S Jae Jones Quotes

Humans were not meant for isolation. WE were not meant for loneliness. ~ S. Jae-Jones

You have to love the land, and the people who live in it. Love is the bridge that spans the world above and below, and keeps the wheel of life turning" -Der Erlkonig ~ S. Jae-Jones

I am not afraid of you," I said quietly.
"Oh?" The Goblin King lifted his head. "I am the Lord of Mischief, the Ruler Underground," he said, mismatched eyes glinting. "I am wildness and madness made flesh. You're just a girl" - he smiled, and the tips of his teeth were sharp - "and I am the wolf in the woods. ~ S. Jae-Jones

This was the Goblin King. The abductor of maidens, the punisher of misdeeds, the Lord of Mischief and the Underground. ~ S. Jae-Jones

But hope... hope was stubborn. Like a weed it returned, even after I had plucked it away again and again. ~ S. Jae-Jones

All things on earth and beneath it passed away, but music was immortal. Even if I was dead to the world above, a part of me would live each time my music was heard" -Liesl ~ S. Jae-Jones

I am not a saint; I am a sinner. I want to sin again and
again and again. ~ S. Jae-Jones

It is not the wolves you need fear, but the sheep skins they wear. ~ S. Jae-Jones

Once upon a time, a savage, violent time, humans, goblins, kobolds, Hödekin, and Lorelei lived side by side in the world above, feeding, fighting, preying, slaying. It was, as I had said, a dark time, and Man turned to dark practices to keep the blood tides at bay. Sacrifices, you see. Man turned against brother, fathers against daughters, sons against
mothers, all to appease the goblins. To stop the needless deaths, one man - one stupid, foolish man - made a bargain with the old laws of the land, offering himself as a sacrifice. ~ S. Jae-Jones

Yes, you have the very soul of me, Elisabeth."
"Then your name, mein Herr."
He laughed softly, but it was a gasp of pain, not of joy. "No."
"Why?"
"So you will forget me," he said simply. "You cannot love a man with no name. ~ S. Jae-Jones

How did we get there?" I asked in a muffled voice. "What are we to do?"
I felt Josef's shoulders lift in a shrug. "What we've always done, I suppose. Survive. ~ S. Jae-Jones

Farewell, Mother, careworn and abiding,
Farewell, Papa, faded brightness hiding.
Farewell, Constanze, I took your tales to heart,
Farewell, Hans, and your fumbles in the dark.
Farewell, Käthe, I'm sorry I did you wrong.
Farewell, Josef, may you play ever-long.
Farewell, all, to you I give my love. ~ S. Jae-Jones

What did you think the answer would be, Elisabeth? I toy with you because I can. Because it gives me great pleasure. Because I was bored. ~ S. Jae-Jones

You live an unlife instead," I said. I held the ring before me and looked at it. It was old, tarnished, and even a little ugly. "An unlife, a not-death. You exist in the in-between spaces, between sleep and waking, between belief and imagination. I wish I could wake up, mein Herr. I wish I were awake. ~ S. Jae-Jones

Beware the goblin men and the wares they sell. ~ S. Jae-Jones

Trapped and tormented by your own wishes. I knew intimately how that felt; I was often strangled by the tyranny of my desires. ~ S. Jae-Jones

We were as far from each other as we could be in that moment; he on one end of forever, me on the other. ~ S. Jae-Jones

What would you do, if you were a free man?"
"I would take my violin and play. I would walk the world and play, until someone called me by name and called me home. ~ S. Jae-Jones

Was my sacrifice worth it? I felt hollow and bereft, yet the grief in my heart had palpable weight, bearing me down to the ground. I could not breathe. I carried the burden of my love for my family, and it threatened to suffocate me. ~ S. Jae-Jones

There is music in your soul. A wild and untamed sort
of music that speaks to me. It defies all the rules and laws you humans set upon it. It grows from inside you, and I have a wish to set that music free. ~ S. Jae-Jones

