1
Well, it seems to me that there are books that tell stories, and then there are books that tell truths.. The first kind, they show you life like you want it to be. With villains getting what they deserve and the hero seeing what a fool he's been and marrying the heroine and happy endings and all that.. But the second kind, they show you life more like it is.. The first kind makes you cheerful and contented, but the second kind shakes you up.Jennifer Donnelly
2
DNA tells you all the secrets of life, ’ he used to say. Except for one–how to live it.Jennifer Donnelly
3
Becuse God loves us, but the devil takes an interest.Jennifer Donnelly
4
Only the hopeless love God.Jennifer Donnelly
5
God loves us, but the devil takes an interest.Jennifer Donnelly
6
I think your vision gets better as you get older.Jennifer Donnelly
7
There were times when I lifted my face to the sky, stretched my arms wide to the winter night, and laughed out loud, so happy was I.The memory of it makes me laugh now, but not from happiness. Be careful what you show the world. You never know when the wolf is watching.Jennifer Donnelly
8
The greenest of pastures are right here on earth.Jennifer Donnelly
9
And then I remember this morning and I wonder if it really happened or if I dreamed it. It was nice. And weird. And tender. I'm not used to tender. It's a fossil, that word. Conditions changed and it died out. Like the woolly mammoth. It just couldn't live in the same world as dick box. Ho dog. Or wiener cousins.Jennifer Donnelly
10
I don't like hope very much. In fact, I hate it. It's the crystal meth of emotions. It hooks you fast and kills you hard. It's bad news. The worst. It's sharp sticks and cherry bombs. When hope shows up, it's only a matter of time until someone gets hurt.Jennifer Donnelly
11
Hope is the crystal meth of emotions. It hooks you fast and kills you hard.Jennifer Donnelly
12
We all make mistakes, the danger lies in letting those mistakes make us. Make us believe we can't put things right. Make us think there's no hope. Make us give up.Jennifer Donnelly
13
I'm wishing he could see that music lives. Forever. That it's stronger than death. Stronger than time. And that its strength holds you together when nothing else can.Jennifer Donnelly
14
You can't argue with the dead, no matter what you say, they always have the last word.Jennifer Donnelly
15
And I knew in my bones that Emily Dickinson wouldn't have written even one poem if she'd had two howling babies, a husband bent on jamming another one into her, a house to run, a garden to tend, three cows to milk, twenty chickens to feed, and four hired hands to cook for. I knew then why they didn't marry. Emily and Jane and Louisa. I knew and it scared me. I also knew what being lonely was and I didn't want to be lonely my whole life. I didn't want to give up on my words. I didn't want to choose one over the other. Mark Twain didn't have to. Charles Dickens didn't.Jennifer Donnelly
16
A new word. Bright with possibilities. A flawless pearl to turn over and over in my hand, then put away for safekeeping.Jennifer Donnelly
17
..Listen to your own thoughts and feelings very carefully, be aware of your observations, and learn to value them. When you're a teenager–and even when you're older–lots of people will try to tell you what to think and feel. Try to stand still inside all of that and hear your own voice. It's yours and only yours, it's unique and worth of your attention, and if you cultivate it properly, it might just make you a writer. .Jennifer Donnelly
18
When you can write music that endures, bravo. Until then, keep quiet and study the work of those who can.Jennifer Donnelly
19
You should spend more time reading the Good Book and less reading all those novels. What are you going to tell the Lord on Judgement Day when He asks you why you didn't read your bible? Hmm?" I said. To myself.Jennifer Donnelly
20
I don't know what I was hoping for. Some small praise, I guess. A bit of encouragement. I didn't get it. Miss Parrish took me aside one day after school let out. She said she'd read my stories and found them morbid and dispiriting. She said literature was meant to uplift the heart and that a young woman such as myself ought to turn her mind to topics more cheerful and inspiring than lonely hermits and dead children." Look around yourself, Mathilda, " she said. "At the magnificence of nature. It should inspire joy and awe. Reverence. Respect. Beautiful thoughts and fine words." I had looked around. I'd seen all the things she'd spoken of and more besides. I'd seen a bear cub lift it's face to the drenching spring rains. And the sliver moon of winter, so high and blinding. I'd seen the crimson glory of a stand of sugar maples in autumn and the unspeakable stillness of a mountain lake at dawn. I'd seen them and loved them. But I'd also seen the dark of things. The starved carcasses of winter deer. The driving fury of a blizzard wind. And the gloom that broods under the pines always. Even on the brightest days. .Jennifer Donnelly
