Top 500 Leigh Bardugo Quotes (2025 Update)
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351. “He didn’t deserve peace and he didn’t deserve forgiveness, but if he was going to die today, maybe the one thing he’d earned was the memory of her – brighter than anything he would ever have a right to – to take with him to the other side.”

— Leigh Bardugo

352. “Sometimes,” said Kaz, “a proper thief doesn’t just take. He leaves something behind.”

— Leigh Bardugo

353. “Knives drawn, pistols blazing. Because that’s what we do.”

— Leigh Bardugo

354. “But maybe being brave didn’t mean being unafraid.”

— Leigh Bardugo

355. “Zoya stared up at Nina in wonder. “You’re alive,” she said. Her gaze slid to Matthias, thrashing like the biggest, angriest butterfly ever pinned to a page. “And you’ve made a new friend.”

— Leigh Bardugo

356. “Have power on this dark land to lighten it, and power on this dead world to make it live.”

— Leigh Bardugo

357. “Go on, Van Eck, threaten me. Tell me all the little things I am. You lay a finger on me and Kaz Brekker will cut the baby from your pretty wife’s stomach and hang its body from a balcony at the Exchange.”

— Leigh Bardugo

358. “Nina heaped a plate with food and plunked down beside Matthias on the couch. She folded one of the waffles in half and took a huge bite, wiggling her toes in bliss. “I’m sorry, Matthias,” she said with her mouth full. “I’ve decided to run off with Jesper’s father. He keeps me in the deliciousness to which I have become accustomed.”

— Leigh Bardugo

359. “I don’t reserve my friendship for perfect people.”

— Leigh Bardugo

360. “Hmm,” she said noncommittally, pretending to examine one of her knives, determined to ignore that grin. Kaz was not a giddy boy smiling and making future plans with her. He was a dangerous player who was always working an angle. Always, she reminded herself firmly. Inej kept her eyes averted, shuffling a stack of papers into a pile on the desk as Kaz stripped out of his vest and shirt. She wasn’t sure if she was flattered or insulted that he didn’t seem to give a second thought to her presence.”

— Leigh Bardugo

361. “He has served countless kings, faked countless deaths, bided his time, waiting for you.”

— Leigh Bardugo

362. “How many times have you told me you’re a monster? So be a monster. Be the thing they all fear when they close their eyes at night.”

— Leigh Bardugo

363. “It’s shame that lines my pockets, shame that keeps the Barrel teeming with fools ready to put on a mask just so they can have what they want with no one the wiser for it. We can endure all kinds of pain. It’s shame that eats men whole.”

— Leigh Bardugo

364. “This isn’t a job for trained soldiers and spies. It’s a job for thugs and thieves.”

— Leigh Bardugo

365. “For my country,” she said. “For my people. For every child you put to the pyre. Reap what you’ve sown, Jarl Brum.”

— Leigh Bardugo

366. “That was what magic did. It revealed the heart of who you’d been before life took away your belief in the possible. It gave back the world all lonely children longed for.”

— Leigh Bardugo

367. “Al fin y al cabo, a lo mejor el amor simplemente significaba anhelar algo imposiblemente brillante y eternamente fuera de nuestro alcance.- Alina.”

— Leigh Bardugo

368. “Remember, there is no expiration date on your talent. I did not publish my first book until I was 35 years old. If you have a story to tell, it doesn’t matter when you tell it. Just get it onto the page and let go of the idea that somehow it’s less worthwhile because it took you a little longer to get there than it took others.”

— Leigh Bardugo

369. “Matthias and Wylan seized the rope to pull him up. Jesper wasn’t sure how much Wylan was actually helping, but he was certainly working hard.”

— Leigh Bardugo

370. “She’d shown him in a thousand ways that she was honorable and strong and generous and very human, maybe even more vividly human than anyone he’d ever known. And if she was, then Grisha weren’t inherently evil. They were like anyone else – full of the potential to do great good, and also great harm. To ignore that would make Matthias the monster.”

— Leigh Bardugo

371. “I’d prefer a pair of sable-lined swimming trunks. But we can’t always get what we want.”

— Leigh Bardugo

372. “In the space of a breath, Kaz had shoved Wylan against the tomb wall with his forearm, the crow head of his cane wedged beneath Wylan’s jaw. “Tell me my business again.” Wylan swallowed, parted his lips. “Do it,” said Kaz. “And I’ll cut the tongue from your head and feed it to the first stray cat I can find.”

