Quotes
It’s very easy to have strong opinions when holding them does not threaten the comfort of our daily life.
— Tasha Alexander, And Only to Deceive
I’ve heard it said that God is in the details. It’s the same with the truth. Leave out the details, the crucial heart, and you can damn someone with the bare bones of it.
— Libba Bray, A Great and Terrible Beauty
You can never really know someone completely. That’s why it’s the most terrifying thing in the world, really—taking someone on faith, hoping they’ll take you on faith too. It’s such a precarious balance, it’s a wonder we do it at all.
— Libba Bray, A Great and Terrible Beauty
But forgiveness . . . I’ll hold on to that fragile slice of hope and keep it close, remembering that in each of us lie good and bad, light and dark, art and pain, choice and regret, cruelty and sacrifice. We’re each of us our own chiaroscuro, our own bit of illusion fighting to emerge into something solid, something real. We’ve got to forgive ourselves that. I must remember to forgive myself. Because there’s an awful lot of gray to work with. No one can live in the light all the time.
— Libba Bray, A Great and Terrible Beauty
I have always been fascinated by the ocean, to dip a limb beneath its surface and know I’m touching eternity, that it goes on forever until it begins here again.
— Lauren DeStefano, Whither
The food of love isn’t music. It’s grilled cheese and tomato sandwiches.
— Lauren Willig, The Betrayal of the Blood Lily
Knowing that you do not know is to ask humbly, instead of tell arrogantly. That is the beginning of wisdom.
— Philippa Gregory, The Constant Princess
Words have weight. Something once said cannot be unsaid, meaning is like a stone dropped into a pool; the ripples will spread and you cannot know what bank they wash against.
— Philippa Gregory, The Constant Princess
I know that I am mortal and ephemeral; but when I scan the multitudinous circling spirals of the stars, no longer do I touch earth with my feet, but sit with Zeus himself, and take my fill of the ambrosial food of gods.
— Tasha Alexander, A Poisoned Season
To turn away something you want simply because it is de rigueur is as foolish as blindly following society’s rules. You must make your own decisions, Kallista, but do not become an iconoclast at the expense of your own happiness.
— Tasha Alexander, A Poisoned Season
Oh, I have a high regard for hypocrisy,” the little nun said. It pays lip service to an ideal which must, therefore, exist. It recognizes that there is Good. In its own way, it is a token of civilization. You don’t find hypocrisy among the beasts of the field.
— Ariana Franklin, The Serpent’s Tale
The greatest tales, well told, awaken the fears and longings of the listeners. Each man hears a different story. Each is touched by it according to his inner self. The words go to the ear, but the true message travels straight to the spirit.
— Juliet Marillier, Son of the Shadows
And for a moment, I understand that I have friends on this lonely path, that sometimes your place is not something you find, but something you have when you need it.
— Libba Bray, Rebel Angels
What if evil doesn’t really exist? What if evil is something dreamed up by man, and there is nothing to struggle against except our own limitations? The constant battle between our will, our desires, and our choices?
— Libba Bray, Rebel Angels
Wars make history seem deceptively simple. They provide clear turning points, easy distinctions: before and after, winner and loser, right and wrong. True history, the past, is not like that. It isn’t flat or linear. It has no outline. It is slippery, like liquid; infinite and unknowable, like space. And it is changeable: just when you think you see a pattern, perspective shifts, an alternative version is proffered, a long-forgotten memory resurfaces.
— Kate Morton, The House at Riverton
But the world doesn’t care who wins. It’ll go on spinning, no matter how many people are slaughtered tomorrow. No matter if you and I are slaughtered. I almost wish it wouldn’t, if we aren’t allowed to go on spinning with it.
— Kristin Cashore, Fire
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Hello! I'm Cassie. I love Totoro, peanut butter and getting lost in books. I hope to be a World Explorer when I grow up to combat my need to be a homebody. I think cooking, tea parties, local nomz and videogames are pretty much the best. You too? Let's be friends!
