Top 500 Leigh Bardugo Quotes (2026 Update)
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451. “Alex watched in the mirror as her history spilled over her skin. The scars she had chosen for herself. We are the shepherds. The time for that was done. Better to be a rattler. Better to be a jackal.”

— Leigh Bardugo

452. “Darlington was a good talker, but he was happiest when no one was speaking to him, when he didn’t have to perform the ritual of himself and he could simply be left to watch others.”

— Leigh Bardugo

453. “In the Barrel, we don’t trade in safety,” Kaz said, the abraded burn of his voice carrying over the crowd. “There’s only strength and weakness. You don’t ask for respect. You earn it.” You don’t ask for forgiveness. You earn it.”

— Leigh Bardugo

454. “He was a collection of hard lines and tailored edges.”

— Leigh Bardugo

455. “Her silks were feathers, and she was free.”

— Leigh Bardugo

456. “Inej was always trying to wring little bits of decency from him.”

— Leigh Bardugo

457. “You weeel catch the korpa.” “The what?” “The korpa!” I declared in dire tones. “Your private parts weeel shrink to nothink!”

— Leigh Bardugo

458. “Kaz, this whole ‘shoot me’ thing is starting to concern me.”

— Leigh Bardugo

459. “Rich men want to believe they deserve every penny they’ve got, so they forget what they owe to chance.”

— Leigh Bardugo

460. “You want a love story too? There’s none to be had.”

— Leigh Bardugo

461. “Kaz shrugged, unwilling to give her an answer. Inej was always trying to wring little bits of decency from him. “When everyone knows you’re a monster, you needn’t waste time doing every monstrous thing.”

— Leigh Bardugo

462. “Kaz had rescued her from that hopelessness, and their lives had been a series of rescues ever since, a string of debts that they never tallied as they saved each other again and again.”

— Leigh Bardugo

463. “It’s a symbol, Helvar. If your god is so delicate, maybe you should get a new one. Let’s get out of here.”

— Leigh Bardugo

464. “You say exile, I say extended holiday.”

— Leigh Bardugo

465. “Zoya’s company was like strong drink. Bracing – and best to abstain if you couldn’t handle the kick.”

— Leigh Bardugo

466. “Kaz narrowed his eyes. “I’m not some character out of a children’s story who plays harmless pranks and steals from the rich to give to the poor.”

— Leigh Bardugo

467. “Brick by brick.”

— Leigh Bardugo

468. “You are a stolen painting, Kuwei. Too recognizable to sell on the open market, too valuable to leave lying around. You are worthless to me.”

— Leigh Bardugo

469. “Her heart felt too full, a dry creek bed ill-prepared for such rain.”

— Leigh Bardugo

470. “Now you kno what monsters once lurked in the woods near Duva, and if you ever meet a bear with a golden collar, you will be able to greep him by name. So shut the window tight and make sure the latch is fastened. Dark things have a way of slipping in through narrow spaces. Shall we have something good to eat? Well then, come help me stir the pot.”

— Leigh Bardugo

471. “Only two were unmarked. Tolya and Tamar led the charge, eyes wild, blades flashing, roaring my name.”

— Leigh Bardugo

472. “So many of my old friends, gathered in one place.”

— Leigh Bardugo

473. “He’d heard other members of the gang say she moved like a cat, but he suspected cats would sit attentively at her feet to learn her methods.”

— Leigh Bardugo

474. “Tell me some lies.”

— Leigh Bardugo

475. “Had she really thought the world didn’t change? She was a fool. The world was made of miracles, unexpected earthquakes, storms that came from nowhere and might reshape a continent.”

— Leigh Bardugo

476. “Inej’s mother had told her that gifted wire walkers were descended from the People of the Air, that they’d once had wings, and that in the right light, those wings could still be glimpsed on the humans to whom they showed favor.”

— Leigh Bardugo

477. “A good magician wasn’t much different from a proper thief.”

