Libba Bray Quotes

It's as if I've inherited a skin I cannot quite fit, and so I walk about constantly pulling and and tugging, pinning and pruning, trying desperately to fill it out, hoping that no one will look at me struggling and say, 'That one there- she's a fraud, Look how she doesn't fit at all.

There are no safe choices. Only other choices.

You have a steady fella?" Sam asked after a bit.
"No fella can hold me for long."
Sam gave her a sideways glance. "That a challenge?"
"No. A statement of fact.

It's so laughable that it's somewhere beyond comedy and right into tragedy again.

Why had this power come to me? I can scarcely govern myself. At times, I feel as if I could dance through the halls with happiness, and then, just as suddenly, my thoughts are dark and lost and frightening.

But forgiveness ... I'll hold on to that fragile slice of hope and keep it close, remembering that in each of us lie good and bad, light and dark, art and pain, choice and regret, cruelty and sacrifice.

Any book that can help you survive the slings and arrows of adolescence is a book to love for life; 'The Catcher in the Rye' did just that, and I still do love it.

Every girl was once a prinsess

I'd say ... " Petra crossed her legs, tucked a wayward strand of hair behind her ear. "I'd say, I am too fucking fabulous for one gender. Oh, and can we please get rid of the cheesy dance numbers? It's like torture step-ball-change."
"I'd say I am not a race. I am an individual," Nicole said.
Sosie moved her fingers gracefully, but no one understood. She waited for a moment. "I would say, learn to hear me in my own voice. I'm hearing impaired, not invisible.

People are…" Mabel wheezed. "Mostly good, you…" Wheeze. "Know? Mostly." She tried to take a breath. It was hard. Like breathing through layers of gauze. Where were her parents? She loved them so. "Mostly. I believe that with…" A bloody cough tore through Mabel's lungs. "… With all my… all my heart.

I'm going to eviscerate you and leave your organs on a pike in the yard as a warning to those who wear large jewelry.

Grinning, he grabbed his fisherman's cap and coat. "I love you," he whispered quietly. "Ikh hob dikh lib." He kissed Evie's head. She rustled in her sleep, turning away. "Fine. I see how it is. I just wasted my best Yiddish on you," Sam joked to himself.

The citizens rise and wash, shave and brush. They don stockings and dresses, pants, shirts, and suspenders. They button up their need. Affix their aspirations. Tuck histories neatly inside drawers, creating themselves as they go, a rhapsody of reinvention.

Rest. Then speak of what you know. Show them what you have seen. Witness until their comfort yields to questions. Till their eyes cry with truth. Till their ears would hear the voices of tomorrow. Till their hearts, heavy with knowledge, beat in understanding.

In truth, it is the simplest act in the world. The trick works because you wish it to. You must remember the most important rule of and successful illusion; First the people must want to believe it.

We take such pains to be polite. We never say what we mean. For all it matters, we could greet each other and speak only of cheese - "How was your Limburger, miss?" "Salty as a ripe Stinking Bishop, thank you." "Ah, very cheddar, miss. I'll have your Stilton brought to your Camembert, then." - and no one would likely notice.

Petra turned to her. "Everybody lies about who they are. Name one person here who isn't doing that and I will drop out right now!"
Shanti felt that snake of truth coil around her legs, threatening to squeeze.
"I didn't mean ... "
"No one ever does." Petra said, shoving the baton back at Shanti.

It occurs to me that cricket is not the true sport in London - gossip is.

The wolf was at the door. His shadow spilled into the room, taking it over.

Can we really conquer chaos so easily? If that were so, I should be able to prune the pandemonium of my own soul into something neat and tidy rather than this maze of wants and needs and misgivings that has me forever feeling as if I cannot fit into the landscape of things.

I knew it. You're an alien," said her former best friend, the pale, bespectacled creature with the spectacular cleavage.
"Yes, I'm an alien and I still made cheerleader. And now I'm going to steal your boyfriend to prove girls can't really be friends."
"I sat back timidly when you torched my house, killed my parents, and ate my dog. But now you're stealing my boyfriend? That's a step too far!

He said to tell you to remember your heart in all things, that it is where your honor and your destiny will be found. Does it mean anything to you?'
It is something he would say from time to time-that the eye could be misled, but that the heart was true.

