110+ Megan Whalen Turner Quotes On Education, Friendship And Writing

Megan Whalen Turner is an American writer of fantasy and young adult fiction. She is best known for her Queen's Thief series, which follows the adventures of a young thief named Eugenides. Her work has won numerous awards, including the Newbery Honor and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. Following is our collection on famous quotes by Megan Whalen Turner on education, love, friendship.

Top 10 Megan Whalen Turner Quotes

1. Sometimes, if you want to change a man's mind, you have to change the mind of the man next to him first.
2. The queen was settling on the edge of the bed, ungainly with hesitation and at the same time exquisite in her grace, like a heron landing in a treetop.
3. I was not so comfortable with my new authority that I could say 'We eat the chicken now!' but the magus had seen that I was considering it.
4. It isn't an easy thing to give your loyalty to someone you don't know, especially when that person chooses to reveal nothing of himself.
5. He didn't marry you to become king. He became king because he wanted to marry you.
6. Will there be poppy juice in it?" Phresine shook her head. "Good. My wife and I agreed that only my wine was to be poisoned.
7. Then come out," said the king, helping him, "knowing you'll never die of a fall unless the god himself drops you.
8. But there are other words for privacy and independence. They are isolation and loneliness.
9. That is ridiculous," she said. The king agreed. "Like falling in love with a landslide. Only you could fail to notice.
10. Why did you come if not to murder my king?" "I came to steal his magus." "You can't," said the magus in question. "I can steal anything," Eugenides corrected him, "even with one hand.

Megan Whalen Turner Short Quotes

• No 'Glory shall be your reward' for me. Oh, no, for me, it is, 'Stop whining' and 'Go to bed'.
• I'll stop shouting. I won't sit down. I might need to throw more inkpots.
• Anyone who can steal the king's seal ring can manage the locks on his record room.
• He couldn't offend the gods with a pointed stick.
• His forehead was covered by wrinkles brought on by a lot of sun and too much frowning.
• I am very good at groveling.
• A thief never makes a noise by accident.
• I wonder if people always choose what will make them unhappy.
• Let the gods into your life and you rapidly lose faith in the natural laws.
• I think a good book is a good book forever. I don't think they get less good because times change.

Megan Whalen Turner Quotes About Love

Who am I, that you should love me? — Megan Whalen Turner

"Who am I, that you should love me?" "You are My Queen," said Eugenides. She sat perfectly still, looking at him without moving as his words dropped like water into dry earth. "Do you believe me?" he asked. "Yes," she answered. "Do you love me?" "Yes." "I love you." And she believed him. — Megan Whalen Turner

From shadow queen to puppet queen in one rule. That's very impressive. When he rules your country and he tells you he loves you, I hope you believe him. At least that's one lie I didn't tell you. — Megan Whalen Turner

Calf love doesn't usually survive amputation, Your Majesty. — Megan Whalen Turner

"Before you make a decision," he said, "I want you to know that I love you." — Megan Whalen Turner

This is the stupidest plan I have ever in my career participated in," Xenophon said. "I love stupid plans," said Eugenides. — Megan Whalen Turner

Who was the Thief that she would love him? A youth, just a boy with hardly a beard and no sense at all... A liar, she thought, an enemy, a threat. He was brave, a voice inside her said, he was loyal... A fool, she answered back. A fool and a dead one. She ached with emptiness. — Megan Whalen Turner

He could tell her he loved her. He ached to shout it out loud for the gods and everyone to hear. Little good it would do. Better to trust in the moon's promises than in the word of the Thief of Eddis. He was famous in three countries for his lies. — Megan Whalen Turner

Rae Carson's heroine is a perfect blend of the ordinary and the extraordinary. I loved her. — Megan Whalen Turner

Megan Whalen Turner Famous Quotes And Sayings

No," he said. "Relius was right and I was wrong. You are My Queen. Even though you cut my head from my shoulders, with my last breath as a noose tightens, to the last beat of my heart if I hang from the walls of the palace, you are My Queen. That I have failed you does not change my love for you or my loyalty. — Megan Whalen Turner

