"I know it is a bad thing to break a promise, but I think now that it is a worse thing to let a promise break you."
— Jennifer Donnelly (A Northern Light)

"In the first place, you shouldn't believe in promises. The world is full of them: the promises of riches, of eternal salvation, of infinite love. Some people think they can promise anything, others accept whatever seems to guarantee better days ahead, as ,I suspect is your case. Those who make promises they don't keep end up powerless and frustrated, and exactly the fate awaits those who believe promises."
— Paulo Coelho (The Devil and Miss Prym: A Novel of Temptation)

"I stared at her black hair. It was shiny like the promises in magazines. "
— Alice Sebold (The Lovely Bones)

"You don't make threats; you make promises."
— Kenzie

"Something your father wouldn't have told you, he began. Taking blood, it leaves a mark on you. No matter how it's done, or how it's justified, it leaves a mark that goes in deep. Be sure you're willing to wear that mark before you take the blood."
— jd robb

"I have squandered my resistance
For a pocketful of mumbles
Such are promises
All lies and jests
Still a man hears what he wants to hear
And disregards the rest.

(The Boxer)
"
— Paul Simon

"Tomorrow. The word hangs in the air for a moment, both a promise and a threat. Then it floats away like a paper boat, taken from her by the water licking at her ankles."
— Thrity Umrigar (The Space Between Us: A Novel)

"When you find nothing, Morris said, it means you're eliminating what surrounds the something.
Is that a Zen thing? Eve questioned.
If not, it should be."
— jd robb

"Not fair! Okay, what's the record? How many times?
If you can count them, he didn't drop you out.
Nadine groaned, shuddered, grinned. 'Bitch.'"
— jd robb