Brooke Riley > Brooke's Quotes

“There's a few things even fire can't destroy.”
― A.J. Sky, Firestorm

“Weston is everything
And all at once.
Weston is gentle
And harsh.
Weston can be blindingly bright
But then he can also be
Delicately soft.
Weston is a paradox.”
― Abbie Emmons, 100 Days of Sunlight

“And, actually, I was feeling pretty good at the time. My brothers were like individual rays of sunshine that had come crashing into my room to drive out the fragments of Despair. For a few minutes, everything was golden. And everything was okay.”
― Abbie Emmons, 100 Days of Sunlight

“Well?' he asks when I don’t open my eyes and silently savor the goodness. 'What do you taste?'

I smile despite myself. 'The most amazing waffles under the sun.”
― Abbie Emmons, 100 Days of Sunlight

“This is when I usually crack a lame joke, like, “Yeah, sorry, I left my real legs at home.”
― Abbie Emmons, 100 Days of Sunlight

“Tessa shuts her eyes. Her hair is down today, falling around her face in wispy strands.

She wants to close up, give up, brace herself in the doorway.

I want to push her through the doorway.

Who cares if she falls? She’s already fallen.

Now she needs to get back up.”
― Abbie Emmons, 100 Days of Sunlight

“He moved to the next tree. "Our past can only follow us if we allow it to, Hawk."
"It doesn't follow me, Sensei, it haunts me," I said. "It lies in wait for me in the dark."
"A warrior cannot be haunted."
"What makes you think I am one?"
"Because when I look at you, I see nothing but a warrior who insists on wrapping herself in an unnecessary cocoon.”
― K.A. Emmons, The Blood Race

“I don't know that I'll find myself anywhere, particularly.”
― K.A. Emmons, The Blood Race

“No,' I answered. 'But you're a shell, Icarus. One that can be opened. A darkness into which one can speak and call things out. You'll tell me about it one day, when you're ready.”
― K.A. Emmons, The Blood Race

“Promise me you'll never leave me.' His voice is husky.
'Only if you promise me the same thing,' I say.”
― Brooke Riley, How We Rise

“Peter looks up again, though he doesn't seem to see what's truly in front of him. No, he's watching something from years ago, watching another boy being taken away like the one I watched today.”
― Brooke Riley, How We Rise

“Rising to my feet, I make my decision. Samantha wants ruthless? I'll be cold, heartless, and unforgiving from now on. It will be the only I can survive this.”
― Brooke Riley, How We Rise

“I flinch. I suppose the words only hurt because they're coming from him. I turn away and get out of the truck. As I make my way up the yard, I hear Peter calling me. I hear the passenger door slam and his hurried footsteps behind me. I feel his touch on my arm as he stops me before I can climb the three steps of the porch. I don't turn to face him. I can feel the stupid tears welling up in my eyes.”
― Brooke Riley, How We Rise

“For a moment nothing happens. The figure stands still and I stand cold and alive and-
He starts to run. I make my way down the rocks, slipping, sliding, trying to get to the plain. I wish, I think, my feet clumsy, moving too fast, not fast enough, I wish i could run, I wish I'd written a whole poem, I wish I kept the compass-
And then I reach the plain and wish for nothing but what I have. Ky. Running toward me. I have never seen him run like this, fast, free, strong, wild. He looks so beautiful, his body moves so right. He stops just close enough for me to see the blue of his eyes and forget the red on my hands and the green I wish I wore. "You're here," he says, breathing hard and hungry. sweat and dirt cover his face, and he looks at me as though I'm the only thing he ever needed to see. I open my mouth to say yes. But I only have time to breathe in before he closes the last of the distance. All I know is the kiss.”
― Ally Condie, Crossed

“Cassia and I sit as near to each other as we can. She leans into me and I keep my arms around her. I don't fool myself that I hold her together- she does that on her own- but holding her keeps me from flying apart.”
― Ally Condie, Crossed

“Because once you love, it is gone. You love and you cannot call it back.”
― Ally Condie, Crossed

“We have all been carved out by our sorrow. Cut deep like canyon walls.”
― Ally Condie, Crossed

“Because in the end you can't always choose what to keep. You can only choose how you let it go.”
― Ally Condie, Crossed

“I never named anything I've written before
no reason to
since
it would all have the same title anyway
-for you-
but I would call this one
one night
that night
when we let the world be only you
and only me
we stood on it while it spun
green and blue and red
the music ended
but we
were still
singing”
― Ally Condie, Crossed

“One night," Ky says, "doesn't seem like much to ask."
I don't speak. He moves closer and I feel his cheek against mine and breathe in the scent of sage and pine, of old dust and fresh water and of him.
"For one night, can we just think of each other? Not the Society or the Rising or even our families?"
"No," I say.
"No what?" He tangles one of his hands in my hair, the other draws me closer still.
"No, I don't think we can," I say. "And no, it isn't too much to ask.”
― Ally Condie, Crossed

“Ky is heavy in my mind, deep in my heart, his palms warm on my empty hands. I have to try to find him. Loving him gave me wings and all my work has given me the strength to move them.”
― Ally Condie, Crossed

“My mother painted with water," he says. "And my father played with fire.”
― Ally Condie, Crossed

“No one knows anything," Vick says. "Except Ky. He thinks he's found the truth in a girl.”
― Ally Condie, Crossed

“The salt of his tears tastes like the sea and I don't see the shore.”
― Ally Condie, Crossed

“If you loved someone, if someone loved you, if they taught you to write and made it so you could speak, how can you do nothing at all? You might as well take their words out of the dirt and try to snatch them from the wind. Because once you love, it is gone. You love and you cannot call it back.”
― Ally Condie, Crossed

“You left me like he left you.”
― Ally Condie, Crossed

“Pictures painted with water. Poetry breathed between kisses. Too beautiful to last.”
― Ally Condie, Crossed

“No one ever told me that grief felt so like fear.”
― C.S. Lewis, A Grief Observed

“You love me. Real or not real?"
I tell him, "Real.”
― Suzanne Collins, Mockingjay

“You don’t forget the face of the person who was your last hope.”
― Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games