Sarah Rees Brennan > Quotes

“I am in full possession of the amazing power of being sarcastic.”
― Sarah Rees Brennan, The Demon's Covenant

“Fear's useless. Either something bad happens or it doesn't: If it doesn't, you've wasted time being afraid, and if it does, you've wasted time that you could have spent sharpening your weapons.”
― Sarah Rees Brennan, The Demon's Lexicon

“Real life is sometimes boring, rarely conclusive and boy, does the dialogue need work.”
― Sarah Rees Brennan

“Some magicians are rich, some are famous, some are stupidly good-looking.'

Jamie gave Nick a rather complicated look.

Nick raised an eyebrow. 'Some of us manage to be stupidly good-looking on our own.”
― Sarah Rees Brennan, The Demon's Lexicon

“I'm told I have the body of a god."

"A Greek god, or one of those gods with the horse heads or elephant's legs coming out of their chests?" Alan asked. "Next time someone tells you that, ask them to specify.”
― Sarah Rees Brennan, The Demon's Covenant

“Friends don't menace friends with giant terrifying swords, okay?”
― Sarah Rees Brennan, The Demon's Covenant

“Sometmes when you pull knives on people, they get this impression that you're going to hurt them, and then they're completely terrified. Crazy, I know!"

"Okay," said Nick. He turned to Jamie & popped his left wrist sheath again. "Look."

Jamie backed up. "Which part of 'completely terrified' did you translate as 'show us your knives, Nick'? Don't show me your knives, Nick. I have no interest in your knives."

Nick rolled his eyes. "This is a quillon dagger. That's a knife with a sword handle. I like it because it has a good grip for stabbing."

"Why do you say these things?" Jamie inquired piteously. "Is it to make me sad?"

"I didn't have you cornered," Nick went on. "You could've run. And this dagger doesn't have an even weight distribution; it's absolute rubbish for throwing. If I had any intention of hurting you, I'd have used a knife I could throw."

Jamie blinked. "I will remember those words always. I may try to forget them, but I sense that I won't be able to.”
― Sarah Rees Brennan, The Demon's Covenant

“Turns out he does run," Nick drawled. "Given an incentive. And he wouldn't be so out of breath if he hadn't kept shrieking."
"That was not a shriek," Jamie said with dignity. "It was a husky masculine cry of terror.”
― Sarah Rees Brennan, The Demon's Covenant

“In two words," said Alan quietly, "there is nothing I love half as much as you.”
― Sarah Rees Brennan, The Demon's Covenant

“Well, speaking as a feminist, I'm glad that women can lead--uh, groups of unspeakable magical evil."

"Yes," Alan said gravely. "It'd be shoking if the evil magicians were sexist. For one thing, that would mean they were stupid, and having stupid enemies would be a terrible blow to my manly pride.”
― Sarah Rees Brennan, The Demon's Covenant

“He only shot one person," Nick remarked. "But the night is young." . . .
Forgive him, he has no manners."
I get by on good looks," Nick said.”
― Sarah Rees Brennan, The Demon's Lexicon

“Sometimes I want to be human for you.”
― Sarah Rees Brennan, The Demon's Covenant

“Sometimes I feel better around you. I kind of like your face' -Nick”
― Sarah Rees Brennan, The Demon's Covenant

“You want useless, you have come to the right guy. I can be useless for hours at a time. Weeks even. I'm currently closing in on a month of being totally useless, which is by way of being a personal best.”
― Sarah Rees Brennan, The Demon's Covenant

“Foul!" yelled Jamie, who seemed extremely happy not to be the one facing a blade. "Distracting technique! Put your shirt back on right now.”
― Sarah Rees Brennan, The Demon's Covenant

“Once you start thinking about the lies people tell when they don't know they're telling them, the truths people reveal when they think they're lying, then you can start to build a world.”
― Sarah Rees Brennan

“And what are you doing here, Nicholas? Decided to watch me sleep?" "Yes," said Nick, and bowed is head over his sword again. He had tissues, oil, and sandpaper laid out on the windowsill in front of him, and a little stone block he was passing his sword up and down, very carefully. "I came to gaze upon your sleeping face. Only you had the blanket over your head, so I just had to gaze at a lump I thought was your sleeping face, and that turned out to be your shoulder. Which just wasn't as special." ~Nick and Mae”
― Sarah Rees Brennan, The Demon's Covenant

“I don't really get scared. Want to know what else i don't feel?"
PITY”
― Sarah Rees Brennan, The Demon's Lexicon

“My life was going to flash before my eyes, but it decided to hide behind my eyes and quake with terror instead.”
― Sarah Rees Brennan, The Demon's Lexicon

“I have changed my mind. You can help cook by standing in a corner and not touching anything. Do it carefully.
-Nick to Jamie”
― Sarah Rees Brennan, The Demon's Lexicon

