Gail Carson Levine > Quotes

“A library is infinity under a roof.”
― Gail Carson Levine

“Step follows step,
Hope follows Courage,
Set your face towards danger,
Set your heart on victory.”
― Gail Carson Levine, The Two Princesses of Bamarre

“There's nothing wrong with reading a book you love over and over. When you do, the words get inside you, become a part of you, in a way that words in a book you've read only once can't.”
― Gail Carson Levine, Writing Magic: Creating Stories that Fly

“I wished she’d never stop squeezing me. I wished I could spend the rest of my life as a child, being slightly crushed by someone who loved me.”
― Gail Carson Levine, Ella Enchanted

“It is helpful to know the proper way to behave, so one can decide whether or not to be proper.”
― Gail Carson Levine, Ella Enchanted

“Do you like to slide?" His voice was eager.
Stair rails! Did he suspect me? I forced a sigh. "No, Majesty. I'm terrified of heights."
"Oh." His polite tone had returned.
"I wish I could enjoy it. This fear of heights is an affliction."
He nodded, a show of sympathy but not much interest. I was losing him.
"Especially," I added, "as I've grown taller.”
― Gail Carson Levine, Ella Enchanted

“Drualt took Freya's warm hand,
Her strong hand,
Her sword hand,
And pressed it to his lips,
Pressed it to his heart.
Come with me,' he said.
Come with me to battle,
My love. Tarry at my side.
Stay with me
When battle is done.
Tarry at my side.
Laugh with me,
And walk with me
The long, long way.
Tarry with me,
My love, at my side.”
― Gail Carson Levine, The Two Princesses of Bamarre

“Hush Hattie!" I said, intoxicated with my success. "I don't want to go to my room. Everyone must know I shan't marry the prince." I ran to the door to our street, opened it, and called out into the night, "I shan't marry the prince." I turned back into the hall and ran to Char and threw my arms about his neck. "I shan't marry you." I kissed his cheek. He was safe from me.”
― Gail Carson Levine, Ella Enchanted

“That's funny, you're funny. I like you, I'm quite taken by you.”
― Gail Carson Levine, Ella Enchanted

“I was born singing. Most babies cry, I sang an aria.”
― Gail Carson Levine, Fairest

“When you become a teenager, you step onto a bridge. You may already be on it. The opposite shore is adulthood. Childhood lies behind. The bridge is made of wood. As you cross, it burns behind you”
― Gail Carson Levine, Writing Magic: Creating Stories that Fly

“You're Only the fairest when your fairest to yourself”
― Gail Carson Levine

“And so, with laughter and love, we lived happily ever after.”
― Gail Carson Levine, Ella Enchanted

“She asks why I like her.
Might as well ask
Why I breathe.
Maybe tomorrow I won't
Breathe or like her
Anymore.
Maybe tomorrow the tides
Will stop.
Maybe tomorrow will bring
No more rainbows.
Maybe tomorrow
She will stop
Asking useless questions.”
― Gail Carson Levine, The Wish

“I want to be with you forever and beyond...”
― Gail Carson Levine, Ella Enchanted

“Things change, people change, but that doesn't mean you should forget the past.”
― Gail Carson Levine

“I put my fingers around the unmarked ring of the spyglass and twisted. The scene became clear.
Oh no! A hairy brown spider clung to a vine! I couldn't go there!
I'd go to the desert to find a dragon. I began to reset the spyglass, but then I stopped myself. A spider was worse than a dragon?
No.
My first monsters would be spiders, then.”
― Gail Carson Levine, The Two Princesses of Bamarre

“When I write, I make discoveries about my feelings.”
― Gail Carson Levine, Writing Magic: Creating Stories that Fly

“Fate...may...be...thwarted.”
― Gail Carson Levine, Ever

“I shan't marry a prince!”
― Gail Carson Levine, Ella Enchanted

“No, I won't marry you. I won't do it. No one can force me.”
― Gail Carson Levine, Ella Enchanted

“Luck was with me. I saw no spiders.
Luck was against me. I saw no specters.”
― Gail Carson Levine, The Two Princesses of Bamarre

“He stopped and took my hand. "If we die, or if I die..."
He was speaking of dying, and I couldn't stop smiling.
In the dark he must not have noticed, because he said in a rush, "I must tell you that I love you, and if I live I will ask for your hand, but you needn't say anything now if it distresses you, and I might rather die without knowing that you don't love me if that's how you feel."
I tried to speak, but nothing came. I had gained courage during my adventures, but not for this.
"Addie?"
Too soft to hear, I whispered, "I do love you."
But he heard. He cupped his hand under my chin and tilted my face up so I had to meet his eyes. He was smiling too, with a smile as happy as mine. "Oh, Addie!" He leaned down to kiss me...”
― Gail Carson Levine, The Two Princesses of Bamarre

“He is flawless, without a blemish. Majesic . . . muscular.”
― Gail Carson Levine, Ever

“That fool of a fairy Lucinda did not intend to lay a curse on me. She meant to bestow a gift. When I cried inconsolably through my first hour of life, my tears were her inspiration. Shaking her head sympathetically at Mother, the fairy touched my nose. "My gift is obedience. Ella will always be obedient. Now stop crying, child."
I stopped.”
― Gail Carson Levine, Ella Enchanted

“The Writer's Oath

I promise solemnly:

1. to write as often and as much as I can,

2. to respect my writing self, and

3. to nurture the writing of others.

