The Mortal Instruments Quotes

I love you too, he said. God, I love you, Isabelle. ~ Cassandra Clare

Something snapped inside Maryse. He is not a Herondale. He is a Lightwood. Jace Lightwood. He's my son. ~ Cassandra Clare

Alec looked impressed. "I didn't know all that."
Jace hopped on the windowsill and swung his legs. "Not all of us sleep through history lessons."
"I do not
"
"Oh yes you do, and drool on the desk besides."
"Shut up said Magnus, but he said it quite mildly. ~ Cassandra Clare

They are pretty to look at," - Jace Wayland ~ Cassandra Clare

I won't be just your friend. I love you, Maia. I'm in love with you. I always have been. I always will be. Just being your friend would kill me - Jordan ~ Cassandra Clare

Though Alec had never seen the occupants of the first floor loft, they seemed to be engaged in a tempestuous romance. Once there had been a bunch of someone's belongings strewn all over the landing with a note attached to a jacket lapel addressed to "A lying liar who lies." Right now there was a bouquet of flowers taped to the door with a card tucked among the blooms that read I'M SORRY. That was the thing about New York: you always knew more about your neighbors' business than you wanted to. ~ Cassandra Clare

At last he reached out and with a gentle hand, closed Valentine's eyes.
"Ave atque vale, Shadowhunter," he said. ~ Cassandra Clare

The one thing about 'Beautiful Creatures,' 'The Host' and 'The Mortal Instruments,' which are all well-made movies, is that they were all infected with a dreadful sincerity. ~ Mark Waters

He seemed only ... annoyed. Annoyed, and sweaty, and hot.
"Yeah, well," he said, "the next time you decide to sneak out of our magically warded apartment through a door that shouldn't really exist, leave a note. ~ Cassandra Clare

ducking glass mole' - Alec Lightwood ~ Cassandra Clare

I have not slept.
Between the acting of a dreadful thing
And the first motion, all the interim is
Like a phantasma, or a hideous dream:
The Genius and the mortal instruments
Are then in council; and the state of man,
Like to a little kingdom, suffers then
The nature of an insurrection. ~ William Shakespeare

The Mortal Instruments series is a story world that I love to live in. Beautiful! ~ Stephenie Meyer

How did you jump off the cathedral roof and not die?" - Clary Fray ~ Cassandra Clare

Just kissing? How quicky you dismiss our love. -Jace ~ Cassandra Clare

Jace," she said. "Why are you doing this to me?"
"Because you're lying to me. And you're lying to yourself." Jace's eyes were blazing, and even though his hands were stuffed into his pockets, she could see that they were knotted into fists. ~ Cassandra Clare

My rapier wit hides my inner pain. ~ Cassandra Clare

The fans reacted very positively to me being cast [The Mortal Instruments] which, as a Twilight or Harry Potter franchise, when you read a book and you have someone in your mind or you have a vision and then they're cast in real life, it can go either way. So I was very, very honored and happy that they were excited. ~ Lily Collins

Why do you tell me you love me only when you're drunk or dreaming? she asked. I have awful timing, said Simon ~ Cassandra Clare

There is no pretending I love you and I will love you until you die. And if there is life after that, I will love you then. ~ Jace Wayland

His eyes were green. ~ Cassandra Clare

But they love each other. Isn't that what love means? That you're supposed to be there for the other person to turn to, no matter what? ~ Cassandra Clare

Clary squinted at it. 'Is it going to turn me into a rodent?'
'Where's the trust? I think it's strawberry juice,' Isabelle said. 'Anyway, it's yummy. Jace?' She offered him the glass.
'I am a man,' he told her, 'and men do not consume pink beverages. Get thee gone, woman, and bring me something brown.'
'Brown?' Isabelle made a face.
'Brown is a manly color,' said Jace, and yanked on a stray lock of Isabelle's hair with his free hand. 'In fact, look- Alec is wearing it. ~ Cassandra Clare

The figure in the doorway ducked; the brick hit the wall, and Luke straightened up and looked at her curiously. I hope when we're married, that's not the way you greet me every day when I come home, he said. ~ Cassandra Clare

She hated that little voice inside her head. Like the Seelie Queen, it planted doubts where there shouldn't be doubts, asked questions that had no answer. ~ Cassandra Clare

Wait a second," Clary said.
"I never understand why people say that," Luke said, to no one in particular. "I wasn't going anywhere. ~ Cassandra Clare

