Julie Berry > Quotes

“If music stops, and art ceases, and beauty fades, what have we then?”
― Julie Berry, Lovely War

“The most ordinary mortal bodies are housed by spectacular souls.”
― Julie Berry, Lovely War

“Let them start their dreadful wars, let destruction rain down, and let plague sweep through, but I will still be here, doing my work, holding humankind together with love like this.”
― Julie Berry, Lovely War

“The first casualty of war is the truth.”
― Julie Berry, Lovely War

“I envy the mortals. It's because they're weak and damaged that they can love. She shakes her head. We need nothing. They’re lucky to need each other.”
― Julie Berry, Lovely War

“I don't believe in miracles, but if the need is great, a girl might make her own miracle.”
― Julie Berry, All the Truth That's in Me

“Kisses by the billions happen every day, even in a lonely world like ours.
But this is a kiss for the ages.”
― Julie Berry, Lovely War

“You're a brand-new piece of sheet music,' she said slowly, 'for a song which, once played, I'd swear I'd always known.”
― Julie Berry, Lovely War

“I am so often moved by souls whose first concern is not for their own lost years, but for the grief their passing will cause to those they love. It's more common than you might think. The most ordinary mortal bodies are housed by spectacular souls.”
― Julie Berry, Lovely War

“It was the dimples. Empires have swiveled on less.”
― Julie Berry, Lovely War

“There is a curious comfort in letting go. After the agony, letting go brings numbness, and after the numbness, clarity. As if I can see the world for the first time, and my place in it, independent of you, a whole vista of what may be. Even if it is not grand or inspiring, it is real and solid, unlike the fantasy I've built around you. I will do this.
I will triumph over you.”
― Julie Berry, All the Truth That's in Me

“Mortals aren't meant to love perfection. It disillusions and destroys them in the end.”
― Julie Berry, Lovely War

“You may ask me, as others have done before, whether it was kindness or cruelty to allow them to meet, so soon before his departure, with so little time to discover each other. Whether the pangs of loss do not invalidate the bliss of love. Especially where war is concerned, and Death runs rampant with his bloody scythe. You may say that it was wicked of me to allow James to find Hazel, and Hazel, James, if three days were all they would have. I don’t call it cruelty. I do not apologize.”
― Julie Berry, Lovely War

“The scars were a reminder that she came back.”
― Julie Berry, Lovely War

“And when she sobbed until her eyes were bloodshot and her nose ran, he gave her a handkerchief and took advantage of nothing. Nothing but the chance to say, wordlessly, Here; you’ve been carrying that alone for a long time. Let me carry it with you awhile.”
― Julie Berry, Lovely War

“Hazel glanced sidelong at him, and saw him breathe in time with the music. She saw tears well at the rims of his dark eyes.

This one, she decided. This lad, for me.

And it was done.”
― Julie Berry, Lovely War

“Grief is not a contest,' she said.”
― Julie Berry, Lovely War

“I don't suppose you believe love could last forever."
I'd hurt him. I looked away, chagrined.
"You're mistaken," I said. "I do believe it could. But it would depend upon the lovers."
He folded his arms and watched me, forcing me to return his gaze. Oh, those eyes.
"And what kind of lovers must they be?" he asked.
The You-and-Me kind?”
― Julie Berry, The Amaranth Enchantment

“And what rules of economy dictate that a boy without a foot is more whole than a girl without a tongue?”
― Julie Berry, All the Truth That's in Me

“The people you save won't celebrate you. They'll gather the wood and cheer while you burn.”
― Julie Berry, All the Truth That's in Me

“It was Archimedes of Syracuse who first said that the shortest distance between two points was the straight line connecting them. Far be it from me to ever cast a shadow upon the wisdom of a Golden Age Greek, but Archimedes had it wrong. The length of the straight line between two people who don't dare admit they're in love is infinite.”
― Julie Berry, Lovely War

“It's always you ladybird," he says softly "don't you know?”
― Julie Berry, All the Truth That's in Me

“Lies are worse than no comfort at all. Especially to a mind already scorched by the truth.”
― Julie Berry, Lovely War

“Heroism is much too heavy a burden to carry.”
― Julie Berry, Lovely War

“Colette,” he told her. “I can love Stéphane. I can honor his memory. I can love your parents, and your brother, your uncles, your cousin. I can love them beside you, and I will, if you let me.”
― Julie Berry, Lovely War

“Like the clanging of the bell, the truth crashes in upon me. At last I understand. He took away my voice to save me. And now, to save myself, I take it back.”
― Julie Berry, All the Truth That's in Me

“This will be a new amputation. You've been a part of my flesh, underneath all my skin. Your removal will bleed and leave me lame for a time.”
― Julie Berry, All the Truth That's in Me

“Come, come," I said. "You may be a lord someday, but you aren't one yet. No need for the courtly manners, and certainly not the moody temper. If you're to be my escort tonight, I insist you be a cheery one. You can even insult me if you like. It always makes you feel better.”
― Julie Berry, The Amaranth Enchantment

“If I thought I could never love you more, I didn't understand you well enough.”
― Julie Berry, All the Truth That's in Me

“I understand you're a common street thief?"

Peter bristled. "Hardly a common one.”
― Julie Berry, The Amaranth Enchantment