Isabel

“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

“And the bones fell to the ground, and other bones fell on top of them, and yet more bones, until there were whole hills and cliffs made of them. Death upon death upon death upon death. And two-legged animals dug up old bones and wondered at them. And then they died as well and lay there, like a rat in the sawdust, waiting to become old bones.”
― Frances Hardinge, The Lie Tree

“Habits, places and faces grew into you over time, like tree roots burrowing into stone work.”
― Frances Hardinge, A Skinful of Shadows

“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