The Beast of Ten Quotes

“Do you see how this tree’s roots have grown around and around in circles, more concerned with itself than with stretching out into the earth? That is why it could not survive the storm.”
― Beth Brower, The Beast of Ten

“but weariness will carve its place, and grief is never cheated.”
― Beth Brower, The Beast of Ten

“Darkness does not let its former captives go easily. It must try to destroy them first, to pull them once again into oblivion.”
― Beth Brower, The Beast of Ten

“You don’t get to decide, says the fear. “I do,” I refute, my breathing getting faster and faster. “I will not fear. I will not fear. There is no place for it here.”
― Beth Brower, The Beast of Ten

“You can’t fight darkness with darkness, Sperro. It will never work, not in any lasting way.”
― Beth Brower, The Beast of Ten

“Light is the only thing that grows stronger when darkness deepens,” he continues as he goes back to his work. “It is the way of things.”
― Beth Brower, The Beast of Ten

“But I do know that these lanterns wouldn’t be half so remarkable were they not set in darkness. Dispelling darkness is the province of light.”
― Beth Brower, The Beast of Ten

“I don’t know the prayers of the Virtus Third,” he whispers in my ear when my crying has turned into a quivering sigh. “But I do know the prayers of the Intuit, and they’re yours as long as I breathe.”
― Beth Brower, The Beast of Ten

“He told me that, at some point, each one of us would have to wrestle with the Lights, our hearts naked and exposed, and come away with the painfully honest understanding of where we stand before the Court of Heaven and whether we will do what we are called upon to do.”
― Beth Brower, The Beast of Ten

“You begin by denying value to whomever you wish to destroy. For once they doubt their value, hope simply drains away through their cracked worth. A much simpler way to claim souls.”
― Beth Brower, The Beast of Ten

“Because things that were not built for darkness cannot contain it without great pain.”
― Beth Brower, The Beast of Ten

“We are all given pain,” my mother had said when she was dying of an insidious infection. “It is our great gift. And none are spared in the giving. The Lights see to that.”
― Beth Brower, The Beast of Ten

“There is much light in this world, Ember. It can be found in many places. It can be found in the pages of a book.” “What do you mean?” I’d asked. She smiled and simply said, “Look for that light which illuminates the soul.”
― Beth Brower, The Beast of Ten

“Then darkness explodes inside me, ripping my chest apart, fracturing my bones. Confusion. Deceit. Desperation. She means to rip me apart. But she cannot. For my mind is not tied as is my body, and my heart is not stayed as is my tongue. I am bound to my calling of a Virtus Third. And I am not hers. Meridaithe has forced open doors that were never opened unto her, and I will not allow the trespass. Raising my heart to the Court of the Most High, I dismiss my fear and clear the way. The light, when it comes, is blinding. The Witch is burned out of me as if she is no more than a dried leaf, the false bindings falling like ash from my body.”
― Beth Brower, The Beast of Ten

“I shake my head, too overwhelmed to mourn what might never be. It’s such a singular weight—a wistful sorrow at best, the death of ten thousand promises at worst.”
― Beth Brower, The Beast of Ten

“But I do know that these lanterns wouldn’t be half so remarkable were they not set in darkness. Dispelling darkness is the province of light.” I hold his gaze but don’t answer. “Light is the only thing that grows stronger when darkness deepens,” he continues as he goes back to his work. “It is the way of things.”
― Beth Brower, The Beast of Ten

“Along with what Father calls my insight and resilience is a rather bad habit of meeting my fate head-on. Days when Hadspen and Thry had accompanied me into some small patch of mischief, it was always I who confronted Father afterwards, anxious for my consequence to be decided. Better to have knowledge of what lies before me than a false hope of lessening the blow by running away from its swing.”
― Beth Brower, The Beast of Ten

“But life does not always offer understanding; it offers a road to continue traveling,” I whisper to the fire, one of the things I remember my mother telling me.”
― Beth Brower, The Beast of Ten

“It is deep night, and I sit before the fire in my room. I am unable to anchor myself to—or find myself in—this fate. My mind has no solid ground. This inability to feel what is real has caught me off my guard. I feel so distant from myself. I’ve been taken out of the familiar, taken away from home and family.”
― Beth Brower, The Beast of Ten

“You’re not the usual beauty, spending all her bloom in hardly a handful of years. Some girls are like that, all flimsy flash, set to wear out into plainness as they age. But your loveliness is that of a sage. It is well set and will only increase. You’ve a steadiness of countenance worthy of the courts three hundred years ago, the courts he knew well.” She shakes her head.”
― Beth Brower, The Beast of Ten

“Father has always claimed I am created from humors that favor clarity and resilience. “You’ve an instinct, Ember, to see clearly. Follow that. Don’t diminish it by fear. The resilience that twins such clear vision is a grace, for it will see you through the knocks and twists of life while your clarity leads you right. Hold to it.”
― Beth Brower, The Beast of Ten

“You can’t rip yourself into little pieces and give them away. You must learn to remain whole and let the Lights work through you. Some tasks do mean giving of yourself, but in a way that doesn’t make you unable to finish them.”
― Beth Brower, The Beast of Ten

“And I realize I am coming to understand, to a fuller extent, how beauty ministers to the heart in a way nothing else can.”
― Beth Brower, The Beast of Ten

“All things that are to be, come to pass, notwithstanding the sphere of your existence.”
― Beth Brower, The Beast of Ten

“Light is the only thing that grows stronger when darkness deepens,”
― Beth Brower, The Beast of Ten

“Light drives out the deepest darkness. It is the only thing powerful enough.”
― Beth Brower, The Beast of Ten

“use light to separate things from shadow.”
― Beth Brower, The Beast of Ten

“Cut the darkness away, and every path becomes clear. Even the impossible.”
― Beth Brower, The Beast of Ten

“You can’t fight darkness by creating more darkness, don’t you see? You can’t fight despair with the fear of being broken. What we need is a hope.”
― Beth Brower, The Beast of Ten

“You can’t fight darkness by creating more darkness,”
― Beth Brower, The Beast of Ten