Ottavia > Ottavia 's Quotes

“Getting lost inside a book could be a good thing.”
― Pierdomenico Baccalario, La ladra di specchi

“I wish that you will find love. It is the only thing in life that makes the pain of being alive bearable.”
― Lucinda Riley, The Seven Sisters

“Love knows not distance;
It hath no continent;
It's eyes are for the stars.”
― Lucinda Riley, The Seven Sisters

“Never let fear decide your destiny.”
― Lucinda Riley, The Seven Sisters

“Corruption begins with a single moment of weakness.”
― Erika Johansen, The Invasion of the Tearling

“Even small gestures of kindness have the potential to reap enormous rewards. Only the shortsighted man believes otherwise.”
― Erika Johansen, The Invasion of the Tearling

“And Kelsea wondered suddenly whether humanity ever actually changed. Did people grow and learn at all as the centuries past? Or was humanity merely like the tide, enlightenment advancing and then retreating as circumstances shifted? The most defining characteristic of the species might be lapse.”
― Erika Johansen, The Invasion of the Tearling

“Always, we think we know what courage means. If I were called upon, we say, I would answer the call. I would not hesitate. Until the moment is upon us, and then we realize that the demands of true courage are very different from what we had envisioned, long ago on that bright morning when we felt brave.”
― Erika Johansen, The Invasion of the Tearling

“There's a better world out there, so close we can almost touch it.”
― Erika Johansen, The Invasion of the Tearling

“Sometime in the last forty-eight hours, Lily had discovered the great secret of pain: it thrived on the unknown, on the knowledge that there was a greater pain out there, something more excruciating that might yet be breached. The body was constantly waiting. When you took away the uncertainty, when you controlled the pain yourself, it was definitely easier to bear,...”
― Erika Johansen, The Invasion of the Tearling

“It didn’t matter then, anyway. Elyssa had about as much use for books as a cat has for a riding crop. But now …”
Tyler heard the Mace’s unspoken thought easily. Queen Elyssa may not have cared about illiteracy, but Queen Kelsea would care, very much. “But the Queen would never kick you out of the Guard.”
“Of course she wouldn’t. I just don’t want her to know.”
― Erika Johansen, The Invasion of the Tearling

“The problems of the past.
How the problems of the past, uncorrected, inevitably became the problems of the future.”
― Erika Johansen, The Invasion of the Tearling

“They’re good, these stories,” Mace continued, his cheeks stained with light color. “They teach the pain of others.” “Empathy. Carlin always said it was the great value of fiction, to put us inside the minds of strangers.”
― Erika Johansen, The Fate of the Tearling

“Sometimes I think: if they want to walk around armed and build fences and let a church tell them what to do, let them wallow in it. They can build their own town of closed thinking, and live there, and find out later what a shitty place it really is.”
― Erika Johansen, The Fate of the Tearling

“I missed you, Lazarus. More than I missed the sunlight, even.”
― Erika Johansen, The Fate of the Tearling

“Tyler did not believe in hell. He had decided, long ago, that if God wanted to punish them, there was infinite opportunity right here; hell would be superfluous.
But if there was a hell on earth, Tyler had certainly found it.”
― Erika Johansen, The Fate of the Tearling

“These people are so damned proud of their hatred! Hatred is easy, and lazy to boot. It’s love that demands effort, love that exacts a price from each of us. Love costs; this is its value. —The Glynn Queen’s Words,”
― Erika Johansen, The Fate of the Tearling

“Who are you? Do you serve the Tear?"
"No. I serve the Mace.”
― Erika Johansen, The Fate of the Tearling

“Few things are more dangerous to an egalitarian ideal than the concept of a chosen people.”
― Erika Johansen, The Fate of the Tearling

“Humanity would have to work for that society, and work hard, dedicating themselves to an unending vigilance against the mistakes of the past. It”
― Erika Johansen, The Fate of the Tearling

“You think I don't care about my people, but I do... - The Red Queen”
― Erika Johansen, The Fate of the Tearling

“The Tearling... I told them not to name things after me. - William Tear”
― Erika Johansen, The Fate of the Tearling

“There is truth in stories,” said Arthur. “There is truth in one of your paintings, boy or in a sunset or a couplet from Homer. Fiction is truth, even if it is not a fact. If you believe only in facts and forget stories, your brain will live, but your heart will die.”
― Cassandra Clare, Lord of Shadows

“Everyone is afraid of something. We fear things because we value them. We fear losing people because we love them. We fear dying because we value being alive. Don't wish you didn't fear anything. All that would mean is that you didn't feel anything.”
― Cassandra Clare, Lord of Shadows

“Lex malla, lex nulla,” said Julian with a regretful wave of his hand. It was the Blackthorn family motto: A bad law is no law.
“I wonder what other family mottoes are,” Emma mused. “Do you know any?”
“The Lightwood family motto is ‘We mean well.’ ”
“Very funny.”
Julian looked over at her. “No, really, it actually is.”
“Seriously? So what’s the Herondale family motto? ‘Chiseled but angsty’?”
He shrugged. ‘If you don’t know what your last name is, it’s probably Herondale’?”
Emma burst out laughing. “What about Carstairs?” she asked, tapping Cortana. “ ‘We have a sword’? ‘Blunt instruments are for losers’?”
“Morgenstern,” offered Julian. “ ‘When in doubt, start a war’?”
― Cassandra Clare, Lord of Shadows

“Sometimes the most ruthless heart speaks the most truth”
― Cassandra Clare, Lord of Shadows

“I need to be whole again. Even if it doesn’t last.”
“It can’t last,” she said, staring at him, because how could it, when they could never keep what they had? “It’ll break our hearts.”
He caught her by the wrist, brought her hand to his bare chest. Splayed her fingers over his heart. It beat against her palm, like a fist punching its way through his sternum. “Break my heart,” he said. “Break it in pieces. I give you permission.”
― Cassandra Clare, Lord of Shadows

“There's something about a place you've been with someone you love. It takes on a meaning in your mind. It becomes more than a place. It becomes a distillation of what you felt for each other. The moments you spend in a place with someone... they become part of its bricks and mortar. Part of its soul.”
― Cassandra Clare, Lord of Shadows

“There were valuable first editions of books in the enormous library, most of them had been scribbled in by some idiot named Will H.”
― Cassandra Clare, Lord of Shadows

“The bad things can't matter more than the good things”
― Cassandra Clare, Lord of Shadows