Isabella > Isabella's Quotes

“History only appeared inevitable because it was written in a world where it had already happened.”
― Vic James, Bright Ruin

“I'm sorry,' said Silyen, barely glancing up from his book. 'I'm a prodigy of Skill, not a missing persons' database.”
― Vic James, Bright Ruin

“Silyen wasn't in touch with his own emotions, let alone anyone else's, and it was tiring just looking at Luke. But then, he did still want to keep looking.”
― Vic James, Bright Ruin

“Keep it to hand. You’ll know when to use it. Now, how about something in exchange?’

Luke narrowed his eyes. You never just agreed to Silyen’s bargains.

‘A kiss for the hero who’s going to save everyone,’ the Equal said.

And Luke was halfway through laughing at him when Silyen’s hand went round the back of his skull and Luke found that he was kissing him instead. It was . . . startling. It was absolutely mortifying.

It was quite possibly the best thing ever.

He felt dizzy, and reached out to steady himself, one hand on Silyen’s shoulder, the other on the Equal’s hip, pulling him closer. Something coiled and fizzed inside his chest that had nothing to do with Skill. He heard himself groan and felt Silyen smile against his mouth.”
― Vic James, Bright Ruin

“What she felt for Jena hadn’t been love. She knew that now, but it had been something that had felt bewilderingly, beautifully, deceptively like it. And though it had ended in horror and betrayal, she had learned something from Jena, too. Loving someone didn’t mean you could save them, and you didn’t save yourself simply by the act of loving.”
― Vic James, Bright Ruin

“Sometimes the person who benefited most when you forgive someone was yourself.”
― Vic James, Bright Ruin

“People claimed love was the supreme human experience. Silyen begged to differ. The greatest gift was wonder.”
― Vic James, Bright Ruin

“There's no magic more powerful than the human spirit.”
― Vic James, Gilded Cage

“Always look at the people, not at the mass. A face, not the crowd. Look at the world, not at the ground. Every little detail you see is a victory.”
― Vic James, Gilded Cage

“What can I say?" Asif shrugged. "Geeky as charged.”
― Vic James, Gilded Cage

“She didn't do people, dammit. She did books. A world of difference”
― Vic James, Gilded Cage

“Only dull people have plans, Luke. 'Go here. Do this. Hope other people do that.' It never works. No, clever people embrace possibilities. Seize opportunities.”
― Vic James, Tarnished City

“There was Crovan, stalking his way to the far end of the first tier. The heir’s chair beside him was empty. At least the man was childless. The question of who would inherit Eilean Dòchais was occasionally a subject for dinner-table speculation. Personally, Gavar thought the place should be burned to the ground. And why wait till Crovan was dead to do it?”
― Vic James, Gilded Cage

“Honestly, Jack, your handwriting is terrible.”
Jackson held up both hands. “What can I say? I’m a doctor.”
― Vic James, Gilded Cage

“Millmoor changes people, Luke Hadley. But what most folk never realize is that you get to choose how.”
― Vic James, Gilded Cage

“Have a quick ten years.”
― Vic James, Gilded Cage

“Trust was what made everything possible. Trust lent you someone else's eyes, someone else's strong arms or quick brain. Made you bigger than just yourself. Trust was how the club worked. How this whole reckless dream of abolition could work, if people could just come together and hold their nerve. Now ever the Equals - not even their Skill - would be more powerful than that.”
― Vic James, Gilded Cage

“But here was a chance to do something. Change something.

Maybe even change everything.”
― Vic James, Gilded Cage

“As for Jenner himself? Well, he was a dream. He was sweet and funny, hardworking and thoughtful. An itemization of all the ways in which he was generally wonderful would be even longer than Abi’s to-do list. Gavar was probably the type most girls would go for, but his temper meant his buff physique was more intimidating than appealing. And the Young Master was simply too spooky even to think of in those terms. So, yes, Jenner was the only one of the three she didn’t find scary. By itself this wasn’t a ringing endorsement. But add in all the plus points as well, and Miss Abigail Amanda Hadley had quite a crush going on.”
― Vic James, Gilded Cage

“Trust was what made everything possible. Trust lent you someone else’s eyes, someone else’s strong arms or quick brain. Made you bigger than just yourself.”
― Vic James, Gilded Cage

“You know," the kid said, "the thing about plans is, they require more cookies.”
― Vic James, Tarnished City

“—La venganza es algo hermoso —dijo—. Y agradezco lo que estás haciendo para reducir mi lista de destinatarios de postales navideñas, pero ¿me quedará algún pariente cuando hayas acabado?...”
― Vic James

“She used to think “courage” was a reckless, slightly stupid thing. She understood it a little better now. It was doing what was right, even when every shred of self-preservation screamed against it.”
― Vic James, Tarnished City

“Yeah.” The man sounded terrified, but Luke couldn’t suppress his jubilation. Now that even a timid, trouble-averse bloke like Williams knew of the walkout, word must have gone round the whole of Zone D. And Luke had talked it into existence. ​ Thinking about that made his head spin. It was almost like Skill—conjuring up something out of nothing.”
― Vic James, Gilded Cage

“Gavar tipped back the last of the malt. He should go easy on it, he knew. He didn’t want to end up like Father. But lately he’d been feeling the need for a little pick-me-up. He was still getting the headaches that had been plaguing him ever since Libby was born. That was one thing they never told you about fatherhood: the constant worry, and the toll it took.”
― Vic James, Gilded Cage

“But when he’d run into the boy again several weeks later, he’d had some kind of attitude transplant. The kid had looked at Gavar like he’d not only bailed him from Millmoor but had driven the van himself, then thrown a “Welcome to Kyneston” party complete with strippers. He’d offered some unfeigned thanks, and said that if there was ever anything he could do for Gavar, he would. “Anything at all,” he’d said expansively. As if there were plenty of things the heir of Kyneston might need that a seventeen-year-old slave could supply.”
― Vic James, Gilded Cage

“Across the hall, the Millmoor kid was holding Crovan’s bag. Mother looked to be describing at great length where Lord Creepypants would be staying. Probably the boy had never been inside the house before.

But then Sil came ambling out from under the west arch toward the trio, and to Mother’s evident disapproval he took Crovan’s bag and led their least welcome guest away. The kid watched them go, unimpressed. He actually rolled his eyes when he thought no one was looking. Good for him. Maybe the boy had been worth rescuing.”
― Vic James, Gilded Cage

“Imagine waking from a twenty-five-year sleep, and the first faces you saw were Sil and Lord Weirdo. Aunty Terpy’s sanity would run gibbering back to whatever cracked little corner of her skull it had been occupying all these years.”
― Vic James, Gilded Cage

“Father was planning a debate. Silyen was planning a resurrection. And Gavar was planning a wedding. There was so much wrong with that, Gavar didn’t know where to start.”
― Vic James, Gilded Cage

“Mother and Father worry he’s half a commoner already, so they come down hard on anything that looks like sympathy for your sort. Is ‘sympathy’ the best word in this case, Abigail?”
His tone was sly and Abi flushed with embarrassment. But she had to persist. “And that’s all there is to it? General disapproval? Because there’s an evening I can’t remember. I was worried that maybe I did something, and that’s why.”
“Can’t remember? Someone’s been doing housekeeping inside your head without your permission? How very impolite. I can take a look, if you like.”
― Vic James, Gilded Cage