The Paragon Quotes

“He was wild with panic. That familiar, friendly darkness kissed the edges of his periphery, soothing, urging him to come into it and feel peace.”
― Molly Collier, The Paragon

“A brilliant sunset of pink and orange painted the sky to his right as they escaped from the castle grounds. He noticed the absence of the deep red of blood in the lovely sky’s scenery. His familiarity with the color was unnatural. It was found nowhere else in nature, almost as if it had never been meant for humans to see.
To his left, the impending dusk loomed, and Satya found comfort in its familiar embrace.”
― Molly Collier, The Paragon

“He wondered at the damage such simple words could do when there was no love behind them. Then he wondered how many kind words it would take to repair a lifetime of such damage.”
― Molly Collier, The Paragon

“Even you cannot control your shine, my friend. This whole world is in your shadow.”
― Molly Collier, The Paragon

“She’d have liked to say that she hadn’t wanted to hurt anyone, but that wouldn’t have been quite truthful. She’d wanted to hurt everyone, to make them feel what she felt, or even just not to be alone in it. In the wake of her loss, she’d longed to throw away everything she’d worked for, just to undo the agonizing truth that she could not accept.”
― Molly Collier, The Paragon

“Hello, Doha.”
― Molly Collier, The Paragon

“He didn’t know what to do. His mind told him there was nothing to do. His body told him it could no longer do anything at all. A feeling of defeat loomed over him like a dark cloud, threatening rain, threatening rust.
Was this what giving up felt like?”
― Molly Collier, The Paragon

“Just last week all was calm. I was no one and nothing and I think that’s how things were meant to be. And now . . . I don’t know how to do this.”
― Molly Collier, The Paragon

“Deep in the desert, o’er painted rock hill,
Once was an ocean aplenty until
The Devourer emerged, the water was scourged.
What should never have emptied nevermore would fill.

Deep in the desert, ‘neath painted rock hill,
The thwarted one waits for the levee to fill.
The witch drank it dries, the crow stole her eyes, so she usurped its body and took to the skies.

Deep in the desert o’er painted rock hill,
The crow hag thirsts when the stormclouds refill.
The crow drinks them dry, the hag tarries by, but not a drop descends from the grey desert sky.

Deep in the desert ‘neath painted rock hill,
The crow plots its descent into the anthill.
The ants–unawares–have forgotten their prayers.
The Devourer remembers and hungers still.”
― Molly Collier, The Paragon

“The Witch of the Crater dove in and survived.
The Witch of the Badlands bade mountains her hive.
Devourer, Deceiver, Destroyer in one.
No soul made it past her defenses alive.
Where sand turns to craggy rock, turn back and run.
Of body and blood, the Devourer leaves none.”
― Molly Collier, The Paragon

“Seven days and seven nights; Isendjan! Isendjan!
Seven ways to make it right; Isendjan! Isendjan!
Pray and Pilgrimage and Rest, all of these a small request.
Keep your shoes beneath your bed.
Rejoice! But do not cover your head,
Else will Babaroga hap
To snatch your boots and bald your cap!
Beware, beware, the Witch of Old.
Forget not what has been foretold of
Isendjan! Isendjan! Seven nights and seven days of
Isendjan! Isendjan! The Mirror, the Hag, away aways!”
― Molly Collier, The Paragon

“I would rather live this imperfect life than get myself killed under the pretense of creating a better one.”
― Molly Collier, The Paragon

“I would rather die fighting than go on living by turning a blind eye to the suffering of my brothers and sisters.”
― Molly Collier, The Paragon

“How will you live with yourself if you don’t join us, and we earn your freedom for you? Or if we fail? How will you live with your conscience then?”
“If you fail, I will find a way to live with my conscience because I will live and you will not,”
― Molly Collier, The Paragon

“Idealism is the cradle for change. One cannot make something new without first envisioning the possibility.”
― Molly Collier, The Paragon

“But while peace was a balm, it was also a stifle. When life was safe and comfortable, what cause would one have to look beyond the confines of the comfort zone?”
― Molly Collier, The Paragon

“The pain of having his fingers relocated had been sudden, but not altogether unwelcome. It was as if his body knew that something was being righted. The pain of being put back together was not so bad as the pain of being taken apart. At least, that was the logic he clung to as each resounding pop reverberated in his ears and threatened to turn his stomach.”
― Molly Collier, The Paragon

“But the agony of her loss reminded her that every day was a gift, and the depth of her love reminded her of all the other gifts she’d been given”
― Molly Collier, The Paragon

“The problem was not unsolvable. No, the difficulty had just been increased to “Expert.”
― Molly Collier, The Paragon

“Somewhere between love and pain was the feeling of a family that was missing one of its founding members.”
― Molly Collier, The Paragon

“There was no state of being “fixed,” Doha had learned. There was just the period between bouts of this requires attention immediately. There were certainly wrong ways to do things, but there was no one right way. If functionality was the goal, well, there were multiple routes to it, and Doha relished the freedom in that.”
― Molly Collier, The Paragon

“For emotion is why anyone does anything at all. If you can control emotion, you can control everyone. If you can understand emotion, you can understand everything.”
― Molly Collier, The Paragon

“Don’t presume to tell me that you think him one-dimensional and incapable of pain simply because he is a man.”
― Molly Collier, The Paragon

“We chose to fight, so that our people might have the choice not to.”
― Molly Collier, The Paragon

“People are like the tall grasses of the field. They will bend in whatever direction the wind blows.”
― Molly Collier, The Paragon

“Why was it that the few ties she fashioned always ended up coming undone by her own doing?”
― Molly Collier, The Paragon

“It was so freeing to allow her mind and her heart the opportunity to step aside and simply watch her body work.
Better that they keep quiet. She had to listen to them catastrophize all the time. But this moment of tranquility was for her body alone.”
― Molly Collier, The Paragon

“He looked distraught, though perhaps he always looked like that, given that he didn’t eat enough or sleep enough or witness sunlight anywhere other than through a small window in a dark workshop.”
― Molly Collier, The Paragon

“The realm of emotions was so fickle, but truth was absolute,”
― Molly Collier, The Paragon

“He hated his vanity, but it was a characteristic and nearly altogether unavoidable trait of the attractive. Perhaps it was self-preservation—simply his body urging him to protect it and maintain its appeal. The world loved and scorned the decay of beauty; it gnashed its teeth for a scrap of any withered thing, all the more if it had once been something lovely.”
― Molly Collier, The Paragon