Veronica Koong > Veronica's Quotes

“If you stay, I'll do whatever you want. I'll quit the band, go with you to New York. But if you need me to go away, I'll do that, too. I was talking to Liz and she said maybe coming back to your old life would be too painful, that maybe it'd be easier for you to erase us. And that would suck, but I'd do it. I can lose you like that if I don't lose you today. I'll let you go. If you stay.”
― Gayle Forman, If I Stay

“How am I supposed to decide this? How can I possibly stay without mom and dad? How can I leave without Teddy? Or Adam? This is too much. I don’t even understand how it all works, why I’m here in the state that I’m in or how to get out of it if I wanted to. If I were to say, I want to wake up, would I wake up right now? I’ve already tried snapping my heels to find Teddy and tried to beam myself to Hawaii, and that didn’t work. This seems a whole lot more complicated.
But in spite of that, I believe it’s true. I hear the nurse’s words again. I am running the show. Everyone’s waiting on me.
I decide. I know this now.
And this terrifies me more than anything else that has happened today.”
― Gayle Forman, If I Stay

“Hemingway never said any of this.
It's all AI-generated bullshit.



The hardest lesson I’ve had to learn as an adult is the relentless need to keep going, no matter how shattered I feel inside."

This truth is both raw and universal. Life doesn’t pause when our hearts are heavy, our minds are fractured, or our spirits feel like they’re unraveling. It keeps moving—unrelenting, unapologetic—demanding that we move with it. There’s no time to stop, no pause for repair, no moment of stillness where we can gently piece ourselves back together. The world doesn’t wait, even when we need it to.

What makes this even harder is that no one really prepares us for it. As children, we grow up on a steady diet of stories filled with happy endings, tales of redemption and triumph where everything always falls into place. But adulthood strips away those comforting narratives. Instead, it reveals a harsh truth: survival isn’t glamorous or inspiring most of the time. It’s wearing a mask of strength when you’re falling apart inside. It’s showing up when all you want is to retreat. It’s choosing to move forward, step by painful step, when your heart begs for rest.

And yet, we endure. That’s the miracle of being human—we endure. Somewhere in the depths of our pain, we find reserves of strength we didn’t know we possessed. We learn to hold space for ourselves, to be the comfort we crave, to whisper words of hope when no one else does. Over time, we realize that resilience isn’t loud or grandiose; it’s a quiet defiance, a refusal to let life’s weight crush us entirely.

Yes, it’s messy. Yes, it’s exhausting. And yes, there are days when it feels almost impossible to take another step. But even then, we move forward. Each tiny step is proof of our resilience, a reminder that even in our darkest moments, we’re still fighting, still refusing to give up. That fight—that courage—is the quiet miracle of survival.”
― Ernest Hemingway

“Gwyn whispered, “I am the rock against which the surf crashes.” Nesta straightened at the words, as if they were a prayer and a summons. Gwyn lifted the blade. “Nothing can break me.”
― Sarah J. Maas, A Court of Silver Flames

“I cannot survive without reading.”
― Sarah J. Maas, A Court of Silver Flames

“Keep reaching out your hand.”
― Sarah J. Maas, A ​Court of Silver Flames

“Amren put a hand above Nesta's heart. "That's the key, isn't it? To know the darkness will always remain, but how you choose to face it, handle it... that's the most important part. To not let it consume. To focus upon the good, the things that fill you with wonder." She gestured to the stars zooming past. "The struggle with that darkness is worth it, just to see such things.”
― Sarah J. Maas, A ​Court of Silver Flames

“Never again.
Never again would she be weak.
Never again would she be at someone’s mercy.
Never again would she fail.
Never again, never again, never again.”
― Sarah J. Maas, A ​Court of Silver Flames

“Rhys lifted his head. "This is a bad idea."

Cassian winked. "That should be written on the Night Court crest.”
― Sarah J. Maas, A ​Court of Silver Flames

“Nesta had loved Cassian since she'd first laid eyes on him. Had loved him even when she did not want to, even when she had been swallowed by despair and fear and hatred. Had loved him and destroyed herself because she didn't believe she deserved him, because he was all that was good, and brave, and kind, and she loved him, she loved him, she loved him”
― Sarah J. Maas, A ​Court of Silver Flames

“I'll be with you every step of the way. Just don't lock me out. You want to walk in silence for a week, I'm fine with that. So long as you talk to me at the end of it.”
― Sarah J. Maas, A ​Court of Silver Flames

“Gwyn whispered, "I am the rock against which the surf crashes." Nesta straightened at the words, as if they were a prayer and a summons. Gwyn lifted the blade. "Nothing can break me."