I'll be your minister--" "Of the exchequer? You'd rob me blind." "I would never steal from you," he'd said hotly. "Oh? Where is my tourmaline necklace? Where are my missing earrings?" "That necklace was hideous. It was the only way to keep you from wearing it." "My earrings?" "What earrings? — Megan Whalen Turner

There are a lot of things a person with two hands couldn't steal," Eddis said. "So?" "If it's impossible to steal them with two hands, it's no more impossible to steal them with one. Steal peace, Eugenides. Steal me some time. — Megan Whalen Turner

Today, she had yielded the sovereignty of her country to Eugenides, who had given up everything he had ever hoped for, to be her King. — Megan Whalen Turner

She's like a prisoner inside stone walls, and every day the walls get a little thicker, the doorways a little narrower. — Megan Whalen Turner

Her queen danced like a flame in the wind, and the mercurial king like the weight at the center of the earth. — Megan Whalen Turner

Are you badly hurt?" "Hideously," said the king, without sounding injured at all. "I am disemboweled. My insides may in an instant become my outsides as I stand here before you. — Megan Whalen Turner

Safety is an illusion, Costis. A Thief might fall at any time, and eventually the day must come when the god will let him. Whether I am on a rafter three stories up or on a staircase three steps up, I am in my god's hands. He will keep me safe, or he will not, here or on the stairs. — Megan Whalen Turner

Just asleep," Eddis reassured her. At the sound of her voice Eugenides's head turned slightly, but he didn't wake. Attolia, seeing the movement, breathed again and pressed her hand to her chest where it hurt. — Megan Whalen Turner

I am not sure I trust you." "You can trust me with your life, My King." "But not with my wine, obviously. Give it back. — Megan Whalen Turner

Oh, that," said the king with a shrug. "That isn't your honor, Costis. That's the public perception of your honor. It has nothing to do with anything important, except perhaps for manipulating fools who mistake honor for its bright, shiny trappings. You can always change the perceptions of fools. — Megan Whalen Turner

I am a master of foolhardy plans, I thought. I have so much practice I consider them professional risks. — Megan Whalen Turner

The room was quiet, the others flicking glances at me. I ignored them. After years in Sounis's palaces being eyed with disgust by my uncle and my own father and courtier after courtier, I assure you I am unrivaled at pretending not to notice other people's glances. — Megan Whalen Turner

Relius looked away. "He said that you...cried," he said softly. "But not that he cried as well," said the queen, amused at the memory. "We were very lachrymose... would you like to hear more romance of the evening? He told me the Guard should be reduced by half, and I threw an ink jar at his head." "Is that when he cried?" "He ducked," said Attolia dryly. "I had not pictured you for a fishwife." "Lo, the transforming power of love. — Megan Whalen Turner

He whines, he complains, he ducks out of the most obvious responsibility. He is vain, petty and maddening, but he doesn't ever quit. — Megan Whalen Turner

I grieved, but a part of me felt a lightening of a burden that I had carried all my life: that I could never be worthy of them, that I would always disappoint or fail them. As an unknown slave in the fields of the baron, I knew the worst was over. I had failed them. At least I could not do so again — Megan Whalen Turner

I'm dying of boredom. Or maybe just dying. — Megan Whalen Turner

The queen!" someone shouted in alarm, and the King erupted like a wild animal caught in a snare. — Megan Whalen Turner

I was listening," the king said, aggrieved. "I closed my eyes to listen better." "What did you hear?" "I'm not sure," he said." That's why I was listening so closely. I may have to ask the baron to repeat some parts of his report on his grain tax." "I am sure you can arrange an appointment." "I am sure I can too. — Megan Whalen Turner

Muse of poetry, come to his aid, I thought. Could the man produce one more metaphor of husbandry? He seemed to be trying. "Green wood," I suggested, but even he sensed that there was something unfortunate about a metaphor for a king in which you dry out your royalty before you set fire to it. — Megan Whalen Turner

...That he'd seen...two people, a young man and a woman, sitting on invisible furniture with their feet up, reading books and eating chocolates. — Megan Whalen Turner

