Catherine Doyle > Quotes

“There is beauty everywhere; even in the dark, there is light, and that is the rarest kind of all.”
― Catherine Doyle, Vendetta

“Maybe I am looking at you,’ he whispered. 'Maybe I always have been.”
― Catherine Doyle, Inferno

“This life is so complex that we rarely get to be the people we are truly meant to be. Instead, we wear masks and put up walls to keep from dealing with the fear of rejection, the feeling of regret, the very idea that someone may not love us for who we are deep in our core, that they might not understand the things that drive us.”
― Catherine Doyle, Vendetta

“Do you think you wear a mask?’

‘I’m wearing one right now.’ Valentino smiled softly. ‘We both are.’

‘It’s a sad thought.’

‘Yes,’ he said. ‘But sometimes I wonder about the alternative. Imagine if we had no secrets, no respite from the truth. What if everything was laid bare the moment we introduced ourselves?”
― Catherine Doyle, Vendetta

“And you’re kind of like a snowflake.’
Oh, Jesus Christ.
He masked his fleeting surprise with a quirked eyebrow. ‘Excuse me?’
‘Nothing,’ I said quickly. ‘I didn’t say anything.’
‘No, no,’ he said, rounding on me so his face was too close, his eyes too searing, his smile too irritating. ‘I’m a snowflake, am I?”
― Catherine Doyle, Inferno

“I would go into the darkness with you, but you won't come into the light with me.”
― Catherine Doyle, Mafiosa

“It was an uncomfortable feeling, staring into the darkest moments of someone’s soul without them knowing.”
― Catherine Doyle, Vendetta

“The whole point of being a good friend is being in the darkness. I’ll be your light, until you can be it yourself again.”
― Catherine Doyle, Inferno

“I guess no one can be painted with just one brush. There is light and shade in all of us, pain and hardship, and some of us rise from it while others are darkened by it.”
― Catherine Doyle, Inferno

“Aren’t you glad I have no respect for your authority?”
― Catherine Doyle, Vendetta

“So,' he said, his lip curling. 'There are some things you deem worthy enough to kill for, Gianluca.'
Luca's reply came in one steady breath. 'Only one.”
― Catherine Doyle, Mafiosa

“Do I frighten you?' He tilted his head.
'Yes,' I said weakly. 'Are you proud of yourself?'
He looked at me for a long moment before replying. 'No, I'm not,' he said so faintly I had to strain to hear him.”
― Catherine Doyle, Vendetta

“What are you going to do, Luca?' I clenched my fists at my sides. 'Pull a gun on me?'
'If that's what it takes.'
'How brave!' I exploded. We were so close to one another now. 'You can't use your words. but you're more than happy to use your gun.'
'I'm not going to be responsible for ruining your innocence!'
I tilted my face towards him to show I wasn't afraid, or as innocent as he clearly thought. 'Go ahead,' I whispered. 'Shatter it.' We were nose to nose. 'It almost worked last time, when you told me about my dad.'
'I don't care,' he replied resolutely. 'I'm not punching Bambi in the face.”
― Catherine Doyle, Vendetta

“I knew I couldn’t trust my illogical heart, and that meant I had to do everything in my power to stay away from him so I wouldn’t have to.”
― Catherine Doyle, Vendetta

“I must be irresistible. You can’t stay away from me for more than twenty-four hours.”
― Catherine Doyle, Inferno

“Maybe you’re not so bad after all.’
He leant across the seat, jabbing his finger in the air. ‘If you tell anyone, I’ll deny it. I have a reputation to uphold, you know.”
― Catherine Doyle, Inferno