“Not really a party until someone brings the surprise zombies.”
― Sarah Rees Brennan, The Demon's Covenant

“I-" said Nick, his voice halting. "I don't mind it as much when - when people touch me. Some people."
Mae looked down, and Nick, who looked more relaxed when he'd been stabbed, slowly lifted his hand from his chest and laid it on the tumbled sheets between them, fingers half-curled into his palm. He was still regarding the ceiling with a fixed glare.
"Because you trust them not to hurt you?" Mae asked tentatively.
"No," Nick said, his voice harsh. "Because I'd let them hurt me.”
― Sarah Rees Brennan, The Demon's Covenant

“I don’t know what I saw. It could’ve been a hallucination. You get those from sniffing glue.”

“You’ve never sniffed glue!”

“I’ve smelled glue,” Jamie said after a pause. “In art class.”
― Sarah Rees Brennan, The Demon's Lexicon

“Mae, he made me go out for a run," Jamie called out. "Tell him I don't run!"
"Jamie and I are lilies of the field. We toil not, neither do we jog," Mae informed Nick.”
― Sarah Rees Brennan, The Demon's Covenant

“Oh," Jamie offered in a bright voice. "I could cook some--"
"NO!" Mae, Annabel, and Nick all exclaimed as one.
Annabel gave Nick a slightly startled look. He was too busy giving Jamie a forbidding look to notice.
"Look, I am getting better," Jamie argued.
"I saw you put rice in a toaster once," said Mae. "I was there when you made that tin of beans explode."
"It was faulty," Jamie protested, his eyes shifty. "I am sure of this.”
― Sarah Rees Brennan, The Demon's Covenant

“Oh God, Mae," said Jamie in a hollow voice, descending the stairs. "I will never drink again. I'm only seeing in black and white. My arms feel all floppy, like flightless wings. I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror and I looked like a very sad penguin.”
― Sarah Rees Brennan, The Demon's Covenant

“I expected something a little more castle-shaped," said Jamie.
Nothing lasts forever," Nick said. "Except demons, of course."
Has anyone ever told you that you're a charming conversationalist?" Jamie asked.
No," Nick replied honestly.
I cannot tell you how much that surprises me," Jamie told him, and Nick gave him a half smile.”
― Sarah Rees Brennan, The Demon's Lexicon

“Want me to flex my magic for you, baby?”
― Sarah Rees Brennan, The Demon's Covenant

“Jamie chose that moment to almost fall down the stairs. Mae took his whole weight and grabbed the banister. Seb reached out but Jamie shied away, and Nick gave Jamie a push in the chest that was clearly intended to right him, but that nearly had him toppling over backward.
Balance eventually restored to them all, Jamie gave Nick an approving look.
"You are my friend," he told him.
"Yeah, I am," said Nick.
"But these stairs," Jamie said sadly. "They are not my friends.”
― Sarah Rees Brennan, The Demon's Covenant

“I don't really dance for pleasure much."
"Uh--so you, uh, usually dance professionally, or what?" Seb asked.
"Yeah," said Nick. "The ballet is my passion.”
― Sarah Rees Brennan, The Demon's Covenant

“The cut in Nick's arm was starting to throb dully with the pressure he was putting on it. He kept looking at Alan. 'How many times have you lied to me?' he asked in a soft voice.

Alan replied, equally softly, 'I've lost count.”
― Sarah Rees Brennan, The Demon's Lexicon

“They carried on sniping in the front seat, and Mae turned back to Jamie.
"You doing okay?" she murmured.
"Yes," said Jamie, a bit too earnestly. "I love you, Mae. Your hair is the color of flamingos! And I love Nick as well." He gazed soulfully in Nick's direction. "Sometimes when you are not being psychotic, you are quite funny. And you!" He regarded Seb for a long moment. "No, I still don't like you," he decided. "Maybe I need another drink."
"I don't think so," Nick said.”
― Sarah Rees Brennan, The Demon's Covenant

“He knew her now. She was the weird girl in the class above him, who dyed her hair pink and always wore a lot of pentragrams and crystals. Right now she was also wearing giant chandelier earings and a violent pink T-Shirt that bore the words ROMEO AND JULIET WOULDN'T HAVE LASTED.”
― Sarah Rees Brennan, The Demon's Lexicon

“Would it help if I stood around uselessly not knowing what to say?”
― Sarah Rees Brennan, The Demon's Covenant

“You're barely even wearing a shirt! What are you going to do if a mugger jumps out at you, flash them?”
― Sarah Rees Brennan, The Demon's Covenant

“Lots of kids in books are only-child orphans, but I think it’s fun to have family as part of the adventure, to have familial love be as important as romantic love, and to show that love can go through fire and darkness - not unchanged, because experiences like that change everyone - but never faltering”
― Sarah Rees Brennan