Do you remember what I told you that first time at Taki's? About faerie food?"
"I remember you said you ran down Madison Avenue naked with antlers on your head", said Clary, blinking silver drops off her lashes. ~ Cassandra Clare

. . . pasta is rarely fatal. Unless Isabelle makes it." - Jace Wayland ~ Cassandra Clare

Divergent taught me that one choice doesn't define you

The Host taught me that you can't be so quick to judge

Hunger Games taught me that the tinest spark can change the world

The Mortal Instruments taught me that friends can help you overcome anything

Percy Jacskon taught me that everyone's a hero

Harry Potter taught me that love conquers all evil. ~ Random

Enormous? Did you just call me fat? ~ Cassandra Clare

Wear that scarf," he said, pointing to a blue cashmere scarf hanging on a peg. "It matches your eyes."
Alec looked at it. Suddenly he was filled with hate - for the scarf, for Magnus, and most of all for himself. "Don't tell me," he said. "The scarf's a hundred years old, and it was given to you by Queen Victoria right before she died, for special services to the Crown or something."
Magnus sat up. "What's gotten into you?"
Alec stared at him. "Am I the newest thing in this apartment?"
"I think that honor goes to Chairman Meow. He's only two."
"I said newest, not youngest," Alec snapped. ~ Cassandra Clare

You asked me who I belong to. I belong to you. ~ Cassandra Clare

Clary?" Jace tilted his head to the side, studying her face. "You do - you still love me, don't you?"
"I love Jace Lightwood," she said. "I don't know who you are. ~ Cassandra Clare

Sorry. Was it awful?"
"Being a rat? No. First it was disorienting. I was suddenly at ankle-level with everyone. I thought I'd drunk a shrinking potion, but I couldn't figure out why I had this urge to chew used gum wrappers. ~ Cassandra Clare

For the devil has no power . . . except in the dark." - Madame Dorothea ~ Cassandra Clare

Jordan followed, buttoning his jeans and muttering about how there was nothing strange about having a pattern of dancing penguins on your underwear. ~ Cassandra Clare

You know, when I first met
you, in Idris, I had hopes - I had thought you would be like me. And when you were
nothing like me, I hated you. And then, when I was brought back, and Jace told me what
you did, I realized that I had been wrong. You are like me. ~ Cassandra Clare

Isabelle!" he called again. "Let down your raven hair!'
"Oh my God," Clary muttered. "There was something in that blood Raphael gave you, wasn't there? I'm going to kill him. ~ Cassandra Clare

I get the feeling you'd rather pine over someone you can never possibly be with than try being with someone you can. ~ Cassandra Clare

Far below ran the silver ribbon of the East River, braceleted by shining bridges, flecked by boats as small as flyspecks, splitting the shining banks of light that were Manhattan and Brooklyn on either side. ~ Cassandra Clare

Got caught in the rain, I see," - Isabelle Lightwood ~ Cassandra Clare

You can run out of garlic, you can't really run out of music ~ Jace Wayland

And she wept as well for the others lost in the Dark War, and she wept for her mother and the loss she had endured, and she wept for Emma and the Blackthorns, remembering how they had fought back tears when she had told them that she had seen Mark in the tunnels of Faerie, and how he belonged to the Hunt now, and she wept for Simon and the hole in her heart where he had been, and the she would miss him every day until she died, and she wept for herself and the changes that had been wrought in her, because sometimes even change for the better felt like a little death. ~ Cassandra Clare

Drive like hell was following you." - Jace Wayland ~ Cassandra Clare

Don't tell me you aren't even a little glad to see me, Mother," Sebastian said, and
though his words were pleading, his voice was flat. "Aren't I everything you could want in
a son?" He spread his arms wide. "Strong, handsome, looks just like dear old Dad. ~ Cassandra Clare

You're a disaster for us, Clary! You're a mundane, you'll always be one, you'll never be a Shadowhunter! You don't know how to think like we do, think about what's best for everyone
all you think about is yourself! But there's a war now, or there will be, and I don't have time or the inclination to follow around after you, trying to make sure you don't get us killed! Go home, Clary. Go home! ~ Cassandra Clare

You know Jace Lightwood?" said Emma.
"I
What?"
"He's famous," Emma said with obvious amazement. He's the best Shadowhunter. The best. ~ Cassandra Clare

Magnus's eyes went back to Alec. They were gold-green, as unreadable as the eyes of the cat he held on his lap. "Not my favorite topic, Smedley."
"Simon", said Simon. "If I'm going to die for you all, the least you could do is remember my name. ~ Cassandra Clare

They'll probably put that on my gravestone. 'He Was Heterosexul and Had Low Expectations. ~ Jace Herondale

Alec is not a bunny rabbit. He's a shadowhunter. ~ Cassandra Clare

While this is all very amusing, the kiss that will free the girl is the kiss that she most desires," she said. "Only that and nothing more."

