Dark Knight Quotes

I'm such a horror geek, comic geek and action figure geek. I'm inspired by so much - from Hunter S. Thompson and Quentin Tarantino to 'The Dark Knight' and 'Halloween'. Just show me something that doesn't suck, and I'm happy. ~ Corey Taylor

The '80s convergence of comics' new adult sensibility with the movies' advancing technology was bound to catch the attention of even slow-on-the-uptake Hollywood, and this particularly was true when 'Watchmen' and 'The Dark Knight Returns' became phenomena. ~ Steve Erickson

�"You swore this deal would be a safe little exchange. I didn�'t sign up for this� - Chinese mafia and Hashishins. I�'m an MD, not special ops.�"
Kira Hardy in Dawn of a Dark Knight ~ Zoe Forward

Any Iron bastard that wants you will have to get past me, first.' He rolled his eyes. 'And of course, the dark knight over there. ~ Julie Kagawa

Wolgast recalled when he'd come down here with his friends to buy candy and comic books. Back then, a spinning wire rack had stood by the front door: Tales from the Crypt, Fantastic Four, the Dark Knight series, Wolgast's favorite. ~ Justin Cronin

Because he's the hero Gotham deserves, but not the one it needs right now. So we'll hunt him. Because he can take it. Because he's not our hero. He's a silent guardian, a watchful protector. A dark knight. ~ Jonathan Nolan

The general public long ago stopped looking for beauty in high culture. But it still has TV and the movies....you are far more likely to find genuinely mesmerising images and real beauty in big-budget Hollywood movies -- think of, say, Christopher Nolan's Interstellar or his Dark Knight Trilogy -- than in any European art-house ~ Sohrab Ahmari

It's always useful to know as much as possible about your enemy. ~ The Dark Knight By Dennis O'Neil

Some men and women aren't looking for money. They can't be bought, bullied, reasoned, or negotiated with. They simply want to watch the world burn.
Michael Caine's character 'Alfred' in the Batman movie, "The Dark Knight ~ Michael Caine’s Character ‘Alfred’ In The Batman Movie, “The Dark Knight’

So many heroes are driven by destiny. Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, they were all chosen and born to heroism. Even with Batman, it doesn't feel like Bruce could do anything else. His whole life was leading him to become the Dark Knight. ~ Andrew Kreisberg

Christopher Nolan's astounding third Batman feature, 'The Dark Knight Rises,' represents the true maturation of the superhero movie - and provides the key to understanding the bottomless craving moviegoers have for these films, 34 years after the Christopher Reeve Superman gave birth to the genre. ~ John Podhoretz

I am good at many things. And I never do them for free ~ Joker The Dark Knight.

Batman: a force of chaos in my world of perfect order. The dark side of the Soviet dream. Rumored to be a thousand murdered dissidents, they said he was a ghost. A walking dead man. A symbol of rebellion that would never fade as long as the system survived.
Anarchy in black. ~ Mark Millar

Fitz's human clothes are a huge snoozefest. Check out what Dex and I found in Alvar's closet!" They both unzipped their hoodies, revealing T-shirts with logos underneath. "I have no idea what this means, but it's crazy awesome, right?" Keefe asked, pointing to the black and yellow oval on his shirt. "It's from Batman," Sophie said - then regretted the words. Of course Keefe demanded she explain the awesomeness of the Dark Knight. "I'm wearing this shirt forever, guys," he decided. "Also, I want a Batmobile! Dex, can you make that happen?" Sophie wouldn't have been surprised if Dex actually could build one. As a Technopath, he worked miracles with technology. He'd made all kinds of cool gadgets for Sophie, including the lopsided ring she wore - a special panic switch that had saved her life during her fight with one of her kidnappers. "What's my shirt from?" Dex asked, pointing to the logo with interlocking yellow W's. Sophie didn't have the heart to tell him it was the symbol for Wonder Woman. ~ Shannon Messenger

It is Always Darkest Just Before the Dawn. ~ The Dark Knight

If you make yourself more than just a man, if you devote yourself to an ideal and if they can't stop you, you become something else entirely - legend, Mr Wayne. ~ Henri

Expect the bullshit. But never accept it!!!! ~ Joker The Dark Knight.