She pulled the bedclothes up as far as they would go and suppressed a perverse wish to have her old nurse come to chase away the darkness, perverse because she didn't know if she wanted the shadows to be empty or not. — Megan Whalen Turner

All I wanted to do was lie in the dry grass with my feet in a ditch forever. I could be a convenient sort of milemarker, I thought. Get to the thief and you know you're halfway to Methana. — Megan Whalen Turner

Why didn't you tell me to take Attolia's advice from the beginning?" "I thought you should figure it out. What you learn for yourself, you will know forever," said Eugenides. "Pol used to say that," said Sounis, surprised. "I learned it from him. I just wish to my god that I had his patience for the process. — Megan Whalen Turner

Please," he whispered. His voice was low but clear. "Don't hurt me anymore." Attolia recoiled. Once, as a child, she'd thrown her slipper in a rage and had knocked an amphora of oil from its pedestal. The amphora had been a favorite of hers. It had smashed, and the scent of the hair oil inside had lingered for days. She remembered the scent still, though she didn't know what in the stinking cell had brought it to mind. — Megan Whalen Turner

If you are feeling more yourself, there is a problem best addressed immediately," said the queen. "In my nightshirt?" The king wriggled, as ever, out of straightforward obedience. "Your attendants. I have spoken to them. You will speak to them as well." "Ah. They have seen me in my nightshirt." He looked down at his sleeve, embroidered with white flowers. "Not in your nightshirt, though. — Megan Whalen Turner

Is that what the wine is for? To help you think?" "Oh, the wine. The wine, Costis, is to help hide the truth. It doesn't work. It never has, but I try it every once in a while just in case something in the nature of the wine might have changed. — Megan Whalen Turner

Coming from light into the dark, he was looking ahead of him, not down at me. My lunge, as I came to my feet, took him in the chest as I drove the sword upward with the strength of my legs. Even rusted, the sword slid through him, and I found, for the first time, how easy it is to kill a man. — Megan Whalen Turner

We are taught to treat a practice sword with all the respect of a real weapon, so no thoughtless mistakes are made" "Oh... In Eddis, we learn to keep tack of the weapon we have in our hand. — Megan Whalen Turner

He looked at their shabby clothes in puzzlement. “We were traveling anonymously for safety—” explained the magus. “But surely—” “—and then we were robbed on the road.” “Ah,” said the king, “the danger in being anonymous. — Megan Whalen Turner

I didn't think about being king,” he said, his voice hoarse. Eddis stared. “Your capacity to land yourself in a mess because you didn't think first, Eugenides, will never cease to amaze me. What do you mean you didn't think about being king? Is Attolia going to marry you and move into my library? — Megan Whalen Turner

I knew I would be in the story somewhere," Eugenides interjected. "Oh no," said Phresine, "This was a humble servant." "Ouch." "Though very courageous." "Not me," whispered Eugenides to his pillow. — Megan Whalen Turner

Thanks to His Majesty," the magus said, and my father seemed startled at the correction but not displeased. He looked thoroughly satisfied and very much like Ina when she has all her embroidery threads arranged to her satisfaction. He looked so pleased that I checked over my shoulder to see if there might be someone else behind me who had drawn his attention. — Megan Whalen Turner

Ah," said the magus, understanding at once. "I see that he means to be prepared if he meets him again." "Surely that's unlikely," said Sounis. "I don't think unlikely means to him what it does to the rest of us," said the magus. — Megan Whalen Turner

I didn't really care much about anything, so I guess I felt fine. — Megan Whalen Turner

She thought of the hardness and the coldness she had cultivated over those years and wondered if they were the mask she wore or if the mask had become her self. If the longing inside her for kindness, for warmth, for compassion, was the last seed of hope for her, she didn't know how to nurture it or if it could live. — Megan Whalen Turner

Being six feet off the ground does give one a sense of superiority. — Megan Whalen Turner

Who knows but that you will get up to find that the world has inverted itself yet again? — Megan Whalen Turner

The younger one looked to be completely useless. — Megan Whalen Turner

Tell me a story then...keep me occupied." "A story?...What makes you think I can tell a story?" "Insight," said the king, "Go on. — Megan Whalen Turner

