Nightshade Quotes

“Truth, terrible truth! It is like an ancient curse, from which there is no escape. The truth will drive one mad. Yet without it, how can one make sense of life’s madness?”
― Maryrose Wood, Nightshade

“Plants make the air! Do you understand what that means? Our food, our air, our very lives come from the plants. How could they not be of divine origin, of divine intelligence? How can we deny that, in some essential way, they are no less than you or I?”
― Maryrose Wood, Nightshade

“One of my recent acquisitions. It is called a medicine bag, from one of the native tribes of North America. A fascinating people, highly skilled in the use of plants’ power. They too understand nature’s essence as divine. So much so that they do not think it is man’s place to own the land at all. Imagine that – think of all the wars we would have missed!”
― Maryrose Wood, Nightshade

“According to his diary he worked hard and without scruple to discover what he could on his own. Of course, in principle I have no objection to using human subjects, as long as they are already dead,” she adds. “Have you heard of the anatomy theatre? It is where the medical school’s dissections are performed. They use bears, monkeys, dogs, and human corpses too, when the weather is cool enough. The students have been known to kidnap a body the night before its dissection, dress it up, and take it for a gondola ride down the canal.”
― Maryrose Wood, Nightshade

“There is much I do not understand about the way humans think of punishment and forgiveness, and what happens to sinners when they die. I wish Jessamine was here to explain it to me, for the plants do not speak of heaven and hell. They speak only of the turning of the seasons and of starting anew each spring. Never despair, they counsel, for the orchard that is barren one season may bear fruit in plenty in the next.”
― Maryrose Wood, Nightshade

“Thank you for your bounty, Oleander, Prince of Poisons, I think. Thank you for all that Mr. Pratt has already received, and all that my father is receiving still, as the poison twists like bramble in his gut, burns within his brain, presses like a boulder upon his heart.”
― Maryrose Wood, Nightshade

“Then you should be as willing. I know how poison fascinates you. Surely dying from it will fascinate you, too.” Leaning closer, I hiss, “It is a pity you cannot take notes.”
― Maryrose Wood, Nightshade

“Remember, Weed: The good of one tree is not important. The good of the forest is what matters.”
― Maryrose Wood, Nightshade

“Most often they speak according to their kind – the deep rumble of oak, the whisper of the birch, or the singsong chant of the alder.
The evergreen stands of pine have voices sharp as needles.
But the forest can speak as one, when it must. When the trees so choose, they think with one mind. When there is danger, especially, they speak in one voice of a thousand echoes.
I hate it when they do this. For the forest mind is always right, and will hear no argument.”
― Maryrose Wood, Nightshade

“Listen to the fleshbody,” the dropwort retorts. “A mere seventeen turns of the seasons on this ancient earth of ours, and yet he dismisses us.”
― Maryrose Wood, Nightshade