Does it depress you? To know just how alone you really are? ~ The Joker Heath Ledger

It was great but intense to try to go back into a character's mind, a mind that is filled with self-loathing and a mind that is male. It is fun to try to psychoanalyze why a character acts and feels the way he/she does, and doing it as a different gender lends itself to many challenges. My desire to delve into the male psyche comes from many years of being drawn to men that seem to have a darker side. But there is also light in them, and it is that duality and intensity that makes me feel alive. Thorne is very much that man as is my first male protagonist, Michael, from the Natalie's Edge series. Each man, while plagued with a dark past and demons, has this glorious light within them, fighting noble causes. I picture them as true anti-heroes, like the likes of Batman, the Dark Knight. ~ R.B. O'Brien

I think I might be one of the only people in America, or at least the only person I know, who saw both 'The Dark Knight' and 'Mamma Mia!' on their shared opening weekend. ~ Diablo Cody

'The Dark Knight' is a really good movie that reached both critics and mainstream audiences. ~ Anurag Kashyap

There is also the fact that red and gold are my colors," he went on. "They are the colors on my family's banners and devices, worn by all Chiavari males when they ride into battle, and worn by their ladies at tournaments or other important occasions. You can imagine my surprise when a lady wearing Chiavari colors fell into my arms inside a drafty castle in England."
"I doubt the color of my gown was the first thing you noticed," she teased.
"No, that was not the first thing I noticed." His voice had gone soft with the memory. The first thing he had noticed was how right she had felt in his arms, the realization that his arms had been empty until that moment when he found what belonged there, who belonged there. ~ Elizabeth Elliott

The only sensible way to live in this world is without rules! ~ Heath Ledger

I knew you were behind the tapestry," he said. "I also knew the railing was about to give way. I was waiting for you, waiting for your fall."
Waiting all my life for you, he added silently, waiting all my life for you to fall in love with me. ~ Elizabeth Elliott

He's not a dark knight, but a white knight in shining, dazzling armor - Anastasia Steele ~ E.L. James

Twitter wasn't a big thing even on 'Inception;' it certainly wasn't on 'The Dark Knight.' ~ Emma Thomas

Fear of the self... of both what we show the world on the outside and that which we know, ourselves, to truly be on the inside, can be a paralyzing notion. ~ Joe Harris

If outsider perspectives made 'Lord of the Rings' and 'Dark Knight' into fantastic franchises, imagine what would happen if you brought in the perspectives of women and people of color. ~ Annalee Newitz

When I was shooting 'The Dark Knight,' I always felt like I was shooting an intimate drama for some reason. The scenes were all intimate, and they were always between a few individuals. ~ Chin Han

I learned a new phrase today while you were away." She turned in his arms and then placed her hand on his chest. Her gaze lowered, suddenly shy. "Mi sei mancato molto." (I missed you so much)
Sometimes it was acceptable for comfort and need to collide. He leaned down and kissed her, a kiss to seal his promises, a kiss that meant they were going to miss their evening meal. ~ Elizabeth Elliott

He leaned toward her father. " 'Tis true, I am a murderer, a liar, and a thief. 'Tis equally true that I will use whatever monstrous talents I possess to keep your daughter at my side. You can take Avalene to a convent at the ends of the earth and I will find her and steal her away again. I will lie to God, himself, to free her. I will protect her with my life, and I will murder anyone who threatens her. ~ Elizabeth Elliott

When I read Frank Miller's 'The Dark Knight Returns', I think it's a wonderful record of the Reagan era. I think it's amazing. This is the time I lived in. ~ Max Brooks

Look, I like gritty. I write gritty. There is a time and a place for gritty. I'll take my Batman gritty, thank you, and I will acknowledge that such a portrayal means that my 11-year-old has to wait before he sees The Dark Knight. But if Hollywood turns out a Superman movie that I can't take him to? They've done something wrong. ~ Greg Rucka

