Character Growth Quotes

“There will be a time when I will answer everything, Avelyn. But it is far in the future for you.”
― Jack Borden, The Lost City: An Epic YA Fantasy Novel

“I'll tell you a secret about storytelling. Cinderella, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty... were not perfect in the beginning. It's only a happy ending on the last page, right? If the princess had everything from the beginning, there wouldn't be a story. Anyone who is imperfect or incomplete can become the main character in the story.”
― PEACH－PIT, Shugo Chara!, Vol. 2: Friends in Need

“Trust No One." What an absurd and paranoid idea. Trust shouldn't be given unconditionally, but it should be given a chance to be earned. There is strength in having the humility to work with and sacrifice for others-”
― Alex Hirsch, Gravity Falls: Journal 3

“Conner howled in pain, causing Shayna to quickly dismiss her own. Shayna dismissed her own discomfort. 
"Sorry about that. I guess I've smelled worse-like fur-lined boots that have been worn without socks. Now, that is pretty foul and—"
"Get them off! Take them off now! It burns!" shrieked Conner. He
attempted to jerk away, but Shayna held firm.
"I can't, Conner. You heard what Rileau said. I just can't!"
"It hurts really bad, like so unbelievably bad," he whined.
"I's going to be okay," she whispered repeatedly.

Shayna began humming and cooing as if he were a small child. She tried hard to block out his moans and focused on rocking him.  She held the wad of leaves firmly on the oozing blisters. She knew her friend was in pain, but she would not risk losing him, especially when she realized she could no longer hear Seneca screaming. The only sounds she heard came from Conner as he whimpered quietly next to her. Warm stinging tears cascaded down her cheeks, but she didn't dare wipe them, as she refused to lessen the pressure on the leaf compress.”
― C. Toni Graham, Crossroads and the Dominion of Four

“I'd never known that I could feel this broken and whole at once.”
― Rachel L. Schade, Silent Kingdom

“Hey. Remember what I said when Shigaraki made swiss cheese outta me? 'Stop trying to with this on your own.' But I had more to say. I needed to tell you that I got stabbed cuz my body moved on its own.

You know, I always looked down on you cuz you were quirkless. You were s'posed to be beneath me...

...But I kept feeling like you were above me.

I hated it. I couldn't bear to look at you. I couldn't accept you the way you were. So I kept you at arm's length and bullied you. I tried to act all superior by rejecting you...

...But I kept losing that fight. Ever since we got into U.A....

...Nothing's worked out how I thought it would. Instead, this past year has forced me to understand your strength and my weakness.

Now I don't expect this to change a thing between us, but I gotta speak...

...My truth.

Izuku...

I'm sorry for everything.


There's nothing wrong with the path you've been walking down since inheriting One For All and following All Might's lead.

But now... You're barely standing. And those ideals alone ain't enough to get you over the wall your facing.

We're here to step in when you can't handle everything on your own. Because to live up to those ideals and surpass All Might...

...We gotta save you, the civilians at U.A., and the people on the streets. Because saving people is how we win.

We get it."

~Katsuki Bakugo -aka- Great Explosion Murder God Dynamite”
― Kohei Horikoshi, 僕のヒーローアカデミア 33 [Boku no Hero Academia 33]

“Page 35, Evelyn: When you’re given an opportunity to change your life, be ready to do whatever it takes to make it happen. The world doesn’t give things, you take things. If you learn one thing from me, it should probably be that.

Page 147, Monique, after a hardball negotiation: I’m learning from the best.”
― Taylor Jenkins Reid, The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo

“You're the one who said I could be decent if I wanted to, so quit trying to talk me out of it. I'm about to piss myself as it is, and you're not helping.”
― Melissa Landers, Starflight

