Em (Diversify Your Shelf) > Em's Quotes

“She wasn't looking for a knight, she was looking for a sword. ”
― Atticus Poetry

“Zara: It's just a registry...
Kit: Am I the only one who's read X-Men and realizes why this is a bad idea?”
― Cassandra Clare, Lord of Shadows

“When a decision like that is made by a government, it emboldens those who are already prejudiced to speak their deepest thoughts of hate. They assume they are simply brave enough to say what everyone really thinks.”
― Cassandra Clare, Lord of Shadows

“When terrible things have happened to you, sometimes the promise of something good can be just as frightening.”
― Margaret Rogerson, Sorcery of Thorns

“The ability to feel is a strength, not a weakness.”
― Margaret Rogerson, An Enchantment of Ravens

“Every world contains worlds within it. People wander through all the worlds they can find, searching for their homes.”
― Cassandra Clare, Ghosts of the Shadow Market

“Walking along a blade’s edge was only fun until the blade stopped being a metaphor.”
― Margaret Rogerson, An Enchantment of Ravens

“Are you in love with me?" I blurted out.
A terrible silence followed. Rook didn't turn around.
"Please say something."
He rounded on me. "Is that so terrible? You say it as though it's the most awful thing you can imagine. It isn't as though I've done it on purpose. Somehow I've even grown fond of your - your irritating questions, and your short legs, and your accidental attempts to kill me."
I recoiled. "That's the worst declaration of love I've ever heard!”
― Margaret Rogerson, An Enchantment of Ravens

“But that was the problem with the old me, I was coming to realize. She'd accepted that behaving correctly meant not being happy, because that was the way the world worked. She hadn't asked enough - of life, or of herself.”
― Margaret Rogerson, An Enchantment of Ravens

“In one hallway, the floor gleaming parquet and the ceiling festooned with golden cherubs, there was a boy in a grumpy cat mask and biker boots, not involved in any sexual activity, legs crossed and leaning against the wall. As a bevy of faeries passed the boy, giggling and groping, the boy scooted away.
Alec remembered being younger, and how overwhelming large groups of people had seemed. He came over and leaned against the wall beside the boy. He saw the boy texting, PARTIES WERE INVENTED TO ANNOY ME. THEY FEATURE MY LEAST FAVORITE THING: PEOPLE, ALL INTENT ON MY LEAST FAVORITE ACTIVITY: SOCIAL INTERACTION.
“I don’t really like parties either,” Alec said sympathetically.
“No hablo italiano,” the boy mumbled without looking up.
“Er,” said Alec. “This conversation is happening in English.”
“No hablo ingles,” he said without missing a beat.
“Oh, come on. Really?”
“Worth a shot,” said the boy.
Alec considered going away. The boy wrote another text to a contact he had saved as RF. Alec could not help but notice that the conversation was entirely one-sided, the boy sending text after text with no response. The last text read VENICE SMELLS LIKE A TOILET. AS A NEW YORKER, I DO NOT SAY THIS LIGHTLY.
The weird coincidence emboldened Alec to try again.
“I get shy when there are strangers too,” Alec told the kid.
“I’m not shy,” the boy sneered. “I just hate everyone around me and everything that is happening.”
“Well.” Alec shrugged. “Those feel like similar things sometimes.”
The boy lifted his curly head, pushing the grumpy cat mask off his face, and froze. Alec froze too, at the twin shock of fangs and familiarity. This was a vampire, and Alec knew him.
“Raphael?” he asked. “Raphael Santiago?”
He wondered what the second-in-command of the New York clan was doing here. Downworlders might be flooding in from all over the world, but Raphael had never struck Alec as a party animal.
Of course, he was not exactly coming off as a party animal now.
“Oh no, it’s you,” said Raphael. “The twelve-year-old idiot.”
Alec was not keen on vampires. They were, after all, people who had died. Alec had seen too much death to want reminders of it.
He understood that they were immortal, but there was no need to show off about it.
“We just fought a war together. I was with you in the graveyard when Simon came back as a vampire. You’ve seen me multiple times since I was twelve.”
“The thought of you at twelve haunts me,” Raphael said darkly.
“Okay,” Alec said, humoring him. “So have you seen a guy called Mori Shu anywhere around here?”
“I am trying not to make eye contact with anyone here,” said Raphael. “And I’m not a snitch for Shadowhunters. Or a fan of talking to people, of any kind, in any place.”
Alec rolled his eyes.”
― Cassandra Clare, The Red Scrolls of Magic