“So, you care about me now,’ I said, meaning to make a joke of it, but it came out soft and low and full of something guttural that made me embarrassed. ‘Why?’
“Because I don’t know anybody like you. You’re like … a rare artefact. And it would be a shame if you got broken.’ Amusement spluttered from me in the most unattractive way. ‘Are you really comparing me to an antique right now? Oh my God, you nerd.”
He started laughing, and the carefree melody of it swept me up until I was laughing too, and it was absurd because our families were being threatened and murdered and there we were squished together in a hundred-degree heat outside a maximum security prison, and we used to hate each other and now we were laughing so hard I had tears in my eyes.
He composed himself first, but it took a while and I was left choking my laughter into silence. ‘What I meant was,’ his face twisted into a quiet smile that felt secret and deadly, ‘you’re a bright spark, Sophie. And I don’t want anyone to snuff you out.’
‘Oh.’ Well I couldn’t make fun of that. Was I supposed to say something back? Wasn’t that how compliments worked? The silence was growing and suddenly his words felt heavy and important and he was so close to me and I was perspiring and panicking, and … and I said, ‘And you’re kind of like a snowflake.’
Oh, Jesus Christ.
He masked his fleeting surprise with a quirked eyebrow. ‘Excuse me?’
‘Nothing,’ I said quickly. ‘I didn’t say anything.’
‘No, no,’ he said, rounding on me so his face was too close, his eyes too searing, his smile too irritating. ‘I’m a snowflake, am I?’
‘Shut up. Seriously.’ I pulled wisps of loose hair around my cheeks. ‘Shut up.’
‘I think you were trying to tell me I was special.’
‘Icy,’ I said. ‘I meant you were icy.’
I could practically taste his glee. I was floundering, and he was relishing it.
‘And unique, in that you’re uniquely annoying,’ I added. ‘God, you’re annoying.”
― Catherine Doyle, Inferno

“You didn't care about the .... the name.'
'Not the name.'. He led my gaze, unfaltering, unblinking. 'Just the girl.”
― Catherine Doyle, Inferno

“Imagine if we had no secrets, no respite from the truth. What if everything was laid bare the moment we introduced ourselves?”
― Catherine Doyle, Vendetta

“It is hardest to kill the man who has the most to live for.’ He took a pretend shot. ‘The empty, the soulless, the hate-filled enemies drop like flies. Those who love, and love hard, are the ones left standing.”
― Catherine Doyle, Mafiosa

“One right doesn’t remedy a thousand wrongs.’

‘You should write a book of quotes.”
― Catherine Doyle, Inferno

“Do you ever take a holiday? Like, do any of you just wake up and think ‘Today feels like a pyjama day.’? or is it always, ‘Today is a good day for murdering and stalking.’?”
― Catherine Doyle, Inferno

“You don’t really notice how many shadows there are in the world until you start being afraid of them.”
― Catherine Doyle, Inferno

“I didn't kiss Sophie to get back at you, I kissed her because I'm in love with her!”
― Catherine Doyle, Mafiosa

“You realize you’ve been staring at me for the past five minutes?”
― Catherine Doyle, Inferno

“I don’t care,” he replied resolutely. “I’m not punching Bambi in the face.”
― Catherine Doyle, Vendetta

“He dropped his voice, and came a couple of inches closer. "I think you're beautiful when you wear oversize hoodies and fleece pyjamas with teddy bears on them. Or when you wear thick socks and use them to slide around on marble floors when you think no one's looking at you."
"I - Oh. You know about that."
"And I think you are especially beautiful when you are giving out to me."
"In that case, you must find me constantly compelling.”
― Catherine Doyle, Mafiosa

“This life is so complex that we rarely get to be the people we are truly meant to be. Instead, we wear masks and put up walls to keep from dealing with the fear of rejection, the feeling of regret, the very idea that someone may not love us for who we are deep in our core, that they might not understand the things that drive us. I want to study the realness of life, not the gloss. There is beauty everywhere; even in the dark, there is light, and that is the rarest kind of all.”
― Catherine Doyle, Vendetta

“It was called ‘We Wear the Mask’, by Paul Laurence Dunbar. I transcribed the first stanza and then started jotting down my reaction to it.

We wear the mask that grins and lies,
It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes,—
This debt we pay to human guile;
With torn and bleeding hearts we smile,
And mouth with myriad subtleties.

I used to wear masks so subtle I barely noticed them. A compliment to my mother after a dismal meal, a smile at my best friend when she sang out of tune, a forced laugh at my uncle’s bad jokes. I wore small masks that came and went, like fleeting expressions.

I am stuck inside the mask I wear now. I want to rip it off. I want to show my scars to the world, to unveil the ugliness that breathes inside me. I want to be unashamed. I want to be unafraid. But every day the mask gets tighter, and I suffocate a little more.

I stopped writing.”
― Catherine Doyle, Mafiosa

“I guess any halfwit could nail a game of ‘Spot the Falcone’. Just look for the shampoo-commercial hair or those I-might-murder-you eyes.”
― Catherine Doyle, Inferno