Anna Lightwood Quotes

“Matthew sighed as he set the bottle on the mantel. “You know what they say,” he said, as he and James left the room and began to wend their way back toward the party. “Drink, and you will sleep; sleep, and you will not sin; do not sin, and you will be saved; therefore, drink and be saved.”
“Matthew, you could sin in your sleep,” said a languorous voice.
“Anna,” said Matthew, sagging against James’s shoulder. “Have you been sent to fetch us?”
Lounging against the wall was James’s cousin Anna Lightwood, gorgeously dressed in fitted trousers and a pin-striped shirt. She had the Herondale blue eyes, always disconcerting for James to see, as it felt a bit as if his father were looking at him. “If by ‘fetch,’ you mean ‘drag you back to the ballroom by any means possible,’  ” Anna said. “There are girls who need someone to dance with them and tell them they look pretty, and I cannot do it all on my own.”
The musicians in the ballroom suddenly struck up a tune—a lively waltz.
“Crikey, not waltzing,” said Matthew, in despair. “I loathe waltzing.”
He began to back away. Anna seized him by the back of the coat. “Oh, no, you don’t,” she said, and firmly herded both of them toward the ballroom.”
― Cassandra Clare, Chain of Gold

“I appreciate the scientific rigor with which you’ve approached this project, Anna,” said Christopher, who had gotten jam on his sleeve. “Though I don’t think I could manage to collect that many names and also pursue science. Much too time-consuming.”
Anna laughed. “How many names would you want to collect, then?”
Christopher tilted his head, a brief frown of concentration crossing his face, and did not reply.
“I would only want one,” said Thomas.
Cordelia thought of the delicate tracery of the compass rose on Thomas’s arm, and wondered if he had any special person in mind.
“Too late for me to only have one,” declared Matthew airily. “At least I can hope for several names in a carefully but enthusiastically selected list.”
“Nobody’s ever tried to seduce me at all,” Lucie announced in a brooding fashion. “There’s no need to look at me like that, James. I wouldn’t say yes, but I could immortalize the experience in my novel.”
“It would be a very short novel, before we got hold of the blackguard and killed him,” said James.
There was a chorus of laughter and argument. The afternoon sun was sinking in the sky, its rays catching the jeweled hilts of the knives in Anna’s mantelpiece. They cast shimmering rainbow patterns on the gold-and-green walls. The light illuminated Anna’s shabby-bright flat, making something in Cordelia’s heart ache. It was such a homey place, in a way that her big cold house in Kensington was not.
“What about you, Cordelia?” said Lucie.
“One,” said Cordelia. “That’s everyone’s dream, isn’t it, really? Instead of many who give you little pieces of themselves—one who gives you everything.”
Anna laughed. “Searching for the one is what leads to all the misery in this world,” she said. “Searching for many is what leads to all the fun.”
― Cassandra Clare, Chain of Gold

“We all carry a light inside ourselves. It burns with the flame of ours souls. But there are other people in our lives who add their own flames to ours, creating a brighter conflagration.”
― Cassandra Clare, Chain of Thorns

“The trousers and jacket do not make me a man, and the necklace does not make me a woman. They are only what makes me feel beautiful and powerful in this moment. I am exactly as I choose to be.”
― Cassandra Clare, Ghosts of the Shadow Market

“Anna has a quality.” Matthew raised a thoughtful eyebrow. “The French would call it jolie laide.” Cordelia knew French well enough to frown. “Pretty-ugly? She’s not ugly!” “It doesn’t mean that,” Matthew said. “It means unusually pretty. Oddly beautiful. It denotes having a face with character.”
― Cassandra Clare, Chain of Gold

“I have always known you, my love," Cecily said. "You are the gem of my heart. My firstborn. My Anna.”
― Cassandra Clare, Every Exquisite Thing

“If you were a truly dedicated brother Thomas, you would be at Babara's side,” Anna said. “I would hope that if I collapsed, Christopher would weep inconsolably and be incapable of consuming meat pies.”
― Cassandra Clare, Chain of Gold

“Because, when you want something very much, you are willing to accept the shadow of that thing. Even if it is just a shadow.”
― Cassandra Clare, Chain of Iron

