Matthew J. Kirby Quotes

He waved to the city and said good-bye.
The city responded by carrying on the way it always did, traffic moving forward uninterrupted, without slowing, as if it were trying to demonstrate its permanence and show him it would still be there if he ever wanted to return. That promise was the best and only thing he could ask of it.

In the early morning hours, Hannah read at the table by the dim light of dawn. She leaned in close to the pages, chin resting on her folded arms, eyes racing over the words, like chasing butterflies over the hills, to catch as many as she could before going to work. She wondered at how such tales of magic could be contained by mere paper and ink for her to read again and again.

Never trust a storyteller," he says. "We're all of us liars.

Though a story may begin as a lie, perhaps it can be made true. Perhapsd their ultimate power is found in how they inspire us to action.

The hours trampled her on their way through the day.

You can never trust anyone once you've had to trap them in a cage.

Giuseppe would miss them as well, but in a different way than he would miss the city. A city would stay the same. The same buildings. The same streets. Not forever, but for a great long while. But Frederick and Hannah would never again be the people they were right now, standing on the dock, wishing him farewell. Tomorrow they would wake up and be a little bit different and a little bit different the day after that, and in no time they might become people he did not recognize. Giuseppe knew it because they were already different from when he had first met them. He knew it because he was different from when they had first met him.

A story is not a thing. A story is an act. It only exists in the brief moment of its telling. The question you must ask is what a story has the power to do. The truth of something you do is very different from the truth of something you know.

Sharing his memories felt like handing over a sharp knife. A knife that others might handle carelessly. A knife that could be used to hurt him.

It was his fault too," Fredrick said. "He never really asked her why. It was like he didn't want to know.

When you are in pain, a moment is an eternity.

In the face of evil the only two responses were to cheer it on or look the other way.

Confidence cannot change my appearance."
"It may not change your appearance, but it can change how you are perceived.

I know that evil hides here, but I cannot be the one to uncover it. Neither can any of you. Time will do that for us.
And how I fear that day, for I know that when I look into my betrayer's face, I will see someone I thought I knew. And I will still love them.

One cannot apologize for one's nature.

Sometimes, when we want something so badly, we fear failure more than we fear being without that thing.

You are stronger than me," Asa says. "And in bravery and strength, there is a kind of beauty.