The Mad Scientist's Daughter Quotes

“There is nothing else like me in the entire world, said Finn. "That's what you wrote. I'm the only one. I can't tell you what it means to be the only one of my kind," he said. "I can't...There is a lack in myself. But your thesis almost filled it in. It was...a start.”
― Cassandra Rose Clarke, The Mad Scientist's Daughter

“Desire is simple," he said. "Desire is something even a machine can understand." There was a stillness in the air that mirrored the stillness of his body. "But when I desired you I began to love you. You were the first being I ever loved. I didn't know it, of course. I had no idea what it meant, no idea what I was feeling. Love was never something I was supposed to experience. I don't think I was supposed to know desire, either, but she never expected me to meet you." He laughed against her skin. "Later, after your father… when he took out those restrictions, I was finally able to understand the complexities of love. Even if I didn't want to. At first.”
― Cassandra Rose Clarke, The Mad Scientist's Daughter

“She’d never encountered any stories as intricate or compelling as the stories he gave her, nor anything that made her sigh when she read it. She liked best the stories about people becoming other things. Stories where women became swans or echoes. In the evenings, when Finn disappeared into the mysterious recesses of the laboratory, Cat went out to the garden or down to the river and wondered what it would be like to be a stream of water, a cypress tree, a star burning a million miles away.”
― Cassandra Rose Clarke, The Mad Scientist’s Daughter

“He spoke so casually, as though it were a fact, as though he had no idea how it hurt her.”
― Cassandra Rose Clarke, The Mad Scientist's Daughter

“I have never endeavoured to be human, a fact Daniel had difficulty accepting at first. However, he never looked down on me for it. And he made his mistakes. But ultimately he loved me - for who I am, for what I am. He loved me, not some version of me that will never exist. And for that I am grateful. It is a mark of true humanity.”
― Cassandra Rose Clarke, The Mad Scientist's Daughter

“She had thought about that moment so often during the past few years it had dried out. It was stale, like old, odourless potpourri. But she still want back to it, because it was the only one.”
― Cassandra Rose Clarke, The Mad Scientist's Daughter

“Finn stood, his narrow body unhinging at the waist. He handed the jar to Cat and smiled, but Cat grabbed the jar and pushed through the door, out into the cool, dampening night. The fireflies glowed again. She could hear them knocking against the glass.
"How lovely," said Cat's father.
"Lovely," repeated Finn, as though the meaning of the word alluded him.”
― Cassandra Rose Clarke, The Mad Scientist's Daughter

“Soon there would be no one left on Earth whose fingers could electrify her.”
― Cassandra Rose Clarke, The Mad Scientist's Daughter

“Cat finished putting on her makeup. She felt like a seashell, pretty enough but empty and easily broken.”
― Cassandra Rose Clarke, The Mad Scientist's Daughter

“I’d live on the moon, Cat thought, dots of sunlight scattering across the living room floor. Couldn’t be any worse than here.”
― Cassandra Rose Clarke, The Mad Scientist's Daughter

“She cried until her tears turned to salt on her cheeks. Finn never left her side.”
― Cassandra Rose Clarke, The Mad Scientist's Daughter

“She didn’t trust the grown-ups waiting in the house, the people who knew Finn for what he was the minute they laid eyes on him, the people who called him it.”
― Cassandra Rose Clarke, The Mad Scientist's Daughter

“This party sucks,” said Cat. “It’s not how I would prefer to spend my time, either,” said Finn.”
― Cassandra Rose Clarke, The Mad Scientist's Daughter

“All summer Cat had been in a fugue. She had been made of mist and moonlight. Now, for the first time, she felt like herself again, like a person, a human, cast out of flesh and blood and muscle and bone.”
― Cassandra Rose Clarke, The Mad Scientist's Daughter

“There is nothing like me in the entire world, said Finn.”
― Cassandra Rose Clarke, The Mad Scientist's Daughter

“Cat had drunk too much champagne to care. She grabbed Finn by both hands and pulled him to standing. He wore the same ill-fitting suit he had worn to her mother’s funeral. They walked out to the dance floor and the music changed, became something old and slow and sad, too sad to be romantic, too sad for a wedding. No one else was dancing. She put her arms around Finn’s neck, and he put his hands on her waist. The dress’s weight disappeared. She moved her face close to his, and he didn’t pull away. They were close enough to kiss.
The song lasted three and a half minutes. For three and a half minutes, Cat lived a completely different life. For three and a half minutes, she had married Finn instead of Richard.For three and a half minutes, the version of her life that rolled out in front of her did not fill her heart with dolor.
For three and a half minutes, Cat understood joy.
When the song ended, Cat felt something rushing out of her, as though she had been holding her breath underwater. Finn pulled away, his hands at her elbows. Cat looked dazedly around the room. It was late in the afternoon, and no one was paying any attention to her.”
― Cassandra Rose Clarke, The Mad Scientist's Daughter

“I have endeavoured to be human, a fact Daniel had difficulty accepting at first. However, he never looked down on me for it. And he made his mistakes. But ultimately he loved me - for who I am, for what I am. He loved me, not some version of me that will never exist. And for that I am grateful. It is a mark of true humanity.”
― Cassandra Rose Clarke, The Mad Scientist's Daughter

“I'm sorry," he said."I thought the blankets would be enough." He paused. "It's rather enjoyable listening to the wind blow in. That is why I didn't choose to close the windows."
Cat smiled in spite of the cold. She knew what he meant. Whenever northers blew in, the trees rattled outside bedroom window and for some reason the sound always comforted her. It reminded her of Christmas.”
― Cassandra Rose Clarke, The Mad Scientist's Daughter