Top 250 Tamsyn Muir Quotes (2026 Update)
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151. “The blood all drained away from Gideon’s cheeks for some reason. The world spun off its axis. Bright spots sparked in her vision. She found herself saying, intelligently, “Mmf.”

— Tamsyn Muir

152. “Harrow was forbidden entry in the same way she was forbidden from going up to the top tier of the drillshaft and taking a hammer to the oxygen-sealant machines. It would be the end.”

— Tamsyn Muir

153. “As for your instruction here, this is what the First House asks of you.” The room drew breath together – or at least, all the necromancers did, alongside a goodly proportion of their cavaliers. Harrow’s knuckles whitened. Gideon wished that she could flop into a seat or take a sly nap. Everybody was poised in readiness for the outlined syllabus, and scholarship made her want to die.”

— Tamsyn Muir

154. “Nothing particularly interesting happened, until Camilla burst into flames.”

— Tamsyn Muir

155. “Hell spat you back out. Fair enough.”

— Tamsyn Muir

156. “He say anything?” Gideon wavered. “He said to tell you he loved you,” she said. “What? No, he didn’t.” “Okay, no, sorry. He said – he said you knew what to do?”

— Tamsyn Muir

157. “Harrowhark was pleased because everything was coming up Harrowhark.”

— Tamsyn Muir

158. “If you think in black and white your brain can’t be agile.”

— Tamsyn Muir

159. “I understood Princess Coronabeth Tridentarius better than she knew – just not entirely. I think it is hell to entirely understand any other person.”

— Tamsyn Muir

160. “Anyone can learn to fight. Hardly anyone learns to think.”

— Tamsyn Muir

161. “She couldn’t believe she was being held at bay by someone who had eaten every cavalier manual and chewed dutifully twenty-five times.”

— Tamsyn Muir

162. “I’m not anybody’s son or daughter,′ said Gideon firmly.”

— Tamsyn Muir

163. “Ortus would never rhyme melancholy with my mortal folly again.”

— Tamsyn Muir

164. “She applied to the Vatican to argue about whether or not it was a miracle because I’d been baptised. Didn’t mention that I’d only gone to Parachute ’cause of the underage drinking.”

— Tamsyn Muir

165. “And in the dream he rubbed his temple with his thumb and said: “You always say that, Harrowhark.”

— Tamsyn Muir

166. “But have a go. Surprise me. My body is ready.”

— Tamsyn Muir

167. “The grey and putrid heart of Drearburh. The greyer and more putrid heart of its lady.”

— Tamsyn Muir

168. “She had long since ascended to the rank of double douchebag.”

— Tamsyn Muir

169. “Gideon had never had the opportunity to study Camilla’s two short swords before: they were more like very long daggers, slightly curved at each end, wholly utilitarian. They glittered clean and hot beneath the soggy light of the kitchen; she marched back toward the door to the dining hall.”

— Tamsyn Muir

170. “My body is ready.”

— Tamsyn Muir

171. “Gideon the Ninth, first flower of my House,” she said hoarsely, “you are the greatest cavalier we have ever produced. You are our triumph. The best of all of us. It has been my privilege to be your necromancer.”

— Tamsyn Muir

172. “Gideon was lolling behind Harrow, picking at her fingernails and staring at the pieces of paper, which had handwriting that was more like cryptography.”

— Tamsyn Muir

173. “Someone’s been having fun in here,” said Gideon. Harrow shot her a look but did not enforce the vow of silence. “Yes,” she said. “Me.”

— Tamsyn Muir

174. “I mean it, If Camilla wants someone dead,” he said, “then far be it from me to stand in her way. All I can do at that point is watch the bloodshed and look for a mop. One flesh, one end, and all that.”

— Tamsyn Muir

175. “They do not have to enjoy each other’s society; they must simply take their togetherness as assumed. The cavalier who will not sleep in the same room as their necromancer must question themselves as to why. Their love is the love that fears only for the other: the love of service on both sides.”

— Tamsyn Muir

176. “Harrowhark smiled. This smile was unusual too: it betokened conspiracy, which was normal, except that this one invited Gideon to be part of it. Her eyes glowed like coals with sheer collusion. Gideon didn’t know if she could handle all these new expressions on Harrow: she needed a lie down.”

— Tamsyn Muir

177. “Honesty, this is a matter of life.” The chain rattled and the door hesitated. “You’re s’posed to say ‘and death,’” he supplied. “I have started to not believe in the other one,” said Nona. “It’s stupid saying ‘and death’ when most of the people who die get up and walk around again. Maybe if I said ’a matter of life and double death.”