Every Great Story deserves a Great Ending and
'The Dark Knight Rises' is our Attempt to give that GREAT story, a GREAT ENDING. ~ Christopher Nolan

A little fight in you. I like that. ~ Heath Ledger

I do feel like 'The Dark Knight' is a great film, but that Batman in there? He's almost like Robocop to me. He's almost robotic looking; he's got this surgical approach to everything ... He's almost not human. That's supposed to be his whole point: he's supposed to be the most human of superheroes. ~ Lee Bermejo

If you were mine Oh my what would I do to be his? He's the only man who has ever set the blood racing through my body. Yet he's so antagonizing too; he's difficult, complicated, and confusing. One minute he rebuffs me, the next he sends me fourteen thousand dollar books, then tracks me like a stalker. And for all that, I have spent the night in his hotel suite, and I feel safe. Protected. He cares enough to come and rescue me from some mistakenly perceived danger. He's not a dark knight at all but a white knight in shining, dazzling armor ... a classic romantic hero. ~ E.L. James

I wonder if Batman would save Robin over his girlfriend of the week. (The Dark Knight gets around, man.) ~ Adam Silvera

The Dark Knight 2008, favourite character Joker always in the right face and showing all humans in one character. A character died from characters! ~ Deyth Banger

The Dark Satirist, like the Dark Knight - that could be a good name for a superhero. ~ Bassem Youssef

Her smile turned to one of joy and something he could not quite define. "You really do love me."
"I do." He couldn't help but smile back at her, at the note of wonder in her voice as if she were the lucky one. His finger traced the small dimple in her cheek. "But I doubt you will ever be able to understand how much. My world was a very dark place before you came into it. I am at home in the darkness, and you will likely see traces of it still lingering in the years to come. Intrigues abound in Venice, and I will be vigilant about protecting you. There will likely be times when you see a side of me that is … unpleasant, although hopefully not as unpleasant as the day we encountered the mercenaries. ~ Elizabeth Elliott

To me, Batman is definately Bruce Wayne's darker side. The challenge is playing it as two separate aspects of the same person. I have to create the illusion of a Dark Knight, who's mysterious and strong. ~ Kevin Conroy

'The Dark Knight,' for me, has the same problem that every other 'Batman' movie has. It's not about Batman. I think Heath Ledger is just phenomenal and the character of the Joker is beautifully written. He has a particular philosophy that he carries throughout the movie. He has one of the best bad guy schemes. ~ Joss Whedon

I believe whatever doesn't kill you, simply makes you stranger. ~ The Joker Heath Ledger

Don't talk like you're one of them! You're not... even if you'd like to be. To them you're just a freak, like me. They need you right now, but when they don't, they'll cast you out. Like a leper. See, their morals, their "code"... it's a bad joke, dropped at the first sign of trouble. They're only as good as the world allows them to be. I'll show you. When the chips are down, these uh, these "civilized people", they'll eat each other. See, I'm not a monster. I'm just ahead of the curve. ~ Christopher J. Nolan

The thing about 'Dark Knight' is its objective is to set Batman into your world, so that you can imagine the moral dilemmas he faces are exactly parallel to moral dilemmas that you would face in this world, today, if you were out there fighting crime dressed like a bat. ~ Zack Snyder

You see, in their last moments people show you who they really are. ~ The Joker Heath Ledger

Look, I don't have enough time to turn everyone away from the Dark Side and I've got to ask where the Light can gain the most advantage the fastest - ~ Eliezer Yudkowsky

The weaker the player the more terrible the Knight is to him, but as a player increases in strength the value of the Bishop becomes more evident to him, and of course there is, or should be, a corresponding decease in his estimation of the value of the Knight as compared to the bishop. ~ Jose Raul Capablanca

I dreamed about you sometimes.
In my dreams we were walking down Tenth Avenue together in the dark. You hadn't been shot after all, and we were both all right. I asked you if you were done, and you said yes, it was finished.
In my dreams the streetlights all went off as we walked past them, but I could still see perfectly clearly to the corner. There was heat and light pouring out of you like a lantern, shining down the sidewalk in front of us, filling the intersection with amazing white light. When I reached for your hand you let me keep it there and smiled. You kissed me one more time.
In my dreams I always knew that meant that I was about to wake up. The light spilling out of your face and eyes and skin blazed up higher, and you said you had to go.
You said it had to be this way.
You said you were a goddess of fire.

