Erin > Erin's Quotes

“But why should we have to be useful and for what reason? Who divided the world into useless and useful, and by what right? Does a thistle have no right to life, or a Mouse that eats the green in a warehouse? What about Bees and Drones, weeds and roses? Whose intellect can have had the audacity to judge who is better, and who worse?”
― Olga Tokarczuk, Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead

“Anger always leaves a large void behind it, into which a flood of sorrow pours instantly, and keeps on flowing like a great river, without beginning or end.”
― Olga Tokarczuk, Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead

“Imagine a world without shadows. You cannot touch a shadow, but a world without them is a hard world, and flat.”
― Franny Billingsley, The Folk Keeper

“we among all animals were cursed with a longing for somewhere better, somewhere that never existed and never would.”
― Lev Grossman, The Magician's Land

“Facing up to the nightmare of the past is what gives you the power to build your future.”
― Lev Grossman, The Magician's Land

“Kinder than is necessary. Because it's not enough to be kind. One should be kinder than needed.”
― R.J. Palacio, Wonder

“But the thing about monsters was, you couldn't talk to them about it, because they wouldn't admit they were monsters in the first place.”
― Lev Grossman, The Magician's Land

“Reader's Bill of Rights

1. The right to not read

2. The right to skip pages

3. The right to not finish

4. The right to reread

5. The right to read anything

6. The right to escapism

7. The right to read anywhere

8. The right to browse

9. The right to read out loud

10. The right to not defend your tastes”
― Daniel Pennac

“Let thy speech be better than silence, or be silent.”
― Dionysius of Halicarnassus

“As we are enabled to live longer, we are also condemned to die longer.”
― Cory Taylor, Dying: A Memoir

“Impressive displays of rhetoric and linguistic force are a good way to seem important and invite a particular kind of admiration, but they tend to silence dissent and discourage deeper modes of engagement.”
― Homer, The Odyssey

“People will trust a reliable criminal more readily than a shady businessman.”
― Andy Weir, Artemis

“Quality is quality,” Jin said. “Age is irrelevant. No one bitches about Shakespeare fans.”
― Andy Weir, Artemis

“It’s all part of the life-cycle of an economy. First it’s lawless capitalism until that starts to impede growth. Next comes regulation, law enforcement, and taxes. After that: public benefits and entitlements. Then, finally, overexpenditure and collapse.”
― Andy Weir, Artemis

“What we read as adults should be read, I think, with no warnings or alerts beyond, perhaps: enter at your own risk. We need to find out what fiction is, what it means, to us, an experience that is going to be unlike anyone else’s experience of the story.”
― Neil Gaiman, Trigger Warning: Short Fictions and Disturbances

“I wonder, Are fictions safe places? And then I ask myself, Should they be safe places?”
― Neil Gaiman, Trigger Warning: Short Fictions and Disturbances

“Thank you for coming. Enjoy the things that never happened. Secure your own mask again after you read these stories, but do not forget to help others.”
― Neil Gaiman, Trigger Warning: Short Fictions and Disturbances

“I remember Icarus. He flew too close to the sun. In the stories, though, it’s worth it. Always worth it to have tried, even if you fail, even if you fall like a meteor forever. Better to have flamed in the darkness, to have inspired others, to have lived, than to have sat in the darkness, cursing the people who borrowed, but did not return, your candle.”
― Neil Gaiman, Trigger Warning: Short Fictions and Disturbances

“I was once a blank piece of parchment too, waiting to be inscribed. I learned about things and people from stories, and I learned about other authors from stories.”
― Neil Gaiman, Trigger Warning: Short Fictions and Disturbances

“What we read as adults should be read, I think, with no warnings or alerts beyond, perhaps: enter at your own risk.”
― Neil Gaiman, Trigger Warning: Short Fictions and Disturbances

“But I kept at it with the help-wanted ads. My standards were sliding swiftly. At first I had insisted I would only work at a company with a mission I believed in. Then I thought maybe it would be fine as long as I was learning something new. After that I decided it just couldn't be evil. Now I was carefully delineating my personal definition of evil.”
― Robin Sloan, Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore

“So I guess you could say Neel owes me a few favors, except that so many favors have passed between us now that they are no longer distinguishable as individual acts, just a bright haze of loyalty. Our friendship is a nebula.”
― Robin Sloan, Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore

“Are there sexual fetishes that involve books? There must be. I try not to imagine how they might work.”
― Robin Sloan, Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore

“Being human in our world is synonymous with being included into the framework of society. Humanity entitles one to certain rights and privileges, but also implies voluntary acceptance of laws and rules of conduct. It transcends mere biology. It's a choice and therefore belongs solely to the individual. In essence, if a person feels they are human, then they are.”
― Ilona Andrews, Magic Bleeds

“once you become their Other, you’re no longer a person. You’re just an idea, an abstraction of everything that’s wrong with their world. Give them the slightest excuse, and they will tear you down. And the easiest way for them to target you as this Other is to find something that’s different about you. Color of your skin. The way you speak. The place you’re from. Magic. It comes and goes in cycles, Kate. Each new generation picks their own Other.”
― Ilona Andrews, Magic Slays

“Rage is a powerful thing. People get upset over many things. Frustrating jobs, small paychecks, bad hours. People want things; people feel humiliated by others who have the things they want; people feel deprived and powerless. All this gives fuel to rage. The anger builds and builds and if there is no outlet for it, pretty soon it transforms the person. They walk around like a loaded gun, ready to go off if only they could find the right target. They want to hurt something. They need it.” He”
― Ilona Andrews, Magic Slays

“People, especially unhappy people, want a cause. They want something to belong to, to be a part of something great and bigger, and to be led. It’s easy to be a cog in a machine: you don’t have to think, you have no responsibility. You’re just following orders. Doing as you’re told.”
― Ilona Andrews, Magic Slays

“Rage is a powerful thing. People get upset over many things. Frustrating jobs, small paychecks, bad hours. People want things; people feel humiliated by others who have the things they want; people feel deprived and powerless. All this gives fuel to rage. The anger builds and builds and if there is no outlet for it, pretty soon it transforms the person. They walk around like a loaded gun, ready to go off if only they could find the right target. They want to hurt something. They need it.” He refilled his glass and topped mine off. “Humans tend to segregate the world: enemies on one side, friends on the other. Friends are people we know. Enemies are the Other. You can do just about anything to the Other. It doesn’t matter if this Other is actually guilty of any crimes, because it’s a matter of emotion, not logic. You see, angry people aren’t interested in justice. They just want an excuse to vent their rage.” Doolittle sighed. “And once you become their Other, you’re no longer a person. You’re just an idea, an abstraction of everything that’s wrong with their world. Give them the slightest excuse, and they will tear you down. And the easiest way for them to target you as this Other is to find something that’s different about you. Color of your skin. The way you speak. The place you’re from.”
― Ilona Andrews, Magic Slays

“You want an excuse for your failure and so you found someone to blame. If you survived, you would always be dirt, ground under someone else’s boot.”
― Ilona Andrews, Magic Slays

“People view us and our vampires as abominations," Ghastek said. "They call the undead inhuman, not realizing the irony: only humans are capable of inhumanity. Four thousand years of technology, with magic shrinking to a mere trickle before the Shift, yet the world was just as evil then as it is now. It's not vampires or werewolves who committed the worst atrocities, but average people. They are the serial killers, the child rapists, the inquisitors, the witch hunters, the perpetrators of monstrous deeds. The shackles on my wall are the symbol of humanity's capacity for cruelty. I keep them to remind myself that I must fear those who fear me.”
― Ilona Andrews, Magic Slays