“Anna held up a small black-bound memorandum book. Cordelia hadn’t even seen her retrieve it. They strode out of the bedroom, Anna waving the book over her head in triumph. “This,” she announced, “will hold the answers to all our questions.”
Matthew looked up, his eyes fever-bright. “Is this your list of conquests?”
“Of course not,” Anna declared. “It’s a memorandum book… about my conquests. That is an important but meaningful distinction.”
Anna flipped through the book. There were many pages, and many names written in a bold, sprawling hand.
“Hmm, let me see. Katherine, Alicia, Virginia—a very promising writer, you should look out for her work, James—Mariane, Virna, Eugenia—”
“Not my sister Eugenia?” Thomas nearly upended his cake.
“Oh, probably not,” Anna said. “Laura, Lily… ah, Hypatia. Well, it was a brief encounter, and I suppose you might say she seduced me.…”
“Well, that hardly seems fair,” said James. “Like someone solving a case before Sherlock Holmes. If I were you I would feel challenged, as if to a duel.”
Matthew chuckled. Anna gave James a dark look. “I know what you’re trying to do,” she said.
“Is it working?” said James.
“Possibly,” said Anna, regarding the book. Cordelia couldn’t help but wonder: Was Ariadne’s name in there? Was she considered a conquest now, or something—someone—else?”
― Cassandra Clare, Chain of Gold

“The plumes on Evangeline’s mother’s hat trembled as she gazed sternly at Anna, perched in her sash window, examining an unlit cigar. “You!” she shouted. “You are a disgrace! Breaking girls’ hearts like that! An absolute disgrace, sir! If it were but a century ago, I should slap a glove in your face, decidedly!”
Anna burst out laughing.”
― Cassandra Clare, Chain of Gold

“We are special, unusual, unique people. That means that we must be bold and proud, but also careful. Don’t think you have so much to prove that it makes you foolish.”
― Cassandra Clare, Chain of Iron

“Do you think he's in love?" Anna said. "People can be awful when they're in love.”
― Cassandra Clare, Chain of Gold

“I do not have to be only one thing, Anna thought. I can choose what suits me when it suits me. The trousers and jacket do not make me a man, and the necklace does not make me a woman. They are only what makes me feel beautiful and powerful in this moment. I am exactly as I choose to be. I am a Shadowhunter who wears gorgeous suits and a legendary pendant.”
― Cassandra Clare, Every Exquisite Thing

“Anna: I will never be with you. We have no future together. None. Do you still want me to kiss you anyway?

Ariadne: Yes. Yes.”
― Cassandra Clare, Chain of Iron

“She blushed and looked down, and Anna's heart skipped a beat. It wasn't possible, she told herself. There was simply no chance that the Inquisitor's beautiful daughter was … like her”
― Cassandra Clare, Every Exquisite Thing

“It is a delicate thing, training, despite the obvious violence, of course."
"You will have to be delicate with me, then," Ariadne said, very softly.”
― Cassandra Clare, Every Exquisite Thing

“It was only on the way home that Anna realised that Ariadne had asked her to the library and not shown her a single book”
― Cassandra Clare, Every Exquisite Thing

“Anna’s attention was focused on a single patient. Ariadne Bridgestock lay quietly against the white pillows. Her eyes were shut, and her rich brown skin was ashen, stretching tightly over the branching black veins beneath her skin.
Anna slipped in between the screens surrounding Ariadne’s cot, and Cordelia followed, feeling slightly awkward. Was she intruding? But Anna looked up, as if to assure herself that Cordelia was there, before she knelt down at the side of Ariadne’s bed, laying her walking stick on the floor.
Anna’s bowed shoulders looked strangely vulnerable. One of her hands dangled at her side: she reached out the other, fingers moving slowly across the white linen sheets, until she was almost touching Ariadne’s hand.
She did not take it. At the last moment, Anna’s fingers curled and dropped to rest, beside Ariadne but not quite touching. In a low and steady voice, Anna said, “Ariadne. When you wake up—and you will wake up—I want you to remember this. It was never a sign of your worth that Charles Fairchild wanted to marry you. It is a measure of his lack of worth that he chose to break it off in such a manner.”
“He broke it off?” Cordelia whispered. She was stunned. The breaking off of a promised engagement was a serious matter, undertaken usually only when one of the parties in question had committed some kind of serious crime or been caught in an affair. For Charles to break his promise to Ariadne while she lay unconscious was appalling. People would assume he had found out something dreadful about Ariadne. When she awoke, she might be ruined.
Anna did not reply to Cordelia. She only raised her head and looked at Ariadne’s face, a long look like a touch.
“Please don’t die,” she said, in a low voice, and rose to her feet. Catching up her walking stick, she strode from the infirmary, leaving Cordelia staring after her in surprise.”
― Cassandra Clare, Chain of Gold