Life went on. It always did, and that summer was no exception. ~ Joe Schreiber

Naomi shook her head, blowing an exasperated raspberry at him. Her dark hair fell across her face ~ James S.A. Corey

I believe that true beauty comes from inside you and that always shows through. I have no problem with whatever the next look is, whether it's big blonde hair and blue eyes or green hair and dark eyes. That's fine so long as there isn't just one ideal image. ~ Alek Wek

[T]he very existence of such powers argues a counterforce. We call powers of the first kind dark, though they may use a species of deadly light... and we call those of the second kind bright, though I think that they may at times employ darkness, as a good man nevertheless draws the curtains of his bed to sleep. Yet there is truth to the talk of darkness and light, because it shows plainly that one implies the other. The tale I read to little Severian said that the universe was but a long word of the Increate's. We, then, are syllables of that word. But the speaking of any word is futile unless there are other words, words that are not spoken. If a beast has but one cry, the cry tells nothing; and even the wind has a multitude of voices, so that those who sit indoors may hear it and know if the weather is tumultuous or mild. The powers we call dark seem to me to be the words the Increate did not speak... and these words must be maintained in a quasi-existence, if the other word, the word spoken is to be distinguished. What is not said can be important - but what is said is more important... And if the seekers after dark things find them, may not the seekers after bright find them as well? And are they not more apt to hand their wisdom on? ~ Gene Wolfe

A knight in tarnished armor is still a knight. When ~ Emma Chase

Now you take dark Negroes like you, Mr. Griffin, and me," he went on. "We're old Uncle Toms to our people, no matter how much education and morals we've got. No, you have to be almost a mulatto, have your hair conked and all slicked out and look like a Valentino. Then the Negro will look up to you. You've got class. Isn't that a pitiful hero-type?"
"And the white man knows that," Mr. Davis said.
"Yes," the cafe owner continued. "He utilizes this knowledge to flatter some of us, tell us we're above our people, not like most Negroes. We're so stupid we fall for it and work against own own. Why, if we'd work just half as hard to boost our race as we do to please whites whose attentions flatter us, we'd really get somewhere. ~ John Howard Griffin

But
he had the kindest face in the world, with big, dark eyes and buzzed-cut
brown hair. ~ S.C. Stephens

Life was made up of moments, big ones and little, the good and bad, dark and light. We never remembered the gray, the times in between, but instead only the moments that had the ability to transform us in some way, affect us so completely that the memory would be forever etched upon who we were, who we are, and who we would become. ~ Madeline Sheehan

Think of me when you watch the stars,
for I will do the same.
Light a candle in the dark,
for I will be its flame.
Blow a kiss into the night,
let wind caress my skin.
Whisper my name before you sleep
and we'll meet where dreams begin ~ Natalia Crow

Our Christian habit is to bewail the world's deteriorating standards with an air of rather self-righteous dismay. We criticize its violence, dishonesty, immorality, disregard for human life, and materialistic greed.

"The world is going down the drain," we say with a shrug. But whose fault is it? Who is to blame? Let me put it like this. If the house is dark when nightfall comes, there is no sense in blaming the house; that is what happens when the sun goes down. The question to ask is "Where is the light?"

Similarly, if the meat goes bad and becomes inedible, there is no sense in blaming the meat; that is what happens when bacteria are left alone to breed. The question to ask is "Where is the salt?"

Just so, if society deteriorates and its standards decline until it becomes like a dark night or a stinking fish, there is no sense in blaming society; that is what happens when fallen men and women are left to themselves, and human selfishness is unchecked.

