An Ember in the Ashes Quotes

“Izzat means many things. Strength, honor, pride. But in the past century, it's come to mean something specific: freedom.”
― Sabaa Tahir, An Ember in the Ashes

“Rest your mind for a day, and a solution might present itself.”
― Sabaa Tahir, An Ember in the Ashes

“Is this what happens to everyone when they die? One second, you’re alive, the next, you’re dead, and then BOOM, an explosion that tears apart the very air. A violent welcome to the afterlife, but at least there is one.”
― Sabaa Tahir, An Ember in the Ashes

“Shouldn’t you be out scaring small children or killing your relatives?”
― Sabaa Tahir, An Ember in the Ashes

“Like she was water and you were just dying of thirst.”
― Sabaa Tahir, An Ember in the Ashes

“Fear is only your enemy if you allow it to be. Too much fear and you’re paralyzed. Too little fear and you’re arrogant”
― Sabaa Tahir, An Ember in the Ashes

“After my parents left us with Nan and Pop, it took weeks for me to stop feeling jumpy, to get used to living with two people who actually seemed to love each other.”
― Sabaa Tahir, An Ember in the Ashes

“And, after all, if ghuls and jinn walk our world, then why not forces of good too?”
― Sabaa Tahir, An Ember in the Ashes

“She says the word friend like it’s a secret she wishes she knew.”
― Sabaa Tahir, An Ember in the Ashes

“We never had much, but whatever we did have was made with love, which I now know transforms simple fare into a feast.”
― Sabaa Tahir, An Ember in the Ashes

“Izzat means more than freedom. It means more than honor. It means courage. It means proving yourself.”
― Sabaa Tahir, An Ember in the Ashes

“It will get better,” Keenan says. I look up to see sadness flicker across his face, almost instantly replaced by that now-familiar chill. “You’ll never forget them, not even after years. But one day, you’ll go a whole minute without feeling the pain. Then an hour. A day. That’s all you can ask for, really.” His voice drops. “You’ll heal. I promise.”
― Sabaa Tahir, An Ember in the Ashes

“This is no band of thieves. It’s the Resistance.”
― Sabaa Tahir, An Ember in the Ashes

“I realize in that moment that I cannot be afraid of something if there’s no chance it could ever occur.”
― Sabaa Tahir, An Ember in the Ashes

“Demetrius, who screamed in futile rage after he watched his ten-year-old brother whipped to death by the Commandant for desertion. He smiles when he sees me coming, drops his weapon and waits as if the edge of my blade is a gift. What does Demetrius see as the light leaves his eyes? His little brother waiting for him? An infinity of darkness?”
― Sabaa Tahir, An Ember in the Ashes

“Tell us a story. Something scary.” She shivers in anticipation, and Cook makes a strange sound that could be a laugh or a groan. “Life isn’t scary enough for you, girl?”
― Sabaa Tahir, An Ember in the Ashes

“Life is made of so many moments that mean nothing. Then one day, a single moment comes along to define every second that comes after. The moment Darin called out—that was such a moment. It was a test of courage, of strength. And I failed it.”
― Sabaa Tahir, An Ember in the Ashes

“Come on, I want to add. But doing so would be like tattooing “I am up to no good” on my forehead.”
― Sabaa Tahir, An Ember in the Ashes

“This - this - was what Cain spoke of: the freedom to go to my death knowing it’s for the right reason. The freedom to call my soul my own. The freedom to salvage some small goodness by refusing to become like my mother, by dying for something that is worth dying for.”
― Sabaa Tahir, An Ember in the Ashes

“Fear can be good, Laia. It can keep you alive. But don’t let it control you. Don’t let it sow doubts within you. When the fear takes over, use the only thing more powerful, more indestructible, to fight it: your spirit. Your heart.”
― Sabaa Tahir, An Ember in the Ashes

“There are two kinds of guilt,” I say softly. “The kind that’s a burden and the kind that gives you purpose. Let your guilt be your fuel. Let it remind you of who you want to be. Draw a line in your mind. Never cross it again. You have a soul. It’s damaged, but it’s there. Don’t let them take it from you, Elias.”
― Sabaa Tahir, An Ember in the Ashes

“Contrary to what you might think, girl," Cook says, "the Commandant is not all-powerfull. She underestimated you, for one. She misread Spiro Teluman -- he is a man and so, in her mind, is onlly capable of a man's base appetites. She hasn't connected you to your parents. She makes mistakes, like everyone else. The only difference is that she doesn't make the same mistake twice. Keep that in mind and you just might be able to outwit her.”
― Sabaa Tahir, An Ember in the Ashes

“I don't need to believe in the supernatural. Not when there's worse that roams the night.”
― Sabaa Tahir, An Ember in the Ashes

“an ember in the ashes,”
― Sabaa Tahir, An Ember in the Ashes

“Wir sind keine Kinder mehr, die über kleine Geheimnisse lachen. Das werden wir nie mehr sein.”
― Sabaa Tahir, An Ember in the Ashes

“Her eyes flicker, so I know she hears me. She says nothing, just checks the chains on my legs and arms and then nods to the Commandant. My mother reads the charges against me, which I don’t pay much attention to, and pronounces the punishment, which I also ignore. Dead is dead, no matter how it happens. Helene steps forward and lifts her ax. It will be one clean sweep, left to right. Air. Neck. Air. Elias dead. Now it hits me. This is it. This is the end. Martial tradition says a soldier who dies well dances among the stars, battling foes for all eternity. Is that what awaits me? Or will I slip into endless darkness, unbroken and quiet? Uneasiness latches onto me, like it’s been waiting around a corner all this time and only now has the gall to emerge. Where do I fix my eyes? On the crowd? The sky? I want comfort. I know I won’t find any. I”
― Sabaa Tahir, An Ember in the Ashes

“She is beneath me, her ocean eyes terrified as I pin her scim arm down. Our bodies are entangled, entwined, but Helene is foreign to me suddenly, unknowable as the heavens. I tear a dagger from my chest, and my blood roars as my fingers touch the cold hilt. She knees me and grabs her scim, determined to finish me before I can finish her. I’m too fast. I lift the dagger high, my rage peaking, holding like the highest note of a mountain storm. And then I bring the blade down.”
― Sabaa Tahir, An Ember in the Ashes

“We should check the— What, damn it?” The tapping grows insistent, and I turn, intending to tell off the Cadet. Instead, I’m faced with a slave-girl looking up at me through impossibly long eyelashes. A heated, visceral shock flares through me at the clarity of her dark gold eyes. For a second, I forget my name. I’ve never seen her before, because if I had, I’d remember. Despite the heavy silver cuffs and high, painful-looking bun that mark all of Blackcliff’s drudges, nothing about her says slave. Her black dress fits her like a glove, sliding over every curve in a way that makes more than one head turn. Her full lips and fine, straight nose would be the envy of most girls, Scholar or not. I stare at her, realize I’m staring, tell myself to stop staring, and then keep staring. My breath falters, and my body, traitor that it is, tugs me forward until there are only inches between us. “Asp-aspirant”
― Sabaa Tahir, An Ember in the Ashes

“You are full, Laia. Full of life and dark and strength and spirit. You are in our dreams. You will burn, for you are an ember in the ashes. That is your destiny. Being a Resistance spy - that is the smallest part of you. That is nothing.”
― Sabaa Tahir, An Ember in the Ashes

“This life is not always what we think it will be,' Cain says. 'You are an ember in the ashes, Elias Veturius. You will spark and burn, ravage and destroy. You cannot change it. You cannot stop it.”
― Sabaa Tahir, An Ember in the Ashes