— Leigh Bardugo

478. “As they sped across the bridge, Jesper thought he spotted Matthias and Wylan in their red capes, tossing coins as they steadily made their way off the Stave. If they started running, it might draw stadwatch attention. Jesper struggled not to laugh. That was definitely Matthias and Wylan. Matthias was hurling the money with way too much force and Wylan with way too much enthusiasm. The kid’s throwing arm needed serious work. He looked like he was actively trying to dislocate his shoulder.”

— Leigh Bardugo

479. “I don’t like this,” said Matthias. Jesper had smiled his reckless gunslinger’s grin. “To be fair, Matthias, you don’t like much.”

— Leigh Bardugo

480. “Simple as that,” said Nina. “Did you know I’m next in line for the Fjerdan throne? They call me Princess Ilse of Engelsberg.” “There is no princess of Engelsberg,” said Matthias. “It’s a fishing town.” Nina shrugged. “If we’re going to lie to ourselves, we might as well be grand about it.”

— Leigh Bardugo

481. “You know how the stories go. Interesting things only happen to pretty girls; you will be home by sunset.”

— Leigh Bardugo

482. “Her voice was gentle, patient – why was it making him want to set fire to something?”

— Leigh Bardugo

483. “When people say impossible, they usually mean improbable.” With the moonlight gleaming off the lenses of his goggles and with his greatcoat billowing around him, he looked like a complete madman.”

— Leigh Bardugo

484. “If I see a single scratch or nick on those, I’ll spell forgive me on your chest in bullet holes.”

— Leigh Bardugo

485. “I think the hard work of writing is just how long a book is terrible before it’s good.”

— Leigh Bardugo

486. “She was going to leave a trail of blood over the skyline.”

— Leigh Bardugo

487. “I’m here to bury you, Matthias, she thought, and the voice in her head went silent, as it always did when she let herself remember what she’d lost.”

— Leigh Bardugo

488. “When Inej was on the high wire, it became her world. She could feel its tilt and pull. It was a planet and she was its moon. There was a simplicity to it that she never felt on the swings, where she was carried away by momentum. She loved the stillness she could find on the wire, and it was something no one else understood. She had fallen only once, and she.”

— Leigh Bardugo

489. “Because I am a pretty thing and a soldier all the same.”

— Leigh Bardugo

490. “The library was also a little temperamental. If you weren’t specific enough in your request or if it couldn’t find books on your desired subject, the shelf would just keep shaking and eventually start to give off heat and emit a high, frantic whine, until you snatched the Albemarle Book and murmured a soothing incantation over its pages while gently caressing its spine.”

— Leigh Bardugo

491. “So many men had tried to make her a queen. Now she understood that she was meant for something more. The Darkling had told her he was destined to rule. He had claimed his throne, and a part of her too. He was welcome to it. For the living and the dead, she would make herself a reckoning. She would rise.”

— Leigh Bardugo

492. “No mourners,” Jesper said as he tossed his rifle to Rotty. “No funerals,” the rest of the Dregs murmured in reply.”

— Leigh Bardugo

493. “Okay, okay. When we’re back in Ketterdam, take me out for waffles.”

— Leigh Bardugo

494. “Jesper!” I’m going to kill that little idiot. “What do you want?” he shouted down. “Close your eyes!” “You can’t kiss me from down there, Wylan.”

— Leigh Bardugo

495. “Sunlight slanted through the windows, turning his eyes the color of strong tea.”

— Leigh Bardugo

496. “I will always seek to make it summer for you.”

— Leigh Bardugo

497. “While the Garden of Eden may be closed, Hell is always open.”

— Leigh Bardugo

498. “You’re the fool,” Jesper snarled. “He’s smarter than most of us put together, and he deserves a better father than you.”

— Leigh Bardugo

499. “By the time Alex managed to get the blood out of her good wool coat, it was too warm to wear it.”

— Leigh Bardugo

500. “I am not ruined. I am ruination.”

— Leigh Bardugo