The question to ask is "Where is the Church? Why are the salt and light of Jesus Christ not permeating and changing our society?" It is sheer hypocrisy on our part to raise our eyebrows, shrug our shoulders, or wring our hands. The Lord Jesus told us to be the world's salt and light. If therefore darkness and rottenness abound, it is largely our fault and we must accept the blame.--John Stott (Human Rights and Human Wrongs) ~ Richard Stearns

Everyone has talent. What is rare is the courage to follow that talent to the dark place where it leads. ~ Erica Jong

I have not looked at Carlos since the meeting ... Being around him is like walking around with the flu ... The need to lie down in a darkened room and let my hatred of him run through me is almost insurmountable. ~ Kathleen Maher

There was something stunned in the faces of the children, blinking and tentative. The slow, dark, dull submarine of the lives in which they were the human cargo had abruptly surfaced. Their blood was filled with a kind of crippling nitrogen of wonder. ~ Michael Chabon

The dark, ironically, makes many things far too clear. ~ Yara Zgheib

When the game begins, let your rook remain in its position as the knight and the bishop advance to occupy the empty squares created by the moved pawns. ~ William Pearson

Unfortunately, JNI seems to be a dark art reserved for the initiated. ~ Karim Yaghmour

He looked at the houses he had been passing these weeks and though he had never studied them carefully they had become familiar through the process of seeing them so often, and he was now impressed with the change in their appearance as he looked at them through the gray of the air and whiteness of the snow, each house, shrub, tree, bush and mailbox trimmed with snow and blending into the air as if they were just a picture projected upon the still, pearly grayness, just an impression created by the silent snow, a picture on the edge and verge of disappearing and leaving only the air and snow through which he now lightly walked.
It did not seem possible, but the air was even softer and quieter. He continued walking alongside his prints feeling he could walk forever, that as long as the silent snow continued falling he could continue walking, and as he did he would leave behind all worries and cares, all horrors of the past and future. There would be nothing to bother him or torture his mind and fill his body with tremors of fear, the dark night of the soul over. There would only be himself and the soft, silent snow; and each flake, in its own life, its own separate and distinct entity, would bring with it its own joy, and he would easily partake of that joy as he continued walking, the gentle, silent snow falling ever so quietly, ever so joyously ... yes, and ever so love-ing-ly ... loveing-ly.... ~ Hubert Selby Jr.

Self-pity is the campsite of self-defeat; it is a dark refuge for those parts of us that would rather wallow in what cannot be than dare to explore what is possible. ~ Guy Finley

How many a knot of mystery and misunderstanding would be untied by one word spoken in simple and confiding truth of heart! How many a solitary place would be made glad if love were there, and how many a dark dwelling would be filled with light! ~ Orville Dewey

He stands in the doorway like a dark angel. His hair curls a little around his face, softening the hard perfection of his features. His eyes are trained on my face, and his lips are curved in a slight smile. He's stunning. And utterly terrifying. My instincts had been right--this man is capable of anything. ~ Anna Zaires

We should all fortify ourselves against the dark hours of depression by cultivating a deep distrust of the certainties of despair. Despair is relentless in the certainties of its pessimism. But we have seen again and again, from our own experience and others', that absolute statements of hopelessness that we make in the dark are notoriously unreliable. Our dark certainties are not sureties. ~ John Piper

Anyone who has ever sat in a train as it rushes through a dark night will know that sometimes there are long minutes when the coaches slide smoothly along without so much as a shudder. ~ Selma Lagerlof

THE WORLD NEEDS MORE LIGHTHOUSES You can join the millions talking in the dark. Or you can stand up and scream light, out into the ~ Pleasefindthis

His kiss is like dark chocolate, bitter and laced with sweetness - an aphrodisiac. ~ Mia Asher

You could have told me yourself that you found someone else, instead I heard it through the grapevine. ~ Gladys Knight

I've never gone to culinary school, but I do love cooking. ~ Keshia Knight Pulliam

Once you let in the word, once you allow it to take root, it will spread like a mold through all of your corners and dark spaces - and with it, the questions, the shivery, splintered fears, enough to keep you permanently awake. ~ Lauren Oliver

I awoke early the next morning to the sound of my phone ringing. My phone had rung so much over the past twenty-four hours, I wasn't sure whether to welcome it or run screaming from my bedroom. Groggy, eyes closed, I felt around in the dark until my hand found the receiver. Rubbing my eyes in an effort to awaken myself, I said, softly and with great trepidation, "Hello?"
"You're not asleep, are you?" Marlboro Man said with his signature chuckle.
I opened my eyes and smiled. ~ Ree Drummond

Do people call you Ollie?" Lola asked.