— Tamsyn Muir

178. “But what was Teacher the mould for? Griddle, at the first sign of trouble – ” “Run like hell,” said Gideon. “I was going to say, Hit it with your sword,” said Harrow.”

— Tamsyn Muir

179. “But maybe we shouldn’t,” she said, holding the eyelids to that little slit-watching the widening white crack, watching the river water pound it into the place where it wanted to be even if the River itself didn’t. “If we end here, it’ll be just like... a bad dream, won’t it? And maybe we’ll wake up somewhere else. I know we won’t,” she explained, “but we don’t have to know that... maybe if we all go, it’ll be quick.”

— Tamsyn Muir

180. “Cause by itself is an empty concept. The choice to get up in the morning – the choice to have a hot breakfast or a cold one – the choice to do something thirty seconds faster, or thirty seconds slower – those choices cause all sorts if things to happen. That doesn’t make you responsible.”

— Tamsyn Muir

181. “But I’d do it again,” said the war crime.”

— Tamsyn Muir

182. “Certainly not. Like everything else in this ridiculous conglomeration of cooling gas, it’s perfectly explicable, I just need to explic-it.”

— Tamsyn Muir

183. “Come on, love. Guys as careful as me don’t have accidents.”

— Tamsyn Muir

184. “Nonagesimus,” she said slowly, “the only job I’d do for you would be if you wanted someone to hold the sword as you fell on it. The only job I’d do for you would be if you wanted your ass kicked so hard, the Locked Tomb opened and a parade came out to sing, ‘Lo! A destructed ass.’ The only job I’d do would be if you wanted me to spot you while you backflipped off the top tier into Drearburh.” “That’s three jobs,” said Harrowhark. “Die in a fire, Nonagesimus.”

— Tamsyn Muir

185. “The ashes in the incinerator had been raked out and combed over, and the confirmation that they were human remains was not illuminating. The surviving necromancers had gathered around a bowl of them, and they had all pounced on it like a bowl of peanuts at a party.”

— Tamsyn Muir

186. “Harrow, if you bother to remember anything from my ramblings, please remember this: once you turn your back on something, you have no more right to act as though you own it.”

— Tamsyn Muir

187. “The nuns tried their best, but a few minutes later it was confirmed that one of the hermits had died of shock, and everyone around him celebrated his sacred good fortune.”

— Tamsyn Muir

188. “I know how hard it is for you to kick against the goad,” said the new person. “But there are more worlds than this. Come with us. We are the love that is perfected by death – but even death will be no more, death can also die.”

— Tamsyn Muir

189. “Nona had kept giggling, and that got her told off because Harrowhark Nonagesimus didn’t giggle.”

— Tamsyn Muir

190. “They held out a lavender silk handkerchief.”

— Tamsyn Muir

191. “Hail to the Lady of the Ninth House,” warbled a voice delightedly, bringing the count of people who had ever been happy to see Harrow up to three.”

— Tamsyn Muir

192. “Nona leant into her and said, “Thanks. I love you too, Camilla,” and: “Do you know who I am yet?”

— Tamsyn Muir

193. “He was narrow shouldered with long, long arms, and she was beginning to believe that he was not simply a douchebag who used lip balm, but a douchebag who used lip balm and had a very long reach.”

— Tamsyn Muir

194. “This won’t work,” she said. “I’ve never had to work with something so small before.” “That’s what she said,” murmured Gideon, sotto voce.”

— Tamsyn Muir

195. “He said: When they called me up and said the cryo project was over she looked at me and she just said, There they go, John.”

— Tamsyn Muir

196. “I might lie down and see if this fixes itself,” I suggested.”

— Tamsyn Muir

197. “Sie dachte daran, Silas noch ein paar Mal den Stinkefinger zu zeigen, aber manchmal gibt man sich besser damit zufrieden, dass man gerade einen moralischen Sieg davongetragen hat.”

— Tamsyn Muir

198. “Not even one of the Emperor’s fists and gestures could give Harrowhark Nonagesimus a sexy makeover. Sometimes I think you look like a twig’s funeral.”

— Tamsyn Muir

199. “Through a window somewhere high up, the sunbeams poured down dust in golden torrents.”

— Tamsyn Muir

200. “Her going full atria was perfectly over-the-top. The crew on your horrible flagships are always trying to martyr themselves whenever you so much as ask for an orange juice.”

— Tamsyn Muir