A Lesson in Thorns Quotes

“But I’m so susceptible to this kind of touch; I bloom like a rose when I’m handled like a weed,”
― Sierra Simone, A Lesson in Thorns

“I think you're starved for it."

He opens his eyes and looks at her. "I'd starve for you.”
― Sierra Simone, A Lesson in Thorns

“I mean the kind of roots that happen privately between you and a certain place. Like you come to a place, and instead of planting a flag and saying mine, the place plants something in you. The place claims you, it knows your name and the crooked corners of your heart, and you've pledged yourself to it before you've even realized what's happening.”
― Sierra Simone, A Lesson in Thorns

“Being alive means the harsh is mixed in with the good, and every time I get to choose the harsh for myself, it loses its sting. Every time I taste the bitter and survive, I’m all the stronger to enjoy the sweet.”
― Sierra Simone, A Lesson in Thorns

“His eyes are no longer windows, but doors and mysteries and gates that I’ll never unlock. That privilege belongs to someone else.”
― Sierra Simone, A Lesson in Thorns

“And I am hopeful and reckless and curious, but I am not stupid.”
― Sierra Simone, A Lesson in Thorns

“Sometimes I forget, you know? Sometimes I'm still just Delphine Dansey, and I'm the same girl who likes silly television and lipstick and lots of champagne. And then other times, it feels like it's touched everything in my life. Left smudges everywhere. Smudges and dirt.'

'Both can be true.”
― Sierra Simone, A Lesson in Thorns

“And in a clearing in the woods, in a church ruined by thorns and time, something stirred. Something called all six of them by name.”
― Sierra Simone, A Lesson in Thorns

“A kiss that was almost a bruise, almost a bite, and how he wanted both—he wanted kissing and bruising and holding and biting. And he wanted to shelter them from the rain and force them to kneel in the mud too, and he didn’t know what it meant or why it was happening or even why they were letting him yank them close.”
― Sierra Simone, A Lesson in Thorns

“Proserpina was last because Proserpina was always last. Not because she was disliked or because she was timid, but because she was dreaming on her feet while everyone else was walking.”
― Sierra Simone, A Lesson in Thorns

“It feels so good to be fucked, so good like I never want it to stop; I want to be fucked forever, I want fucking to be my new job. I could stay poised in this moment for the rest of my life, with the fire jumping and the distant beat of drums thudding through my blood, and the memory of pain feeding the greedy pleasure building in my womb.”
― Sierra Simone, A Lesson in Thorns

“I bloom like a rose when I’m handled like a weed.”
― Sierra Simone, A Lesson in Thorns

“She laughs so she doesn't kiss her”
― Sierra Simone, A Lesson in Thorns

“A bolt of real, true fear flies through me; it leaves wet need in its wake. My knees feel weak and unsteady. I want to drop to the ground and press my forehead between his expensive brown Oxfords and wait for him to dispense justice. I want to earn his approval; I want every depraved, sick, and delicious thing a submissive wants—and more.”
― Sierra Simone, A Lesson in Thorns

“There’s only a few inches between my shoulder and his arm, and this close, I can smell traces of his scent. Something with citrus and pepper and pine . . . and lavender? I want to press my face against his neck and suck it in. I want to smell it as he’s pinning me to the floor . . .”
― Sierra Simone, A Lesson in Thorns

“How can I annotate his metadata on my mental card catalog if I don’t know what to annotate?”
― Sierra Simone, A Lesson in Thorns

“I bloom like a rose when I’m handled like a weed,”
― Sierra Simone, A Lesson in Thorns

“That’s the thing about naps. Everyone knows what you’ve done, and there’s something that feels lazy about it, shameful,”
― Sierra Simone, A Lesson in Thorns

“A kiss that was almost a bruise, almost a bite, and how he wanted both—he wanted kissing and bruising and holding and biting.”
― Sierra Simone, A Lesson in Thorns

“All it took was Auden’s hand on his throat, and Saint was transformed. All it took was a cruel touch instead of a kind one. Saint is as submissive as I am.”
― Sierra Simone, A Lesson in Thorns

“God isn’t male or female. God is God. So let’s be careful how we bring gender into ritual space, mmm? So says the man who prays to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Becket smiled then. The official stance of the Church is that all gendered language is allegorical. I groaned then. Fine. But I think it’s sexy, the whole bride and lord thing. Can’t I have it both ways? You can have it any way you like, as long as you think about it first and it hurts no one else.”
― Sierra Simone, A Lesson in Thorns

“I nod against his hand and he gives me that lopsided boy-king grin, the one I can’t resist, and then I nod even harder. Oh God. I’m so fucked. All he’s ever going to have to do is smile at me and I’ll be his, no matter what.”
― Sierra Simone, A Lesson in Thorns

“It’s like the memory of my mother calling my name or the feeling of my first library card, plastic and colorful in my hand. It’s like kissing Saint or kneeling before Auden. It’s like having someone trace pain up and down my body until the world makes sense again. It’s like the smell of old books and the sound of thick-leaved trees in a summer storm and the chatter of a clear river over bright stones. It’s home and it’s not. It’s old and it’s young, and it’s far and it’s near, and it’s in my body and also dancing along my skin, dancing away too fast for me to grab at it.”
― Sierra Simone, A Lesson in Thorns

“That’s Thornchapel for you. Even when you’re on your way to the muddy, magic sex rite, all the little details must be handled with class. No Tupperware and plastic cups shoved into backpacks here.”
― Sierra Simone, A Lesson in Thorns

“What are rules when God Himself has filled him with holy fire?”
― Sierra Simone, A Lesson in Thorns

“Rebecca makes an impatient noise. “Virginity is a construct. A meaningless, destructive construct that I think we can all agree to ignore in this conversation.”
― Sierra Simone, A Lesson in Thorns

“Why am I so messy? So eager? I feel like an overgrown garden, lush and crowded, rioted and jumbled, except instead of leaves and roots and petals, I’m jealousy and hunger and pain and thrill. All the bitter and all the sweet, all mixed together.”
― Sierra Simone, A Lesson in Thorns

“Why am I so messy? So eager? I feel like an overgrown garden, lush and crowded, rioted and jumbled, except instead of leaves and roots and petals, I’m jealousy and hunger and pain and thrill.”
― Sierra Simone, A Lesson in Thorns

“Is there anything else?” she asks. Fuck, I don’t know, I want to say. Can’t you see this thumb doing a fucking thing on my shoulder?!”
― Sierra Simone, A Lesson in Thorns

“Delphine tilts her head, her mouth pulled to the side. “You make getting spanked sound like going to church.” “It is when I do it,” I say.”
― Sierra Simone, A Lesson in Thorns