Beth Cato > Quotes

“He stopped moving among the shelves. She stopped as well and scanned the books around her. 'Such a glorious perfume, these old books.”
― Beth Cato, The Clockwork Crown

“Ignorance didn’t feel like bliss. It felt like stupidity, and she hated it.”
― Beth Cato, Breath of Earth

“Holiness may be found by being in the mere presence of books, without evening parting the pages.”
― Beth Cato, The Clockwork Crown

“Her world had become small, a box of a room, and that limited time outside reminded her that other people still existed and stars continued to sparkle in the heavens.”
― Beth Cato, A House Between Sea and Sky

“How long have you used geomancy?” The blunt question caused her to recoil slightly. “Almost my whole life. How long have you felt the need to live as a man?” “As long as I can remember.” The pain in his voice didn’t come from the injury. “Look at us with our deep, dark secrets.”
― Beth Cato, Breath of Earth

“I am a house, but I am more than a house, and so I can smell, taste, hear, see, and feel. Oh, I can feel. I smell blood against the tang of the ocean and the freshness of water from the sky.”
― Beth Cato, A House Between Sea and Sky

“I do know that as much as I’m hurting right now, things will eventually get better. Wounds turn to scars.”
― Beth Cato, A House Between Sea and Sky

“Truly, a bad librarian was much like a bad cook. Both could feed a person something essential that could settle deep into the gut, and make a person ill for a very long time.”
― Beth Cato, A House Between Sea and Sky

“Did you really think we wouldn’t fight back? That we’d just wallow here until the Unified Pacific decided to kill us off?” His voice was soft, his words sending a chill through her. No, she wanted to say, but the truth was, she had never really thought much about Chinese resistance before, even with Mr. Sakaguchi’s frequent observations on the subject. After all, she wasn’t one of the elite, one of the persecutors of the Chinese. She was a dark-skinned woman who didn’t even know where her father came from, why she looked as she did. Ingrid always felt that she and Lee were bound in friendship, and because of that, their differences didn’t matter. “I don’t know,” she said in a whisper, feeling like a fool. Like she’d been a fool for years.”
― Beth Cato, Breath of Earth

“When we kill a word, it’s akin to killing off the dodo bird. Nothing can replace it, and it’s impossible to know the scope of the loss.”
― Beth Cato, Breath of Earth

“If I have to use another leaf on that man, I'll revive just so I can throttle him.”
― Beth Cato, The Clockwork Crown

“Honey diluted in water, exposed to the air, visited by unknowns: in this way, mead begins its fermentation, and it ends in delighting the senses of the imbiber.”
― Beth Cato, A Thousand Recipes for Revenge

“Melissa, God of All That Is Sweet Sugar beets, honey, ripe fruits, and even a loved one’s kisses are under Melissa’s regard. Nobles enjoy confectionary delights that melt upon the tongue or marvel at sculpted sugar extraordinaires, but even the humblest of denizens can enjoy the harvest of the hive or hearken to the peals of so-named Melissa’s bells, which celebrate special occasions in any town of considerable size.”
― Beth Cato, A Thousand Recipes for Revenge

“Ingrid stared at him and again wondered about the boy she had loved and nurtured for the past five years. She always knew he was Chinese, of course, but that was an entirely different thing from understanding what it was to be Chinese.”
― Beth Cato, Breath of Earth

“I don’t want you to keep on suffering, though I’m well aware life delivers that in plenty. But I do know that as much as I’m hurting right now, things will eventually get better. Wounds turn to scars.”
― Beth Cato, A House Between Sea and Sky

“I suppose one should heed the advice of bread dough when it deems to speak.”
― Beth Cato, A House Between Sea and Sky

“That’s how you take good care of people—by not killing them. And also by being clean.”
― Beth Cato, A House Between Sea and Sky

“Most every person on a quest becomes a lost soul at several points in their journey.”
― Beth Cato, A House Between Sea and Sky

“Besides”
― Beth Cato, A House Between Sea and Sky

“I open my entry to them in invitation.”
― Beth Cato, A House Between Sea and Sky

“I don’t want to bake bread,”
― Beth Cato, A House Between Sea and Sky

“I’m a delightfully boring individual,”
― Beth Cato, A House Between Sea and Sky

“Please, support your local libraries, including the Friends of the Library.”
― Beth Cato, A House Between Sea and Sky

“Men were the worst creatures to unexpectedly meet in the dark.”
― Beth Cato, A House Between Sea and Sky

“There are sunsets, and then there are sunsets on the California coast.”
― Beth Cato, A House Between Sea and Sky

“I’m not fool enough to expect perfection, but you gave thought to pairing cheese and butter with bread, and that’s certainly the way angels must think.”
― Beth Cato, A House Between Sea and Sky

“Better an animal than a person”
― Beth Cato, A House Between Sea and Sky

“Fayette had seen better acting from a cup of Ovaltine.”
― Beth Cato, A House Between Sea and Sky

“some people are burned, others do the burning, and far more watch.”
― Beth Cato, A Thousand Recipes for Revenge

“I understand regrets, just as I understand lost souls.”
― Beth Cato, A House Between Sea and Sky