Chelsea Abdullah > Quotes

“It is not weakness to rely on others for help,”
― Chelsea Abdullah, The Stardust Thief

“The only difference between a hero and a coward is that one forgets their fear and fights, while the other succumbs to it and flees.”
― Chelsea Abdullah, The Stardust Thief

“...and it is with you I shall stay until destiny demands we part ways."
"You make it sound like it's not your choice to stay or go."
"Some things are out of our control. You know that just as well as I. All we can do is make choices based on the cards the fate deals us. But so long as fate allows me to stay with you, I will not leave you Loulie. That is a promise.”
― Chelsea Abdullah, The Stardust Thief

“That is the way of all lost things. One does not truly understand a thing’s value until it is gone.”
― Chelsea Abdullah, The Stardust Thief

“No one knows what the dead want, Loulie. All we can do is honor them in the ways we understand.”
― Chelsea Abdullah, The Stardust Thief

“Loyal wazir, one cannot know the outcome of a journey if one is not brave enough to take it.”
― Chelsea Abdullah, The Stardust Thief

“there is no such thing as a single truth. There are just the stories we tell others, and the ones we tell ourselves.”
― Chelsea Abdullah, The Ashfire King

“But tell me, why were you here in the first place”—he hesitated, realizing he didn’t know her name—“desert flower?” It was the first thing his scrambled mind came up with. He regretted it immediately.”
― Chelsea Abdullah, The Stardust Thief

“Mazen knew how powerful stories were. It had been stories that had swayed the sultan's heart after the wife killings and, only recently, stories that had painted Mazen as the murderer who had stolen his father's life. But down here, Mazen was not yet shackled to that lie.

Down here, the narrative was still his to control.”
― Chelsea Abdullah, The Ashfire King

“A miracle or a war... quite an ultimatum.”
― Chelsea Abdullah, The Ashfire King

“We all start as cowards, Aisha had once told him. The only difference between a hero and a coward is that one forgets their fear and fights, while the other succumbs to it and flees.”
― Chelsea Abdullah, The Stardust Thief

“This is not a story, he told himself. This is reality, and I am living it right now.”
― Chelsea Abdullah, The Stardust Thief

“Your mind is a fortress, thief. You limit yourself by keeping the gates closed.”
― Chelsea Abdullah, The Ashfire King

“Jinn hold their grudges for centuries. Human resentment is evanescent by comparison.”
― Chelsea Abdullah, The Ashfire King

“For the storytellers: never doubt that your words can move hearts.”
― Chelsea Abdullah

“Why are they called relics? It makes them sound ancient."

Qadir spoke without turning to look at her. "Jinn are ancient. Is it any surprise the things we enchant are just as old?”
― Chelsea Abdullah, The Stardust Thief

“Once, when Mazen had been a child, he'd asked his mother if the stories she told were truth or fiction. Many years later, he still remembered her answer.

"Every story is a memory," she had once said. "A tale that happened neither here nor there, but in another time and place. Our job as storytellers is to describe that reality as we understand it. It is the listen who must determine what is and is not." He remembered the way her voice had fallen to a whisper as she spoke, as if she were sharing some precious secret with him. "Remember, Mazen, there is no such thing as a single truth. There are just the stories we tell others, and the ones we tell ourselves.”
― Chelsea Abdullah, The Ashfire King

“Her mother had been right. Patience was a hard but necessary lesson. Obtaining revenge was not a sprint; it was a journey.”
― Chelsea Abdullah, The Stardust Thief

“Hundreds of years have passed since his resounding victory. But beware, fair desert folk, for peace is a fragile promise. If you ever come into the desert and hear a voice from your memory offering you your greatest desires, turn away from it. That path is filled with broken and deadly lies.”
― Chelsea Abdullah, The Stardust Thief

“It was your brother who doomed you. I have approached many humans with my story. Always, they are the cause of their own demise. You cannot condemn fire for its nature, but you can condemn a human for his greed.”
― Chelsea Abdullah, The Ashfire King

“The edges of Qadir's lips curled ever so slightly. "I have aged more in the nine years I have known you than in the hundreds I lived before our meeting.”
― Chelsea Abdullah, The Stardust Thief

“Aisha was not trying to outrun the vagabonds. She was trying to outrun her magic.”
― Chelsea Abdullah, The Ashfire King

“Mazen’s mother had once said the opposite: that in their country, a soft heart was more valuable because the desert dried out a person’s emotions. But he did not say this to his father.”
― Chelsea Abdullah, The Stardust Thief

“Many would have said it was inevitable that when war eventually came to his city, the king grew tired of living for others. That instead of using his magic to save the city, he decided to bury it beneath the sane and escape to the surface, where he could once again wander.

But remember: a crime forgotten is not a crime forgiven.”
― Chelsea Abdullah, The Ashfire King

“Loulie frowned. "Is something wrong, ya sayyid?"

The hunter flushed. "Forgive me, merchant. You are younger than I expected."

Loulie resisted the urge to roll her eyes. She knew it was not just a matter of youth. Men were praised for being successful at a young age, but a successful woman was a perplexing puzzle. Most men did not know how to respond to her confidence.

She raised a brow. "No, forgive me. I should not have spoke so sharply to a child.”
― Chelsea Abdullah, The Stardust Thief

“You said before that the dead do not speak." The Resurrectionists's voice brushed gently against her mind. "But how would you know, when you did not have the ability to listen?”
― Chelsea Abdullah, The Stardust Thief

“Sometimes we must make necessary stops before we reach our final destination.”
― Chelsea Abdullah, The Stardust Thief

“Loulie looked at her, baffled. "Why are you helping me?"

Duha's expression was serene as she lowered the pinnace to the Sandsea. "Because without me, you will perish, and your death would be both a tragedy and an inconvenience.”
― Chelsea Abdullah, The Ashfire King

“I know what it's like to keep living after losing everything," she said softly. "It's like sinking in the Sandsea. You don't know when the end will come for if it will. And either way, it doesn't matter, because there is no reprieve. You just sink and sink..." Her breathing hitched. "Until someone pulls you out and gives you new purpose. But even then, the hole remains. You can build a new life around it, but it never fills. You continue living, but you never stop sinking.”
― Chelsea Abdullah, The Ashfire King

“Mazen swallowed his nerves. Rijah was right. Confidence was key.

It was unfortunate he had so little of it.”
― Chelsea Abdullah, The Ashfire King