Jessica > Jessica's Quotes

“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

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

“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

“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

“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

“I will go out again this very night with my rockets and fuses. I will blow them straight out of their comfortable beds. Blow the rooftops off their houses. Blow the black, wretched night to bits. I will not stop. For mad I may be, but I will never be convenient.”
― Jennifer Donnelly, Revolution

“I have done this—made the sad prince laugh. Made his grieving parents smile. None but me. Think you only kings have power? Stand on a stage and hold the hearts of men in your hands. Make them laugh with a gesture, cry with a word. Make them love you. And you will know what power is.”
― Jennifer Donnelly, Revolution

“I play until my fingers are blue and stiff from the cold, and then I keep on playing. Until I'm lost in the music. Until I am the music--notes and chords, the melody and harmony. It hurts, but it's okay because when I'm the music, I'm not me. Not sad. Not afraid. Not desperate. Not guilty.”
― Jennifer Donnelly, Revolution

“Turn away. From the darkness, the madness, the pain. Open your eyes and look at the light.”
― 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

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

“It's a good thing you and your pills weren't around a few hundred years ago or there never would have been a Vermeer or a Caravaggio. You'd have drugged "Girl with a Pearl Earring" and "The Taking of Christ" right the hell out of them.”
― Jennifer Donnelly, Revolution

“Little by little, the old world crumbled, and not once did the king imagine that some of the pieces might fall on him.”
― Jennifer Donnelly, Revolution

“The more obscure our tastes, the greater the proof of our genius.”
― Jennifer Donnelly, Revolution

“It has an L on it. L for love. See? It's the key to the universe, Dad. You said you were looking for it. You told Mom you were. I found it for you so you don't have to look anymore. So you can come home at night.”
― Jennifer Donnelly, Revolution

“There were nights when I got nothing, [but] I still played. With no one to hear me and no one to pay me, and it did not matter.

On those nights, the words were for me alone. They came up unbidden from my heart. They slipped over my tongue and spilled from my mouth. And because of them I, who was nothing and nobody, was a prince of Denmark, a maid of Verona, a queen of Egypt. I was a sour misanthrope, a beetling hypocrite, a conjurer's daughter, a mad and murderous king.

It was dark and it was cold on those nights. The world was harsh and I was hungry. Yet I had such joy from the words. Such joy.

There were times when I lifted my face to the sky, stretched my arms wide to the winter night, and laughed out loud, so happy was I.

The memory of it makes me laugh now, but not from happiness.

Be careful what you show the world.

You never know when the wolf is watching.”
― Jennifer Donnelly, Revolution

“Happiness was useless to me. It was heartache that filled my purse. What happy man has need of Shakespeare?”
― 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

“I need a boy who thinks with his big head, not his little one. Since they do not exist, I have fashioned my own.”
― Jennifer Donnelly, Revolution

“When you can write music that endures, bravo. Until then, keep quiet and study the work of those who can.”
― Jennifer Donnelly, Revolution

“I play until my fingertips are raw. Until I rip a nail and bleed on the strings. Until my hands hurt so bad I forget my heart does.”
― Jennifer Donnelly, Revolution

“I was only glad to be saved and never once thought to ask why.”
― Jennifer Donnelly, Revolution

“Because beautiful things never last. Not roses nor snow… And not fireworks, either”
― Jennifer Donnelly, Revolution

“Every heart is made of stories.”
― Jennifer Donnelly, Revolution

“The rain comes down harder as I write. It sheets off the roof in torrents. I wish it would pound against me. Pound the life from my body. The flesh from my bones. The pain from my heart.”
― Jennifer Donnelly, Revolution

“You are a ghost, Andi," she says. "Almost gone."

I look at her. I want to say something but I can't get the words out.

She squeezes my hands. "Come back to us," she says. And she's gone.”
― Jennifer Donnelly, Revolution

“Airports should all belong to the same country. The country of Crappacia. Or Bleakovania. Or Suckitan.”
― Jennifer Donnelly, Revolution

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