Love is the bridge that spans the world above and below, and keeps the wheel of life turning. ~ S. Jae-Jones

I was content to shape the quiet into the structures I wanted. ~ S. Jae-Jones

You are the monster I choose ~ S. Jae-Jones

What I wouldn't give to be the object of someone's desire, just for one moment. What I wouldn't give to taste that fruit, that heady sweetness, of being wanted. I wanted. I wanted what Käthe took for granted. I wanted wantonness. ~ S. Jae-Jones

I want away. I want escape. I want a life lived to the fullest - filled with strawberries and chocolate torte and music. And acclaim. Acceptance. I cannot find that here. ~ S. Jae-Jones

Goblins do not feel the way mortals do," he went on. "You humans live and love so fiercely. We crave that. We need that. That fire sustains us. It sustains me. ~ S. Jae-Jones

I am,' he whispers, 'the monster I warned you against.'
'You are,' I say hoarsely, 'the monster I claim. ~ S. Jae-Jones

What will you do when there is no one left to take care of, no one left to look after? Is that when you will finally look after you? ~ S. Jae-Jones

Beware. That on burns like kindling. All flash, and no real heat. But you...you smolder, mistress. There is a fire burning within you, but it is a slow burn. It shimmers with heat, waiting only for a breath to fan it to life. Most curious. Most curious, indeed" -Merchant ~ S. Jae-Jones

Promises, eh? You make so many, but how many of them can you keep? ~ S. Jae-Jones

So I tried my best to stifle hope. Because hope's twin was despair, and despair was infinitely worse. If hope hurt, then despair was the absence of hurt. It was the absence of feeling. It was the absence of caring. I wanted very much to care. ~ S. Jae-Jones

If- if I could find a way to free you," I whispered, "would you walk the world above with me?"
My back was to the Goblin King; I could not face him. It was a long time before he answered.
"Oh, Elisabeth," he said. "I would go anywhere with you."
I turned around. His eyes deepened in color and for a moment, just for the merest glimpse, I could see what he would have been like as a mortal man. If he had been allowed to live the course of his life, from the child he had been to the man he would have become. A musician- a violinist. I ran back into the circle of alder trees, wanting the circle of his arms around me. I reached out my hands, and his fingers brushed mine, but we passed through each other like water, like a mirage. We were each nothing but a shimmering illusion, a candle flame we could not hold.
And yet, the Goblin King was still here, in the Goblin Grove, with me. He stood in the Underground while I stood in the world above, but our hearts beat within the same space.
"Don't look back," he said.
I nodded. I love you, I wanted to say. But I knew these words would break me.
"Elisabeth."
The Goblin King was smiling. Not the pointed smile of the Lord of Mischief or Der Erlkönig, but a crooked one. Twisted to one side, lopsided and goofy, it cracked my heart open and I bled inside.
He mouthed a word at me. A name. "You've always had it, Elisabeth," he said softly. "For it is you I gave my soul. ~ S. Jae-Jones

Thistle," I said to the waiting air.

The goblin girl materialized before me.

"What do you want now, Goblin Queen?" she sneered.

"Where is Der Erlkönig?" I asked.

"In the chapel. As is his wont these days."

"Lead me to him."

Thistle raised an eyebrow, or she would have, had she had eyebrows at all. "You are braver than I reckoned, mortal, to interrupt His Majesty during his devotions."

I shrugged. "I believe in God's unending forgiveness."

