The Alchemy of Sorrow Quotes

“Things get broken and lost and forgotten as we go through the world, things that we love, things we thought we couldn’t live without. You don’t need to fix everything. It’s not your job. And if we’re both a little broken because of the people we lost, so what? All we can do is keep going, Ishmael. The best thing we can hope for is not that we’re ‘fixed,’ but that we find people who understand the ways in which we’ve been broken. People who stand beside us anyway.’

We kneel on the new floor, holding the scraps and broken pieces of my father’s watch, and cry. It almost feels good to be crying with company, to be crying at home, in this familiar place.”
― Krystle Matar, The Alchemy of Sorrow

“I know you feel like you’ve lost your whole world, but you’re not the only one who loved them.”
― Krystle Matar, The Alchemy of Sorrow

“Loving a woman and taking care of children didn’t make him weak.”
― Angela Boord, The Alchemy of Sorrow

“Being in a familiar place is only making things worse, because I can see how wrong it all feels without them.”
― Krystle Matar, The Alchemy of Sorrow

“At least we could have been in pain together instead of me feeling isolated. ”
― Krystle Matar, The Alchemy of Sorrow

“Maybe it’s the Dominion way to separate your life from your parents, but Qasani families stay together. They sprawl in their mountain valleys, and they build tight-knit communities. Generations live in the same homes, and they can trace their lineage back to the hands that laid the foundation stones. Or… they could, back when. When they still lived there. Before war between other nations chased them off the mountain. ”
― Krystle Matar, The Alchemy of Sorrow

“Nobody ever asks who will heal the healers.”
― Rachel Emma Shaw, The Alchemy of Sorrow

“Danton backed away from the stairs. He didn’t want to hear more. It was all about the danger they were in, what was best for them. 

What about the danger he was in? If the Conclave found out—

But, no. He couldn’t think about that right now. It was bad enough to realize that his parents weren’t discussing how to help him, how to save him. Only themselves.

And he wasn’t part of them anymore.”
― Carol A. Park, The Alchemy of Sorrow

“I might not know what you are feeling. 
But I know grief. ”
― Sarah Chorn, The Alchemy of Sorrow

“I am not surprised. I’m crushed but unsurprised. My hope is a broken thing that has been stepped on many times. Somewhere, deep down, I knew it would get stepped on again. It always does.”
― Levi Jacobs, The Alchemy of Sorrow

“Does not the good also recur with the bad? Why do you see only dirt and death in it, rather than sunshine and honey?”
― Levi Jacobs, The Alchemy of Sorrow

“The injustice of the human heart. That one should imprison another, deny another, judge another based on any criteria but their actions.”
― Levi Jacobs, The Alchemy of Sorrow

“If a man does not want me for who I am, I do not want him either.”
― Levi Jacobs, The Alchemy of Sorrow

“…he realized now they weren’t meant for each other, and he hadn’t known what it was to be a man when they met. He’d thought it had to do with strength you could show off and brandish at other men like a weapon. But that kind of strength was sorry and weak when it came down to it, like a cheap disguise he used to cover all his fears. It was so much harder to take responsibility for the care of those most dear to him. That responsibility was terrifying and utterly necessary, and he understood now how much actual strength it took to do it. He didn’t know if he would ever have enough.”
― Angela Boord, The Alchemy of Sorrow

“Fevers were the worst part of healing, but if he made it through, the wound would heal eventually. The pain would dull to a sore ache, and then it would fade to memory, leaving only a scar.”
― Angela Boord, The Alchemy of Sorrow

“Sometimes you don’t get a second chance. You have to accept, finally, that you can’t make it better or different, no matter how awful the thing is. The best you can do is pick yourself up and keep going. Try to be better in the future. To be more than you think you can be, after you’ve taken that kind of blow.”
― Angela Boord, The Alchemy of Sorrow

“Then do it when you are ready.” Renzo patted my shoulder. “Just don’t hide forever.”
― Sonya M. Black, The Alchemy of Sorrow

“Will I ever be at peace with this loss?’ Renzo sighed.

‘Yes. And no. It will always be there. Little reminders will pop up when you least expect them. But in time, it won’t be as raw. You’ll be lonely, but you aren’t alone. You have me, and others have faced similar situations.”
― Sonya M. Black, The Alchemy of Sorrow

“I don’t want you to pretend. Heaven knows I’ve spent the last fifteen years feeling like I’m a burden. Losing my leg meant losing my ability to do the thing I loved the most. But we aren’t burdens. We still have things to offer.”
― Sonya M. Black, The Alchemy of Sorrow

“You don’t need to decide what to do now. Today all you need to do is grieve. Save the decisions for tomorrow or whenever tomorrow might be.’

I offered Renzo a sad smile. ‘And what if I never decide?’

‘That’s fine too.”
― Sonya M. Black, The Alchemy of Sorrow

“The world tells me to get over it and move on. They demand that I smile and act like nothing happened. I should act like my pain isn’t real. I’m tired, Renzo.’ I squeezed my teacup. ‘Beyond tired. The only thing I’ve ever been good at is flying. Now, I’m nothing. I might as well disappear.’

‘People say that because they are uncomfortable with what you are going through. They don’t know how to face the loss any more than you do.”
― Sonya M. Black, The Alchemy of Sorrow

“To move on, you need to fully grieve. You need to mourn your losses.”
― Sonya M. Black, The Alchemy of Sorrow

“The Dageians always want everything,’ he replies. ‘Our words. Our lands. Our lives. And now they’re at our doorstep.”
― K.S. Villoso, The Alchemy of Sorrow

“Who are my people, Raggnar? The ones you’d see die on the swords of the empire’s soldiers, just for an insult? Perhaps you mean the empire yourself. Look in the mirror. Look at me. Do you really think I’m one of you?’

‘We gave you everything. Education, a job… a life! I’m not going to stoop down to—‘

‘Unlike you, I’m not a coward,’ you hissed. ‘I have to protect my own.”
― K.S. Villoso, The Alchemy of Sorrow

“You want to create a weapon to destroy the empire. The empire that clothed and fed you and celebrated your achievements all these years, when your own country would’ve doomed you to a life of servitude! The empire that taught you the very techniques you are hoping to use!”
― K.S. Villoso, The Alchemy of Sorrow

“They looked at you with disdain—this nobody child, dark of hair and dark of skin, daring to walk amongst those who grew up with powerful families. They saw themselves as protectors of their family legacies, bearers of ancient mage gifts; they saw you as an anomaly, a freak of nature who had power that didn’t belong to her. Their disdain didn’t matter to you—you excelled in everything you did, so much that the others couldn’t help but notice.”
― K.S. Villoso, The Alchemy of Sorrow

“The world, after all, does not run on charity, or so you tell me with a note of sorrow in your voice, a tinge of unacknowledged grief. We are not given the things we want just because we asked.”
― K.S. Villoso, The Alchemy of Sorrow