Top 300 Tui T. Sutherland Quotes (2026 Update)

1. “The claws of war are no match for the wings of wisdom.”

— Tui T. Sutherland

2. “It was strange to realize that a dragon who couldn’t be hurt on the outside could have so many ragged holes on the inside.”

— Tui T. Sutherland

3. “There’s no difference between justice and revenge.”

— Tui T. Sutherland

4. “You said, ‘Hey, sparkling teeth, I totally love three of your claws but not the others, and I wish your nose was a herring so I could eat it, and also your wings sound like sharks snoring.”

— Tui T. Sutherland

5. “Act smart, stay alive, stick together but don’t be an idiot – those are our basic rules.”

— Tui T. Sutherland

6. “For most of her life, Cricket’s best friends were books. Books accepted you the way you were and shared all their secrets with you. Books never told you to stop asking questions or accused you of being nosy and annoying. Books never said, “Cricket, you don’t need to know that, mind your own business.”

— Tui T. Sutherland

7. “No way. There is a tree in a forest?”

— Tui T. Sutherland

8. “Be strong, be vigilant, strike first. And trust nobody.”

— Tui T. Sutherland

9. “What is with you and faces?” Qibli said. “You should try threatening someone’s elbows or ankles once in a while, just for a change of pace.”

— Tui T. Sutherland

10. “You’re not nothing.”

— Tui T. Sutherland

11. “Hiding was not her normal approach to problems. Why hide, when you can just set your problem on fire?”

— Tui T. Sutherland

12. “That’s right,” she said. “DIE, you little monster plants. May your roots always be thirsty and your seeds all meet a fiery death until you’re extinct forever! I HATE you!”

— Tui T. Sutherland

13. “Oooh,” Peril said, momentarily distracted by the idea of an enchanted piece of cheese.”

— Tui T. Sutherland

14. “We don’t share IceWing secrets with mere RainWings, haughty sniff.”

— Tui T. Sutherland

15. “Ha ha, imagine Winter singing! I wonder if he can scowl and sing and look darkly handsome and mortally offended all at the same time. Probably.”

— Tui T. Sutherland

16. “Beware the darkness of dragons, Beware the stalker of dreams, Beware the talons of power and fire, Beware one who is not what she seems. Something is coming to shake the earth, Something is coming to scorch the ground. Jade Mountain will fall beneath thunder and ice Unless the lost city of night can be found.”

— Tui T. Sutherland

17. “There’s a tree,” Starflight said, jumping to his feet. “In the forest.” “No way,” Glory said. “A tree in the forest?”

— Tui T. Sutherland

18. “The NightWings are going to set their heads on fire,” Qibli agreed. “No, wait. They’re going to set the closest IceWing’s head on fire. Winter, I hope your skull is as thick as it looks.”

— Tui T. Sutherland

19. “Want me to drop a mango on her?” Sundew offered. “You have a MANGO?” Swordtail asked indignantly. “No, you acorn. It’s a metaphorical mango.” “I don’t see how metaphorical mangoes are going to do us any good,” Swordtail muttered.”

— Tui T. Sutherland

20. “Glory had her tail curled around her talons and was holding her wings in close as wave after wave of odd colors spread through her scales. Deathbringer put one wing around her, gently, and she let him.”

— Tui T. Sutherland

21. “Terribly undignified,” Qibli said in a haughty voice, tipping his snout at the racing dragons. “We would never allow such higgledy-piggledy shenanigans in the Ice Kingdom.” “Was that supposed to be me?” Winter asked him. “Terribly unimpressive, if so. I haven’t once said ‘higgledy-piggledy’ in my entire life. We would never allow such linguistic imprecision in the Ice Kingdom.” Qibli barked a delighted laugh and did a loop in the air.”

— Tui T. Sutherland

22. “Sundew tugged the scarf a little higher up Bumblebee’s neck. “Our turn, little bug. Stay very still and do NOT distract me, understand?” “Ooobeegoo,” Bumblebee said sternly. She patted Sundew’s face. “Do NOBBY splamflamp.” “I wasn’t planning on being splamflamp,” Sundew retorted, “whatever that is.”

— Tui T. Sutherland

23. “Scarlet’s Dancing Monkey of Fiery Doom.”

— Tui T. Sutherland

24. “Snudoo!” Bumblebee cheered. She lifted her little talons up and did a very good impression of something cute. Something more like a tamarin and definitely not like a HiveWing.”