"It's not your God's forgiveness you'd be needing. ~ S. Jae-Jones

Through him I could play the music I heard in my soul. I was the violin, he was the bow. ~ S. Jae-Jones

I am..."
Who was I? Daughter, sister, wife, queen, composer; these were the titles I had been given and claimed, but they were not the whole of me. They were not me, entire. I closed my eyes.
"I am," I said slowly, "a girl with music in her soul. I am a sister, daughter, a friend, who fiercely protects those dear to her. I am a girl who loves strawberries, chocolate torte, songs in a minor key, moments stolen from chores, and childish games. I am short-tempered yet disciplined. I am self-indulgent, selfish, yet selfless. I am compassion and hatred and contradiction. I am... me. ~ S. Jae-Jones

The kiss is sweeter than sin and fiercer than temptation. I am not gentle, I am not kind; I am rough and wild and savage. ~ S. Jae-Jones

How I could make myself understand. The restlessness, the anxiety within me. The feeling of incompleteness and dissatisfaction, my frustration with my inability to execute my ideas on the page, either in words or in song. I could not catch my own mind, my thoughts racing past in a blur, like fingers rushing through sixteenth notes without regard to tempo. ~ S. Jae-Jones

You can be running toward something or running from something, but you cannot do both at once," she said gently.
But my sister did not laugh, "Ah," she said softly, "but what's the use of running" – she lifted her eyes to mine – "if you are on the wrong road. ~ S. Jae-Jones

You are the one who wanted a happy ending, my dear. So you tell me, how does the story end?"
Tears slipped from my face, and he wiped them away with his thumbs.
"The foolish young man lets the beautiful maiden go."
"Yes." His voice was clotted thick with unshed emotion. "He lets her go. ~ S. Jae-Jones

Life," he said softly, "is more than flesh. Your body is a candle, your soul the flame. The longer I burn the candle..." He did not finish.
"A candle unused is nothing but wax and wick," I said."I would rather light the flame, knowing it will go out than sit forever in darkness. ~ S. Jae-Jones

Your music," he said at last. "Your music was the only thing that kept me sane, that kept me human instead of a monster. ~ S. Jae-Jones

I had not thought goblins believed in God."

A small wrinkle appeared between his brows. "They don't," he said. "But I do. ~ S. Jae-Jones

Wait? I had waited my entire life for this moment. Not for consummation, but for validation; I desired so hard I wanted to be found desirable in return. The Goblin King saw me - all of me - and now I wanted him to know me. I pushed away his restraining hand and leaped forward; I was a cat, a wolf, a huntress. I was out for blood and flesh. ~ S. Jae-Jones

Those eyes. So pale, so startling, so different. His breath was hot against my face, and we stared at each other. I was stunned to see I was looking into the face of the austere young man, not Der Erlkönig, not the wolf, and suddenly I understood what he had been pleading.
Don't leave me.
A warmth spread from my center, turning my limbs liquid. But when that warmth reached my heart, it turned into pain.
"Never," I breathed.
At my word, his eyes transformed. Hardening into jewels, the mask of Der Erlkönig returned. He lowered his mouth to the column of my neck, a light touch of teeth, his hand moving to rest lightly against my collarbone.
"Good," he growled.
And then with one swift motion, he tore the fabric of my dress from the neck down. ~ S. Jae-Jones

It takes love, you see, to bring the world back to life. ~ S. Jae-Jones

What would be enough? He had an answer he wanted to hear, but I withheld it. Games and more games. We would always be dancing with each other, the Goblin King and I. ~ S. Jae-Jones

I love you, Elisabeth." I hold him tighter to me, even as my heart unravels. "By God, I love you so. ~ S. Jae-Jones

The last night of the year," Constanze said. "Now the days of winter begin and the Goblin King rides abroad, searching for his bride. ~ S. Jae-Jones

My music was elegant, transcendent, ethereal, and I could not bear to behold its beauty. I longed to pull it back beneath my skin, to hide it away in the shadows where it properly belonged, safe where no one could judge it for its flaws. ~ S. Jae-Jones

If I were a burning smolder, he was the poker, stirring
me into flames. ~ S. Jae-Jones

That one," the merchant said, pointing to Käthe, "burns like kindling. All flash, and no real heat. But you," he said. "You smolder, mistress. There is a fire burning within you, but it is a slow burn. It shimmers with heat, waiting only for a breath to fan it to life. ~ S. Jae-Jones

