dunce♡

“Villains were wonderful. They got to be cruel and selfish, to preen in front of mirrors and poison apples, and trap girls on mountains of glass. They indulged all their worst impulses, revenged themselves for the least offense, and took every last thing they wanted. And sure, they wound up in barrels studded with nails, or dancing in iron shoes heated by fire, not just dead, but disgraced and screaming. But before they got what was coming to them, they got to be the fairest in all the land.”
― Holly Black, How the King of Elfhame Learned to Hate Stories

“I did not know I was lonely, she thought, until I was no longer alone.”
― Katherine Arden, The Girl in the Tower

“Listen, son… when I was your age, I had to face truths that seemed to break the world. That’s what happens when you come into contact with people who aren’t quite like you. You learn over time that the world isn’t broken. It’s just… got more pieces to it than you thought. They all fit together, just maybe not the way you pictured when you were young.”
― M.L. Wang, The Sword of Kaigen

“The course of a person’s life, like the course of a river, may likewise be changed by means of ingenious and timely precautions.”
― Ross King, Machiavelli: Philosopher of Power