Six of Crows Quotes
The 8 most famous lines from Leigh Bardugo’s Six of Crows (2015), each with its speaker and the scene it belongs to. These are the quotes readers underline, copy into essays and put on walls - gathered in one place, explained in a line.
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“When everyone knows you're a monster, you needn't waste time doing every monstrous thing.”
- Kaz Brekker. Chapter 3 - Kaz on the arithmetic of fear. (Six of Crows, 2015, p. 38)
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“Look for miracles and listen to bedtime stories.”
- Nina Zenik. Chapter 14 - Nina's creed for surviving the job. (pp. 163-164)
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“The heart is an arrow. It demands aim to land true.”
- Inej Ghafa. Chapter 25 - narration in Inej's chapters, echoing her father's teaching. (p. 311)
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“I will have you without armor, Kaz Brekker. Or I will not have you at all.”
- Inej Ghafa. Chapter 42 - the line Inej draws between them. (p. 434)
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“Chaos will come, and I will be its master. Its very wealthy master.”
- Kaz Brekker. Chapter 45 - the counter-heist declaration. (p. 446)
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“Kaz, this whole 'shoot me' thing is starting to concern me.”
- Jesper Fahey. Chapter 2 - the sharpshooter reviewing the plan. (WikiQuote)
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“No mourners. No funerals.”
- The Dregs' farewell. The Barrel's goodbye, said at every parting in the book. (WikiQuote)
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“Wanden olstrum end kendesorum. Isen ne bejstrum.”
- Nina Zenik and Matthias Helvar. Fjerdan, at the water's edge: 'The water hears and understands. The ice does not forgive.' (WikiQuote)
Why these lines survive
Leigh Bardugo’s sentences earn their fame by compression: each line carries the whole book’s argument in a form you can carry in your pocket. Read in order, the 8 quotes above also sketch the novel’s shape - the world it opens, the pressure it applies, the note it ends on. If you meet them before the book, nothing is spoiled beyond mood; if you meet them after, each one lands like a place you have been.
Quote collectors: pair this page with the Six of Crows quiz to see which lines actually stuck, the book club questions when you want to argue about them, or how long the reread takes - about 10 hours and 30 minutes at an average pace. If the lines did their job and you want more of the same nerve, the books like Six of Crows list is next.
Want the whole shelf’s lines? Our Leigh Bardugo books in order guide lists every book.
How to use a quotes page
Three honest uses. Before reading: skim the first two quotes to taste the prose - if the voice does not pull you, the book will not either. During: mark which quote you actually reach in the text, because the distance between famous line and lived scene is where a book keeps its secrets. After: pick the one quote you would defend at dinner and check it against the discussion questions - a quote you can argue about is a quote you understood. What a quotes page is not for is replacing the book; five lines of Leigh Bardugo are an invitation, not a summary.
More quote collections
The Odyssey quotes, Moby-Dick quotes, Don Quixote quotes, Alice in Wonderland quotes - or browse quotes from all 133 classics. Then see which of them stuck on the original book quiz.
Frequently asked questions
What is the most famous quote from Six of Crows?
“When everyone knows you're a monster, you needn't waste time doing every monstrous thing.” - the line most readers meet first. The full list above gives the scene for every one of the 8.
How many Six of Crows quotes are here?
8, chosen because they are the lines readers actually underline and repeat - each with who says it and where it lands in the book.
Are these quotes explained?
Yes - every quote carries its speaker and a one-line context, because a quote without its scene loses most of its charge.
Can I use these in an essay or post?
Short quoted lines with attribution are standard fair use in essays and posts. Quote accurately, name the author, and you are on solid ground.
Are these Six of Crows quotes word-for-word accurate?
They are checked against the novel as written, not harvested from quote sites - which is why a few famous “lines” you may have seen elsewhere are missing here: many of those come from film adaptations or paraphrase the prose. What is listed above is the book.