Abigail > Abigail's Quotes

“She seemed fragile like a moonflower – destined to bloom for a single lovely night, and then to fade and fall.”
― Juliet Marillier, Wildwood Dancing

“Walk as if you are kissing the Earth with your feet.”
― Thich Nhat Hanh, Peace Is Every Step: The Path of Mindfulness in Everyday Life

“Beyond that, memories have a way of changing on us. Souring or sweetening over time—like a brew we drink, then recreate later by taste, only getting the ingredients mostly right. You can’t taste a memory without tainting it with who you have become.”
― Brandon Sanderson, Tress of the Emerald Sea

“Worry has weight, and is an infinitely renewable resource.”
― Brandon Sanderson, Tress of the Emerald Sea

“She hadn't lost her creativity. She hadn't run out of ideas. She was simply tired.”
― Brandon Sanderson, Tress of the Emerald Sea

“There it is! Irony. The very journey she’d taken to find what she wanted had transformed her into a person who could no longer enjoy that victory.”
― Brandon Sanderson, Tress of the Emerald Sea

“I picked up Pandora's jar. The spirit of Hope fluttered inside, trying to warm the cold container.
"Hestia," I said, "I give this to you as an offering."
The goddess tilted her head. "I am the least of the gods. Why would
you trust me with this?"
"You're the last Olympian," I said. "And the most important."
"And why is that, Percy Jackson?"
"Because Hope survives best at the hearth," I said. "Guard it for me,
and I won't be tempted to give up again.”
― Rick Riordan, The Last Olympian

“No, he wasn’t someone different. He was, indeed, still himself. That was what made it painful.”
― Brandon Sanderson, The Sunlit Man

“Try some curry powder next time. It has a much better flavor than tyranny. Less nutty.”
― Brandon Sanderson, The Sunlit Man

“Nightmares are a fluid terror. Once you get the briefest handle on one, it will change. Filling nooks in the soul like spilled water filling cracks in the floor. Nightmares are a seeping chill, created by the mind to punish itself. In this, a nightmare is the very definition of masochism. Most of us are modest enough to keep that sort of thing tucked away, hidden.”
― Brandon Sanderson, Yumi and the Nightmare Painter

“Smiles, like radiation, are made more potent by proximity.”
― Brandon Sanderson, Yumi and the Nightmare Painter

“The thing is, everything is useless, intrinsically. Nothing has value unless we grant it that value. Any object can be worth whatever we decide it to be worth.”
― Brandon Sanderson, Yumi and the Nightmare Painter

“Carnival food,” he said, “has this strange property. Each bite you take tastes increasingly artificial, oily, and overly sweet. Until you get done, and (lowly) wonder why you ate all of that. It’s truly magnificent.”
― Brandon Sanderson, Yumi and the Nightmare Painter

“I only stare," he said. "when I see something too beautiful for my eyes to take in at once.”
― Brandon Sanderson, Yumi and the Nightmare Painter

“Art doesn't need to be good to be valuable. I've heard it said that art is the truly useless creation - intended for no mechanical purpose. Valued only because of the perception of the people who view it.
The thing is, everything is useless, intrinsically. Nothing has value unless we grant it that value. Any object can be worth whatever we decide it to be worth.”
― Brandon Sanderson, Yumi and the Nightmare Painter

“Rich people, she decided, loved to stick with a theme.”
― Brandon Sanderson, Edgedancer

“He was the type who wore his hair long enough to brush his shoulders because he thought it took less effort. In reality, it takes far more, but only if you do it right. He also thought it looked more impressive. But again, only if you do it right. Which he didn't.”
― Brandon Sanderson

“That which has shape can be understood. That which has mass can be destroyed.”
― Brandon Sanderson, Yumi and the Nightmare Painter

“Why do we tell stories? They are a universal human experience. Every culture I’ve ever visited, every people I’ve met, every human on every planet in every situation I’ve seen…they all tell stories. Men trapped alone for years tell them to themselves. Ancients leave them painted on the walls. Women whisper them to their babies. Stories explain us. You want to define what makes a human different from an animal? I can do it in one word or a hundred thousand. Sad stories. Exultant stories. Didactic morality tales. Frivolous yarns that, paradoxically, carry too much meaning. We need stories.”
― Brandon Sanderson, Yumi and the Nightmare Painter

“But then again, there’s nothing intrinsically valuable about any kind of art. That’s not me complaining or making light. It’s one of the most wonderful aspects to art—the fact that people decide what is beautiful. We don’t get to decide what is food and what is not. (Yes, exceptions exist. Don’t be pedantic. When you pass those marbles, we’re all going to laugh.) But we absolutely get to decide what counts as art. If Yumi’s people wanted to declare that rock arrangements surpassed painting or sculpture as an artistic creation…well, I personally found it fascinating. The spirits agreed.”
― Brandon Sanderson, Yumi and the Nightmare Painter

“Like a man with diarrhea in a sandpaper factory, sometimes all available options are less than ideal.”
― Brandon Sanderson, Yumi and the Nightmare Painter

“They all want to be involved, but nobody wants to be responsible.”
― Brandon Sanderson, Warbreaker

“I hope your bacon burns.”
― Diana Wynne Jones , Howl’s Moving Castle

“Yes, you are nosy. You're a dreadfully nosy, horribly bossy, appallingly clean old woman. Control yourself. You're victimizing us all.”
― Diana Wynne Jones, Howl’s Moving Castle

“A heart's a heavy burden.”
― Diana Wynne Jones, Howl’s Moving Castle

“Typical! I break my neck trying to get here, and I find you peacefully tidying up!”
― Diana Wynne Jones, Howl’s Moving Castle

“You've no right to walk into people's castles and take their guitars.”
― Diana Wynne Jones, Howl’s Moving Castle

“It is quite a risk to spank a wizard for getting hysterical about his hair.”
― Diana Wynne Jones, Howl’s Moving Castle

“My shining dishonesty will be the salvation of me.”
― Diana Wynne Jones, Howl’s Moving Castle

“For all these years, her heart had painted the picture for her. Her child-not a figment of her imagination, but her child in the world. The picture that her heart painted was real.”
― Kelly Barnhill, The Girl Who Drank the Moon