Cass > Cass's Quotes

“Once you best a man, never gloat. Be generous and find something in his actions to praise. He won't enjoy being bested, but he'll make a good face of it. Show him you appreciate it. Praise can win you a friend. Gloating will only ever make enemies.”
― John Flanagan, The Ruins of Gorlan

“Strange, he thought, how seldom people tend to look up”
― John Flanagan, The Ruins of Gorlan

“People will think what they want to," he said quietly. Never take too much notice of it.”
― John Flanagan, The Ruins of Gorlan

“That taught us how to block a sword with two knives. But what if an ax man's coming at me?"
Gilan looked suspicious. "An ax man? I don't recommend trying to block an ax with two knives."
But Will wouldn't take no for an answer. "But what if he's charging at me?" Horace walked over.
Gilan looked away. "Uh...shoot him."
Horace intervened. "Can't, his bowstring's broken."
Gilan gritted his teeth. "Run and hide."
Will kept on him. "There's a sheer cliff behind me."
Horace caught on. "There's a sheer cliff behind him, and his bowstring's broken. What should he do?"
Gilan thought for a moment. "Jump off the cliff, it'll be less messy that way.”
― John Flanagan, The Burning Bridge

“We’ll all die one day—no one escapes that fate. Our only decision is how we live before that day comes.”
― Jennifer A. Nielsen, Resistance

“No, Chaya. As much as the Nazis want to take our lives, they want to take our faith too. We fight for one, Avraham's friends fight for the other."
"What good is faith if you're dead?"
"What good is life without faith?" A soft sigh escaped her lips, but she remained more patient with me than I ever was with her. "We'll all die one day–no one escapes that fate. Our only decision is how we live before that day comes. Our path requires courage, but so does theirs. Both paths are ways to resist.”
― Jennifer A. Nielsen, Resistance

“...you know that a good, long session of weeping can often make you feel better, even if your circumstances have not changed one bit.”
― Lemony Snicket, The Bad Beginning

“The way sadness works is one of the strange riddles of the world. If you are stricken with a great sadness, you may feel as if you have been set aflame, not only because of the enormous pain, but also because your sadness may spread over your life, like smoke from an enormous fire. You might find it difficult to see anything but your own sadness, the way smoke can cover a landscape so that all anyone can see is black. You may find that if someone pours water all over you, you are damp and distracted, but not cured of your sadness, the way a fire department can douse a fire but never recover what has been burnt down.”
― Lemony Snicket, The Bad Beginning

“It is useless for me to describe to you how terrible Violet, Klaus, and even Sunny felt in the time that followed. If you have ever lost someone very important to you, then you already know how it feels, and if you haven't, you cannot possibly imagine it.”
― Lemony Snicket, The Bad Beginning

“it is a sad truth in life that when someone has lost a loved one, friends sometimes avoid the person, just when the presence of friends is most needed.”
― Lemony Snicket, The Bad Beginning

“Your initial opinion on just about anything may change over time.”
― Lemony Snicket, The Bad Beginning

“The worst surroundings in the world can be tolerated if the people in them are interesting and kind.”
― Lemony Snicket, The Bad Beginning

“The smell of cooking food is often a calming one.”
― Lemony Snicket, The Bad Beginning

“The point of this is, accidents happen. People tread on you. Nanny goats chew your hair.”
― John Flanagan, The Red Fox Clan

“I have hated words and I have loved them, and I hope I have made them right.”
― Markus Zusak, The Book Thief

“It kills me sometimes, how people die.”
― Markus Zusak, The Book Thief

“He does something to me, that boy. Every time. It’s his only detriment. He steps on my heart. He makes me cry.”
― Markus Zusak, The Book Thief

“She leaned down and looked at his lifeless face and Leisel kissed her best friend, Rudy Steiner, soft and true on his lips. He tasted dusty and sweet. He tasted like regret in the shadows of trees and in the glow of the anarchist's suit collection. She kissed him long and soft, and when she pulled herself away, she touched his mouth with her fingers...She did not say goodbye. She was incapable, and after a few more minutes at his side, she was able to tear herself from the ground. It amazes me what humans can do, even when streams are flowing down their faces and they stagger on...”
― Markus Zusak, The Book Thief

“A small but noteworthy note. I've seen so many young men over the years who think they're running at other young men. They are not. They are running at me.”
― Markus Zusak, The Book Thief

“Usually we walk around constantly believing ourselves. "I'm okay" we say. "I'm alright". But sometimes the truth arrives on you and you can't get it off. That's when you realize that sometimes it isn't even an answer--it's a question. Even now, I wonder how much of my life is convinced.”
― Markus Zusak, The Book Thief

“...at the time, King Herbert felt that to remain safe, the kingdom needed an effective intelligence force."

"An intelligent force?" said Will.

"Not intelligent. Intelligence. Although it does help if your intelligence force was also intelligent.”
― John Flanagan, The Ruins of Gorlan

“‎Halt looked up at the trees above him.
"Why does this boy ask so many questions?" he asked the trees.
Naturally, they didn't answer.”
― John Flanagan, The Ruins of Gorlan

“Sometimes, he thought wryly, a reputation for being right all the time could be a heavy burden.”
― John Flanagan, The Ruins of Gorlan

“The sun was trembling on the brink of the world, the shadows at their longest, and they still had several kilometers to go.”
― John Flanagan, The Ruins of Gorlan

“I'm sure we're all nervous," Alyss said. She directed one of her rare smiles at Will. "We'd be stupid not to be."
"Well, I'm not!" Horace said, then reddened as Alyss raised one eyebrow and Jenny giggled.”
― John Flanagan, The Ruins of Gorlan

“I wonder," she said. "Does this castle have a moat?"

A group of servants were busy emptying the privy buckets into the moat when they were startled by a sudden drawn-out cry. They looked up in time see a scarlet-and-gold clad figure sail out of a first-story window, turn over once and then land with an enormus splash in the dark, rancid waters. They shrugged and went back to work.”
― John Flanagan, The Burning Bridge

“Sometimes trusting someone is about the scariest thing you can do. But you know what? It’s a lot less scary than being all alone.”
― Dan Gemeinhart, The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise

“I just wanted everyone to be happy...It's hard, though, when everyone carries around a heart inside them that is so loud and so strong and so easily broken.”
― Dan Gemeinhart, The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise

“Maybe we're all a little broken. Maybe we're all a little fragile. Maybe that's why we need each other so much.”
― Dan Gemeinhart, The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise

“Hope is a lot like parking lot cigarette butts—always there if you look hard enough.”
― Dan Gemeinhart, The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise