Graceling Strength and Skill Quotes

How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)

Quote #4

"I've had to spend my entire life hammering out the emotions of others, and myself, in my mind. If my mind is clearer, sometimes, than yours, it's because I've had more practice." (16.82)

We love this because so often we hear people saying that's just the way I am (or she is or he is or they are), but you know what? Just as you can improve your ability to dribble and shoot by practicing, you can also improve your emotional IQ. We tend to think our emotions are completely wild and out of our control, but the truth is that we can get better at interpreting and responding them. At least, that's Shmoop's view on the subject. As with most things, some people agree, and some people don't.

Quote #5

She stopped him. "It's that exact, your sense of my hands and feet?"

"Hands and feet, fingers and toes," he said. "You're so physical, Katsa. You've so much physical energy. I sense it constantly. Even your emotions seem physical sometimes." (17.52-53)

Here we see just how differently Po and Katsa operate at their cores. Po is so in tune with his mental capacity to sense people (particularly Katsa), that he can distinguish every finger and toe as they come at him. And Katsa is so very grounded in her body and her physical abilities that even her emotions seem to take on tangible qualities at times.

Quote #6

Po looked at her, but he didn't see her. His eyes snapped, silver ice and gold fire. […] He was furious; she saw this, and she thought he was going to strike the man who had spoken …. Stop him. She would stop him, for he wasn't thinking. She took his forearms, and gripped them tightly. She thought his name into his head. Po. Stop. Think, she thought into his mind […]

Ahh, Grasshopper. The student becomes the teacher. In this situation, Katsa and Po find their roles reversed—Po longs to strike out at the merchants who have just been so insulting, and Katsa senses as much. She uses her thoughts to calm his physical energy and diffuse the situation, which suggests that Katsa is beginning to get a better handle on her emotions. As well as Po's.