A Memory of Light Quotes

“Trust is a fickle force. They say that, here in the mountains, we are cold because we are born without it. I’m not sure that it isn’t worse to be born with it and lose it along the way.”
― Allyson S. Barkley, A Memory of Light

“These days it is easier to assume pain than it is peace.”
― Allyson S. Barkley, A Memory of Light

“Ari would remember this and collect her thoughts, and then some familiar-looking rock or particular species of tree would remind her of him and that knife would enter her heart once more, piercing through its incessant beating with such vigor that she had to stop herself from gasping aloud. It was a real, physical pain, so powerful that it clouded her eyes and stopped the breath in her throat. Why now, after so many years of solitude, did it hurt so badly?”
― Allyson S. Barkley, A Memory of Light

“They tear across this earth like it is theirs to burn,” she said softly, so softly that Ely had to strain to catch her words. “But it’s not theirs. It’s not anyone’s.”
― Allyson S. Barkley, A Memory of Light

“An anger that Ari had never known was crashing down around her, an anger not stemming from his nauseating statements or revolting countenance, but from the knowledge of what he had done, suddenly so tangible in his presence before her. Never had she allowed herself to consider his betrayal as something so real. Never had she stopped to think about what it truly meant to her. It had all been so distant, muddled in her seven-year-old brain. But now Zaid stood there with that self-assured expression plastered upon his pale face and the reality struck Ari with incredible force, burning and boiling up until she thought she might explode from the sheer heat of it.”
― Allyson S. Barkley, A Memory of Light

“A government stands for people, not power. It does not murder out of blind ambition and it definitely does not have to hide itself behind rows of soldiers because it is too afraid to shoulder the responsibility it has stolen for itself.”
― Allyson S. Barkley, A Memory of Light

“You are not getting out of here without me,” he laughed as he watched her look about. “I will be leaving with you – whether I drag you out of this room dead or alive is entirely your choice.”
“The problem with clichés,” Ari told him coldly, “is that the speaker usually fails to perceive any outcome other than the one he expects.”
― Allyson S. Barkley, A Memory of Light

“Of course, the Capital had not changed. It was Ari who had changed, who in her eleven years had already become older and wiser than many had the burden to be at any age. The brown shingles still gleamed in the sun and the cobblestones still felt smooth and pure beneath her feet, but she saw new things, she saw more. It was a movement of minds, of arms, of business that now passed before her watchful eyes. It may not have been magic, but it was still knowledge, and it was still secrets.”
― Allyson S. Barkley, A Memory of Light

“It is dangerous to believe in something that cannot be seen,” Samorin spoke softly. “You cannot trust a being that is nothing but a legend.”
“So, there is no one here who still believes they are up there somewhere?” Ely asked, gesturing with his hand up towards the nearest peak.
“Children,” the Itswild man answered, “and those blinded to the present because they are consumed by the past.”
― Allyson S. Barkley, A Memory of Light

“Today, we use his star to guide us home,” the ancient little man concluded quietly. “Brighter than any other light in the sky, it reminds us of the sacrifice that one must make to lead as a hero, to hold aloft a flame that might save all, but will ultimately drop the bearer into darkness. No fire can survive forever and one day even the greatest, especially the greatest,
must be extinguished.”
― Allyson S. Barkley, A Memory of Light

“He taught me that folly does not dull pain. Work does. Training. When the world goes up in smoke, we do best to channel our anger into productive outlets.”
― Allyson S. Barkley, A Memory of Light

“Mountain treks had always been her favorite. In the mountains, everyone was on equal footing. The great peaks broke you, pushed you to the furthest of your mental and physical capabilities, empowered the worthy but exposed the weak.”
― Allyson S. Barkley, A Memory of Light

“This was a privileged land, a forest that thrived in the protective shadow of the mountains, carelessly enjoying the fruits of the rivers that cascaded from their peaks. Not only did the Belem protect their environs from the elements, but from the harsh, scorching wars of men. No army wanted to traverse those jagged peaks, even to access the Lanterbrun Pass. It was a fruitless effort, a waste of man- and horsepower that could do nothing but suck away time, and life. Ari had to admire the mountains for this. They were a watchful mother to the lands at their mighty feet. She could smell the freedom in the air, in the scent of the late summer leaves. It pulsed through the earth with a power that only grew stronger as the ground began to climb.”
― Allyson S. Barkley, A Memory of Light

“Her eyes shone with an inexplicable light that could not have come from anywhere but within; the moon was nowhere to be seen yet it reflected in the wide, black orbs that gazed out of her smooth, white face.”
― Allyson S. Barkley, A Memory of Light

“Life or death is a pretty basic concept.”
She spun around to face him, eyes narrowed. “Life or death is not the same as killing or not killing. You know nothing of what you speak.”
― Allyson S. Barkley, A Memory of Light

“As they moved on, the plains darkened with the evening light, turning a deep blue, almost black against the still-bright sky. Ari got the sense that they were running upside-down, with the sky in the earth and the earth in the sky, everything hanging by a thread so that they might fall at any moment. She wondered, if they did fall, whether they would land on the ground or fly among the stars until they were lost for good. It did not seem like it would be so bad to be stuck up there, as long as Jagger was with her.

Dav had always spoken to her of the stars, of the creatures that went to live there after life was done, and Ari had loved his stories, but never believed him. It was too dangerous to believe in anything that she could not see.”
― Allyson S. Barkley, A Memory of Light

“My mother likes to say that hope is not simple, but it is worth the work. The beautiful moments are what carry us through the ugly, aren’t they?”
― Allyson S. Barkley, A Memory of Light