# Quote — Ellen Kushner, The Privilege of the Sword

> “I was afraid you wouldn’t take me seriously.”
>
> “I did. But I am preparing,” the duke said, “to revise that opinion. Stop playing and tell me what you want.”
>
> “And you’ll give it to me?”
>
> “What do you think? If it’s reasonable, I’ll consider it. If it’s not, I have the resources to annoy you very much as you’ve been annoying me. It’s true I have more scruples—but I’m willing to suspend them. I also have more money, you see—lots more money. I wasn’t planning to waste any of it on you, but I could be convinced to change my mind.”

- Author: [Ellen Kushner](https://www.leafyquotes.com/ellen-kushner.md)
- Book: [The Privilege of the Sword](https://www.leafyquotes.com/ellen-kushner/the-privilege-of-the-sword.md)
- Page: 404
- Source: [Wikiquote](https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ellen_Kushner#The_Privilege_of_the_Sword_(2006)) ([CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/))
- Quote page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/ellen-kushner/the-privilege-of-the-sword/i-was-afraid

## More from this book

> I’m the Duke of Riverside. I build things here and pretty much keep the peace, and discourage certain behaviors. If you think all that has been achieved through entirely civil and lawful means, you’ve had your head in a bucket.

p. 385 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/ellen-kushner/the-privilege-of-the-sword/im-the-duke.md)

> Our theories stand. We both see clearly; we know what’s right. Even if it’s not always possible to act on it, don’t you think it matters to be able to call things by their true names?

p. 386 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/ellen-kushner/the-privilege-of-the-sword/our-theories-stand.md)

> “I thought I would be safe here.”
>
> “You are.” For the first time, he touched her, touched her hand. “Safe from everything but paper and ink. Please. Put those down.”
>
> “Paper and ink.” She clutched the books to her ample chest. “They’re not nothing, Alec. They’re pretty much everything to me: the embodiment of ideas, of thought—of free and open thought. Of inquiry and supposition. All of it.”

p. 386 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/ellen-kushner/the-privilege-of-the-sword/i-thought-i-would.md)