The king lifted a hand to her cheek and kissed her. It was not a kiss between strangers, not even a kiss between a bride and groom. It was a kiss between a man and his wife, and when it was over, the king closed his eyes and rested his forehead in the hollow of the queen's shoulder, like a man seeking respite, like a man reaching home at the end of the day. — Megan Whalen Turner

I thought that being king meant I didn't have to kill people myself. I see know that was another misconception. — Megan Whalen Turner

The gossip will carry to Attolian spies, who will report to Relius, Attolia's master of spies, and he will carry the news to her." "Her secretary of the archives," murmured the magus. "Hmm?" asked the queen. "Secretary of the archives, Relius. Master of spies is so-" "Accurate?" "Overtly direct," said the magus. Eddis laughed. — Megan Whalen Turner

He looked gravely at the king. "It isn't an easy thing to give your loyalty to someone you don't know, especially when that person chooses to reveal nothing of himself. But no matter, Your Majesty. You are revealed at last." The king looked down at his nakedness and back at the captain. "Was that a joke?" he asked. — Megan Whalen Turner

I stayed only two days in the capital. I was welcomed by a cheering citizenry, who threw flowers at my head. It was disconcerting to think I could have put almost any young man in my retinue on a white horse and they would have thrown flowers at him instead. It was not me they cared about, only what I meant to them: a cessation of hostilities, a chance for prosperity, food on the table. — Megan Whalen Turner

Were you lying?" "I never lie," he said piously. "About what?" "The sand, the snake." For a young man who never lied, he seemed surprisingly unoffended by the question. — Megan Whalen Turner

A little danger adds spice to life. — Megan Whalen Turner

I can't leave her there all alone, surrounded by stone walls... She's too precious to give up. — Megan Whalen Turner

You're awake," he said. "Phresine is not," pointed out the queen. "Oh?" "You gave her lethium." "She gave it to me first. — Megan Whalen Turner

The Magus must had eyes like a thief because he told Pol to stop and dismount to walk alongside me, one hand resting just above my knee ready to shake me if I fell asleep. He shook hard and resorted to pinching periodically. — Megan Whalen Turner

-You know-- Eddis hesitated, not sure how far to push the Attolian Queen. -Go on. Attolia inclined her head. -I was going to say that you look like a polecat when you smile like that. -Do I? Attolia still smiled. -You look a little vulpine yourself. The two queens sat for a moment in happy agreement. — Megan Whalen Turner

Finally I went and found my hat and skewered it on my head with a four-inch hat pin. I wore the hat because I knew my mother never visited without one. The pin I thought would be a comfort in case of emergency. — Megan Whalen Turner

Dying would have been so much easier. — Megan Whalen Turner

And the Earth had no name. The gods know themselves and have no need of names. It is man who names all things, even gods. — Megan Whalen Turner

She was the stone-faced queen, then and ever after. She had needed the mask to rule, and she had been glad to have it. She wondered if Eugenides was glad of his. — Megan Whalen Turner

The Thieves of Eddis don't have breaking points. We have flash points instead, like gunpowder. — Megan Whalen Turner

If we truly trust no one, we cannot survive. — Megan Whalen Turner

In the afternoon, the king and queen sat to hear the business of their kingdom. At least, the queen sat to hear the business; Costis was still not sure what the king was doing. — Megan Whalen Turner

Staring at the wall opposite him he presented the queen with a view of his ear and awaited her orders. — Megan Whalen Turner

You have to believe him, because he's going to have your entire palace up in arms and your court in chaos and every member of it from the barons to the boot cleaners coming to you for his blood, and you are going to have to deal with it." Attolia smiled. "You make him sound like more trouble than he is worth. "No," said Eddis thoughtfully. "Never more than he is worth. — Megan Whalen Turner

I hate horses. I know people who think that they are noble, graceful animals, but regardless of what a horse looks like from a distance, never forget that it's as likely to step on your foot as look at you. — Megan Whalen Turner

All my life they had made choices for me, and I had resented it. Now the choice was mine, and once it was made, I would have no right to blame anyone else for the consequences. Loss of that privilege, to blame others, unexpectedly stung. — Megan Whalen Turner