There's a lot about discovering who you are and how difficult that is. And it never stops.

Truth casts a spell of its own.

You don't notice the light without a bit of shadow.

Theta sat next to Memphis and watched Mr. and Mrs. Chan laughing about some private joke. They were a mixed couple, and they were happy. No one seemed to be bothering them. But they were also here in the few blocks of Chinatown. What happened when they crossed Canal Street into the rest of the city? What happened when they went out into the rest of the country?

Mr. Babcock pats my shoulder. He smiles, and the caterpillar mustache - the envy of state troopers everywhere, I'm sure - straightens out again. I hear that on the weekends, he's a part-time security guard with mirrored sunglasses and a gun. He probably poses in front of his bathroom mirror to see how he looks saying Freeze!

Who the heck is Don Quick-oats?

I will tell you the story of how we found ourselves in a realm where dreams are formed, destiny is chosen, and magic is as real as a handprint in the snow.

Evie's eyes widened. More interesting than dope and sorcery?

We've left the moment. It's gone. We're somewhere else now, and that's okay. We've still got that moment with us somewhere, deep in our memory, seeping into our DNA. And when our cells get scattered , whenever that happens, this moment will still exist in them. Those cells might be the building block of something new. A planet or star or a sunflower, a baby. Maybe even a cockroach. Who knows? Whatever it is, it'll be a part of us, this thing right here and now, and we'll be a part of it.

I had thought Felicity dangerous a moment ago, when she felt powerful. I was wrong. Wounded and powerless, she is more dangerous than I could imagine.

And now if you'll excuse me, I should like to finish my book, alone, without the presence of a single ringleted girl to disrupt me. If you should come for me at dinner and find me in my chair, gone to the angels at last, you shall know that I died alone, which is to say in a state of utter bliss.

Evie winked at Sam and he whispered low in her ear, making her neck tingle. Sister, together, we could be a hell of a team.

Do not be tempted by English roses. Their beauty fades, but their thorns are forever.

Absence is a curious thing. When friends are absent they seem to loom ever larger, till the lack of them is all one can feel.

Everything is randomly connected.

Unspeakable nightmares surround the men now. They would scream if they could. It's no use. The dream has them, and it will not relinquish its hold. Ever. Back in their beds on Mott Street. the men's bodies go limp. But behind their closed lids, their eyes move frantically as, one by one, they are pulled deeper and deeper into a nightmare from which they will never, ever wake.

He's attracted to the smell of manure," Felicity says. "You might wallow in the stables to bring out the full flower of his love.

It is a giggle full of high spirits and merry mischief, proof that we never lose our girlish selves, no matter what sort of women we become.

If this were a movie, I would bust a secret move so fierce the entire place would be razed to the ground. I'd finish with something snappy like "And don't forget my soda, punk" while I strolled off into the night.

The rules of magic, my dear, are best not discusses. For once we understand the illusion, we no longer believe it.

I don't have time to feel sorry for myself. I've got to think.

I am creating an atmosphere! Oh, Unc, we've finally got bodies in this joint! Paying bodies. We could have a good racket going here."

"I'm not interested in a 'racket.' I'm an academic."

"That's okay, Unc. I won't hold it against you.

For once, Evie didn't know what to say. She hadn't really thought of her uncle as very human. He was more like a textbook who occasionally remembered to put on a tie. But it was clear that he was, indeed, human, with a deep wound named Rotke.

I just read this great quote by Junot Diaz, he was talking about true intimacy, and he was saying that it was the willingness to be vulnerable and to be found out. That's what I felt that YA did. It wasn't pretentious, and it wasn't hiding its heart. It wanted to be found out ...
It felt like those moments when you go to a party and you're standing around for a long time, going, I don't fit in here, what am I going to talk to these people about? And everybody's getting drunk, and then you find this one person, and you end up sitting in some corner talking about all these arcane things.
And then before you know it you're having a conversation about the meaning of life and it's four o'clock in the morning. That kind of feeling, that kind of intimacy - I felt like that's what I got from YA.

If I have to look through one more of these, I'm throwing myself off that balcony," he moaned. "Let me know if you need help," Jericho said.

You're quite tall.' Just what a girl wants to be reminded of.

But as he listened to the moans and cries of those around him, he understood that hope was not a concept of faith meant to bring man closer to God but one of denial and delusion meant to keep him from accepting that God did not exist.

