Jordan Ifueko > Quotes

“Uniformity is not unity. Silence is not peace.”
― Jordan Ifueko, Raybearer

“Why does everyone hate change so much?" I demanded.
"Because things could get worse."
"Maybe. But do you know what I think?"
My chest throbbed. "I think deep down, we're afraid that things could get better. Afraid to ding out that all the evil—all the suffering we ignore—could have been prevented. If only we had cared enough to try.”
― Jordan Ifueko, Raybearer

“Only one thing is more powerful than a wish, and that is a purpose.”
― Jordan Ifueko, Raybearer

“No, we don't deserve the burdens that our parents gave us, but we cant defeat monsters we won't face.”
― Jordan Ifueko, Raybearer

“Stories are meant to be shared," Melu said gently, "but no one was made for another person, Tarisai.”
― Jordan Ifueko, Raybearer

“I hope you never win the pride of a monster, Tarisai. It’s worse than their contempt.”
― Jordan Ifueko, Raybearer

“Do not ask how many people you will save. Ask, Towhat world will you save them? [...] What world, Wuraola, is worth surviving in?”
― Jordan Ifueko, Raybearer

“But I knew, deep down, that love had never fixed anyone. It had only given them the strength to try over and over and over again.”
― Jordan Ifueko, Raybearer

“You don’t get to choose why people love you. But what you do with the love you receive . . . that’s a choice you make every day.”
― Jordan Ifueko, Redemptor

“Do not ask how many people you will save,” I murmured: “Ask, to what world will you save them? What makes a world worth surviving in?”
― Jordan Ifueko, Redemptor

“Do not confuse guilt with conviction. Guilt is self-centered, and leads only to destructive obsession. But conviction brings balance—a sense of purpose beyond oneself.”
― Jordan Ifueko, Redemptor

“I've never understood why mortals make things so complicated. Am's story for men and women has always been simple: You are equals, built to work side by side. But when it comes to power, mortals have always loathed simplicity.”
― Jordan Ifueko, Raybearer

“I need help," I said.
The words echoed in my ears. I blinked, stunned at how natural they sounded. Why hadn't I said them before?”
― Jordan Ifueko, Redemptor

“It's no use bringing up the past. You write your story, not the people who came before you.”
― Jordan Ifueko, Raybearer

“I want to live," I said, replacing Ye Eun's lily behind my ear, "because life is . . . life is worth it. Because as long as we can imagine a better world, we should stick around to see it. Even if it doesn't exist yet. Even if we have to build it from scratch, brick by muddy brick.”
― Jordan Ifueko, Redemptor

“B-But . . . what good is a v-voice with no st-story to tell?”
― Jordan Ifueko, Redemptor

“Peace comes when stories are celebrated, not erased.”
― Jordan Ifueko, Raybearer

“Don't worry," I told her. "No matter how bleak the world gets, I'll make sure there's always a corner to plant flowers.”
― Jordan Ifueko, Redemptor

“Leadership isn't good or evil, it's what you choose to do with it.”
― Jordan Ifueko, Raybearer

“Through you, my legacy lives."
"You didn't make me who I am. I am not the sequel of your story.”
― Jordan Ifueko, Raybearer

“People never listen to what you want. They listen to who you are.”
― Jordan Ifueko, Raybearer

“If one person understands another completely—from their deepest pain to their most passing thought—I think they can’t help but love each other. I think . . .” Dayo gave me a small smile and shrugged, crinkling his burn scar. “When you take someone’s story as your own, it’s no different than loving yourself.”
― Jordan Ifueko, Redemptor

“A future, I added in my head, where no child was bound by curses, and every daughter had a name.”
― Jordan Ifueko, Raybearer

“The more I learn, the more I think the only decent way to use power is to share it with others. Maybe there shouldn’t be rulers—at least, not in the way we think. Maybe emperors—and kings, and queens, and Raybearers—should just be people who make sure power flows to everyone.”
― Jordan Ifueko, Redemptor

“Didn't I tell you a bath would help?”
― Jordan Ifueko, Raybearer

“And off she goes,” Sanjeet murmured. His voice was cavernous, even against the roar of the waves. “Bent on winning freedom for the entire world. Tarisai of Swana.” He laughed, a gentle growl that made my insides restless. “She would have us be masters of our own fates, whether we like it or not.”
― Jordan Ifueko, Raybearer

“Think of memories as books, and the brain as a library. You can only reach the books on the shelves closest to you. But that doesn't mean the other ones aren't there. And the knowledge from each book shapes how you think, even if you don't remember the books themselves.”
― Jordan Ifueko, Redemptor

“You caged me like a bird. But you cannot make me sing.”
― Jordan Ifueko, Raybearer

“The place closest to your soul isn't your heart," Kirah explained. "It's your stomach. Anger, love, and sorrow simmer together there, like bubbles in a cauldron. People of the Wing believe that when the Pelican breathed each soul into being, it wrote two secrets on a burning coal: your greatest good and your best desire. You swallowed the coal before being born, and it burned in your belly. That's why we wail as newborns, Mama would say.”
― Jordan Ifueko, Raybearer

“The only thing more powerful than a wish is a purpose.”
― Jordan Ifueko, Redemptor