— Leigh Bardugo

373. “They’d come to the Ice Court scurrying like rats. Live or die, they were going out like an army.”

— Leigh Bardugo

374. “Pekka Rollins had lured them with a warm fire and the promise of the life they’d lost. And that was what destroyed you in the end: the longing for something you could never have.”

— Leigh Bardugo

375. “It’s still the same heart, Mal. It’s still yours.”

— Leigh Bardugo

376. “The boy they called Dirtyhands didn’t need a reason any more than he needed permission – to break a leg, sever an alliance, or change a man’s fortunes with the turn of a card.”

— Leigh Bardugo

377. “Jesper swung first. Kaz dodged right and then they were grappling. They slammed into the wall, knocked heads, drew apart in a flurry of punches and grabs. Wylan turned to Inej, expecting her to object, for Matthias to separate them, for someone to do something, but the others just backed up, making room. Only Kuwei showed any kind of distress.”

— Leigh Bardugo

378. “What is a mortal king to a queen who can summon storms?”

— Leigh Bardugo

379. “I’m a prince, Alina. I can’t afford to be myself.”

— Leigh Bardugo

380. “The boom, the bang, the flint and fuss.”

— Leigh Bardugo

381. “Magic doesn’t require beauty,’ she said. ‘Easy magic is pretty. Great magic asks that you trouble the waters. It requires a disruption, something new.”

— Leigh Bardugo

382. “They did not look to each other for comfort. They kept each other marching.”

— Leigh Bardugo

383. “As Nina emerged from her thoughts, she realized that she and Matthias were attracting some very unfriendly glances. No doubt there was quite a bit of prejudice against Fjerdans among Ravkans, but this was something different. Then she glanced up at Matthias and sighed. His expression was troubled, and when he looked troubled, he looked terrifying. The fact that he was built like the tank they’d driven out of the Ice Court didn’t help either.”

— Leigh Bardugo

384. “You don’t ask for forgiveness, Kaz. You earn it.”

— Leigh Bardugo

385. “No,” Maeve had said in her lilting voice. “I miss a good cup of tea, dancing, boys – definitely not rain.” “We dance,” Diana protested. Maeve had just laughed. “You dance differently when you know you won’t live forever.” Then she’d stretched, freckles like dense clouds of pollen on her white skin.”

— Leigh Bardugo

386. “The ache of his absence felt like a hook lodged inside her heart. The hurt was always there, but in moments like these, it was as if someone had seized hold of the line and pulled.”

— Leigh Bardugo

387. “Even better men can be bested.”

— Leigh Bardugo

388. “It’s okay to flout expectations, but never disappoint them.”

— Leigh Bardugo

389. “The problem with wanting,” he whispered, his mouth trailing along my jaw until it hovered over my lips, “is that it makes us weak.”

— Leigh Bardugo

390. “Wylan blushed deeper, and Jesper shook his head. “Play piano, too?” “Flute,” said Wylan defensively. “Perfect.”

— Leigh Bardugo

391. “Zoya picked up a kefta hanging over the back of my chair. It was gold brocade, the sleeves and hem embroidered lavishly in blue, the cuffs marked with jeweled sunbursts. “Sable,” she said to me, stroking the lining. “I have never loathed you more.”

— Leigh Bardugo

392. “Oh, it’s worse than that, Van Eck. If I fail, I don’t get paid.”

— Leigh Bardugo

393. “I love it when you quote me.”

— Leigh Bardugo

394. “We pretend the pain isn’t there, that we are made of scars instead of wounds.”

— Leigh Bardugo

395. “Do not bend,” Nina snapped. “Do not leap. Do not move abruptly. If you don’t promise to take it easy, I’ll slow your heart and keep you in a coma until I can be sure you’ve recovered fully.” “Nina Zenik, as soon as I figure out where you’ve put my knives, we’re going to have words.”

— Leigh Bardugo

396. “I’ll do all of it. But not tonight. Tonight let’s pretend we’re an old married couple.”

— Leigh Bardugo

397. “When evening fell the boy would bring the girl a glass of tea, a slice of lemon cake, an apple blossom floating in a blue cup. He would kiss her neck and whisper new names in her ear: beauty, beloved, cherished, my heart.”

— Leigh Bardugo

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

— Leigh Bardugo

399. “Women don’t want to be seduced. They want to be seen and listened to. You can’t do either of those things if you’re thinking up strategies on how to win her over.”

— Leigh Bardugo

400. “You don’t win by running one game.”

— Leigh Bardugo