Top 200 Katherine Arden Quotes (2025 Update)
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101. “Sometimes the travelers were wise enough to put their clothes on backward for protection – but not often; they mostly died. Vasya.”

— Katherine Arden

102. “I have never seen Tsargrad, or angels, or heard the voice of God. But I think you should be careful, Batyushka, that God does not speak in the voice of your own wishing.”

— Katherine Arden

103. “That which you call magic is simply not allowing the world to be other than as you will it.”

— Katherine Arden

104. “In the north, the wind had teeth that bit after sunset, even in summer. He.”

— Katherine Arden

105. “I’d rather my sons living, and my daughters safe, than a chance at glory for unborn descendants.”

— Katherine Arden

106. “It is not for men and women to presume what the Lord wishes. That way lies evil, when men put themselves too high, saying, I know what God wants, for it is also what I want.”

— Katherine Arden

107. “You do not know what you are; can you know what I am?”

— Katherine Arden

108. “She did not want to see hope in his eyes. She wanted him to be a monster. But monsters were for children.”

— Katherine Arden

109. “That love of maidens for monsters, that does not fade with time.”

— Katherine Arden

110. “With that sapphire, he bound your strength to him, but the magic did what he did not intend; it made him strong but also pulled him closer and closer to mortality, so that he was hungry for life, more than a man and less a demon. So that he loved you, and did not know what to do.”

— Katherine Arden

111. “Many people say ‘Better to die’ until the time comes to do it,” Morozko returned.”

— Katherine Arden

112. “To small minds,” she told him, spine very straight, “any skill must look like sorcery.”

— Katherine Arden

113. “Things are or they are not, Vasya,” he interrupted. “If you want something, it means you do not have it, it means that you do not believe it is there, which means it will never be there. The fire is or it is not. That which you call magic is simply not allowing the world to be other than as you will it.”

— Katherine Arden

114. “She is not afraid, Konstantin thought dourly. She does not fear God; she fears nothing. He saw it in her silences, her fey glance, the long hours she spent in the forest. In any case, no good Christian maid ever had eyes like that, or walked with such grace in the dark.”

— Katherine Arden

115. “The brave live,” replied Morozko. “The cowards die in the snow. I did not know which you were.”

— Katherine Arden

116. “But somewhere ahead, a light shone through the trees.”

— Katherine Arden

117. “Only boys and fools think men are first in courage. We do not bear children.”

— Katherine Arden

118. “Live,” she said. “You said you loved me. Live.”

— Katherine Arden

119. “I loved her, and a curse made me forget. But she came for me and broke the curse and now I must go.”

— Katherine Arden

120. “The world is not kind to girls alone.”

— Katherine Arden

121. “I do not understand “damned.” You are. And because you are, you can walk where you will, into peace, oblivion, or pits of fire, but you will always choose.”

— Katherine Arden

122. “Well, I have a gift for your younger daughter. You shall make her swear to keep it by her always. You shall also swear never to recount to any living soul the circumstances of our meeting. Under these, and only these, conditions will I spare your son his life.”

— Katherine Arden

123. “The glutton cannot turn his mind to God,” he said dismissively. “But neither can the starving man.”

— Katherine Arden

124. “Curiosity,” said Kasyan, didactically, “is a dreadful trait in girls.” He grinned with a sort of acid cheer. “Just ask Baba Yaga: the more one knows, the sooner one grows old.”

— Katherine Arden

125. “Irina, for God’s sake, praying will not keep her warm. Make soup.”

— Katherine Arden

126. “What name would encompass a creature like her?”

— Katherine Arden

127. “But he shook her, lifted her chin so that she had to meet his eyes again, spoke into her ear, the voice of winter in this airless cellar, reminding her of her joys and her mistakes, her loves and her flaws, until she found herself back in her own skin, shaken but able to think. She realized how close she had come, in that dark treasure-room, with reality collapsing like a rotten tree, to going mad.”

