The First Bright Thing Quotes

“Evil has eyes, too. Evil has cheeks, lips, ears, toes their parents counted, holiday traditions, and a favorite song. Evil is human. Evil looks straight at you while they hurt you. Lots of people love a reason to do bad things and get away with it.”
― J.R. Dawson, The First Bright Thing

“You are your own story, not a character in someone else’s.”
― J.R. Dawson, The First Bright Thing

“Odette gave a small smile, like the kiss J. M. Barrie talked about in Peter Pan. That was one of the first things Rin had thought when she’d first met Odette; the kiss that girls hold on to and won’t give to the world except the soul who matches theirs. Odette had been familiar even as a stranger.”
― J.R. Dawson, The First Bright Thing

“What is the absence of love called? It’s not hate. It’s not even apathy. The word lives in the anticipation of waiting for someone who will never come home.”
― J.R. Dawson, The First Bright Thing

“Rin had come to see that every single person was their own song. Some songs were quiet, some songs were reminiscent of others. But some other songs reminded her of the dramatic sound found in her childhood synagogue. Some people pressed into key changes, deep soulful strings clipped with a piano solo.
Jo Reed held a symphony inside her.”
― J.R. Dawson, The First Bright Thing

“Where does a war begin? In a thousand places.”
― J.R. Dawson, The First Bright Thing

“Family finds us, even if we’re born in different places to different homes.”
― J.R. Dawson, Tor UK The First Bright Thing.

“So her bones were still made of mountains and mothers and the joy of sharing sunrises and sunsets with”
― J.R. Dawson, The First Bright Thing

“You are not the first child,” Rin said, “to think you can fix the shadows of dark places. But sometimes shadows swallow children.”
― J.R. Dawson, The First Bright Thing

“Let this night be a love letter for Rin and the woman she loved. Let the world write this dance into a memory, forever remembered by someone.”
― J.R. Dawson, The First Bright Thing

“But if it does go south, we still have tonight. And tonight is a lovely thing.” Mauve’s”
― J.R. Dawson, The First Bright Thing

“Rin stayed until Jo closed her eyes and quietly fell asleep. Rin held her hand, she memorized her nose and her eyelashes, her black hair and her thin tweedy arms. She wanted to always remember the way Jo filled the room with courage.
Rin had been able to protect her.
And maybe that was enough.”
― J.R. Dawson, The First Bright Thing

“The war had been over for many years. Grief had blended into everyday life. So the circuses had returned.”
― J.R. Dawson, The First Bright Thing

“Rin stayed until Jo closed her eyes and quietly fell asleep. Rin held her
hand, she memorized her nose and her eyelashes, her black hair and her thin tweedy arms. She wanted to always remember the way Jo filled the room with courage.
Rin had been able to protect her.
And maybe that was enough.”
― J.R. Dawson, The First Bright Thing

“I love you,” Rin said to them both. It was said when mediums tried to reach out to the dead, the spirits always desperately screamed out I love you I love you, because nothing else may penetrate the veil between them. I love you.”
― J.R. Dawson, The First Bright Thing

“My love,” she said softly. “The woman who built me a circus so I could fly. And I have the honor”—she drew in nearer, their dancing forgotten—“of seeing you shine, Ringmaster.”
― J.R. Dawson, The First Bright Thing

“Odette gave a small smile, like the kiss J. M. Barrie talked about in Peter
Pan. That was one of the first things Rin had thought when she’d first met Odette; the kiss that girls hold on to and won’t give to the world except the soul who matches theirs. Odette had been familiar even as a stranger.”
― J.R. Dawson, The First Bright Thing

“Rin pulled her in, and she held her. In turn, it felt like Ringmaster held that pain for her, in her arms. She held as much as she could.
And Jo clung on like she’d been searching for that hug for fifteen years.”
― J.R. Dawson, The First Bright Thing

“Now the future was in the present. Those blue eyes were so alive. This girl was sitting on a precipice and she could fall or she could fly. Maybe Rin could build her a bridge....”
― J.R. Dawson, The First Bright Thing