Half a Soul Quotes

“There is such a thing as evil in this world,” Elias told her quietly. “It does not help to look away from it. It does not even help, necessarily, to look at it.” His fingers brushed through her hair, and she shivered. “But sometimes, when you cannot force the world to come to its senses, you must settle only for wiping away some of the small evils in front of you.”
― Olivia Atwater, Half a Soul

“I have known many human beings with a full soul to their name who do not have half so much compassion or practicality as you.”
― Olivia Atwater, Half a Soul

“She had little effort to spare for making unpleasant men more comfortable.”
― Olivia Atwater, Half a Soul

“I did not come here only to dance. I came here only to dance with you. It is quite a different thing.”
― Olivia Atwater, Half a Soul

“It may be true that you have only half a soul, Dora,” he whispered, with a surprising abundance of empathy in his voice. “But that does not make you half a person.”
― Olivia Atwater, Half a Soul

“I love your wit and cleverness. I love that you are kind but almost never nice. I love your eyes and your hair and your freckles, and the fact that you smell like some monstrous floral perfume all of the time.” He paused, now looking somewhat offended at himself. “And I love to dance with you. That is the worst of it by far.”
― Olivia Atwater, Half a Soul

“I do not believe in such a thing as love,' Elias scoffed. 'Perhaps attraction, or companionship, or friendship. But so many men act as though love is a special sort of magic. I feel that I am qualified to say it isn't so.'

'Well, but you have just described love, I think,' Albert replied in bemusement. 'Attraction and companionship and friendship. Is there nothing special about those things, especially if they are all together at once?”
― Olivia Atwater, Half a Soul

“Every fish you throw back into the ocean is a triumph of the idea that human beings can be better. I do my best, every day, to throw at least one fish back into the ocean. I hope that you will join me.”
― Olivia Atwater, Half a Soul

“sometimes, when you cannot force the world to come to its senses, you must settle only for wiping away some of the small evils in front of you.”
― Olivia Atwater, Half a Soul

“Listen here, Miss Ettings! I am in love with you. You deserve to hear that. I love your wit and cleverness. I love that you are kind but almost never nice. I love your eyes and your hair and your freckles, and the fact that you smell like some monstrous floral perfume all of the time.” He paused, now looking somewhat offended at himself. “And I love to dance with you. That is the worst of it by far.”
― Olivia Atwater, Half a Soul

“He has asked me before how the world can be so heartless. It is this dastardly need to remain calm and composed and polite that has left us all feeling so alone.”
― Olivia Atwater, Half a Soul

“Dim-witted people offend me even further.'
'Oh dear,' Dora said mildly. 'That must be very difficult indeed.'
Already, the fair-haired man had begun to turn away from her - but he glanced back at that.
'Pardon?' he asked. 'What must be difficult, exactly?'
Dora smiled at him politely. 'Being offended at yourself so very often,' she said. 'That seems a sad way to live, my lord.”
― Olivia Atwater, Half a Soul

“Lord Hollowvale stared up at her with trembling, blood-flecked lips. "I have... only ever... been charitable to you," he whispered.

Dora blinked back hideous tears. "I am sure that every evil man believes himself to be charitable," she told him.”
― Olivia Atwater, Half a Soul

“I am in love with you. You deserve to hear that.”
― Olivia Atwater, Half a Soul

“There are plenty of fish upon the beach who would be grateful for a bit of kindness – and if you take the time to rescue even one, then perhaps you may even convince a bystander to join you and rescue another.”
― Olivia Atwater, Half a Soul

“Elias stared at her. As Dora considered his face, she became convinced that there were tears there.
"Oh, bother," Dora sighed. "I am about to flout propriety, Lady Carroway. Do be kind to me, please."
She wrapped her arms around the magician tightly—and felt him crumble away against her.”
― Olivia Atwater, Half a Soul

“This time, when his heat departed, Dora thought she must have felt the cold – because the absence of him made her feel as though something crucial was missing.”
― Olivia Atwater, Half a Soul

“Dora knitted her brow. "You cannot have thought of Lady Cushing's ball," she said sceptically.
"I did not," Elias said. "I thought of you, Dora. But you are here, and so here I am." Those golden eyes held hers, and a flustered heat pooled against the surface of Dora's skin. "I did not come here only to dance. I came here only to dance with you. It is quite a different thing."
The dancing began, and it was a good thing that it did—Dora was suddenly certain that she could not manage to stay still beneath those eyes for even a moment longer.”
― Olivia Atwater, Half a Soul

“was a shame, she thought, that so many beautiful things were also so ugly on the inside.”
― Olivia Atwater, Half a Soul

“Of course I am coming for you!” Elias told her hotly. His gold eyes burned at her. “I have tried everything, Dora. Everything. When I had no ideas left, I even prayed, for God’s sake. You have slept for a full day and a half since your cousin found you, and I have counted every awful second of it!”
― Olivia Atwater, Half a Soul

“The soft atmosphere made her feel even more than usual that she was dreaming. But it was the sort of lovely dream that one dwelled purposely upon, unwilling to wake too soon.”
― Olivia Atwater, Half a Soul

“No one gives what they could, Albert!” Elias hissed. “Everyone gives what they please – and certainly not without plenty of self-congratulations for their miserly gestures. With one hand, they raise grain tariffs, muster soldiers and create the workhouses. With the other, they deign to save a few poor souls from the very hell they made.”
― Olivia Atwater, Half a Soul

“the magician who does three impossible things before breakfast,”
― Olivia Atwater, Half a Soul

“I’m not certain what I did to insult you, my lord,” she said. “Have I offended you somehow, or am I simply conveniently placed while you are otherwise upset?”
― Olivia Atwater, Half a Soul

“Decent people become properly angry when presented with miserable injustice, but pleasant-mannered people never do.”
― Olivia Atwater, Half a Soul

“I think he is virtuous because he is kind to the powerless and cruel to the powerful.”
― Olivia Atwater, Half a Soul

“Albert is her favourite because he is broken. She feels she must make up for that with extra love, the same way that Vanessa feels for me.”
― Olivia Atwater, Half a Soul

“[Dora] 'I have often though that I am capable of emotions with a long tail. I am not sure if that makes sense. I do not feel the shock of fear, but I can feel dread--I was scared of the image in the mirror after thinking on it for a while. And while you do not enrage me, per se, I am vexed when I think of the way you treat others.'
Elias smiled sharply at that...'Have you ever felt happiness at all, Miss Ettings? Even the sort with a long tail?'
Dora settled her chin into her hand. 'I don't know what happiness ought to feel like any more,' she said. 'It is the most elusive feeling of all, I think. But...I feel at peace when I am near Vanessa. She is like a warm lantern to me. I think it must be because she loves me so obviously. When I am around her, I do not need to pretend to be something I am not.”
― Olivia Atwater, Half a Soul

“In the meantime, do at least try to keep all of your clothing on, Miss Ettings. My specialties lie within the sorcerous arts and not in extracting young ladies from scandal.”
― Olivia Atwater, Half a Soul

“Dora thought, Oh dear. Because she was now quite sure that she was in love.”
― Olivia Atwater, Half a Soul