I accept these responsibilities and shall honor them always.”
― Gail Carson Levine, Writing Magic: Creating Stories that Fly

“I never met a word I didn't love”
― Gail Carson Levine

“Although we didn't invite Lucinda, she arrived anyway-with a gift.
"No need," Char and I chimed together.
"Remember when you were a squirrel," Mandy said.”
― Gail Carson Levine, Ella Enchanted

“He -it- was a specter! I stepped back, stunned. ”
― Gail Carson Levine, The Two Princesses of Bamarre

“Father asks frequently in his letters whether I fancy any Ayorthaian young lady or any in our acquaintance at home. I say no I suppose I'm confessing another fault: pride. I don't want him to know that I love if my affections are not returned”
― Gail Carson Levine, Ella Enchanted

“I wonder how Admat can be everywhere. Is he in my sandal? Or is he my sandal itself? Why would a god bother to be a sandal? Does he wear shoes or sandals himself, invisible ones?”
― Gail Carson Levine, Ever

“He put his hand on my waist, and my heart began to pound, a rougher rhythm than the music. I held my skirt. Our free hands met. His felt warm and comforting and unsettling and bewildering--all at once.”
― Gail Carson Levine, Ella Enchanted

“Would you favor me with a dance?" Over all the others I was his choice! I curtsied, and he took my hand. Our hands knew each other. Char looked at me, startled. "Have we met before, Lady?”
― Gail Carson Levine, Ella Enchanted

“Who judges the judge who judges wrong?”
― Gail Carson Levine, Fairest

“The inn's guests were sometimes friendly, but more often they were rude. As bad as the ones who stared were the ones who looked away in embarrassment. Some guests didn't want me to serve their food, and some didn't want me to clean their rooms.

We Ayorthians are sensitive to beauty, more sensitive than the subjects in other kingdoms, I think. We love a fine voice especially, but we also admire a rosy sunset, a sweet scent, a fetching face. And when we're not pleased, we're displeased.

I developed the habit of holding my hand in front of my face when guests arrived, a foolish practice, because it raised curiosity and concealed little.”
― Gail Carson Levine, Fairest

“I was no hero. The dearest wishes of my heart were for safety and tranquility. The world was a perilous place, wrong for the likes of me.”
― Gail Carson Levine, The Two Princesses of Bamarre

“that the book is really good. and theres a prince in it to.”
― Gail Carson Levine, Fairest

“I rode all day.
I cried all night.
The moon didn’t glow.
The sun didn’t rise.
A comet blazed
Between my eyes.
West and South,
Wind and rain.
Every way is
Just the same.
Pray give me a box
To hide inside.
Pray give me a spade
To dig my own grave.”
― Gail Carson Levine, Fairest

“I'm solitary as a pulled tooth,
Lonely as an unwelcome truth,
Lost as a minnow out of school,
A genius in a crop of fools.”
― Gail Carson Levine, Fairest

“I saw the other loners the way everyone else did-as unappealing, as to be avoided at all costs. If I hung out with one of them, I thought, my unpopular status would get worse, not better, because it would be magnified by association.”
― Gail Carson Levine, The Wish

“To me, merely and pretty were words that had nothing to do with each other. Pretty went with miraculously, and merely belonged in another paragraph entirely.”
― Gail Carson Levine, Fairest

“The fast fliers are not disgraced." Queen Ree reached up for the missing tiara. "She saved us, but she's with him now."
Vidia was complicated, two fairies in one, a loyal traitor.”
― Gail Carson Levine, Fairies and the Quest for Never Land

“No sign of pleasure greeted the announcement. The mood in the hall was leaden.
My mood was livelier. Fright is livelier than lead.”
― Gail Carson Levine, Fairest

“Daughter, we didn't need your note - or a prince's visit - to tell us you'd done nothing wrong. We know the daughter we raised. We fear for your future, but never for your character. You take our love and our trust wherever you wander.
Father.”
― Gail Carson Levine, Fairest

“It's helpful to know the proper way to behave, so one can decide whether or not to be proper.”
― Gail Carson Levine

“Kisses were better than potions.”
― Gail Carson Levine, Fairest