— Katherine Arden

128. “It is easy to die,′ replied the bannik. ‘Harder to live.”

— Katherine Arden

129. “The wicked were not supposed to mourn, or to regret, or to have seen their silent God at last, in the steadfastness of another’s faith.”

— Katherine Arden

130. “Would you like to meet him?” Vasya asked suddenly. “I?” Olga asked, sounding shocked. Then her lips firmed. “Yes. Even a girl in love with a devil needs someone to negotiate for her.”

— Katherine Arden

131. “But she was compelling: the moods passed like clouds over the clear green water of her gaze, and something about her movements, the line of her neck and braided hair, caught the eye and held it.”

— Katherine Arden

132. “He” – she stumbled, finished – “He has been a joy to me.” And, drily, “Also a great source of frustration.”

— Katherine Arden

133. “Married! Not to retreat, but to be the mistress of a lord’s domain; not to be safe in a convent, but to live as some lord’s breeding sow.”

— Katherine Arden

134. “Fools are often brave, for they do not understand.”

— Katherine Arden

135. “He picked her up and sank onto the warm oven-bench with her in his arms. He was gentle. His breath was the winter wind, but his flesh was warm, and his heart beat under her hand.”

— Katherine Arden

136. “He saw all at once, as Pyotr had seen, the wild thing brought indoors, busy and breathless, a woman like other women. Like Pyotr, he felt a strange sorrow and shook it away.”

— Katherine Arden

137. “When the mist rises, and the smiling man comes walking, you must avoid large places at night. Keep to small.”

— Katherine Arden

138. “Why carve things of wood,” she asked him, “if you can make marvelous things of ice with only your hands?” He glanced up. “I carve things of wood because things made by effort are more real than things made by wishing.”

— Katherine Arden

139. “Come in, Vasya,′ he said. ‘It is cold.’ Could the snow-laden night speak, it might have spoken with that voice.”

— Katherine Arden

140. “Vasya gave him a dazzling smile, without warmth. “You shouldn’t have told them I was a girl. Then they might have believed that I was dangerous.”

— Katherine Arden

141. “Having the world as you wish – that is not for the young,” he added, “They want too much.”

— Katherine Arden

142. “But I think you should be careful... that God does not speak in the voice of your own wishing.”

— Katherine Arden

143. “A dvorovoi is a dooryard-spirit, rarer than a domovoi, less understood and sometimes vicious. This one peeled softly out of the starlight and the muddy earth, looking like a heap of filthy snow, faint as all the chyerti in Moscow were faint. Vasya.”

— Katherine Arden

144. “The cold embrace of the winter god is not for mortal maidens.”

— Katherine Arden

145. “She was very small, and her eyes were pale blue and watery. She cried a lot. She was possibly the bravest person Brian knew.”

— Katherine Arden

146. “The men went into the barley fields at daybreak. All morning, they scythed the rippling grass with great howling strokes, and then they spread the stalks to dry. Their rakes went to and fro with a monstrous hiss. The sun was a live thing, throwing its hot arms over their necks. Their feeble shadows hid at their feet, their faces glowed with sweat and sunburn.”

— Katherine Arden

147. “Mornings are wiser than evenings.”

— Katherine Arden

148. “There is magic in your bones.”

— Katherine Arden

149. “Love is for those who know the griefs of time, for it goes hand in hand with loss. An eternity, so burdened, would be a torment.”

— Katherine Arden

150. “The Bear is awake.” “What bear?” “The shadow on the wall,” said the rusalka, breathing quickly. “The voice in the dark.” Her face did not move like a human face, but the pupils of her eyes swelled black. “Beware the dead. You must heed me, Vasya, for I will not come again. Not as myself. He will call me, and I will answer; he will have my allegiance and I will turn against you. I cannot do otherwise. The leaves are falling. Do not leave the forest.”

— Katherine Arden