“At this point, a faerie woman came twirling through. She had leaves in her updo and was swathed in ribbons and ivy and not much else. She tripped on a trailing line of ivy and Alec caught her.
“Good reflexes!” she said brightly. “Also great arms. Would you be interested in a night of tumultuous forbidden passion, with an option to extend to seven years?”
“Um, I am gay,” Alec said.
He was not used to saying that casually, to any random person. It was strange to say it, and feel both relief and a shadow of his old fear, twined together.
Of course, the declaration might not mean much to faeries. The faerie woman accepted it with a shrug, then looked over at Raphael and lit up.
Something about the leather jacket or the scowl seemed to appeal to her strongly.
“How about you, Vampire Without a Cause?”
“I’m not gay,” said Raphael. “I’m not straight. I’m not interested.”
“Your sexuality is ‘not interested’?” Alec asked curiously.
Raphael said, “That’s right.”
The faerie thought for a moment, then ventured, “I can also assume the appearance of a tree!”
“I didn’t say, ‘not interested unless you’re a tree.’ ”
“Wait,” said the faerie suddenly. “I recognize you. You’re Raphael Santiago! I’ve heard of you.”
Raphael made a gesture of dismissal. “Have you heard I like it when people go away?”
“You were one of the heroes in the Downworlder victory over Valentine.”
“He was one of the heroes of the Downworlder and Shadowhunter alliance, which led to the victory,” Alec said.
Raphael stopped looking annoyed and began to look nastily amused.
“Oh, did the Shadowhunters help a little?” he asked.
“You were there!” said Alec.
“Can I have your autograph, Raphael?” asked the faerie lady.
She produced a large, shiny green leaf and a quill. Raphael wrote LEAVE ME ALONE on the leaf.
“I’ll cherish it,” said the faerie. She ran away, clutching the leaf to her bosom.
“Don’t,” Raphael yelled after her.”
― Cassandra Clare, The Red Scrolls of Magic

“A blast of music echoing down the corridors was his only reply. Alec and Raphael both winced. Raphael glanced up at him.
“This is the worst party I’ve ever been to,” he said. “And I hate parties. People keep asking me whether I have extra superpowers, and I tell them they are thinking of Simon, whom I dislike.”
“That’s a little harsh,” said Alec.
“You have to be harsh with fledglings or they do not learn,” said Raphael sternly. “Besides, his jokes are stupid.”
“They’re not all gold,” Alec admitted.
“How do you know him?” Raphael snapped his fingers. “Wait, I remember. He’s friends with your annoying blond parabatai, right?”
He was, though Simon would probably be surprised to hear it. Alec was very familiar with how Jace behaved when he wanted to be your friend. He didn’t act friendly, which would have been too easy. Instead he just spent a lot of time in your presence until you got used to him being there, which he was clearly now doing with regard to Simon. When Jace and Alec were little, Jace had done a lot of hostile hanging around him, hoping to be noticed and loved. Alec honestly preferred it to awkward getting-to-know-you conversations.
“Right. Plus, Simon is sort of dating my sister, Isabelle,” said Alec.
“That can’t be,” said Raphael. “Isabelle can do better.”
“Er, do you know my sister?” Alec asked.
“She threatened me with a candelabra once, but we don’t really chat,” said Raphael. “Which means we have my ideal relationship.” He gave Alec a cold glare. “It’s the relationship I wish I had with all Shadowhunters.”
Alec was about to give up and walk away.”
― Cassandra Clare, The Red Scrolls of Magic