— Tui T. Sutherland

25. “I like the one where we melt everyone’s eyeballs on our way out the door,” Glory said. “With magical death spit,” Sunny said, then buried her head in Clay’s wings to hide her giggles as Glory glared at her. “Three.”

— Tui T. Sutherland

26. “Forget the stupid prophecy. This is the destiny I was supposed to have.”

— Tui T. Sutherland

27. “I’m Qibli, and that’s Moon and Kinkajou. Guys, this is Riptide and Serious.”

— Tui T. Sutherland

28. “Winter disliked it intensely when Qibli made clever observations like that, and it happened about forty times a day.”

— Tui T. Sutherland

29. “The mountains only eat IceWings,” Qibli explained with a straight face.”

— Tui T. Sutherland

30. “Nowadays we only lose a few dragons a year to the carnivorous plants.” “The what now?” Swordtail said, his voice rising an octave. “CARNIVOROUS WHATS?”

— Tui T. Sutherland

31. “If you have too much of a plan, it’ll show up in Darkstalker’s view of the future,” Anemone observed. “See, so it’s actually better to wing it,” said Qibli. “Ha ha, dragon pun, wing it. I’m hilarious.” He did a little flip in the air.”

— Tui T. Sutherland

32. “The big bad assassin terrified of itty-bitty scavengers.”

— Tui T. Sutherland

33. “Pompous worm-faced snob-head camel turd.”

— Tui T. Sutherland

34. “Try a RainWing. They’re always asleep.”

— Tui T. Sutherland

35. “Frog-faced blobs of camel spit?”

— Tui T. Sutherland

36. “Who would say no to their secret dream come true? Why would I ever say no? Say yes to the magic. Say yes to the bright future. Say yes. Qibli looked up into Darkstalker’s eyes and said, “No.”

— Tui T. Sutherland

37. “All my life I have desperately wanted an ugly necklace.”

— Tui T. Sutherland

38. “Then I think I turn your nose into a sausage and escape back into the sea.”

— Tui T. Sutherland

39. “What’s a nimposser?” asked another voice.”

— Tui T. Sutherland

40. “On the contrary,” she said. “I see this really awesome future where I go back inside and drink tea by the fire and read a scroll about funny scavenger antics for the rest of the day and also, by the way, stay completely dry. That one is definitely winning right now.”

— Tui T. Sutherland

41. “We can’t be anything. We can never, never be what I dream of us being.”

— Tui T. Sutherland

42. “Frog-faced blobs of camel spit?” Sunny suggested.”

— Tui T. Sutherland

43. “All right,” Glory interrupted. “As strangely adorable as you two are, I need you to either go away and discover your twin souls somewhere else, or focus on battle planning with me.”

— Tui T. Sutherland

44. “That sounds super dangerous! Touch me not – or you will DIE!”

— Tui T. Sutherland

45. “Bumblebee when I named her! I’d like to see you come up with a better name at that age!” “Wordibird,” Bumblebee said sleepily from her sling, and Cricket laughed again.”

— Tui T. Sutherland

46. “But – ” she said, her voice swallowed by the hot air in the hushed room. “But I burnded it.”

— Tui T. Sutherland

47. “She started awake from a dream in which their cave had collapsed and was slowly crushing her to death, and discovered that Clay had rolled over on top of her in the middle of the night.”

— Tui T. Sutherland

48. “IceWing!” he yelped, flailing over backward. Tsunami leaped to her feet, teeth bared. “Look out! It’s – oh.” Starflight took a deep breath as Glory’s scales shifted back to brown and gray. “Glory! Why would you do that to me?” “Because it’s hilarious,” she.”

— Tui T. Sutherland

49. “We are not leaving Deathbringer!” Glory grabbed Fatespeaker. “Point the way and I’ll go by myself. Starflight, get out of here. Get everyone off the island.” Deathbringer? Starflight opened and closed his mouth. He hadn’t realized that rescuing the NightWing assassin was even on Glory’s agenda, let alone that it was important enough to risk an erupting volcano for. But she’s right. He risked everything for us – for her.”

— Tui T. Sutherland

50. “That might apply if these dragons were my friends,” Winter objected, “but they’re actually strangers who happened to get thrown into a group with me. They’re not even IceWings. Why should they care what happens to Hailstorm?” “They care what happens to you,” Glory said. “For some reason,” added Deathbringer. “Entertainment value,” offered Qibli.”

— Tui T. Sutherland