Oliver looked at her, completely dumbfounded by the possibility of this nickname. She may as well have asked him if people call him Garth, or Andrew, or Timothy.

"No," he said flatly, and the only thing charming about him was the way his accent seemed to run through every vowel with one syllable. Lola's eyebrow twitched in her single tell - mildly annoyed - and she lifted her flashing LED drink cup to her lips.

Lola wears mostly black, including her glossy dark hair, and has a tiny diamond pierced into her lip, but, even still, she's never been able to pull off the full physical manifestation of the angry Riot Grrrl. With her perfect porcelain skin and the longest eyelashes in the world, she's simply too delicate. But once she decides you're an asshole, it no longer matters to her what you think. She gives good glare.

"The flower suits you," she said, tilting her head to study him. "And you have pretty hands, kind of soft. Maybe we should call you Olive."

He grunted out a dry laugh.

"And a really beautiful mouth," I added. "Gentle. Like a woman's."

"Aw fuck off." He was laughing outright by then. ~ Christina Lauren

The feeling was FEAR, she realized... but it was a new type of fear; more sincere than the jitters she felt when it rained and not as piercing as the terror of crashing cars. This fear was darker somehow... mysterious... curious like the retracted paws of an alley cat. ~ Jake Vander-Ark

Against the background of this luminous and sparkling stage Bond stood in the sunshine and felt his mission to be incongruous and remote and his dark profession an affront to his fellow actors. ~ Ian Fleming

We're not here to discuss Maleficent! Her story is too long and complicated to debate in the time we have left... ~ Serena Valentino

Life is never like a full stop. Full stops are like frozen ice, like dark clouds, like rotten mud.
But here rivers are born out of frozen ice, lightening sparkles by the clash of dark clouds, the lotus rises from the mud.
Isn't this glory of our life?
This is the story to sing this glory of life. ~ Mahesh Thakkar

I once had a garden filled with flowers that grew only on dark thoughts but they need constant attention & one day I decided I had better things to do. ~ Brian Andreas

What's wrong?" Billy's question had me looking up. My second-oldest brother was already dressed for work in his suit and tie. "And shouldn't you be fishing with Hank?"

"I cancelled. I have an errand to run." Grabbing a coffee cup from the cabinet, I tossed a thumb over my shoulder. "The toilet is acting funny."

"Like what? You mean satire?" This question came from Cletus, not bothering to glance away from where he was reading at the table. He was still in his pajamas, his curly hair a mess.Nevertheless, I was surprised to see him up so early.

"No, I mean - "

"I hope it's a dark comedy," he added, still not removing his attention from the newspaper.

"Cletus. That's disgusting."Sitting across from Cletus, Duane's tone was reprimanding.

Finally, Cletus tore his eyes from the paper. "What?"

"Dark comedy?" My twin lifted his eyebrows."Meaning poop?"

"No, Duane." Cletus paired this with a suffering sigh.

"That would make it a shitty comedy," I piped in, adding fuel to the conversation fire as I was prone to do, feeling more myself as I smiled.

"Y'all are a bunch of toilets," Billy mumbled under his breath.

We all turned our attention to our older brother, with Cletus speaking for us, "Let me guess, because toilets in this house actfunny?"

Billy tilted his cup toward Cletus. "Exactly."

