Mel > Mel's Quotes

“Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned.”
― Buddha

“I remember wishing the moment would hold forever; that we could be fixed there, laughing and irredescent... Then I got panicky because I knew it would pass; that it was passing already.”
― Tina Howe, Painting Churches: A Play in Two Acts

“You think human nature is a beast, that it must be put in a cage. But it's the cage that makes the animal bad.”
― Tom Stoppard, Rock 'n' Roll

“Wicked people never have time for reading. It's one of the reasons for their wickedness.”
― Lemony Snicket

“Don't part with your illusions. When they are gone you may still exist, but you have ceased to live.”
― Mark Twain

“We have to be back in three hours," Ronan said. "I just fed Chainsaw but she'll need it again."

"This," Gansey replied "is precisely why I didn't want to have a baby with you.”
― Maggie Stiefvater, The Raven Boys

“She wasn't interested in telling other people's futures. She was interested in going out and finding her own.”
― Maggie Stiefvater, The Raven Boys

“I would have come for you. And if I couldn't walk, I'd crawl to you, and no matter how broken we were, we'd fight our way out together-knives drawn, pistols blazing. Because that's what we do. We never stop fighting.”
― Leigh Bardugo, Crooked Kingdom

“Fear is a phoenix. You can watch it burn a thousand times and still it will return.”
― Leigh Bardugo, Crooked Kingdom

“People don’t change,” Nina said bitterly. “They just get more punctilious about hiding their true selves.”
― Ruth Ware, In a Dark, Dark Wood

“Diana used to tell me she had a travel jinx, something I only really started to believe when the plane door fell off.”
― Neil Gaiman

“What's the good of being civilized, that's what I'd like to know? It just means other people can break the rules and you can't.”
― Diana Wynne Jones, Black Maria

“Be careful,” the woman said. Her final words were drowned inside the gasping, wheezing breathlessness. “Be safe.”
― Darcy Coates, Gallows Hill

“she felt as though damaging the form would invite some kind of horrific misfortune.”
― Darcy Coates, Gallows Hill

“Some things are special,” Witchety continued. “Keys to beloved places. The bones of an animal that never lived a day in captivity. Tiny gifts and unblemished flowers and stones that make you feel a particular way. They may not have much power on their own, but weave them together with care and they create a breathing tapestry. That’s what the Watcher is.” She lifted the talisman. “What this is. Things that are special enough to keep you safe. At least a little.”
― Darcy Coates, Gallows Hill

“At night, her parents put her to bed and told her to stay there until morning. You see, the girl and her family weren’t alone. Another family lived nearby. And just as the girl played during the day, the other family liked to play outside at night.”
― Darcy Coates, Gallows Hill

“During all this, Volescu was huddled on the churned up rock, losing his shit, not that I was unsympathetic. I was far less vulnerable in this situation than he was and I wasn’t exactly having a great time either.”
― Martha Wells, All Systems Red

“On this contract, Dr. Ratthi jumped up and said, “I’ll get the cases!” I yelled, “No!” which I’m not supposed to do; I’m always supposed to speak respectfully to the clients, even when they’re about to accidentally commit suicide.”
― Martha Wells, All Systems Red

“So, I’m awkward with actual humans. It’s not paranoia about my hacked governor module, and it’s not them; it’s me. I know I’m a horrifying murderbot, and they know it, and it makes both of us nervous, which makes me even more nervous.”
― Martha Wells, All Systems Red

“The sense of urgency just wasn’t there. Also, you may have noticed, I don’t care.”
― Martha Wells, All Systems Red

“So they made us smarter. The anxiety and depression were side effects.”
― Martha Wells, Artificial Condition

“When a major character died in the twentieth episode I had to pause seven minutes while it sat there in the feed doing the bot equivalent of staring at a wall, pretending that it had to run diagnostics. Then four episodes later the character came back to life and it was so relieved we had to watch that episode three times before it would go on.”
― Martha Wells, Artificial Condition

“I guess you can’t tell a story from the point of view of something that you don’t think has a point of view.”
― Martha Wells, Artificial Condition

“Those seconds, half seconds, that the line of our gaze connected, were the only moment in my day that I felt anything at all. The sudden swoop of my stomach, the coursing anger. I was like a fish eyeing the hook.”
― Madeline Miller, The Song of Achilles

“He said what he meant; he was puzzled if you did not. Some people might have mistaken this for simplicity. But is it not a sort of genius to cut always to the heart?”
― Madeline Miller, The Song of Achilles

“There is no law that gods must be fair, Achilles,” Chiron said. “And perhaps it is the greater grief, after all, to be left on earth when another is gone. Do you think?” “Perhaps,” Achilles admitted. I listened and did not speak. Achilles’ eyes were bright in the firelight, his face drawn sharply by the flickering shadows. I would know it in dark or disguise, I told myself. I would know it even in madness.”
― Madeline Miller, The Song of Achilles

“I will never leave him. It will be this, always, for as long as he will let me.”
― Madeline Miller, The Song of Achilles

“We were like gods at the dawning of the world, and our joy was so bright we could see nothing else but the other.”
― Madeline Miller, The Song of Achilles

“I feel like I could eat the world raw.”
― Madeline Miller, The Song of Achilles

“I could recognize him by touch alone, by smell; I would know him blind, by the way his breaths came and his feet struck the earth. I would know him in death, at the end of the world.”
― Madeline Miller, The Song of Achilles