Isabella > Isabella's Quotes

“A man who is used to acting in one way never changes; he must come to ruin when the times, in changing, no longer are in harmony with his ways.”
― Machiavelli Niccolo, The Prince

“History is written by the victors, but it's victims who write the memoirs.”
― Carol Tavris, Mistakes Were Made (But Not by Me): Why We Justify Foolish Beliefs, Bad Decisions, and Hurtful Acts

“Since love and fear can hardly exist together, if we must choose between them, it is far safer to be feared than loved”
― Niccolo Machiavelli, The Prince

“It is not titles that honour men, but men that honour titles.”
― Niccolò Machiavelli

“Never was anything great achieved without danger.”
― Niccolo Machiavelli

“Everyone sees what you appear to be, few experience what you really are.”
― Niccolò Machiavelli, The Prince

“Above all, be the heroine of your life, not the victim.”
― Nora Ephron

“Why are women... so much more interesting to men than men are to women?”
― Virginia Woolf

“You cannot pick and choose what parts of her to love.”
― Sarah J. Maas, Heir of Fire

“She was the heir of ash and fire, and she would bow to no one.”
― Sarah J. Maas, Heir of Fire

“And then I am going to rattle the stars.”
― Sarah J. Maas, Heir of Fire

“I claim you, Rowan Whitethorn. I don't care what you say and how much you protest. I claim you as my friend.”
― Sarah J. Maas, Heir of Fire

“Because I am lost," she whispered onto the earth. "And I do not know the way.”
― Sarah J. Maas, Heir of Fire

“Their hands clasped between them, he whispered into her ear, "I claim you, too, Aelin Galathynius.”
― Sarah J. Maas, Heir of Fire

“I claim you, Aelin. To whatever end.”
― Sarah J. Maas, Heir of Fire

“Gods, he was brilliant. Cunning and wicked and brilliant.
Even when he beat the hell out of her. Every. Damn. Day.”
― Sarah J. Maas, Heir of Fire

“That was when they noticed that every musician on the stage was wearing mourning black. That was when they shut up. And when the conductor raised his arms, it was not a symphony that filled the cavernous space.

It was the Song of Eyllwe.

Then Song of Fenharrow. And Melisande. And Terrasen. Each nation that had people in those labour camps.

And finally, not for pomp or triumph, but to mourn what they had become, they played the Song of Adarlan.

When the final note finished, the conductor turned to the crowd, the musicians standing with him. As one, they looked to the boxes, to all those jewels bought with the blood of a continent. And without a word, without a bow or another gesture, they walked off the stage.

The next morning, by royal decree, the theatre was shut down.

No one saw those musicians or their conductor again.”
― Sarah J. Maas, Heir of Fire

“Now and then, the passage of time seems acutely apparent. Physical pain always sharpens the awareness.”
― Han Kang, 흰

“Your eyes
I saw differently when I looked with your eyes. I walked differently when I walked with your body. I wanted to show you clean things. Before brutality, sadness, despair, filth, pain, clean things that were only for you, clean things above all. But it didn’t come off as I intended. Again and again I peered into your eyes, as though searching for form in a deep, black mirror.
If only we’d been living in a city back then, I heard my mother say several times during my childhood.
If only an ambulance could have taken me to hospital.
If only they’d put her in an incubator, that tiny rice cake of a baby. They were a new thing then, incubators.
If only you hadn’t stopped breathing. And had therefore been granted all this life in my stead, I who would then never have been born. If it had been granted to you to go firmly forwards, with your own eyes and your own body, your back to the dark mirror.”
― Han Kang, The White Book

“This life needed only one of us to live. If you had lived beyond those first few hours, I would not be living now.
My life means yours is impossible.
Only in the gap between darkness and light, only in that blue-tinged breach, do we manage to make out each other’s faces.”
― Han Kang, The White Book

“I missed you,” he said quietly, his gaze darting between her mouth and eyes. “When I was in
Wendlyn. I lied when I said I didn’t. From the moment you left, I missed you so much I went out of my
mind. I was glad for the excuse to track Lorcan here, just to see you again. And tonight, when he had
that knife at your throat …” The warmth of his callused finger bloomed through her as he traced a path
over the cut on her neck. “I kept thinking about how you might never know that I missed you with only
an ocean between us. But if it was death separating us … I would find you. I don’t care how many
rules it would break. Even if I had to get all three keys myself and open a gate, I would find you
again. Always.”
― Sarah J. Maas, Queen of Shadows

“Aelin took a step forward.
One step, as if in a daze.
She loosed a shuddering breath, and a small, whimpering noise came out of her - a sob.
And then she was sprinting down the alley, flying as though the winds themselves pushed at her heels.
She flung herself on the male, crashing into him hard enough that anyone else might have gone rocking back into the stone wall.
But the male grabbed her to him, his massive arms wrapping around her tightly and lifting her up. Nesryn made to approach, but Aedion stopped her with a hand on her arm.
Aelin was laughing as she cried, and the male was just holding her, his hooded head buried in her neck. As if he were breathing her in.
"Who is that?" Nesryn asked.
Aedion smiled. "Rowan.”
― Sarah J. Maas, Queen of Shadows

“But perhaps the monsters needed to look out for each other every now and then.”
― Sarah J. Maas, Queen of Shadows

“Let’s go rattle the stars.”
― Sarah J. Maas, Queen of Shadows

“Whatever you had to do to survive, whatever you did from spite or rage or selfishness … I don’t give a damn. You’re here—and you’re perfect. You always were, and you always will be.”
― Sarah J. Maas, Queen of Shadows

“I spent centuries wandering the world, from empires to kingdoms to wastelands, never settling, never stopping—not for one moment. I was always looking toward the horizon, always wondering what waited across the next ocean, over the next mountain. But I think … I think that whole time, all those centuries, I was just looking for you.”
― Sarah J. Maas, Queen of Shadows

“I kept thinking about how you might never know that I missed you with only an ocean between us. But if it was death separating us … I would find you. I don’t care how many rules it would break. Even if I had to get all three keys myself and open a gate, I would find you again. Always.”
― Sarah J. Maas, Queen of Shadows

“You survived; I survived. We’re together again. I once begged the gods to let me see you — if only for a moment. To see you and know you’d made it. Just once; that was all I ever hoped for.”
― Sarah J. Maas, Queen of Shadows

“This witch had been crafted from the darkness between the stars.

“I think not, Prince,” she said in her midnight voice. She sniffed again, her nose crinkling slightly. “But would you bleed red, or black?”

“I’ll bleed whatever color you tell me to.”
― Sarah J. Maas, Queen of Shadows

“To whatever end.”
― Sarah J. Maass