Compelling Quotes

“One thing I have learnt is that you may do a lot of evil things, but if you are ever afforded a chance to be good, then you should take it. You will feel better about yourself.”
― Max Nowaz, The Polymorph

“He was planning to take my shape and marry you. Then he was going to kill your father and take over his business empire."
    "And you? What are your plans?"
    "I have no plans to kill your father.”
― Max Nowaz, The Polymorph

“He sounds like a politician running for office.”
― March Lions, The Last Sunset

“He clamped his eyes shut and waited for the pang of something he could no longer name to subside; it plucked at steel threads holding him together and reverberated through his system.”
― J. Rose Black, Losing My Breath

“Light flashed in her eyes. In fact, it clung to her—flaring around her skin, her hair, her whole body. It was a trick of the eyes, his mind, when adrenaline hit his system. But she glowed. Vivid. Alive. And for a moment, he’d have given anything to be like her.”
― J. Rose Black, Losing My Breath

“She could see the headlines now.

‘Spinster dies alone in her condo. No one discovered her corpse for three days.’

She had been so preoccupied with work, that she’d neglected to do the grocery shopping and was now regretting it.”
― Diane Merrill Wigginton, A Compromising Position

“So, you do speak English. That makes sense now.” Catherine said, shaking her head.

“Of course, I speak English. I’m from Australia, not Tanzania.”
― Diane Merrill Wigginton, A Compromising Position

“I prefer death to dishonor for me and my child.”
― Gabriel F.W. Koch, Steel Blood

“Marco’s heart swelled with pride at his culture. Maybe it was the coquito, but his eyes teared at this beautiful Reyes celebration, heavenly food, lush green mountains, clean air, and his family’s delighted faces. He felt sorry for the stiff people at the Casino de Puerto Rico, pretending to be jíbaros and eating food half as delicious as this. Actually, no. He didn’t feel sorry for them. It was precisely what they deserved.”
― Margarita Barresi, A Delicate Marriage

“Notation on Quark Manipulation as Applied to the Time/Space Continuum.”
― Gabriel F.W. Koch, Steel Blood

“The computer began to titter. ‘Well it’s a long story honey, but the concise version is this. Talalia has been a bad girl. She was grounded for six months after her last trip.”
― A.R. Merrydew, Inara

“That is a death I will think of often and with great fondness.”
― Gabriel F.W. Koch, Steel Blood

“Amazing, isn’t it? You have the intelligence to navigate some unfathomable distance across the void. And yet you are too dim to understand the language of the species you encounter upon your arrival.”
― A.R. Merrydew, Inara

“Ok, first things first,’ said Amercron assertively, ‘Bab’s where are we exactly?’
There was another of those silences, which in his current adrenalin fuelled state, he hadn’t the patience for. ‘Well?’
‘Well Honey, were in space.”
― A.R. Merrydew, Inara

“We might even make this after all,’ he hollered, but the craft didn’t reply.”
― A.R. Merrydew, Inara

“If any of them fail me, I will flush them from an airlock into the pit of space, like an unwanted turd. Do I make myself clear?”
― A.R. Merrydew, Inara

“This is your last chance, and I mean it. Now get me to my ship,’ he told the device. A moment later he vanished from the Grand Plaza, and the mayhem that still continued unabated.”
― A.R. Merrydew, Inara

“He would at least be remembered in his cultures history books. Destroying two of his emperors revered structures, on the same day, would not go unmentioned.”
― A.R. Merrydew, Inara

“In my country, we value achievement. People are free to decide what that means to them, and I’ve always considered helping others to be my way of accomplishing something important. I was hoping to serve others with my new job, but that’s history now, so I’m going to have to accomplish something big, or I’ll regret it for the rest of my life.”
― Steven Decker, Projector for Sale

“Time and space are incalculable, there measure is infinite. The formulas that explicate their workings, have all but been explained away. But there is one thing that remains, and always will.
‘The occurrence of events in the absence of any obvious intention or cause.’
Chance.”
― A.R. Merrydew, Inara

“I can imagine,’ laughed Bab’s. ‘It’s not every day of the week you meet a female lizard with nail varnish, lipstick and the scent of Channel Number Five.”
― A.R. Merrydew, Inara

“It was then, that the most ridiculous idea in the entire history of the universe entered his cranium. He had absolutely no idea where it came from. He blinked several times, at the magnitude of its absurdity.”
― A.R. Merrydew, Inara

“She’d always loved the mountains, but as she turned back to face the spectacular seascape in the distance, she nearly lost her breath at the diversity of beauty to be found on this ancient, tiny island. She remembered a thought she’d had, just briefly, during her first day ever walking in Ireland, when they were going down through the forest on the way from Glenmalure to Glendalough. I could live my life doing this, she’d thought. And she’d done that, for a while.”
― Steven Decker, Projector for Sale

“Isn’t this exciting!”
― A.R. Merrydew, Inara

“The calming presence of the forest merged with the beating hearts of the human beings, each of whom was emanating the same peaceful energy that Emily was feeling. This is magical, she thought. I could live my life doing this. And then the moment passed.”
― Steven Decker, Projector for Sale

“My people believe in balance,” he said. “We believe that all living things—plants, animals, people—have an intelligent spirit, and that they all make important contributions to the balance of the world.”
― Steven Decker, Projector for Sale

“If you hope for something, truly yearn for it from deep inside yourself, you have to try everything you can to make it come true. That’s the key to life, my young friend. You won’t always succeed, but knowing you’ve tried your best will carry you through. And sometimes, when you do succeed in making your hopes real, it allows all the beauty of being here on this earth to fill you up with joy.”
― Steven Decker, Projector for Sale

“You could just fall in love with me, then.” He leaned closer. “Problem solved.” 
“You first.” I huffed and moved away, pain seared through my chest—stomping out the warmth that had been so alive a moment before.”
― J. Rose Black, Chasing Headlines

“…the excitement of doing something for the first time had passed. I laid there in the back seat looking at the moon. It was unobscured by clouds except for a few wisps here and there. (Mitch) put his arms around me, and we looked at the moon together. You think we’ll have a lot of moons like this, this month? Mitch asked. “I hope so,” I said. We turned to each other and laughed. He didn’t try to fuck me after that. We just talked for a while about music, school, our brothers, and Janice, of course. And then he drove me home.”
― Karen Hinton, Penis Politics: A Memoir of Women, Men and Power

“When the light reached its zenith, the group of 1,000 Travelers down below could no longer be seen. Suddenly, the intense light ceased to be, returning the lighting of the stadium to a normal level. Dani felt a moment of disorientation, but she soon recovered and looked down at an empty stadium.”
― Steven Decker, Time Chain