“Cordelia frowned seeing Anna’s expression. “Anna? What’s wrong?”
Anna scowled. “I had come here to horsewhip Charles, but it appears that he is elsewhere.”
“Charles Fairchild?” Cordelia echoed blankly. “I believe he’s at home—he called a gathering at his house for high-ranking Enclave members. You could go horsewhip him there, but it would make for a very strange meeting.”
“High-ranking Enclave members?” Anna rolled her eyes. “Well, no wonder I don’t know about it. So I suppose I’ll have to wait until later to puncture him like the pustulant boil he is.”
― Cassandra Clare, Chain of Gold

“My cousin Anna says the Shadow Market is tremendous fun,” said Matthew happily. “Of course, you know Anna. She’s always tremendous fun herself and has the best taste in waistcoats in London. I met some very agreeable faeries who invited me, and I thought I would come see.”
― Cassandra Clare, Cast Long Shadows

“Christopher, apart from providing the reassurance of an authoritative male presence - ”
“What ho!” put in Christopher, looking pleased.
“ - is my little brother and must do what I say,” Anna finished.”
― Cassandra Clare, Chain of Thorns

“Did she know how beautiful she was? Did she know her eyes were the color of liquid gold, and that songs could be written about the way she turned out her wrist to reach for her glass?”
― Cassandra Clare, Ghosts of the Shadow Market

“This was what love was. It was total. It brought her together with everything. Anna barely cared if she made it home before someone would notice her missing. She wanted to feel like this forever—exactly this, this soft and fragrant and friendly morning, with the feel of Ariadne still on her skin. Her future, so confused before, was clear. She would be with Ariadne forever. They would travel the world, fight side by side.”
― Cassandra Clare, Ghosts of the Shadow Market

“Anna did not reply; she had started out of the room- then paused in front of Ariadne. She slid a finger under Ariadne's chin, raised the other girl's face, and kissed her, hard- Ariadne's eyes flew wide with surprise before she closed them, surrendering to the moment.”
― Cassandra Clare, Chain of Iron

“Her head was full of Ariadne’s orange-blossom perfume and the way her tumble of dark hair was pinned up in a gold comb.”
― Cassandra Clare, Ghosts of the Shadow Market

“She has mastered being entirely open without revealing anything significant about herself to anyone... It's why she's a great shoulder to cry on.”
― Cassandra Clare, Chain of Iron

“Anna led her out onto the dance floor, knowing full well that Ari's parents were watching. One hand on Ari's shoulder, another on her waist, she led her into the steps of the waltz. Ari began to smile as they whirled around the dance floor, her eyes glowing, and for once, Anna's need to observe the rest of the party - the interactions, gestures, conversations - fell away. The world shrank down to only Ari: her hands, her eyes, her smile. Nothing else mattered.”
― Cassandra Clare, Chain of Thorns

“But not tonight. Tonight you have had a shock, and it is very late, and you must rest. In the morning you will start a new life. And it will be wonderful.”
― Cassandra Clare, Chain of Thorns

“Anna read fiercely, as if she could burn up the pages with her eyes.”
― Cassandra Clare, Chain of Thorns

“Anna laid a hand against his cheek. “My Matthew,” she said. “What is it you fear so much to tell your parents?”
Matthew closed his eyes, shaking his head. “I—I can’t, Anna. I do not want you to despise me.”
“I would never despise you,” Anna said. “We are all flawed creatures. As diamonds are flawed, each distinct imperfection makes us unique.”
“Perhaps I don’t wish to be unique,” Matthew said. “Perhaps I wish only to be happy and ordinary.”
“Matthew, darling, you are the least ordinary person I know—besides myself—and that is part of what makes you happy. You are a peacock, not a duck.”
“I see you have inherited the Herondale hatred for ducks from your mother,” said Matthew, with the faintest of smiles.”
― Cassandra Clare, Chain of Thorns