Isabel

“Trust was like mould. It accumulated over time in unattended places... Over the years, Makepeace had become encrusted with other people's inattentive trust.”
― Frances Hardinge, A Skinful of Shadows

“The other side’s got an energy that our side en’t got. Comes from their certainty about being right. If you got that certainty, you’ll be willing to do anything to bring about the end you want. It’s the oldest human problem, Lyra, an’ it’s the difference between good and evil. Evil can be unscrupulous, and good can’t. Evil has nothing to stop it doing what it wants, while good has one hand tied behind its back. To do the things it needs to do to win, it’d have to become evil to do ’em.”
― Philip Pullman, The Secret Commonwealth

“She’s lived in Plato’s cave, staring at the shadows on the wall. Now she’s been turned around to face the fire.”
― M.R. Carey, The Girl With All the Gifts

“He frigging flat-out hates frivolous, thoughtless people who dance across the surface of the world without looking down.”
― M.R. Carey, The Girl With All the Gifts