Top 80 Fonda Lee Quotes (2024 Update)
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51. “The way to defeat a chess master was not with greater genius, but by forcing her to play a different game.”

— Fonda Lee

52. “On his deathbed, the disgraced king is said to have lamented, “I’ll be remembered not for who I was, but for what I wasn’t. Perhaps it’s for the best. Let the gods judge me for what I did not do.”

— Fonda Lee

53. “Gazing at Wen’s lovely, trusting face, he was struck with remorse that he couldn’t, even with the consuming love he felt for her, promise not to break her heart.”

— Fonda Lee

54. “Funny, isn’t it? No matter where you are in the world, the one thing that keeps men from killing each other is a fear of what’ll happen after they’re dead.”

— Fonda Lee

55. “Was it possible, Lan wondered, to be both a strong leader and a compassionate person, or were those two things opposing forces, pushing each other away?”

— Fonda Lee

56. “Rain fell, not steadily but with insulting indifference.”

— Fonda Lee

57. “Now they were everywhere, along with more people, new factories, foreign-influenced street foods like tempura meatballs and spicy cheese curd.”

— Fonda Lee

58. “The unexpected gentleness of the words affected Anden like a violent physical blow, rocking him back on his heels, but they broke down the dam in his throat.”

— Fonda Lee

59. “Out of small resentments, spring great wars.”

— Fonda Lee

60. “Refusing to wear jade, you’re like a goose that won’t go near water.”

— Fonda Lee

61. “The Son family and other Lantern Man petitioners had wanted Hilo to send his men to intimidate the union bosses and break up their gatherings, rough folks up if needed, force them back to work. Hilo had snorted. “What do they think we are? Hired thugs?”

— Fonda Lee

62. “The grimace on Hilo’s face was terrible. “How could you say I made you into a weapon? Like I didn’t love you and treat you like my little brother, like you were nothing to me but a tool? How could you say that?”

— Fonda Lee

63. “I will practice compassion: giving gratitude for my beloved, suffering when they suffer, for now we are joined in all things.”

— Fonda Lee

64. “You can make a rational, well-informed choice, and still be unprepared for what it means.”

— Fonda Lee

65. “Jade warriors are young, and then they are ancient.”

— Fonda Lee

66. “The ruse was Shae’s idea.”

— Fonda Lee

67. “It was terrible enough that the Twice Lucky had been shamed, that the restaurant’s kitchen had harbored jade thieves, but for the two boys to be publicly slain right next to the buffet dessert table – no business could survive the stain of such bad luck.”

— Fonda Lee

68. “If you want to lead, you can’t wait for everyone to line up behind you.”

— Fonda Lee

69. “It seemed everything in the clan required a decision from him that would invariably hurt or offend others and cause further problems.”

— Fonda Lee

70. “How do we do it?” Hilo sighed deeply. “You of all people already know the answer to that, Shae. We don’t handle this world. We make it handle us.”

— Fonda Lee

71. “The gods were often cruel, everyone knew that.”

— Fonda Lee

72. “I will practice courage: protecting my beloved from harm, facing all fears from within or without, for now we are joined in all things.”

— Fonda Lee

73. “When something has to be done, there’s always a way to do it.”

— Fonda Lee

74. “I think it’s natural in our forties to start wondering if we’re past the main events of our lives, or if there are still other mountains to climb.”

— Fonda Lee

75. “Only then did the realization truly strike her. Hilo was the Pillar.”

— Fonda Lee

76. “Only children and gods are arrogant enough to judge what they can’t understand.”

— Fonda Lee

77. “If you’re not sure you’re in love, then you’re not.”

— Fonda Lee

78. “I know some mistakes can’t ever be fixed, but we’ve got to go on, don’t we, and try to make the most of what’s left.”

— Fonda Lee

79. “I will practice goodness: offering freely of myself to my beloved, honoring and caring for each other in body and soul, for now we are joined in all things.”

— Fonda Lee

80. “We women claw for every inch we gain in this world...”

— Fonda Lee

81. “But for the most part, you give a man something to live up to, you tell him he can be more than he is now, more than other people think he’ll ever be, and he’ll try his godsdamned best to make it true.”

— Fonda Lee

82. “And if you loved someone, truly loved them, shouldn’t their happiness matter even more than your honor?”

— Fonda Lee

83. “In my experience, as long as your friends have a high opinion of you, it doesn’t hurt when your enemies have a low opinion, the lower the better.”

— Fonda Lee

84. “Nothing compares to the feeling of riding back to the mews with a trophy tied to your chariot like a conquering hero. On those days, you feel as if you and your roc are one. Zahra and I were complete; we were the sun and the wind, the sky and the earth, life and death, above the world and untouchable.”

— Fonda Lee

85. “The clan can claim everything I have – my time, my blood and sweat, my life and jade – but it can’t have my wife. She’s a stone-eye. She’s the one thing in the world that jade can’t touch.”

— Fonda Lee

86. “He often wondered what he was missing, what he didn’t know, what other possibilities lay behind doors that had been summarily closed for him when he was too young to know they existed.”

— Fonda Lee

87. “I make this pledge to you and you alone, under the eyes of the gods in Heaven, from this moment until the last one of my life.”

— Fonda Lee

88. “When Wen opened the door and saw him dressed so formally, she backed away from him and put her hands to her chest, bending as if in pain. She trembled as he stepped in the house and put his arms around her. “You’ve decided to go,” she said. “Yes,” he said. “We have to be married today.”

— Fonda Lee