J.A. Blackburn > J.A.'s Quotes

“But I guess everything in life is a bit disappointing, isn't it?”
― John Stephens, The Emerald Atlas

“Kids can handle a lot more than you think they can. It's when they get to be grown up that you have to start worrying.”
― Anne Ursu, Breadcrumbs

“It’s all going to be okay. She would like to hear that now, even if it was a lie. Because some lies are beautiful. Stories do not tell you that.”
― Anne Ursu, Breadcrumbs

“Her father said she was a princess. He did not see that she was a brave knight.”
― Anne Ursu, Breadcrumbs

“Why did you do all this for me?' he asked. 'I don't deserve it. I've never done anything for you.' 'You have been my friend,' replied Charlotte. 'That in itself is a tremendous thing.”
― E.B. White, Charlotte’s Web

“I’ve got a new friend, all right. But what a gamble friendship is! Charlotte is fierce, brutal, scheming, bloodthirsty—everything I don’t like. How can I learn to like her, even though she is pretty and, of course, clever?”
― E.B. White, Charlotte’s Web

“If I can fool a bug... I can surely fool a man. People are not as smart as bugs.”
― E.B. White, Charlotte’s Web

“Really. Is there anything nice to be said about other people's vacations? I balled up the letter and threw it in the trash.”
― Amor Towles, Rules of Civility

“When it comes to the past, everyone writes fiction.”
― Stephen King, Joyland

“Can you believe the weather?'...'Actually, I CAN believe the weather. What I can't believe is that I'm actually having a conversation about the weather.”
― Maria Semple, Where'd You Go, Bernadette

“Its like a hypnotist put everyone from Seattle into a collective trance. "You are getting sleepy, when you wake up you will want to live only in a Craftsman house, the year won't matter to you, all that will matter is that the walls will be thick, the windows tiny, the rooms dark, the ceilings low, and it will be poorly situated on the lot.”
― Maria Semple, Where'd You Go, Bernadette

“Books are a uniquely portable magic.”
― Stephen King, On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft

“The road to hell is paved with adverbs.”
― Stephen King, On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft

“In many cases when a reader puts a story aside because it 'got boring,' the boredom arose because the writer grew enchanted with his powers of description and lost sight of his priority, which is to keep the ball rolling.”
― Stephen King, On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft

“Most people, they just see what they expect to see.”
― J.A. Blackburn, Dragon Defender

“We spend just as much time—more even—studying dragons, learning their habits, cataloging what they eat, mapping where they go. See, the Earth is changing around us at a crazy pace. Forests are disappearing, ice caps are melting, the climate is shifting. There are people working to protect other species—the polar bears and wolves, turtles, gorillas. But who’s looking out for dragons?” Dominick’s voice was low and urgent. “We are the only people in the world who know about them. If we’re going to do a good job protecting them, we sure as heck better understand them.”
― J.A. Blackburn, Dragon Defender

“At the moment of commitment the entire universe conspires to assist you.”
― Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

“That’s the glory of being a man. An ugly face isn’t the end of you.”
― Taylor Jenkins Reid, Daisy Jones & The Six