Emma Newman > Quotes

“I think “majority” is one of my least favorite words. It’s so often used to justify bad decisions.”
― Emma Newman, Planetfall

“Am I just a mosaic of myself, held in the shape of a whole person?”
― Emma Newman, Planetfall

“That scared me more than anything, sometimes; the noise of my thoughts, the sense that even the space inside myself wasn't safe.”
― Emma Newman, Planetfall

“That was the second major lie I told that week. It gets easier, in some ways; now I lie without expending any effort. But I think each one has its own weight. One alone may barely register, like a grain of sand in the palm of one's hand. But soon enough there's more than can be held and they start to slip through our grasp if we are not careful.”
― Emma Newman, Planetfall

“I thought you were a believer, Ren,” Mack says. “I’m also a scientist,” I fire back, irritated with his mocking tone. “They’re not incompatible.” (It’s”
― Emma Newman, Planetfall

“I assume the gargoyle does not require refreshments?” “I don’t think so. Should it?” “I imagine not, sir, being of a stone constitution, but I find it best to never assume anything when it comes to matters of unnatural animation.”
― Emma Newman, Between Two Thorns

“No one wants to hear anything like the truth during these landmark times. It has to be one emotion, a positive one - unless it's a quiet, heartfelt confession of fear or nervousness that can utterly disarm listeners and give them the opportunity to be reassuring - just to keep the social wheels turning in the way that makes everyone feel secure.”
― Emma Newman, Before Mars

“I focus on my breath and stop trying to work out why I feel so panicky. All that matters is getting a steady inward-and-outward rhythm.”
― Emma Newman, Planetfall

“He knew just what to say to make me feel safe, not only from the external but also my internal world. That scared me more than anything, sometimes; the noise of my thoughts, the sense that even the space inside myself wasn't safe.”
― Emma Newman, Planetfall

“millions of miles away”
― Emma Newman, Planetfall

“He’d looked so hurt. “I’m not like those other men, you know?” “Then you won’t mind if I say no,” I said.”
― Emma Newman, Atlas Alone

“If this were a game, like the countless stupid things I’ve played over the years, I’d be heading down there to pick off the guards one by one and free them. Then we’d take back the colony and put an end to this terror. But I don’t have the skills or the weapons that my character would have. There aren’t handy weapon caches stored in secret places that I can raid to arm myself and my fellows. None of the games I’ve ever played have built in total failure from the start. I wouldn’t have the first idea of how to tackle one of the guards and take their weapon. There’s no engine to interpret my clumsy actions and translate them into flawless silent assassinations. There is no heroism in me without the supporting game narrative.”
― Emma Newman, Planetfall

“But I hold him tight and I pretend that I have forgiven him for being nothing more than I am: a cold collection of trained responses, pretending to be a person.”
― Emma Newman, Atlas Alone

“How could I choose which of these to take and which to leave behind? How could I know which of these threads, weaving me into my past and my family, could be cut without unraveling the deepest parts of me?”
― Emma Newman, Planetfall

“No, you’re not,” Petra replied with a moment of her former intensity. “You’re master of the blood and star metal, brother to the binding metal, and protector of the innocent. You’re woven into the fabric of the world on a level deeper than most can even conceive of and you haven’t even come into your strength yet.”
― Emma Newman, A Little Knowledge

“Beatrice held up a finger. “All sorcerous magic requires intent behind it. If Mrs M wrote this onto herself, it would have no effect, even if she knew the Fae components. These symbols are the language of human will. Without that will behind it, it is just writing. When you study sorcery, you must also be a student of concentration, of the focusing of intent. They are just as important.” “I’ll make sure I understand it all completely, then after I write it on myself, I’ll get it tattooed.” Beatrice looked appalled. “That would be very unwise. I would never advocate any sort of permanent warding on the body.” “Okay. But what if this smudges? Or I get wet and my clothes rub it off?” “I will show you how to make a robust form of ink for warding. But it will only last as long as it should.” “What’s that supposed to mean?” “Don’t you see? The Charm to express you in this formula would be worked on a particular day, and who knows how you will change over the next week, the next month, the next year? The only way for this ward to be truly permanent would be for you to refresh it, often. We never stay the same, physically, spiritually, and emotionally. Trying to hold yourself to who you are now for the sake of maintaining this protection would be unwise.”
― Emma Newman, All Good Things

“We were all just little broken things, trying so hard to protect ourselves when all we were doing was keeping ourselves blind and alone.”
― Emma Newman, Planetfall

“It's the consistency that's important. It helps to form a pattern and that pattern is more important than the detail when it comes to changing people's minds.”
― Emma Newman, Before Mars

“There’s no point in being truthful. I can count on one hand the number of times that my defenses slipped and I burst into tears, spilling out the confession that I was not at all happy and felt nothing like everyone said I should. Every single time there was a long pause and then the confident conclusion that I was just tired.”
― Emma Newman, Before Mars

“She’d left the shop with a bag full of new books for her library, including a hardback with crossed flintlocks on the cover that a random woman in the shop had gushed about.”
― Emma Newman, A Little Knowledge

“I can remember my grandmother talking about the scientists before the collapse of democracy...All gone now. Doing something for the good of humankind, for the sheer ideologicial ambition of extending our footprint beyond Earth, simply isn't profitable enough.”
― Emma Newman, Before Mars

“I simply couldn't understand why they all wanted to talk about baby stuff. We were immersed in it, twenty-four hours a day; it made no sense to me to meet up with people I barely knew and talk to them about it too. I wanted to find someone like me, someone desperate for human contact with an adult and conversation about anything other than milk and sleep and shit.”
― Emma Newman, Before Mars

“Perhaps positive self-affirmations were for Californians only. Perhaps the sarcasm and perpetual doubt wired into her British brain had made her immune to such tricks.”
― Emma Newman, All Is Fair

“All of this place is God.”
― Emma Newman, Planetfall

“It was sunny and cold outside, the kind of morning that autumn did best.”
― Emma Newman, All Is Fair

“think “majority” is one of my least favorite words. It’s so often used to justify bad decisions.”
― Emma Newman, Planetfall

“I can smell a mundane. Very close. Euw!”
― Emma Newman, Between Two Thorns

“Motherhood is a social minefield. From the moment you become aware of being pregnant, every single time that information is shared, you risk stepping on something explosive... I would not be my own person anymore... but something owned by society as a whole.”
― Emma Newman, Before Mars

“I wish I could be more like them. They are so . . . light and easily contented.”
― Emma Newman, Planetfall

“was fenced off from people who couldn’t afford to touch the peeling bark on the trees. Those were reserved for dogs owned by the wealthy to piss against three times a day when walked by the au pair.”
― Emma Newman, Planetfall