I grinned, the rawness in me settling. Being around my b ~ Penny Reid

She shuffled with her head bowed, her dark eyes drifting to avoid contact, and she screamed in bed at night. (Dark City Lights) ~ Jim Fusilli

I hung up the phone after saying good night to Marlboro Man, this isolated cowboy who hadn't had the slightest probably picking up the phone to say "I miss you." I shuddered at the thought of how long I'd gone without it. And judging from the electrical charges searing through every cell of my body, I realized just how fundamental a human need it really is.
It was as fundamental a human need, I would learn, as having a sense of direction in the dark. I suddenly realized I was lost on the long dirt road, more lost than I'd ever been before. The more twists and turns I took in my attempt to find my bearings, the worse my situation became. It was almost midnight, and it was cold, and each intersection looked like the same one repeating over and over. I found myself struck with an illogical and indescribable panic--the kind that causes you to truly believe you'll never, ever escape from where you are, even though you almost always will. As I drove, I remembered every horror movie I'd ever watched that had taken place in a rural setting. Children of the Corn. The children of the corn were lurking out there in the tall grass, I just knew it. Friday the 13th. Sure, it had taken place at a summer camp, but the same thing could happen on a cattle ranch. And The Texas Chain Saw Massacre? Oh no. I was dead. Leatherface was coming--or even worse, his freaky, emaciated, misanthropic brother.
I kept driving for a while, then stopped on the side of the road. Shining my brights on ~ Ree Drummond

[Should Britain fail, then the entire world would] sink into the abyss of a new dark age made more sinister ... by the lights of perverted science. ~ Winston Churchill

It is not that I was credulous, simply that I belived in all things dark and dangerous. It was part of my young creed that the night was full of ghosts and witches, hungry and flapping and dressed completely in black. ~ Neil Gaiman

the temper of buccaneers and the eyes of dreamers. They appeared to live in a crazy maze of plans, hopes, dangers, enterprises, ahead of civilisation, in the dark places of the sea; and their death was the only event of their fantastic existence that seemed to have a reasonable certitude of achievement. ~ Joseph Conrad

While I am Death's daughter and walk in His dark shadow, surely the darkness can give way to light sometimes. ~ R.L. LaFevers

Every man is a moon; he has a side no one sees. ~ Mark Twain

Are you lost?"
I turned around. "Excuse me?"
Two guys were sprawled on a bench close to the sidewalk. The one who had spoken wore tattered shorts and a colonial three-cornered hat-nothing else. He had wide shoulders and long, muscular legs. He stretched dramatically, then lay his tanned arm along the back of the bench. "You look lost," he said. "Can I help you find something?"
"Uh, no, thanks. I was just looking."
He grinned. "Me too."
"Oh?" I glanced around, thinking I'd missed something. "At what?"
He and his friend burst out laughing.
Way to go, Lauren, I thought. He had been looking at me! ~ Elizabeth Chandler

I have lived in this tree, in this same hollow," the owl said, "for more years than anyone can remember. But now, when the wind blows hard in winter and rocks the forest, I sit here in the dark, and from deep down in the bole, near the roots, I hear a new sound. It is the sound of strands of wood creaking in the cold and snapping one by one. The limbs are falling; the tree is old, and it is dying. Yet I cannot bring myself, after so many years, to leave, to find a new home and move into it, perhaps to fight for it. I, too, have grown old. One of these days, one of these years, the tree will fall, and when it does, if I am still alive, I will fall with it. ~ Robert C. O'Brien

...the guards sought to deprive them of something that had sustained them, even as all else had been lost: dignity.

This self-respect and sense of self-worth, the innermost armament of the soul, lies at the heart of humanness. To be deprived of it is to be de-humanized, to be cleaved from, and cast below mankind. Men subjected to dehumanizing treatment experience profound wretchedness and loneliness, and find that hope is almost impossible to retain. Without dignity, identity is erased...

[They] learned a dark truth known to the doomed in Hitler's death camps, the slaves of the American South, and a hundred other generations of betrayed people: Dignity is as essential to human life as water, food and oxygen. The stubborn retention of it, even in the face of extreme physical hardship, can hold a man's soul in his body long past the point in which the body should have surrendered it. The loss of it can carry a man off as surely as thirst, hunger, exposure and asphyxiation, and with greater cruelty... degradation could be as lethal as a bullet. ~ Laura Hillenbrand