Cassian's throat tightened, and even from across the ring he could see Nesta's eyes gleaming with pride and pain.

Emerie said, "Nothing can break us ."

The world seemed to pause at the words. As if it had been following one path and now branched off in another direction. In a hundred years, a thousand, this moment would still be etched in his mind. That he would tell his children, his grandchildren, Right then and there. That was when it all changed.

Azriel went wholly still, as if he, too, had felt the shift. As if he, too, were aware that far larger forces peered into that training ring as Gwyn moved.”
― Sarah J. Maas, A ​Court of Silver Flames

“I am worthless and I am nothing, Nesta nearly said. She wasn’t sure why the words bubbled up, pressing on her lips to voice them. I hate everything that I am. And I am so, so tired. I am tired of wanting to be anywhere but in my own head.”
― Sarah J. Maas, A Court of Silver Flames

“So Nesta had become a wolf. Armed herself with invisible teeth and claws, and learned to strike faster, deeper, more lethally. Had relished it. But when the time came to put away the wolf, she'd found it had devoured her too.”
― Sarah J. Maas, A Court of Silver Flames

“Your power is a song, and one I’ve waited a very, very long time to hear, Nesta.”
― Sarah J. Maas, A Court of Silver Flames

“Whatever you need to throw at me, I can take it. I won't break.”
― Sarah J. Maas, A ​Court of Silver Flames

“But I still don’t know how to fix myself.”
“There’s nothing broken to be fixed,” he said fiercely.”
― Sarah J. Maas, A ​Court of Silver Flames

“She would not be mastered by anything again. She was the master of herself.”
― Sarah J. Maas, A ​Court of Silver Flames

“I am going to tell you that you will get through it. That you will face this, and you will get through it. That these tears are good, Nesta. These tears mean you care. I am going to tell you that it is not too late, not for any of it. And I can't tell you when, or how, but it will get better. What you feel, this guilt and pain and self-loathing- you will get through it. But only if you are willing to fight. Only if you are willing to face it, and embrace it, and walk through it, to emerge on the other side of it. And maybe you will still feel that tinge of pain, but there is another side. A better side.”
― Sarah J. Maas, A ​Court of Silver Flames

“Welcome back to the Night Court, Nesta Archeron.”
― Sarah J. Maas, A ​Court of Silver Flames

“Then Rhys fell to his knees and took Nesta's hands in his, pressing his mouth to her fingers. "Thank you," he wept, head bowed. Cassian knew it wasn't in gratitude for Rhy's own life that he knelt upon the sacred tattoos inked upon his knees.

Nesta dropped to the carpet. Lifted Rhy's face in her hands, studied what lay in it. Then she threw her arms around the High Lord of the Night Court and held him tightly.”
― Sarah J. Maas, A ​Court of Silver Flames

“I wish for us to have the courage to go out into the world when we are ready, but to always be able to find our way back to each other. No matter what.”
― Sarah J. Maas, A ​Court of Silver Flames

“Say what I've guessed from the moment we met," he breathed. "What I knew the first time I kissed you. What became unbreakable between us on Solstice night."

She wouldn't.

"I am your mate , for fuck's sake!" Cassian shouted, loud enough for people across the river to hear. "You are my mate! Why are you still fighting it?”
― Sarah J. Maas, A ​Court of Silver Flames

“Ataraxia, she had named that magic sword. Inner Peace.”
― Sarah J. Maas, A Court of Silver Flames

“I want to take the road that no one dares travel, and I want to travel it with you two. No matter what may befall us. Not as Illyrians, not for their titles but as something new . To prove to them, to everyone, that something new and different might triumph over their rules and restrictions.”
― Sarah J. Maas, A ​Court of Silver Flames

“She was a wolf who had never learned how to be a wolf, thanks to that cage humans called propriety and society. And like any maltreated animal, she bit anyone who came near.”
― Sarah J. Maas, A Court of Silver Flames

“You can’t have it both ways. You cannot resent my decision to lead a small, quiet life while also refusing to let me do anything greater.”
― Sarah J. Maas, A Court of Silver Flames

“And even if the laws had allowed it, he would never take that away from her: the chance to save herself.”
― Sarah J. Maas, A ​Court of Silver Flames

“She whispered, "And I am yours." Those golden threads between their very souls shone with the words, as they formed a harp strummed by a heavenly hand.

For it was music between their souls. Always had been. And his voice was her favorite melody.”
― Sarah J. Maas, A ​Court of Silver Flames

“Some things are more important than fear.”
― Sarah J. Maas, A ​Court of Silver Flames