21
You, on the other hand, wish to know things. And no one can forgive a girl for that.Jennifer Donnelly
22
He who cannot endure the bad will not live to see the good.Jennifer Donnelly
23
An escape can become escapism before we even know it. Books are wonderful things, but you can't live in someone else's story. You have to live your own story.Jennifer Donnelly
24
I listened as the words became sentences and the sentences became pages and the pages became feelings and voices and places and people.Jennifer Donnelly
25
What I saw next stopped me dead in my tracks. Books. Not just one or two dozen, but hundreds of them. In crates. In piles on the floor. In bookcases that stretched from floor to ceiling and lined the entire room. I turned around and around in a slow circle, feeling as if I'd just stumbled into Ali Baba's cave. I was breathless, close to tears, and positively dizzy with greed.Jennifer Donnelly
26
I could almost hear the characters inside, murmuring and jostling, impatient for me to open the cover and let them out.Jennifer Donnelly
27
French Louis Seymour of the West Canada Creek, who knew how to survive all alone in a treacherous wilderness, and Mr. Alfred G. Vanderbilt of New York City and Raquette Lake, who was richer than God and traveled in his very own Pullman car, and Emmie Hubbard of the Uncas Road, who painted the most beautiful pictures when she was drunk and burned them in her woodstove when she was sober, were all ten times more interesting to me than Milton's devil or Austen's boy-crazy girls or that twitchy fool of Poe's who couldn't think of any place better to bury a body than under his own damn floor.Jennifer Donnelly
28
But eating was the last thing on my mind. And I didn't see how Miss Wilcox could eat, or teach, or sleep or ever find any reason to leave this room. Not with all these books in it, just begging to be read.Jennifer Donnelly
29
You fear you will fail at the very thing you were born for. And your fear torments you...instead of shunning your fear, you must let it speak and listen carefully to what it's trying to tell you. It will give you good counsel.Jennifer Donnelly
30
Her fear was strong, but her need for the truth was stronger.Jennifer Donnelly
31
Serafina, Ava, Ling, and Becca swam inside. Neela followed them, but at the very last second, shield. “I can’t, ” she said. “Once I go in, there’s no way out again. This is real. You’re real. All this time, a part of me was hoping you were only a dream.” The witch cocked her head. “Only a dream?” she said mockingly. “Long ago, a great mage dreamed of stealing the gods’ powers. Abbadon was born of that dream. Atlantis died because of it. Now, because of a new dreamer, all the waters of the world may fall. There is nothing more real than a dream.” She nodded at the waters behind Neela. Silt was rising in the distance, a great deal of it. “The merman Traho knows this. He’s coming. If you do not believe me, perhaps he can convince you.Jennifer Donnelly
32
Headstrong is just a word, Katie - a word others call you when you don't do what they want.Jennifer Donnelly
33
Had you but seen it, I promise you, your high-minded principles would have melted like candle wax. Never would you have wished such beauty away.Jennifer Donnelly
34
He's wearing boots, a kilt, and a long-sleeve tee. No coat, even though it's December. Beautiful people don't need coats. They've got their auras to keep them warm.Jennifer Donnelly
35
It's a good thing you and your pills weren't around a few hundred years ago or there never would have been a Vermeer or a Caravaggio. You'd have drugged "Girl with a Pearl Earring" and "The Taking of Christ" right the hell out of them.Jennifer Donnelly
36
I grew up on a mixed diet of mass and class, and I still read that way. I hate it when people apologize for what they read. Some bestsellers aren't exactly literary. So what? They're fun and rip-roaring, Who instituted the book police and why do we have to answer them? Grrrrr!Jennifer Donnelly
37
History is a Rorschach test, people. What you see when you look at it tells you as much about yourself as it does about the past.Jennifer Donnelly
38
Most of the mess that is called history comes about because kings and presidents cannot be satisfied with a nice chicken and a good loaf of bread.Jennifer Donnelly
39
History is fiction.Jennifer Donnelly
40