Free the snow globes!

The vicar, whose name is Reverend Waite, leads us in prayers that all begin with 'O Lord' and end with our somehow not being worthy-sinners who have always been sinners and will forever more be sinners until we die. It isn't the most optimistic outlook I've ever heard but we're encouraged to keep trying anyway.

A woman's reputation is her worth ... IT is the way it is. You may hate me for saying so, but there is the truth. Do you not remember that this is how our mother died? She would still be here and Father would be well and none of this would ever have happened if she had simply lived according to the time-trusted codes of society.'
Perhaps it proved impossible. Perhaps she could not fit within so tight a corset. Perhaps I am the same.'
One does not have to like the rules, Gemma. But one does need to adhere to them. That is what makes civilization. Do you think I agree with every ... decision made by my superiors

The sun has blessed you," Sarita used to say. "Look how he has left his kisses on your face for all to see and be jealous."
"The sun loves you more," I said, rubbing my hands over her dry arms, the color of an aged wine gourd, and she laughed.
But this is not India and we are not prized for our freckles here. The sun is not allowed to show his love.

This is how it is now. There is strength in acceptance, Ling. Your legs have been taken from you. But how you choose to live with that has not.

On the Bowery, in the ornate carcass of a formerly grand vaudeville theater, a dance marathon limps along. The contestants, young girls and their fellas, hold one another up, determined to make their mark, to bite back at the dreams sold to them in newspaper advertisements and on the radio. They have sores on their feet but stars in their eyes.

Nobody's killing any cats." Miss Lillian glowered. "It's what we've always done." "Yeah, well, I'm changing how things are done." Miss Lillian started to protest, but Miss Addie cut her off. "Very well. We could stand to change.

Did God ever cry over his lost angel, I wonder?

And now I understand that truth casts a spell of its own, one I'm not sure of how to hold on to, though I'm desperate to try.

For dreams, too, are ghosts, desires chased in sleep, gone by morning.

Warning: If you are insufferable, do not walk here. We shall eat you down to the marrow.

Before the Devil breaks you, first he will make you love him. Beware, little sister. Beware the King of Crows!

I know I've done the right thing but I couldn't feel worse about it, and I suppose that is part of what it is to lead.

But sons are a different matter to a man. More a duty than an indulgence.

Sam had a skill that often let him take what he needed. But you couldn't do that with love. It had to be given. Shared.

She insisted on Knight for her last name. It made her feel strong and bold. A name of armor. For she would defend herself in this new life.

Will was making a speech, something about having been young and careless once, the sort of thing old-timers said when they issued a deathblow, as if they thought their sanctimonious ramblings disguised as empathy would be welcomed, but Evie was only half listening.

People have a habit of inventing fictions they will believe wholeheartedly in order to ignore the truth they cannot accept.

I know because I read. Might I suggest you try it?

But if we are to remain a great empire, we must have a greater understanding of the hearts and minds of others.

Amen, sister, ... All apologies to Tom Cruise.

i salute your spunk, but question your sanity.

For the last time, I'm not a witch." Miss Lillian smiled and patted Theta's cheek. "Keep telling yourself that, dear.

I'll be counting the cats when I come over. There better be the same number each time.

In this man's smile was all the unfairness of the world in its thuggish seduction. "Just come with me. We'll take care of you."
"No, you won't." Taylor stroked the man's cheek. She reached her arms up to cradle the back of his head and, with the skill of a champion, she broke his neck. Then she dragged him into the bushes, took his gun and walkie-talkie, and kept moving.

They weren't protected by our own laws. They were on their own.

Doesn't sound terribly American.

On the contrary, it's very American, Will said bitterly

In books, the truth makes everything good and fine. The good prevail. The wicked are punished. There is happiness. But it's not like that really, is it?"
"No," I say. "I suppose it only makes everything known.

I think sometimes in literature we kind of police ourselves. I know a lot of people talked about Twilight, and they would say, oh, but the heroine, she lets this man make her decisions. And I thought, that may not be the particular fantasy or trope that works for me.
But listen man, I read Wuthering Heights. I wanted me a little Heathcliff action. I mean, why can't we indulge that fantasy and also be like, And now I would like the ERA passed, please. Also, this lipstick is fuckin' killer.

