Anna > Anna's Quotes

“It is better to be hated for what you are than to be loved for what you are not.”
― Andre Gide, Autumn Leaves

“We live for books.”
― Umberto Eco

“Right now I want a word that describes the feeling that you get--a cold sick feeling, deep down inside--when you know something is happening that will change you, and you don't want it to, but you can't stop it. And you know, for the first time, for the very first time, that there will now be a before and an after, a was and a will be. And that you will never again quite be the same person you were.”
― Jennifer Donnelly, A Northern Light

“Life’s all about the revolution, isn’t it? The one inside, I mean. You can’t change history. You can’t change the world. All you can ever change is yourself.”
― Jennifer Donnelly, Revolution

“I know it is a bad thing to break a promise, but I think now that it is a worse thing to let a promise break you.”
― Jennifer Donnelly, A Northern Light

“I'm wishing he could see that music lives. Forever. That it's stronger than death. Stronger than time. And that its strength holds you together when nothing else can.”
― Jennifer Donnelly, Revolution

“I don't like hope very much. In fact, I hate it. It's the crystal meth of emotions. It hooks you fast and kills you hard. It's bad news. The worst. It's sharp sticks and cherry bombs. When hope shows up, it's only a matter of time until someone gets hurt.”
― Jennifer Donnelly, Revolution

“It goes on, this world, stupid and brutal.
But I do not.
I do not.”
― Jennifer Donnelly, Revolution

“There is only one thing I fear now - love. For I have seen it and I have felt it and I know that it is love, not death, that undoes us.”
― Jennifer Donnelly, Revolution

“Stop yelling. If everyone’s yelling, no one can be heard.”
― Jennifer Donnelly, Revolution

“I will rain down silver and gold for you. I will shatter the black night, break it open, and pour out a million stars. Turn away from the darkness, the madness, the pain. Open your eyes and know that I am here. That I remember and hope. Open your eyes and look at the light.”
― Jennifer Donnelly, Revolution

“For mad I may be, but I will never be convenient.”
― Jennifer Donnelly, Revolution

“History is a Rorschach test, people. What you see when you look at it tells you as much about yourself as it does about the past.”
― Jennifer Donnelly, Revolution

“If I had coal and fire
And metal fine and true
I’d make an iron band
An iron band for you
I’d pick up all the pieces
From where they fell that day
Fit them back together
And take the pain away
But I don’t have the iron
And I don’t have the steel
To wrap around your broken heart
And teach it how to heal
Somewhere in the fire
Somewhere in the pain
I’d find the magic that I need
To make you whole again
I’d make the iron band so strong
I’d make it gleam so bright
I’d fix the things I’ve broken
I’d turn my wrongs to right
But I don’t have the steel
To wrap around your broken heart
Wish I could make it heal
Wish I could make it heal
(Ch. 27)”
― Jennifer Donnelly, Revolution

“Cry your grief to God. Howl to the heavens. Tear your shirt. Your hair. Your flesh. Gouge out your eyes. Carve out your heart. And what will you get from Him? Only silence. Indifference. But merely stand looking at the playbills, sighing because your name is not on them, and the devil himself appears at your elbow full of sympathy and suggestions. And that's why I did it....Because God loves us, but the devil takes an interest.”
― Jennifer Donnelly, Revolution

“Cry your grief to God. Howl to the heavens. Tear your shirt. Your hair. Your flesh. Gouge your eyes. Carve out your heart. And what will you get from Him? Only Silence. Indifference.”
― Jennifer Donnelly, Revolution

“Why did you do this thing?" he says brokenly. His eyes are bright with tears. "Why did you give your life for nothing? The boy will die. You said so yourself. Now you will, too. And likely myself as well. If the guards get hold of me, I am a dead man. And for what? What did you change? The light you made is snuffed out. Hope is trampled upon. This wretched world goes on, as stupid and brutal tomorrow as it was today."
...
"Oh, dead man, you're dead wrong," I tell him. "The world goes on stupid and brutal, but I do not. Can't you see? I do not.”
― Jennifer Donnelly, Revolution

“Oh, dead man, you're dead wrong," I tell him. "The world goes on stupid and brutal, but I do not. Can't you see? I do not.”
― Jennifer Donnelly, Revolution

“Quién iba a decirme que escuchar a un chico dormido podía ser mucho más profundo que dormir con un chico.”
― Jennifer Donnelly, Revolution

“I played a role. That is what actors do. But I played it too well. I went too far. And by the time I wanted to stop, to take a bow and leave the stage, it was too late.”
― Jennifer Donnelly, Revolution

“She alone knew that one must meet the world’s madness with more madness.”
― Jennifer Donnelly, Revolution

“Beautiful people don't need coats. They've got their auras keeping them warm.”
― Jennifer Donnelly, Revolution

“…if these mortals only knew, if they had the merest understanding of the grave, and of the eternity they will spend lying in it, they would eat chocolate for breakfast, caviar for lunch, and sing arias as they slopped the pigs.”
― Jennifer Donnelly, Stepsister

“The feeling that you want to own someone body and soul, spirit them away from everyone else, have them all to yourself forever and ever and ever,” Hugo said dreamily. “It’s called love.”
“No, it’s called kidnapping,” said Tavi.”
― Jennifer Donnelly, Stepsister

“Elizabeth walked through the path they’d cleared and up to the towering book. She kicked the cover with a well-shod foot. It slammed shut. Then she dipped her brush into the bucket, crossed out the word history, dipped the brush again, and wrote HER STORY in its place.”
― Jennifer Donnelly, Stepsister

“Go now, girl. Remake the world.”
― Jennifer Donnelly, Stepsister

“Together in our house, in the firelight, we are the world made small.”
― Jennifer Donnelly, Revolution