“Somewhere along the line, desert life had regrown on Julia. And more than that, it made her happy. She'd come to peace with the things she'd run from as a young adult---when she'd hoped life in a big city would somehow legitimize her dreams and her career---and now could appreciate the beauty of this place from a more grounded perspective.
Yet still looming was her unfinished business with work and her future. Her old life. Never in a million years would she have guessed that those two subjects would ever be pushed into the background. For so long, they'd been the only things she poured her energy into. Gratefully.
But everything had shifted. And now Julia feared what had once meant so much to her had altered. She felt like the mysterious cactus flowers she'd seen that suddenly opened up in the desert night, blossoming into something more than their previously closed-off shape had allowed.
She felt herself transforming into something new under circumstances. And the realization was both heartbreaking and invigorating at the same time.”
― Nicole Meier, The Second Chance Supper Club

“But Kelsea could not even remember what reason she had cobbled together for mutilating Thorne. She remembered doing the deed, remembered black wings opening inside her, a darkness so inviting that a newly crowned Kelsea Glynn, one who seemed years younger in hindsight, had longed to lose herself inside it. But only madness waited there, the same madness that Finn and his ilk had always wanted to inflict on the Tearling...greed and callousness, lack of empathy, a narrowing of mind until only one lonely voice was left, surrounded by a void into which it could howl only a single word: Me.”
― Erika Johansen, The Fate of the Tearling

“Jude was not human before she met Maya. She was a changeling, a facsimile: something that only ever looked human, but never knew what human felt like. So, of course, Maya ruined her. She took Jude’s hollow bones and filled them with thoughts and emotions like lead, so that she fell down to earth—so that she couldn’t fly away anymore.”
― Addison Lane, Blackpines: The Antlers Witch: The Overcrowded Heart

“Hope flares in her chest, and she thinks, This, this, this is where her story starts.”
― V.E. Schwab, Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil

“Iris didn't have the perfume, but she had something more powerful: self-knowledge. She knew she had the strength and the courage to face the ugliest parts of her lived experience. That trauma was a part of her, but not the defining note. She would not disconnect from the body or the world that had once hurt her. She couldn't heal without connection, first to herself and her body--- that was her first home. She would trust herself first, and then others. Her gut instinct, her heart's desires, her mind's memories and fantasies, fully integrated and embodied. Getting there would be an ongoing process, forever, for everyone.”
― Francesca Serritella, Full Bloom

“The pride that usually protected her like a well-worn shawl scratched at her deceptively sensitive skin. It felt as though with age, the knots of its knit grew tighter and stronger, yet the edges ever frayed.”
― Molly Collier, The Paragon

“It sometimes seemed as though there was no place for a reserved woman in the world. One was either maternal or harsh. Warm or cold. Mirai wore her chilly nature as a badge of shame, though she knew herself to be deeper and more complex than such a label. If the rest of the world was unable to see her, so be it. Mirai knew that she was more than just one thing. More than just one box. She was a myriad.”
― Molly Collier, The Paragon

“It was thought that decisions were made by the logic-front of the brain, while emotions were controlled by the feeling-back of the brain, the part deeper and closer to the heart. In their culture, it was the responsibility of the party still thinking with the logic brain to rebuke those overtaken by emotion, who intended to start silly arguments or cause harm to others. The logical person would bring shame and reason to their friend by striking the front of the head, and thus increasing blood flow to the area.
The science of the practice was murky, but at its core, it was customary practice to smack someone who seemed in need of a good smack.”
― Molly Collier, The Paragon

“Though something within him raged at the need to drag his feet and slow down the progression of his discovery to accommodate her young mind, he endured so that she might be included. He consulted her on every decision, talked over the reasoning behind each choice he’d already made, and bounced ideas off her, often finding real value in her input.”
― Molly Collier, The Paragon

“She no longer felt quite so much like a sunflower always seeking the sun’s warmth, but rather like the moon—a perfect companion made to shine brighter in its presence.”
― Molly Collier, The Paragon

“He had people in there, people who needed him to show up.
And show up he would.
He realized that was all it really took to be a hero.”
― Molly Collier, The Paragon

“Your light, Helen, is to show both peoples the enormous healing possibilities and potentials of the path of love instead of judgment and hatred. You do this simply by being who you are — a bridge of hope, dearest child.”
― Candace L. Talmadge, Stoneslayer: Book One Scandal

“I closed the book with a heart full of hope and warmth.”
― Rendi Ansyah, Beyond the Bouquet: A Symphony of Love in Fifty Movements