His beauty hurt, but it was the pain that made it beautiful ~ S. Jae-Jones

He looked at me as no one had before, as though I were more the sum of my eyes, my nose, my lips, my hair, and my wretched plainness. He looked as though he saw me entire, as though he knew me" -Liesl ~ S. Jae-Jones

What's the use of running, if we are on the wrong road. ~ S. Jae-Jones

What will happen to you if I win?" I whispered.
A smile crossed his lips, but the corners were downturned, more sad than satisfied. "You know," he said. "You're the only one who's ever asked. ~ S. Jae-Jones

Her grandmother had told her to beware the wolves that prowled in the wood, but the little girl knew the little boy was not dangerous, even if he was the king of the goblins. Will you marry me, Elisabeth? the little boy asked, and the little girl did not wonder at how he knew her name. Oh, she replied, but I am too young to marry. Then I will wait, the little boy said. I will wait as long as you remember. And ~ S. Jae-Jones

I did not want to fight. I wanted to surrender, because surrender was the greater part of courage. ~ S. Jae-Jones

An inarticulate scream of rage strangled me. I wanted
to destroy something, to spend my anger against the unfairness of every thing. I wanted nothing more than to grapple with the Goblin King, to tear him from limb to limb, a Maenad against Orpheus. I tightened my hands into fists. ~ S. Jae-Jones

If it were only feathers that could transform a sparrow into a peacock" -Liesl ~ S. Jae-Jones

Skills could be taught, but talent could not. ~ S. Jae-Jones

The sun was high overhead in the world above. My husband slept soundly beside me, his breathing soft and even. We had fallen asleep resting against each other, but during the night we had drifted apart, founding our separate kingdoms on opposite sides of his bed. Our borders were delineated by a pile of bedclothes. We had touched each other in the most intimate ways possible, but neither of us could bear the other's closeness. Not yet. ~ S. Jae-Jones

What did immortality do to one who was once mortal? It stretched him thin. ~ S. Jae-Jones

I surveyed my kingdom. Chaos. Cruelty. Abandon. I had always been holding back. Always been restrained. I wanted to be bigger, brighter, better; I wanted to be capricious, malicious, sly. Until now, I had not known the intoxicating sweetness of attention. In the world above, it had always been Käthe or Josef who captivated people's eyes and
hearts - Käthe with her beauty, Josef with his talent. I was forgotten, overlooked, ignored - the plain, drab, practical,talentless sister. But here in the Underground, I was the sun around which their world spun, the axis around which their maelstrom twirled. Liesl the girl had been dull, drab, and obedient; Elisabeth the woman was a queen. ~ S. Jae-Jones

Madness is not a gift," I said angrily.
"Nor is it a curse," the Count returned gently, "Madness simply is. ~ S. Jae-Jones

It was a pleasure to open that door and turn the lock, hearing the solid thunk and clang as the mechanism slid into place. I had done this so many times to my own heart; it was a pleasure to do it to the world. ~ S. Jae-Jones

Without sacrifice, nothing good can grow. Without death, there can be no rebirth." -Der Erlkonig ~ S. Jae-Jones

For all that I could not bear my own silence, I wanted the voices of the world around me to disappear. Solitude was different from loneliness, and it was solitude I was seeking. ~ S. Jae-Jones

All that remained of a person once they were gone was a legacy, which would linger only as long as you were loved or hated. Immortality was memory. ~ S. Jae-Jones

I am merely mortal," I said hoarsely. "Not magic."

