Ash and Quill Quotes

“Delighted," Jess said. "I think all houses should be stuffed with books. It makes them--"
"Homes?" the doctor finished. "You are quite the heretic, for someone in a Library uniform."
"Guilty.”
― Rachel Caine, Ash and Quill

“No one with a book is ever alone, even in the darkest moments.”
― Rachel Caine, Ash and Quill

“To all those who face change without fear. Go forward. To the ever-transforming glory of the public library, without which we would all be diminished. No one with a book is ever alone, even in the darkest moments. We are all book lovers. And we all chase the Great Library of Alexandria, one book at a time.”
― Rachel Caine, Ash and Quill

“It is a terrible arrogance to think that there are any of humankind who are better or worse, or worthy or not. It comes of a pitiful need to believe in one’s own worth when one is hollow within. We are all worthy. And none of us are, all at once. Once that is acknowledged, that hollow, howling space may be filled with understanding.”
― Rachel Caine, Ash and Quill

“Because when next we meet in your Christian heaven or my pagan afterlife, or some shadowy, hidden corner where those two may touch, I want to hear that you lived a long and happy life after me. That you did as you liked, and loved as you liked, and left the world shattered and empty in your wake.”
― Rachel Caine, Ash and Quill

“I'm all right, Nic," Wolfe said, and finally looked at him. "We walked through the dungeons under Rome, survived Philadelphia, and this perfumed cage won't bring us to our knees. We're all stronger than that."
"All right," Santi said. "But don't ask me to stop standing next to you. Because you know I will, however much you shout about it.”
― Rachel Caine, Ash and Quill

“You call us book lovers, and it's true. We are. And so are you, at heart. You believe in the power of them to change the world.”
― Rachel Caine, Ash and Quill

“You are strong in spite of him. Not because of him.”
― Rachel Caine, Ash and Quill

“Mark this well: the brave never die, for we remember.”
― Rachel Caine, Ash and Quill

“He'd been happier in abandoned places, so long as they were quiet and had enough light to read by.”
― Rachel Caine, Ash and Quill

“In bocca al lupo." It was a phrase that the High Garda used to wish one another luck traveling through the Translation portals, a process that was painful and terrifying and dangerous in equal measure, and it seemed right about now. In the mouth of the wolf. "Crepi il lupo," thomas responded as Jess's cell was locked tight, and the he was gone, prodded down the hall and to the outer door and away. Kill the wolf.”
― Rachel Caine, Ash and Quill

“knowledge is like any other treasure: it can be hoarded. It can be stolen. It can be scattered to the winds. And worst of all, it can inspire greed of a particularly poisonous kind.”
― Rachel Caine, Ash and Quill

“But he was starting to realize that maybe he didn't really have a home, except with the people he loved.”
― Rachel Caine, Ash and Quill

“Worried about me?"
Brendan snorted, "Hell freezes and the devil skates before that happens. You can survive anything.”
― Rachel Caine, Ash and Quill

“When all the world is a lock, boy, you don't make a key. You become a key.”
― Rachel Caine, Ash and Quill

“Let me find the strength to do this, he said. And let me be strong enough to protect them from what's coming.”
― Rachel Caine, Ash and Quill

“We’ll all fight,” Khalila said. She took another step forward. She was wearing her black Scholar’s robe, and it rippled like shadows in the breeze. “When you go to Boston, you will carry the word of what happened. You will become symbols of what the Burners will become—for better, or for worse. I beg you to think of that legacy, and the future we will share, because one day, we will be friends again, Dr. Askuwheteau. One day, the Library will meet with you in peace, and we will bury our dead together. We are not your enemies. The people in the Serapeums are not your enemies. Please remember, when you tell your stories, when you start your fires, that we saw your home, we saw the love you had for books. Remember that for each of us, that love is why we are here. Why we exist. And remember that we see you, and we grieve for you.” There was something mesmerizing about her in that moment, Jess thought; she seemed taller. Stronger. More real than ever before. It was impossible to look at Khalila Seif and not believe her, not feel the compassion that flowed out of her. She bowed to the survivors of Philadelphia. Askuwheteau stood there for a long, silent moment, staring at her. “You are my enemy,” he said to Khalila at last. “But you have my respect. I will think on what you say.” He picked up a small leather pack from the grass by his feet. “But you should go. Because if any of us find those wearing the sign of the Library here past tomorrow, I may not want to protect you. Anger is like the fires that still burn in my city. It will take time to die.” They”
― Rachel Caine, Ash and Quill

“Books represented home to him, and around every wall, the doctor's shelves were full to bulging, a haphazard organization of varied colors of binding, sizes, shapes. There was a happy disorder about it that made Jess feel something settle inside he hadn't even known was restless.”
― Rachel Caine, Ash and Quill

“Our children are growing up very well.”
Santi laughed softly. “And I said you’d never make a good father”
― Rachel Caine, Ash and Quill

“Some say that women should not read, for they may be led astray into impurity, as if our women are not fit guardians of their own worthiness.”
― Rachel Caine, Ash and Quill

“It is a terrible arrogance to think that there are any of humankind who are better or worse, or worthy or not.”
― Rachel Caine, Ash and Quill

“Codex. I have written before on the curvature of metals, and the reflections of light that may be done with such. The simplest use is a mirror, which reflects light upon the viewer. But light may also be concentrated in a series of highly polished mirrors, sending it from one surface to another to another, until the light is so bright and it becomes a solid thing, like a beam of fire. I have achieved this effect upon three occasions. With one, I used mirrors the size of shields, and was able to set alight a distant tree, which burned as if Zeus himself had cast down lightning upon it. In the second case, I used a finely polished set of jewels loaned to me by the gracious hand of Pharaoh, and the result was much stronger, and much smaller in width. Upon the third attempt, I seated these highly polished gems within an array of holders, precisely set to amplify the light, and contained it within a tube of brass. This attempt, shown before Pharaoh, melted through seven feet of thick, hardened iron, to the awe and terror of his court. It is the power of Apollo contained within mortal hands, and by the order of Pharaoh, I have been ordered not to continue these experiments, for the gods will not share such wonders without punishment. The will of Pharaoh is ever wise. CHAPTER FOUR Working with Thomas was like being a student playing next to a master pianist.”
― Rachel Caine, Ash and Quill

“And if a ghost can speak of love, then know I adore you still.”
― Rachel Caine, Ash and Quill

“Maybe Thomas had been right in his observation that geniuses and Obscurists had something in common.”
― Rachel Caine, Ash and Quill

“Out of nowhere, he remembered something his father had told him when he was just a child. When all the world is a lock, boy, you don’t make a key. You become a key.”
― Rachel Caine, Ash and Quill

“Anger is as poisonous as arsenic, and it rots you from the bones out.”
― Rachel Caine, Ash and Quill

“It is a terrible arrogance to think that there are any of humankind who are better or worse, or worthy or not. It comes of a pitiful need to believe in one’s own worth when one is hollow within. We are all worthy. And none of us are, all at once. Once that is acknowledged, that hollow, howling space may be filled with understanding. But so many cling to their emptiness, and I fear that they may yet prevail.”
― Rachel Caine, Ash and Quill

“Crepi il lupo.
Kill the wolf.”
― Rachel Caine, Ash and Quill

“Power holds always the hidden edge of threat.”
― Rachel Caine, Ash and Quill