Laura Smith

“We were all supposed to make it,” said Wylan softly. Maybe that was naive, the protest of a rich merchant’s son who’d only had a taste of Barrel life.
But Jesper realized he’d been thinking the same thing. After all their mad escapes and close calls, he’d started to believe the six of them were somehow charmed, that his guns, Kaz’s brains, Nina’s wit, Inej’s talent, Wylan’s ingenuity, and Matthias’ strength had made them somehow untouchable. They might suffer. They might take their knocks, but Wylan was right, in the end they were all supposed to stay standing.
“No mourners,” said Jesper, surprised by the ache of tears in his throat.
“No funerals,” they all replied softly.”
― Leigh Bardugo, Crooked Kingdom

“What a fine persecution—to be kept intrigued without ever quite being enlightened.”
― Tom Stoppard, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead

“Audiences know what to expect, and that is all that they are prepared to believe in.”
― Tom Stoppard, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead

“People see what they wish to see. And in most cases, what they are told that they see.”
― Erin Morgenstern, The Night Circus