Jace's heart started to pound. He met the Queen's eyes with his own. "Why are you doing this?"

… "Desire is not always lessened by disgust…And as my words bind my magic, so you can know the truth. If she doesn't desire your kiss, she won't be free."

"You don't have to do this, Clary, it's a trick - " (Simon)

...Isabelle sounded exasperated. 'Who cares, anyway? It's just a kiss."

"That's right," Jace said. Clary looked up, then finally, and her wide green eyes rested on him. He moved toward her... and put his hand on her shoulder, turning her to face him… He could feel the tension in his own body, the effort of holding back, of not pulling her against him and taking this one chance, however dangerous and stupid and unwise, and kissing her the way he had thought he would never, in his life, be able to kiss her again. "It's just a kiss," he said, and heard the roughness in his own voice, and wondered if she heard it, too.

Not that it mattered - there was no way to hide it. It was too much. He had never wanted like this before... She understood him, laughed when he laughed, saw through the defenses he put up to what was underneath. There was no Jace Wayland more real than the one he saw in her eyes when she looked at him… All he knew was that whatever he had to owe to Hell or ~ Cassandra Clare

I don't want to be Nephilim," said Jace. "I want to be something else. Stronger, faster, better than human. But different. Not subservient to the Laws of an angel who couldn't care less about us. Free." He ran his hand through a curl of her hair. "I'm happy now, Clary. Doesn't that make a difference? ~ Cassandra Clare

I was trying to make you jealous!" Simon screamed, right back. His hands were fisted at his sides. "You're so stupid, Clary. You're so stupid, can't you see anything?"
She stared at him in bewilderment. What on earth did he mean? "Trying to make me jealous? Why would you try to do that?"
She saw immediately that this was the worst thing she could have asked him.
"Because," he said, so bitterly that it shocked her, "I've been in love with you for ten years, so I thought it seemed like the time to find out whether you felt the same about me. Which, I guess you don't. ~ Cassandra Clare

Isabelle," she said, lightening her tone with an obvious effort, "your loyalty to your friend is understandable
"
"He's not my friend." Isabelle looked over at Jace, who was staring at her in a sort of daze. "He's my brother. ~ Cassandra Clare

Surely, she was too young to have so many ghosts. ~ Cassandra Clare

Simon I've been trying to call you, but it seems like your phone is turned off. I don't know where you are right now. I don't know if Clary's already told you what happened tonight. But I have to go to Magnus's and I'd really like you to be there.
I'm scared for my brother. I never ask you for anything, Simon, but I'm asking you now.
Please come.
Isabelle.
Simon let the letter fall from his hand. He was out of the apartment and on his way down the steps before it had even hit the floor. ~ Cassandra Clare

You shouldn't do that. Not to your child. You should-carry your own burdens. ~ Cassandra Clare

I've read the 'Mortal Instruments' series; I was obsessed with those. ~ Amandla Stenberg

The I shall have London," - Sebastian Morgenstern ~ Cassandra Clare

Church was doing what he often did when dropped - lying on his back with all four legs in the air, pretending to be dead in order to induce guilt in his owners. ~ Cassandra Clare

SIMON LEWIS, ERIC HILLCHURCH, KIRK DUPLESSE, AND MATT CHARLTON
"THE MORTAL INSTRUMENTS"
MAY 19, PROSPECT PARK BAND SHELL
BRING THIS FLYER, GET $5 OFF YOUR ENTRANCE FEE! ~ Cassandra Clare

This world will be consumed by hellfire," he said. "But I will bring you
and Jace safely through the flames if you only do what I ask. It is a grace I extend to no
one else. Do you not see how foolish you are to reject it? ~ Cassandra Clare