"Are you so certain of that, my dear? ~ S. Jae-Jones

And at the center of the room, a girl. A woman. She sits at the klavier with eyes closed, playing their song. Their story.
Elisabeth.
Her image flickers, wavers, a reflection seen on the edges of a candle flame. The shadows wriggle and writhe with curiosity, and with tremendous effort, the monster holds them back.
Please, he whispers. Please, let me have this one thing.
As he plays, the darkness recedes. From his skin, from his hair, the weight of the rams' horns on his head lightening. Color returns to the world and to his eyes, a mismatched blue and green as the monster remembers what it is to be a man.
Elisabeth.
He sits down on the bench beside her, begging her- beseeching her- to open her eyes and see him. Be with him. But she keeps her eyes closed, hands trembling on the keyboard.
Elisabeth.
She stirs. He sucks in a sharp breath and lifts his hand to stroke her cheek with fingers that are still mangled, broken, strange. His touch passes through her like a knife through smoke, yet she shivers as if she can feel the brush of his fingers in the dark places of her soul, her body, her heart. She is as insubstantial as mist, but he cannot resist the urge, the itch, to kiss. He closes his eyes and leans in close, imagining the silk of her skin against his lips.
They are met.
A gasp. His eyes fly open but hers are still closed. Her hand lifts to her mouth, as though the tingle of their unexpected caress still lingered there.
S. Jae-Jones

You are the monster I claim, mein Herr. ~ S. Jae-Jones

Once I had finished conducting business with Herr Kassl, I went in search of my sister. Käthe was easy to find, even in this sea of faces in the square. Her smiles were the broadest, her blue eyes the brightest, her pink cheeks the rosiest. Even her hair beneath that ridiculous hat shone like a bird of golden plumage. All I had to do was follow the path traced by the eyes of the onlookers in the village, those admiring, appreciative glances that led me straight to my sister at the center.
For a moment, I watched her bargain and haggle with the sellers. Käthe was like an actress on the stage, all heightened emotion and intense passion, her gestures affected, her smiles calculated. She fluttered and flirted outrageously, carefully oblivious to the stares she drew like moths to the flame. Both men and women traced the lines of her body, the curve of her cheek, the pout of her lip.
Looking at Käthe, it was difficult to forget just how sinful our bodies were, just how prone we were to wickedness. Born unto trouble, as the sparks fly upward, or so saith Job. Clothed in clinging fabrics, with every line of her body exposed, every gasp of pleasure unconcealed, everything about Käthe suggested voluptuousness. ~ S. Jae-Jones

I hadn't expected the game to start off so poorly, so I hadn't yet gathered any ideas for penalties to dole out. So I asked another question. "Fine. What is your favorite color?"
"Green. What's yours?"
My glance fell on the salver beside me. "Red. Favorite smell?"
"Incense. Favorite animal?"
My eyes lingered on his. "Wolf. Favorite composer?"
"You. ~ S. Jae-Jones

I would shape the world to fit the music in my soul. I ~ S. Jae-Jones

Even if I did find his name and unlock his soul, there was the man I loved and the monster I craved. I did not know how to free one without losing the other. ~ S. Jae-Jones

Take me," I whisper. "Take me back."
The green and gray of the Goblin King's eyes flash white and blue, white and blue, the pupils shrinking to a pinprick of black. The corners of his lips curl, close - so close - to mine.
As you wish, my dear.
As you wish.
A breath, a sigh, a kiss, and we are met. ~ S. Jae-Jones

The wishes we make in the dark have consequences, and the Lord of Mischief will call their reckoning ~ S. Jae-Jones

But does the king serve the crown, or the crown serve the king? ~ S. Jae-Jones

You have something much more enduring than beauty," she said severely. "And what is that?" "Grace," she said simply. "Grace, and talent." I ~ S. Jae-Jones

But I love it up here. There is a certain allure to this place, some dark, shameful part of me that thrills at the beauty of death and decay."
Walking arm in arm with the Countess, I understood what she meant. The notion of finding death and decay beautiful should have sounded ridiculous and morbid, yet it resonated with me with a sort of romance of its own. ~ S. Jae-Jones

Elisabeth." The way the Goblin King said my name made my heart flutter. "Will you marry me?" This time, it was a long time before I replied. "Yes," I said. "Yes, I will. ~ S. Jae-Jones

My hopes and dreams, so tattered and tender, had been sheltered by secrecy for so long that I could not bear to bring them to light. ~ S. Jae-Jones

