Dawn

“She might bandy back and forth with her pa about all sorts of things just for the jump of it—like refusing her grits, sleeping all day and hunting all night, and spying on the Vanderbilts and their guests—but she never argued about this. She knew when he said those words he was as serious as her dead momma. For all the spiny talk and all the sneak-about, sometimes you just stayed quiet and did what you were told because you sensed it was a good way to keep breathing”
― Robert Beatty, Serafina and the Black Cloak

“Brutus was dead. His body lay under an oak on the Hendersons' lawn. A small group of neighbors had gathered around his corpse, their faces sad and shocked.”
― Ilona Andrews, Clean Sweep

“Coal, with time and heat and pressure, will always become a diamond. But if you were freezing to death, which would you consider the gem?”
― Jodi Picoult, A Spark of Light

“Nobody warns you that life continues to be complicated after you’ve Done the Right Thing. That there is no reward, beyond some intangible sense of moral fortitude.”
― Rosie Walsh, Ghosted