I'm the one who's always been there for you ... not him! ~ Cassandra Clare

In my own work, I don't have favorite characters, but I have characters that I relate to the most. And I relate the most to Simon from 'The Mortal Instruments,' and also Tessa from 'The Infernal Devices.' They're more sort of bookish and shy characters. ~ Cassandra Clare

And maybe I am a monster. I don't know the answer to that. But what I do know is that even if there's demon blood inside me, there is human blood inside me as well. And I couldn't love you like I do if I weren't at least a little bit human. Because demons want. But they don't love. ~ Cassandra Clare

A war against evil, a war that can never be won, but must always be fought. ~ -Hodge

Dear God . . . the dread hour is nigh." - Jace Wayland ~ Cassandra Clare

How she still thought of Max every day and it was like someone had emptied her lungs of air, and she would catch at her heart, afraid she was dying. ~ Cassandra Clare

The morning star isn't a stat," Clary said grumpily. It's a planet. I learned that in astronomy class."
"Mundane education is regrettably prosaic," said Jace. ~ Cassandra Clare

Magnus reached for Alec, but instead of rising to his feet, he pulled Alec against him, his hand sliding up Alec's back to knot in his hair. Magnus pulled Alec down and against him, and kissed him,hard and awkward and determined, and Alec froze for a moment and then abandoned himself to it, to kissing Magnus, something he'd thought he'd never get to do again. Alec ran his hands up Magnus's
shoulders to the sides of his neck and cupped his hands there, holding Magnus in place while he kissed him thoroughly breathless. ~ Cassandra Clare

Take off your shirt."
Jace raised his eyebrows.
"I'm not going to attack you," she said impatiently. "I can take the sight of your naked chest without swooning."
"Are you sure?" he asked, obediently sliding the shirt off his shoulders. "Because viewing my naked chest has caused many women to seriously injure themselves stampeding to get to me. ~ Cassandra Clare

Keep up," said an irritable voice in her ear. It was Jace, who had dropped back to walk beside her. "I don't want to have to keep looking behind me to make sure nothing's happened to you."
"So don't bother."
"Last time I left you alone, a demon attacked you," he pointed out.
"Well, I'd certainly hate to interrupt your pleasant night stroll with my sudden death."
He blinked. "There is a fine line between sarcasm and outright hostility, and you seem to have crossed it. ~ Cassandra Clare

People always said that things never turned out the way you imagined they would. People were wrong ~ Cassandra Clare

You can take your Law," she said in a measured tone, "and shove it right up your- ~ Cassandra Clare

She (Annabeth) put her hand on my spine, and my skin tingled. I (Percy) moved her fingers to the one spot that grounded me to my mortal life. A thousand volts of electricity seemed to arc through my body. ~ Rick Riordan

Pointless, needless suffering & pain? I don't suppose it would help it I told you that was the way life is. The good suffer, the evil flourish, and all this is mortal passes away. - Magnus ~ Cassandra Clare

20 She said: How can I have a son and no mortal has yet touched me, nor have I been unchaste? 21 He said: So (it will be). Thy Lord says: It is easy to Me; and that We may make him a sign to men and a mercy from Us.a And it is a matter decreed.b 21a. Jesus was a sign to men, in the sense that he was made a prophet, and every prophet is a sign, because the Divine revelation which is granted to him affords a clear proof of the existence of the Divine Being. Or, he was a sign to the Israelites in particular, because with him prophethood came to an end among the Israelites. 21b. She conceived him in the ordinary way in which women conceive children; see 3:44a. 22 Then she conceived him; and withdrew with him to a remote place. 23 And the throes of childbirth drove her to the trunk of a palm-tree.a She said: Oh, would that I had died before this, and had been a thing quite forgotten!b 23a. This shows that Mary gave birth to Jesus while on a journey; ~ Anonymous

Luce closed her eyes,trying to remember exactly what he'd looked like. There were no words for it.It was just an incredible, joyous connection.
"I saw him."
"Who,Daniel? Yeah,I saw him,too. He was the guy who dropped the ax when it was his turn to do the chopping. Big mistake. Huge."
"No,I really saw him. As he truly is." Her voice shook. "He was so beautiful."
"Oh,that." Bill tossed his head, annoyed.
"I recognized him.I think I've seen him before."
"Doubt it." Bill coughed. "That was the first and last time you'll be able to see him like that.You saw him, and then you died.That's what happens when mortal flesh looks upon an angel's unbridled glory. Instant death. Burned away by the angel's beauty."
"No,it wasn't like that."
"You saw what happened to everyone else. Poof. Gone." Bill plopped down beside her and patted her knee. "Why do you think the Mayans started doing sacrifices by fire after that? A neighboring tribe discovered the charred remains and had to explain it somehow."
"Yes,they burst into flames right away. But I lasted longer-"
"A couple of extra seconds? When you were turned away? Congratulations."
"You're wrong.And I know I've seen that before."
"You've seen his wings before, maybe.But Daniel shedding his human guise and showing you his true form as an angel? Kills you every time."
"No." Luce shook her head. "You're saying he can never show me who he really is?"
Bill shrugged. "Not without ~ Lauren Kate