After Jericho's illness crippled him and his parents had abandoned him to the state, it was Will who'd stepped in as guardian. He had sheltered Jericho, fed and clothed him, and taught his ward what he could about running the museum and about Diviners. For that, Jericho supposed he owed him a debt. But Will hadn't given Jericho the parts that mattered most. He hadn't given himself. The two of them had never gone fishing in a cold stream early on a summer's day and shared their thoughts on love and life while they watched the sun draw the curling morning mist from the water. They'd never discussed how to find one's place in the world, never talked of fathers and sons, or what makes someone a man. No. He and Will spoke in newspaper articles about ghosts. They conversed through the careful curation of supernatural knickknacks. And Jericho couldn't help but feel cheated at how little he'd gotten when he'd needed so much more.
Why was there so much silence between men?

When she can't bring me to heal with scolding, she bends me to shape with guilt.

Soon I will take all you love and watch you burn. Sweet dreams, Object Reader.

It seemed odd to Sosie that she had to make some hard-and-fast decision about such an arbitrary, individual thing as attraction, like having to declare an orientation major: I am straight with a minor in gay.

Simon, would you still care for me if you discovered I was not who I say I am?"
What do you mean?"
I mean would you still care for me, no matter what you came to know?"
What a thing to ponder. I don't know what to say."
The answer is no. He does not need to say it.
With a sigh, Simon digs at the fire with the iron poker. Bits of the charred log fall away, revealing the angry insides. they flare orange for a moment, then quiet down again. After three tries, he gives up.
I'm afraid this fire's had it."
I can see a few embers remaining. "No, I think not. If ... "
He sighs, and it says everything.

No, instead it is the beastly Cecily Temple who answers me. Dead, dear Cecily, or as I affectionately refer to her in the privacy of my mind, She Who Inflicts Misery Simply by Breathing.

Just because you loved somebody with your entire soul didn't mean they wouldn't break your heart. And just because somebody loved you didn't mean they'd be able to stop themselves from hurting you to get what they wanted

You've influenced the world not because you wanted to hug it and cuddle it and call it sweet thing, but because one day you wanted to beat the crap out of somebody but you didn't. You made a painting instead.

Why must we die when everything within us was born to live?

I can see his pain, see it in the way he runs his fingers through his hair, over and over, and I understand what it costs him to hide it all.

Next time we see you, you'll be on trial for some ingenious crime!" Dottie said with a laugh. Evie grinned. "Just as long as they know my name.

There are no girl books. There are no boy books. There are just books.

She was too much - for Zenith, Ohio. She'd tried at times to make herself smaller, to fit neatly into the ordered lines of expectation. But somehow, she always managed to say or do something outrageous - she'd accept a dare to climb a flagpole, or make a slightly risqué joke, or go riding in cars with boys - and suddenly she was "that awful O'Neill girl" all over again.

SPENCE, THAT DOUR, IMPOSING LADY EAST OF LONDON, has grown a friendly face in my absence. I've never been so happy to see a place in all my sixteen years. Even the gargoyles have lost their fierceness. They are like wayward pets who haven't the sense to come in from the roof and so we let them live there, glaring but cheerful.

What fresh hell is this?" Adina muttered.

Fashionable debutantes in pastel chiffon party dresses wilt into leather club chairs like frosted petit fours melting under the July sun.

Oh, sure. Of course, they say now that we've got Freud and the motorcar, God is dead."
"He's not dead; just very tired.

With a low bow, she is gone in a haze of roses and hope

I've the run of the place, and so i spend some time exploring, climbing steep stairs into thin turrets whose windows give me a bird's-eye view of the land surrounding Spence. I flit past locked doors and dark, paneled rooms that seem more like museum exhibits than living, breathing places. I wander until it is dark and past the time when I should be in bed, not that I think anyone shall be searching for me.

The line between faith and fanaticism is a constantly shifting one," Dr. Poblocki said. "When does belief become justification? When does right become rationale and crusade become crime?

I will never, ever drink whiskey again. From now on, it's strictly sherry.

What took you so long?" Will asked when Evie came panting into the room. He and Jericho had assembled a stack of books, which they were tucking into Will's attaché case.

"I walked to Jerusalem for the Bible. I knew you'd want an original," Evie snapped.

Naming my favorite books feels like naming a favorite child - impossible.