Sarah Painter > Quotes

“Throwing things is very good for the soul.”
― Sarah Painter, The Language of Spells

“Strangers are just friends we don't know yet.”
― Sarah Painter, The Secrets of Ghosts

“It’s much easier to be the good twin if you’re also the dead one. Ask any saint.”
― Sarah Painter, In the Light of What We See

“Maybe it’s the coma, but I’m genuinely happy to be here.’ ‘You don’t have to do that, you know.’ ‘Do what?’ ‘Assume that everything is different now. You’re still the same person you always were, you’ve just got some gaps to fill in. You mustn’t think that you’re starting all over again.’ ‘Is”
― Sarah Painter, In the Light of What We See

“Grace wasn’t so sure. She had become accustomed to the photograph, of course, seeing it every day, but she didn’t envy Nancy Beaton. The girl looked sad, Grace thought, and all of that shining material bunched behind her looked heavy, as if it were weighing her down. She didn’t look like a shooting star about to streak across a dark sky, she looked anchored to the earth. Trapped. Like a butterfly in a jar.”
― Sarah Painter, In the Light of What We See

“I half expected Stephen to turn the car around yet again, drive me to the police station and force me to make a statement. Of course, then I remembered – he wasn’t Mark. Or Pat. Or even Ger. He had never done anything except exactly what I’d asked of him. He’d never pushed. Never forced. He was the kind of man I’d always dismissed as weak. Certainly as ‘too nice’ for me. But now, suffused with gratitude at the sight of my building, and the quiet calm of Stephen’s presence, I realised I’d been an idiot. More of an idiot than I had ever previously realised.”
― Sarah Painter, In the Light of What We See

“I watched her leave with a curious mixture of relief and terror. I was alone again. Fear clutched at my chest and I wanted to call her back. I wondered if it would be different if my mother were alive. I wondered if she would be by my side, stroking my forehead, and whether I’d feel pure comfort, rather than this strange clawing mix of emotions. I knew my mother through stories, photographs and her brightly coloured dreamcatchers. I’d always thought that she would understand me, that she’d be warm and open, and that I would have grown up to be an entirely different person had she been around.”
― Sarah Painter, In the Light of What We See

“Whatever else happened in her life, books were a constant. Reliable and distracting. And they kept their secrets.”
― Sarah Painter, The Fox's Curse

“When the dead guy in your house is living a better life than you, she thought, it is time to seriously up your game.”
― Sarah Painter, The Silver Mark

“Head up, game face on and don’t show them you care.”
― Sarah Painter, The Pearl King

“You grew up hearing your Dad’s stories. But he got out pretty young, really. And the further you get from something, the simpler and more idealised your stories get. It’s only natural. It’s how nostalgia happens.”
― Sarah Painter, The Fox's Curse

“She wasn’t a tactful person. Didn’t suffer fools gladly.’ ‘I’ve never understood that phrase,’ Gwen broke in. She waved her glass. ‘Who does suffer fools gladly? Some kind of fool-fancier?”
― Sarah Painter, The Language of Spells

“A young woman in a black skirt suit was sitting behind the table smiling as if she was paid by the centimetre.”
― Sarah Painter, The Silver Mark

“Life is messy and full of things we don’t know but then we experience them or learn them. That’s the whole point of life.”
― Sarah Painter, The Fox's Curse

“I think people are fundamentally impatient. And winning often just means being willing to wait longer than the other side.”
― Sarah Painter, The Copper Heart

“The things humans do for love. Everyday acts of kindness and consideration. Accommodating one another and compromising. She had been set the perfect example by her parents, but she didn’t know if she could ever manage such a feat.”
― Sarah Painter, The Broken Cage

“Around the corner was Temple Church, built in the twelfth century by the Knights Templar as their English headquarters and the four inns of court were nearby. This was an area of ancient power and money, where the power lay with those who could tell the best story. Those who understood all the rules and how to bend them to their will, the people who had the knowledge of the esoteric guidelines, both legal and religious, and could help you navigate those murky waters between salvation and damnation. For a fee.”
― Sarah Painter, The Silver Mark

“The air was still. The grass down the slope and across the mound unmoving. Tobias began picking his way down the slope to the middle of the island. Two large stones, planted upright five thousand years ago, marked the proper way to approach the cairn. This was a place for the dead. It always had been, since before there were beings sentient enough to name it as such. The mound was a monument and a resting place. Tobias knew that Neolithic kings slept inside, along with their wives and children. Their ghosts did not trouble him. Not even the smallest ones. There was something else he feared.”
― Sarah Painter, The Island God

“Gwen wanted to explain that she and Cameron were not together and had, in fact, celebrated that fact with an official Goodbye Shag, but that seemed indiscreet. Besides, he was clearly comfortable with the idea.”
― Sarah Painter, The Language of Spells

“The ones that are cheating are never described as unhappy. Never. They are more attentive than usual. Funnier. Lighter. Happier.”
― Sarah Painter, The Silver Mark

“One day you went dark and, as far as he could tell, it was just the same as the day before you were born. A blank. Nothing to know, nothing to worry about, and nothing to grieve.”
― Sarah Painter, The Ward Witch

“You’ve been busy, I know. There’s been… A lot. Family stuff. Fleet. I know.”
― Sarah Painter, The Magpie Key

“Iris Harper. 1924–2010. You get what you get.”
― Sarah Painter, The Language of Spells

“once you tried to remember doing it your mind couldn’t tell whether you were remembering the last time you did it or one of the countless other times you had performed the identical task.”
― Sarah Painter, The Ward Witch

“there is a compound in red wine called resveratrol which has been shown to extend the life of yeast cells. It’s”
― Sarah Painter, Beneath the Water

“Once upon a time, tales of witches were dark and scary. They spoke of ugly old women doing evil things. Putting children into ovens. Cursing the young and pure with poisoned apples. The world had found witches in ordinary women. Women who talked back to their husbands, helped others with medicine and advice. Women who didn’t want to get married or have children or embark on a life of drudgery for others. This wasn’t witch-finding, of course. It was misogyny. It used the old stories as excuses. And none of it came close to naming true witchery.”
― Sarah Painter, The Island God

“She felt toxic.”
― Sarah Painter, The Secrets of Ghosts

“I’m a solicitor, to be strictly accurate,’ Gwen tuned back into the conversation to hear Cam saying. ‘Which is like a lawyer, only more boring,’ Harry supplied. ‘Thanks for that,’ Cam said, ‘but, essentially, yes.’ ‘So you don’t do all that exciting courtroom stuff?’ Ruby sounded disappointed. ‘Barristers do the big-ticket stuff. They go to High Court and argue criminal cases. Solicitors deal with the big three.’ Cam ticked them off his fingers. ‘Divorce, death and The Council.”
― Sarah Painter, The Language of Spells

“A foot in both worlds and belonging to neither.”
― Sarah Painter, The Night Raven

“Well, it’s something to be aware of, that’s all. You can’t do everything yourself. Not forever.’ ‘I know that,’ Lydia said out loud, while thinking, I bloody well can.”
― Sarah Painter, The Silver Mark