He thought he would light the fire when he got inside, and make himself some breakfast, just to pass away the time; but he did not seem able to handle anything from a scuttleful of coals to a teaspoon without dropping it or falling over it, and making such a noise that he was in mortal fear that it would wake Mrs. G. up, and that she would think it was burglars and open the window and call "Police!" and then these two detectives would rush in and handcuff him, and march him off to the police-court. He was in a morbidly nervous state by this time, and he pictured the trial, and his trying to explain the circumstances to the jury, and nobody believing him, and his being sentenced to twenty years' penal servitude, and his mother dying of a broken heart. So he gave up trying to get breakfast, and wrapped himself up in his overcoat and sat in the easy-chair till Mrs. G came down at half-past seven. ~ Jerome K. Jerome

It's time you realized that uncertainty is the perpetual lot of mortal creatures, and resigned yourself to being no better than the rest of us. We've no choice but to trust what we don't understand, accept what we can't believe and walk where there's no path we can see. ~ Ann Lawrence

I am an orphan, alone: nevertheless I am found everywhere. I am one, but opposed to myself. I am youth and old man at one and the same time. I have known neither father nor mother, because I have had to be fetched out of the deep like a fish, or fell like a white stone from heaven. In woods and mountains I roam, but I am hidden in the innermost soul of man. I am mortal for everyone, yet I am not touched by the cycle of aeons. ~ C. G. Jung

Bill Clinton says the middle-class folks in Topeka who contribute to The 700 Club or Focus on the Family are radicals whose beliefs pose a mortal danger to this nation! ~ Don Feder

In the same way that certain sections of the city were mortal battlegrounds, some parts of the calendar were always more warlike than others, and during the days between Christmas and the new year all elements seemed to conspire to subdue the soul. Fire, rain, sickness, cold, and death were everywhere spread through the dark as in a painting of hell. People struggled until exhaustion, giving everything they had, and the days were packed with trials and mysteries. ~ Mark Helprin

Yes, man is mortal, but that would be only half the trouble. The worst of it is that he's sometimes unexpectedly mortal - there's the trick! ~ Mikhail Bulgakov

These blossoms, gathered in familiar paths,
With dear companions now passed out of sight,
Shall not be laid upon their graves. They live,
Since love is deathless. Pleasure now nor pride
Is theirs in mortal wise, but hallowing thoughts
Will meet the offering, of so little worth,
Wanting the benison death has made divine. ~ Lucy Larcom

If the European grows accustomed not to rule, a generation and a half will be sufficient to bring the old continent, and the whole world along with it, into mortal inertia, intellectual sterility, universal barbarism. It is only the illusion of rule, and the discipline of responsibility which it entails, that can keep Western minds in tension. Science, art, technique, and all the rest live on the tonic atmosphere created by the consciousness of authority. If this is lacking, the European will gradually become degraded. Minds will no longer have the radical faith in themselves which impels them, energetic, daring, tenacious, towards the capture of great new ideas in every order of life. The European will inevitably become a day-to-day man. Incapable of creative, specialized effort, he will always be falling back on yesterday, on custom, on routine. He will turn into a commonplace, conventional, empty creature, like the Greeks of the decadence and those of the Byzantine epoch. ~ Jose Ortega Y Gasset

One day I wrote her name upon the strand,
But came the waves and washéd it away:
Again I wrote it with a second hand,
But came the tide, and made my pains his prey.
"Vain man," said she, "that dost in vain assay,
A mortal thing so to immortalize;
For I myself shall like to this decay,
And eke my name be wiped out likewise."
"Not so," (quod I) "let baser things devise
To die in dust, but you shall live by fame:
My verse your vertues rare shall eternize,
And in the heavens write your glorious name:
Where whenas death shall all the world subdue,
Our love shall live, and later life renew. ~ Edmund Spenser

If I actually supervised Felix," he said, "then I'm ready now to take charge of volcanoes, the tides, and the migrations of bird and lemmings. The man was a force of nature no mortal could possibly control. ~ Kurt Vonnegut Jr.