“And if they underestimate you, then you're the one with all the power.”
― Susan Dennard, Bloodwitch

“How is it,” Stix asked, “that men always seem to claim victory over the triumphs earned by women?”
― Susan Dennard, Bloodwitch

“Using the chair is not a punishment. It is not a prison,' he said softly. 'It never was. And I am as much of a man in that chair, or with that cane, as I am standing on my feet.' He brushed away the tear that slipped down her cheek.
'I wanted to heal you,' she breathed.
'You did,' he said, smiling. 'Yrene, in every way that truly matters . . . You did.'
Chaol wiped away the other tears that fell, brushing a kiss to her hot cheek.”
― Sarah J. Maas, Tower of Dawn

“No lady, beautiful or plain, young or old, deserved to be gawked at.”
― Sarah J. Maas, Tower of Dawn

“Don’t you waste one heartbeat being afraid of a coward who hunts women in the darkness,” Chaol snapped at her.”
― Sarah J. Maas, Tower of Dawn

“You would be surprised by how closely the healing of physical wounds is tied to the healing of emotional ones.”
― Sarah J. Maas, Tower of Dawn

“I once lived in fear of other people. I let other people walk all over me just because I was too afraid of the consequences for refusing. I did not know how to refuse.”
― Sarah J. Maas, Tower of Dawn

“Books are easily destroyed. But words will live as long as people can remember them.”
― Tahereh Mafi, Unravel Me

“On the darkest days you have to search for a spot of brightness, on the coldest days you have to seek out a spot of warmth; on the bleakest days you have to keep your eyes onward and upward and on the saddest days you have to leave them open to let them cry. To then let them dry. To give them a chance to wash out the pain in order to see fresh and clear once again.”
― Tahereh Mafi, Unravel Me

“You are so confident," he says to me. "You're stubborn and resilient. So brave. So strong. So inhumanly beautiful. You could conquer the world.”
― Tahereh Mafi, Unravel Me

“Words, I think, are such unpredictable creatures.
No gun, no sword, no army or king will ever be more powerful than a sentence. Swords may cut and kill, but words will stab and stay, burying themselves in our bones to become corpses we carry into the future, all the time digging and failing to rip their skeletons from our flesh.”
― Tahereh Mafi, Ignite Me

“Words are like seeds, I think, planted into our hearts at a tender age. They take root in us as we grow, settling deep into our souls. The good words plant well. They flourish and find homes in our hearts. They build trunks around our spines, steadying us when we’re feeling most flimsy; planting our feet firmly when we’re feeling most unsure. But the bad words grow poorly. Our trunks infest and spoil until we are hollow and housing the interests of others and not our own. We are forced to eat the fruit those words have borne, held hostage by the branches growing arms around our necks, suffocating us to death, one word at a time.”
― Tahereh Mafi, Ignite Me

“Pity those who don't feel anything at all.”
― Sarah J. Maas, A Court of Thorns and Roses

“We need hope, or else we cannot endure.”
― Sarah J. Maas, A Court of Thorns and Roses

“I was not a pet, not a doll, not an animal.
I was a survivor, and I was strong.
I would not be weak, or helpless again
I would not, could not be broken. Tamed.”
― Sarah J. Maas, A Court of Mist and Fury

“There are good days and hard days for me—even now. Don’t let the hard days win.”
― Sarah J. Maas, A Court of Mist and Fury

“No one was my master— but I might be master of everything, if I wished. If I dared.”
― Sarah J. Maas, A Court of Mist and Fury

“And I realized—I realized how badly I'd been treated before, if my standards had become so low. If the freedom I'd been granted felt like a privilege and not an inherent right.”
― Sarah J. Maas, A Court of Mist and Fury