What kind of man refers to himself as safely dead? — Megan Whalen Turner

Because you do not believe?" "Oh, no," said Attolia bitterly. "Because I believe and do not choose to worship. — Megan Whalen Turner

I have a whole guard room full of brawny veterans who'd enjoy a chance to drag two Eddisians out of here, particularly if you kicked a lot and they could kick you back. — Megan Whalen Turner

So Sophos thinks you're going to marry me." "While I think you'll marry Sophos." "I might. We'll see what he's like when he grows up. — Megan Whalen Turner

[I had a]...Second bowl of oatmeal. It was a little bit gloppy. — Megan Whalen Turner

I wanted Ambiades to understand that I considered myself a hierarchy of one. — Megan Whalen Turner

When we opened the doors, we saw that the entire room was scorched black and you were on the floor possibly dead, surrounded by broken glass. Window glass is expensive, you realize that?" "Yes, Your Majesty," he said meekly. — Megan Whalen Turner

That prison," I said with heartfelt sincerity, "Was absolutely the most awful thing that has happened to me in my entire life." I could tell by the way he looked at me that he thought my life had been filled with one awful thing after another. — Megan Whalen Turner

The Lord of Rags and Tatters. — Megan Whalen Turner

The prison keeper choose an inopportune time to look around the doorway into the cell. He and the king locked gazes, and the king's eyes narrowed while the prison keeper's widened. — Megan Whalen Turner

Everything I said he agreed with, which was trying, and his flute playing would make the deaf wince, but I think the real problem with Hyacinth was that he reminded me of myself. He read poetry. He flinched at loud noises. In addition to having no musical skills, he had no martial skills. He avoided any situation that might require physical effort on his part. Seeing him, I found it no wonder that my father despised me. — Megan Whalen Turner

...I asked Ochto what in the name of all that was sacred he thought he was doing. "Helping you," said Dirnes. "Why?" They put the soldier down, and Ochto straightened to look me in the eye. "Because I know nothing about kings and princes, but I know men. — Megan Whalen Turner

Costis bowed stiffly. “I am here to make sure that you stay in bed, Your Majesty, because if this offends you and you order me summarily executed, it is no loss. Politically speaking. — Megan Whalen Turner

I would very much like to strangle someone. Why don't you go away until I decide it isn't you? — Megan Whalen Turner

It isn't deep," the Eddisian Ambassador said from the other side of the bed. He was leaning over the wound, looking critical and mildly disappointed. Eugenides didn't miss a beat. "It is...too...deep!" he insisted, outraged. — Megan Whalen Turner

One of us might be assassinated and then my heir will be king. Don't give up hope just because chances are slim." "For the assassination or the heir, your majesty? — Megan Whalen Turner

It was a race between the tortoise and the hare, but the tortoise had just enough head start, and he had the magus to drag him along. — Megan Whalen Turner

Would you have your hand back, Eugenides? And lose Attolia? And see Attolia lost to the Mede?' Eugenides's eyes were open. In front of his face the floor was littered with tiny bits of glass that glittered in the candlelight. 'You have your answer, Little Thief. — Megan Whalen Turner

Where are my guards, Teleus?" He was still speaking softly. Three men dead and he wasn't even breathing hard, Costis noted. — Megan Whalen Turner

You learn something new everyday." "What are you learning?" Sophos asked. "To keep my mouth shut, I hope. — Megan Whalen Turner

He waved at his attendants. "I dragged them like a ball and chain all the way across the palace and back." "If sterner measures are called for, we can find a larger ball and chain." The queen turned and disappeared into the partment. "Oh, dear," Eugenides muttered as he followed...The queen's sterner measures, dispensed by the Eddisian Ambassador, arrived before dawn. — Megan Whalen Turner

Life Lessons by Megan Whalen Turner

1. Megan Whalen Turner teaches us to never give up, even when the odds are stacked against us. She emphasizes the importance of resilience and perseverance in the face of adversity.
2. Her work also encourages us to think outside the box and rely on our own creativity and ingenuity to solve problems.
3. Lastly, she reminds us that no matter how difficult the journey may be, it is always worth it in the end.