“Oh," she said, in a very different way. "Well. Thanks for my part in the compliment. Naturally I'd love to be watched and controlled, but I think I may be washing my hair that day.”
― Sarah Rees Brennan, The Demon's Covenant

“I cook better than you," Nick corrected absently. "I think monkeys can probably be taught to cook better than you."
"I'd like to have a monkey that cooked for me," said Jamie. " I would pay him in bananas. His name would be Alphonse."
"I agree, that would be awesome." Mae said. "People would come for dinner just to see the monkey chef."
"You're raving," Nick said, defrosting chicken in the microwave. Mae was a bit impressed with how he seemed to look at the appliance and instantly comprehend its mysteries, when she'd been heating up ready-made meals for years by a method of pressing random buttons and hoping. " I know that's the only way Jamie communicates with people, but I expected better of you, Mavis."
"We're cutting out the whole Mavis thing right now, Nick," Mae said warningly.
"How many bananas would be good payment for a monkey?" Jamie wanted to know. " I would want to pay Alphonse a fair wage.”
― Sarah Rees Brennan, The Demon's Covenant

“I'm fine," Nick snarled, and shut his eyes. "Mae, he is not fine!" Jamie almost yelled, and Mae scrambled to her feet.
"Oh God," she said. "Alan's down. Alan's down.--I can't see him. I think he could be--"
"What?" Nick rasped.
Mae looked down and saw Nick struggle up on one knee. He glared up at her and then got painfully to his feet, a knife in either hand. There was blood running down his arm, his shoulder was a mess, and his mouth was set in a grim, determined line. "Where's Alan?"
"Oh, Alan's fine," Mae said, nodding to where Alan was throwing himself at the magicians again. Sin was beside him now, and the rest of the Goblin Market was behind her. "I was lying so you'd get up. Sorry about that."
Nick laughed, spun, and stabbed something. "Don't be sorry. I've just decided that lying's kind of sexy.”
― Sarah Rees Brennan, The Demon's Covenant

“I don't trust men everybody likes. Being nice isn't the same as being good.”
― Sarah Rees Brennan, The Demon's Covenant

“The drab brown front of the house made it look as if it had been built from rusty spare parts. Someone always put lace curtains in the windows of dreary houses, and Nick was unsurprised to see the curtains making their attempts in every window of this place. There was a china garden gnome on the doorstep, wearing a desperate, crazy smile.
"It's not so bad," Alan said.
"You never take me nice places anymore, baby." said Nick, and was mildly gratified by Alan's ring of laughter, like a living bell that had been caught by surprise when it was struck.”
― Sarah Rees Brennan, The Demon's Lexicon

“I don't want to seem ungrateful when you have given me this thoughtful, homemade and totally terrifying gift," Jamie told him. "But you can't imagine I'm going to use it."

"Just to hold someone off. Just remember what I taught you," said Nick. "Just buy a little time so I can come get you. Jamie. I'll come get you.”
― Sarah Rees Brennan, The Demon's Covenant

“Nick looked vaguely homicidal, but that was sort of his default expression.”
― Sarah Rees Brennan, The Demon's Surrender

“Get down,” he whispered.
 
“I’m way ahead of you,” Jamie said from the floor”
― Sarah Rees Brennan, The Demon's Lexicon

“I can smite you " Nick grumbled. "Anytime I like.”
― Sarah Rees Brennan, The Demon's Surrender

“I want to burn the world because Alan is gone," he said. "I want to destroy everything I see. But you mean something to me. I will not destroy the world, because it has you in it.”
― Sarah Rees Brennan, The Demon's Surrender

“Alan: Conning people out of their savings. Forgery. Blackmail. Selling real estate on Mars. We could have it all. You with me, Bambi?"
Sin: "Clive, I was with you from 'I'm a social worker.”
― Sarah Rees Brennan, The Demon's Surrender

“On the morning of the fourth day, Jamie tipped a switchblade out of his box of cornflakes.
 
“I think these promotional campaigns have really got out of hand,” he said, freezing with
his hand on the milk carton. “One shiny free knife with every packet of cereal bought is
not a good message to send out to the kiddies.”
― Sarah Rees Brennan, The Demon's Lexicon

“Hey, Jamie,' said Seb. 'Want a lift?'
'Hey, Seb,' Jamie responded without missing a beat 'Drop dead.”
― Sarah Rees Brennan, The Demon's Covenant

“I don't lie to you," Alan said. "I lie WITH you."
Sin stopped looking up at him from under her eyelashes and burst out laughing.
Alan went red. "So I've just realized how that come out. Uh.”
― Sarah Rees Brennan, The Demon's Surrender