You asked, I answered," he said. "The answer is you. What I want is you - entire. ~ S. Jae-Jones

we saw a man walking in our midst who would have made James Bond feel insecure. Indiana Jones would have looked like a momma's boy compared to the man in the leather jacket with two days' growth of beard who walked to where my mother stood and then - horror of horrors - winked at her. ~ Ally Carter

I'm an American, and always will be. I happen to love that big, awkward, sprawling country very much - and its big, awkward, sprawling people. ~ James Jones

Do you ever miss your mother?"
"I never knew her, so no. But I miss what could've been." He tilted his head. "It's nothing like what you went through, is it now? It was a horrible story, about your brother. How do you get over something like that?"
"You don't."
The stiches on the old wound unraveled within me as I thought about the answer. "I held on to hope that he was alive for almost a year." I wiped my nose and told myself to stop. I'd never even told my counselors that. "I prayed by the hour during these months. I had faith then. And where did that get me? Where was God when my brother died? When my world imploded?" My voice broke and I covered my face. "I have to go." I dashed past Beckett and walked as fast as I could.
With Bob running ahead, Beckett caught up with me in three strides. He reached for my arm and pulled me to a stop. "Wait."
"I should be able this. I know I should. But I'm not." Through my tears, I saw concern staring back at me. And it just added another knot to the dark tangle inside. "I want to be me again-to have faith, to feel hope , to feel...something. Something besides this..." Ugliness. I closed my mouth and just shook my head.
"Hey. It's okay to be mad." Beckett slid his arms around me and enfolded me in a hug. "But you can't give up on your faith. ~ Jenny B. Jones

It does not seem to me that I have the right to foist a story on people, most of whom are children who should be learning all the time, unless I am learning from it too. ~ Diana Wynne Jones

Sounds a little like my quote for the week. Do you want to hear it? This is by Augustine: O soul, He only who created thee can satisfy thee. If thou ask for anything else, it is thy misfortune, for He alone made thee in His image can satisfy thee. That's rich, isn't it? ~ Robin Jones Gunn

I take great comfort in the fact that they might kill me before things actually get worse. ~ Bridget Jones

I had to keep telling her I'd promised not to let her violate me. ~ Carrie Jones

Oh God," she groans.
"Almost." I tell her as I wink and hold my hand out, as if to shake hers. "Most call me Marley. They save the God title for when I'm making their toes curl. ~ Lesley Jones

If you're thinking of calling on that Mrs. Pentstemmon, you can save yourself the trouble. The old biddy's dead."
"Dead?" said Sophie. She had a silly impulse to add, But she was alive an hour ago! And she stopped herself, because death is like that: people are alive until they die. ~ Diana Wynne Jones

People are not enjoying life because they're trying to be something or brand themselves. ~ Rashida Jones

I only know from my own personal experience, and I personally feel that there's a cyclical nature to things, so you don't want to start making generalizations about how bad things have become in comparison to the old days. ~ Jeffrey Jones

This guy in high school tried to run me over with his dad's SUV.
Bad shoved the vehicle through a store window. The memory brought a smile to
my face. ~ Darynda Jones

After I suffered a labral tear in my hip while playing soccer, I realized that many sports-related injuries can be prevented and I dedicated myself to helping young athletes learn more about injury prevention. ~ Cobi Jones

Thank the gods Ubie'd had her detailed, because blood simmering under the New Mexico sun was never a good scent choice for cars. I preferred pine. Or ~ Darynda Jones

I'm interested in all forms of performance, yet I think it's difficult to be as equally talented in all of them as they call for such different skills. At the moment, I still feel I'm learning and want as much experience and variety as possible. ~ Felicity Jones

I create for each individual woman to reflect her definite sense of personal style and unique beauty ~ Jae Hee

Her face was the best of Raquel Welch and Christy Brinkley combined. All atop a curvaceous body that would make Rubens drop his paintbrush."
-Adam W. Jones, Fate Ball ~ Adam W. Jones