Stephanie > Stephanie's Quotes

“[A]s Agatha Swanburne once said, 'To be kept waiting is unfortunate, but to be kept waiting with nothing interesting to read is a tragedy of Greek proportions.”
― Maryrose Wood, The Hidden Gallery

“There are some awful things in the world, it's true, but there are also some great books.”
― Jo Walton, Among Others

“If it were easy to resist, it would not be called chocolate cake.”
― Maryrose Wood, The Mysterious Howling

“You may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced by them.”
― Maya Angelou, Letter to My Daughter

“All serious daring starts from within.”
― Eudora Welty, On Writing

“If you love books enough, books will love you back.”
― Jo Walton, Among Others

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

“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

“Fairy tales do not tell children the dragons exist. Children already know that dragons exist. Fairy tales tell children the dragons can be killed.”
― G.K. Chesterton

“Nobody tells this to people who are beginners, I wish someone told me. All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is this gap. For the first couple years you make stuff, it’s just not that good. It’s trying to be good, it has potential, but it’s not. But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is why your work disappoints you. A lot of people never get past this phase, they quit. Most people I know who do interesting, creative work went through years of this. We know our work doesn’t have this special thing that we want it to have. We all go through this. And if you are just starting out or you are still in this phase, you gotta know its normal and the most important thing you can do is do a lot of work. Put yourself on a deadline so that every week you will finish one story. It is only by going through a volume of work that you will close that gap, and your work will be as good as your ambitions. And I took longer to figure out how to do this than anyone I’ve ever met. It’s gonna take awhile. It’s normal to take awhile. You’ve just gotta fight your way through.”
― Ira Glass

“In the midst of winter, I found there was, within me, an invincible summer.

And that makes me happy. For it says that no matter how hard the world pushes against me, within me, there’s something stronger – something better, pushing right back.”
― Albert Camus

“I suspect it may be like the difference between a drinker and an alcoholic; the one merely reads books, the other needs books to make it through the day."

(Interview with The Booklovers blog, September 2010)”
― Gail Carriger

“But boys will be boys, our favorite phrase that excuses so many things, while the only thing we have for the opposite gender is women, said with disdain and punctuated with an eye roll.”
― Mindy McGinnis, The Female of the Species

“Tea! Bless ordinary everyday afternoon tea!”
― Agatha Christie

“Until I feared I would lose it, I never loved to read. One does not love breathing.”
― Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird

“Yes, the princess you were expecting put on her armor and left to kill the dragon. So sorry.”
― Ilona Andrews, One Fell Sweep

“He waved his hand, trying to find the right words. “Lord Arland, sometimes it helps to speak plainly.” “Sword,” he said.”
― Ilona Andrews, One Fell Sweep

“It was typical of her character that she simply assumed she would, eventually, gain control over the situation.”
― Gail Carriger, Soulless

“As weird as they were, they were my weirdos, and nothing in the universe could ever be right without them.”
― Sayantani DasGupta, The Serpent's Secret

“It's not going to make a very good story, in the annals of my time as sister queen.” She quoted dryly, “‘Then her consort jumped up and knocked the foreign queen unconscious with a kettle.”
― Martha Wells, The Serpent Sea

“Love doesn't just sit there, like a stone, it has to be made, like bread; remade all the time, made new.”
― Ursula K. Le Guin, The Lathe of Heaven

“It needn't look like any particular thing at all. How could we imagine that we could make a world as perfect and as lovely as the world that God has made? All we can do is to do our best. Paint and draw. Create your own beautiful imperfect world.”
― David Almond, The Colour of the Sun

“The word love has always tasted like the scent of fresh ink and soft paper to me. Like a newly written poem.”
― Megan Hart, Tear You Apart

“Just keep in mind,” Leon said, merging onto the highway, “I’m your cousin and you love me. If you attack me while I’m driving, we will both die and then he wins. Don’t let him win, Catalina.”
― Ilona Andrews, Diamond Fire

“As though growing up were something one could do contagiously, caught through associating with officious older sisters.”
― Gail Carriger, Etiquette & Espionage

“The first duty of the novelist is to entertain. It is a moral duty. People who read your books are sick, sad, traveling, in the hospital waiting room while someone is dying. Books are written by the alone for the alone.”
― Donna Tartt

“And what would humans be without love?"
RARE, said Death.”
― Terry Pratchett, Sourcery

“But I had not known that I was strong enough to do any of those things until they were over and I had done them. I had to do the work first, not knowing.”
― Naomi Novik, Spinning Silver

“But the world I wanted wasn't the world I lived in, and if I would do nothing until I could repair every terrible thing at once, I would do nothing forever.”
― Naomi Novik, Spinning Silver

“Oh, Captain.” Ms. Haas extended her arms, allowing a small swarm of spiders to drag a pair of long gloves up her arms. “What is the point of doing battle against dark forces if you can’t look your best while you’re doing it?”
― Alexis Hall, The Affair of the Mysterious Letter