen, I think of you as born pure. You're like a new snowflake, different than any other, and startlingly beautiful.'"

"(Nicci reveals Richard's statue to Victor, Ishaq, and the rest of the town) "It was something the like of which most of these people had never in their lives seen. It was vision to the blind. It was water to the thirsty. It was life to the dying.""

"(Nicci is going to see the statue) Once in place, her pulse pounding, she turned. Nicci's gaze rose up the legs, the robes, the arms, the bodies of the two peoples, up to their faces. She felt as if a giant fist squeezed her heart to a stop.This was what was in Richard's eyes brought into existence in glowing white marble. To see it fully realized was like being struck by lightning.In that instant, her entire life, everything that had ever happened to her, everything she had ever seen, heard, or done, seemed to come together in one flash of emotional violence. Nicci cried out in pain at the beauty of it, and more so at the beauty of what it represented.Her eyes fell on the name carved in the stone base.LIFENicci collapsed to the floor in tears, in abject shame, in horror, in revulsion, in sudden blinding comprehension...In pure joy."

"Princess Violet glared at him. "My mother says that Confessor Kahlan will come back and that we'll have a surprise for her the next time she comes here. I just want you to know because my mother said you'll be dead by then. My mother says I get to decide what to do to her. First, I'm going to cut off her hair." Her hands were in fists, her face red. "Then I'm going to let all the guards rape her, every one! Then I'm going to put her in the dungeon for a few years so they'll have someone to play with! Then when I get tired of hurting her, I'll have her head chopped off and put it on a pole where I can watch it rot!"Richard actually felt sorry for the little Princess. The sadness for her came over him in a wave. At that feeling, he was surprised to feel the thing in him that had come awake rise up.Princess Violet squeezed her eyes shut, stuck her tongue out far as she could. It was like a red flag. The strength of the awakened power exploded through him. He could feel her jaw shatter like a crystal goblet on a stone floor when his boot came up under it. The impact of the blow lifted the Princess into the air. Her own teeth severed her tongue before they, too, shattered. She landed on her back, a good distance away, trying to scream through the gushing blood."

"The bird let out a slow chicken cackle. It sounded like a chicken, but in her heart she knew it wasn't. In that instant, she completely understood the concept of a chicken that was not a chicken. This looked like a chicken, like most of the Mud People's chickens. But this was no chicken. This was evil manifest."

""With hate in my heart...vengeance without mercy." — Anson"

""It's my life. If this is the end, all there is to be, then I will do with the rest of my life as I wish. It's my life to live, not yours to live for me. I'm going with you, and that is final." — Cara"

""I will remember only that I loved him, and could never tell him." — Kahlan"

"Verna: "What about my wrinkles?"Warren: "Someday, when you get wrinkles, I'll love them, too.""

""I'm Lord Rahl's favorite." — Berdine"

""I will bathe in that young man's blood." — Merissa"

"Richard: "If you don't tell me where the Mother Confessor is, you are going to die."Kahlan: "You are about to slit her throat, Richard.""

""Lunetta, I believe there is trouble. I believe the Creator is going insane." — Brogan"

""We present Lord Rahl, the Seeker of Truth and wielder of the Sword of Truth, the bringer of death, the Master of D'Hara, the ruler of the Midlands, the commander of the gar nation, the champion of free people and bane of the wicked, and the betrothed of the Mother Confessor." — Berdine"

""Friends don't bargain away another friend's rights. Or their hearts." — Richard"

""We will fight with our last breath if need be, and in our death, let us inflict a wound on him that will fester until it claims him." — Richard"

""I will give you war; a real war, not a slaughter of women and children but a war lead by me, the Mother Confessor, a woman! War without quarter!" — Kahlan"

""Good-bye, Father Rahl. I trust you will die without my watching it." — Richard"

""As we Wizards go, I'm pretty harmless." — Zedd"

""The beam in the central hall. I am sure of it." — Verna"

""What kind of plans would the Master Rahl have? I plan to conquer the world." — Richard"

""And so they sent me, because I do." — Kahlan"

""To know Richard, is to know Kahlan." — Denna"

""And the truth is that you are a bastard son, of a bastard son, of a bastard son! And all of those bastard sons, all the way back, had the gift. Worse, Zedd has the gift. You have the gift, but it is from two blood lines of wizards. You are a very dangerous person, Richard Rahl. You have the gift. In this case, I would be more inclined to call it a curse." — Shota"

""Promise made . . . . Promise kept!" — Richard"

""I am the Seeker. I can do anything." — Richard"