Yes, man is mortal, but that isn't so bad. What's bad is that sometimes he's unexpectedly mortal, that's the rub. And, in general, he can't even say in the morning what he'll be doing that very same night. ~ Mikhail Bulgakov

Think not, O Mortal, vainly gay.
That Thou from Human Woes is free,
The bitter cup I drink today,
Tomorrow may be drunk by thee. ~ Jane Grey

It's packed in there already and we're fifteen minutes early. My theory, proven once again," Kristen said, climbing the stairs.
"What theory would that be?"
"Everyone adores a tragedy. ~ Leah Clifford

THE HOST is riding from Knocknarea
And over the grave of Clooth-na-bare;
Caolte tossing his burning hair
And Niamh calling Away, come away:
Empty your heart of its mortal dream.
The winds awaken, the leaves whirl round,
Our cheeks are pale, our hair is unbound,
Our breasts are heaving, our eyes are a-gleam,
Our arms are waving, our lips are apart;
And if any gaze on our rushing band,
We come between him and the deed of his hand,
We come between him and the hope of his heart.
The host is rushing 'twixt night and day,
And where is there hope or deed as fair?
Caolte tossing his burning hair,
And Niamh calling Away, come away ~ W.B.Yeats

I got mixed up with some oddness in my youth, and the long and short of it is that I can't shuffle off this mortal coil until I have read the ten most boring classics. ~ Jasper Fforde

I believe Triumvirate Holdings wants to control all the ancient Oracles. And I Believe the most ancient Oracle of all, the Grove of Dodona, is right here at Camp Half-Blood"

I WAS A DREAMATIC GOD.

I thought my last statement was a great line, I expected gasps, perhaps some organ music in the background. Maybe the lights would go out just before I could say more. Moments later I would be found dead with a knife in my back. That would be exciting!

Wait. I'm a mortal. Murder would kill me. Never mind ~ Rick Riordan

One simply cannot engage in barbarous action without becoming a barbarian ... one cannot defend human values by calculated and unprovoked violence without doing mortal damage to the values one is trying to defend. ~ J. William Fulbright

But I warn you, what pulls them together is nothing a mortal man may battle; it is a holy fire, I tell you, a most holy fire that burns in them."
"The devil can stoke a fire as well as ever God could. ~ Rachel Caine

Being a vampire for him meant revenge. Revenge against life itself. Every time he took a life it was revenge. It was no wonder, then, that he appreciated nothing. The nuances of vampire existence weren't even available to him because he was focused with a maniacal vengeance upon the mortal life he'd left. Consumed with hatred, he looked back. Consumed with envy, nothing pleased him unless he could take it from others; and once having it, he grew cold and dissatisfied, not loving the thing for itself; and so he went after something else. Vengeance, blind and sterile and contemptible. ~ Anne Rice

He's Darkness. Unpleasant. I wouldn't trust him. Nor do I trust every mortal I meet. I don't know where evil comes from, and frankly it doesn't matter. Not right now. Histories and myths are renamed and reinvented eternally across the world. I can't speak to that. What I do know? This is your story. ~ Leanna Renee Hieber

Inside the bone was a tiny man he didn't recognize. The man was made of thin flesh, wrapped around translucent bones, wrapped around organs no bigger than grains of sand pumping wildly. A small mortal man he'd carried hidden inside his own good, strong body. ~ Eleanor Davis

And there were moments in this fetid little paradise when I prayed that in spite of everything I was capable of, I was somehow kin to every mortal. Maybe I was not the exotic outcast that I imagined, but merely the dim magnification of every human soul. Old truths and ancient magic, revolution and invention, all conspire to distract us from the passion that in one way or another defeats us all. And weary finally of this complexity, we dream of that long-ago time when each kiss was the pefect consummation of desire. What can we do but reach for the embrace that must now contain both heaven and hell: our doom again and again and agian. ~ Anne Rice

Girls from poor families of the 'untouchable,' or lower, caste are 'married' to Yellamma as young as four. No longer allowed to marry a mortal, they are expected to bestow their entire lives to the service of the goddess. ~ Beeban Kidron