The Return of the Witch Quotes

“Chance, fate, destiny, call it what you will. I believe when one strives sincerely toward something, something decent and right, well, destiny, like time, is not rigid or fixed; we have the ability to influence it.”
― Paula Brackston, The Return of the Witch

“There is such a magic inside of you, Tegan. Your breath carries magic onto the zephyr, your pores ooze magic onto your skin, your soul thrums with magic, indeed, your very bones vibrate with it. And still you do not believe, not in yourself. It is up to you to accept the gifts given you, child. It is up to you to revel in your own unique power. And when you do, when that moment of epiphany comes, you will be all that you can be. You will be Tegan Hedfan—The Fair One Who Flies.”
― Paula Brackston, The Return of the Witch

“We have, each of us, known loneliness and been forced to turn it into independence,”
― Paula Brackston, The Return of the Witch

“It is my home. It is the place I will one day settle down in, but not yet. I’m not quite ready for that. There are places I need to see, things I need to experience, people I need to meet, if I’m going to stand a chance of working out who I am now.”
― Paula Brackston, The Return of the Witch

“magic does not add, it multiplies; each kind working upon the other to magnify and enrich.”
― Paula Brackston, The Return of the Witch

“As always, it seemed, I must be pulled in two directions, must choose between the welfare of a person I loved and that of one whose need was every bit as great and a good deal more urgent. The frail human in me yearned to follow my heart, the witch in me raged at the injustice of the situation, but it was the healer in me, the one who could not turn away from suffering, who won out.”
― Paula Brackston, The Return of the Witch

“Where are you going?” I asked as he hurried out of the room. “To my books, where else?” he called back as he disappeared.”
― Paula Brackston, The Return of the Witch

“I closed my eyes. It’s different, the darkness you see there. It’s your own, and you have the feeling you are in control of it. To open your eyes and find nothing but choking blackness, well, that’s more difficult to manage.”
― Paula Brackston, The Return of the Witch

“I confess this is but a fraction of my collection. The house has more books than I can ever expect to have time to read.”
― Paula Brackston, The Return of the Witch

“Magic is magic; how it is used is what determines its goodness or otherwise.”
― Paula Brackston, The Return of the Witch

“I could have stood up to the injustice of hanging a good woman, a loving mother, a caring healer who had helped so many people … but I did not, and I will regret it until I draw my last breath.” “But you do realize, don’t you, that she was not wrongly accused? She was a witch, William. Just as I am.” “Then if what a witch is sits before me, a woman I have loved all my life, I see no evil, no harm, no wickedness.”
― Paula Brackston, The Return of the Witch

“There might not be plague, thank heavens, but there was all manner of other ailments and afflictions caused by prolonged hunger, by grief, by a lack of society and care, by wounds unhealed, and the perpetual anxiety of an uncertain future.”
― Paula Brackston, The Return of the Witch

“No person can learn when their arrogance cloaks them. No wisdom, no skill, no words of magic can enter their soul while they hold themselves erect, proud, important.”
― Paula Brackston, The Return of the Witch

“As I say, my books were of interest…” “Books, books, books!” she tutted. “A person cannot be sustained by the things, sir, contrary to what you would have us believe.”
― Paula Brackston, The Return of the Witch

“All that knowledge, all that learning, all that wisdom, and he couldn’t see how he fitted into it. He was nothing more than a walking library, a collection of information for others to come and pick and choose from whenever they wanted. He missed the whole point of it all. Missed the true value of the gifts he had been blessed with.”
― Paula Brackston, The Return of the Witch