One expects decent people to stand up for the good of all. Decent people shut their doors and hide behind them as decent people do. Massacres could never happen if it weren't for decent people.Jennifer Donnelly
41
I play until my fingers are blue and stiff from the cold, and then I keep on playing. Until I'm lost in the music. Until I am the music--notes and chords, the melody and harmony. It hurts, but it's okay because when I'm the music, I'm not me. Not sad. Not afraid. Not desperate. Not guilty.Jennifer Donnelly
42
It has an L on it. L for love. See? It's the key to the universe, Dad. You said you were looking for it. You told Mom you were. I found it for you so you don't have to look anymore. So you can come home at night.Jennifer Donnelly
43
Together in our house, in the firelight, we are the world made small.Jennifer Donnelly
44
I have done this–made the sad prince laugh. Made his grieving parents smile. None but me. Think you only kings have power? Stand on a stage and hold the hearts of men in your hands. Make them laugh with a gesture, cry with a word. Make them love you. And you will know what power is.Jennifer Donnelly
45
Think you only kings have power? Stand on a stage and hold the hearts of men in your hands. Make them laugh with a gesture, cry with a word. Make them love you. And you will know what power is.Jennifer Donnelly
46
Fac quod faciendum est, ' " Jo read aloud. "Do what must be done.Jennifer Donnelly
47
Cry your grief to God. Howl to the heavens. Tear your shirt. Your hair. Your flesh. Gouge your eyes. Carve out your heart. And what will you get from Him? Only Silence. Indifference.Jennifer Donnelly
48
Life, Rose well knew, could throw some hard punches at you, but nothing hurt as much as losing a child, or seeing one of your children hurt and suffering. Becoming a parent changed you forever, as nothing else could. Not good or bad fortune. Not friendships. Not even a man or a woman.Jennifer Donnelly
49
Because beautiful things never last. Not roses nor snow… And not fireworks, eitherJennifer Donnelly
50
Namaste. It was a Nepalese greeting. It meant: The light within me bows to the light within you.Jennifer Donnelly
51
No sunrises that stop you dead with their unspeakable beuaty, either, he thought. No whales breaching only yards away from the ship, showering your awestruck self with a cold ocean rain. No songs and whiskey belowdecks at night while the wind plucks at the ship's rigging and the ice beats against her hull.Jennifer Donnelly
52
On those nights, the words were for me alone. They came up unbidden from my heart. They spilled over my tongue and spilled out my mouth. And because of them, I, who was nothing and nobody, was a prince of Denmark, a maid of Verona, a queen of Egypt. I was a sour misanthrope, a beetling hypocrite, a conjurer's daughter, a mad and murderous king.Jennifer Donnelly
53
Because in a small dark room, a broken child lies on a filthy bed and stares up at a high window. He waits for me, too. And I–I who have failed at everything and have failed everyone– I must not, I cannot, I will not fail him.Jennifer Donnelly
54
Sir, no amount of money, no matter how vast, could induce me to stroll, perambulate, promenade, or engage in any form of locomotion with you whatsoever. Good evening.Jennifer Donnelly
55
For mad I may be, but I will never be convenient.Jennifer Donnelly
56
No. I meant stay with me today. And tomorrow. And every day after.Jennifer Donnelly
57
Don't let the darkness that's been visited upon this family pull you in so deeply, you cannot get out. Turn back from it, darling Jo... he'd warned her. He didn't seem to understand that turning your back on the darkness didn't mean the darkness would turn its back on you.Jennifer Donnelly
58
Ambition and poverty are powerful motivators...Jennifer Donnelly
59
She smells of her cooking and the perfume Eau d' Hadrien. My mother wore it, too. She used to cook, like Lili. Our house smelled of garlic and thyme instead of sadness.Jennifer Donnelly
60
You should spend more time reading the Good Book and less reading all those novels. What are you going to tell the Lord on Judgement Day when He asks you why you didn't read your bible?Jennifer Donnelly
61
The truth costs. Lies cost more.Jennifer Donnelly
62
Because just for a few seconds, someone else hurts, too. For just a few seconds, I'm not alone.Jennifer Donnelly
63
Keep being the author of your own story. Never let anyone else write it for you again.Jennifer Donnelly
64
I'd wish you good luck, but you won't need it. You get to write your own story now. Nothing's luckier than that.Jennifer Donnelly
65
It goes on, this world, stupid and brutal. But I do not. I do not.Jennifer Donnelly
66
But words are more powerful than anything.Jennifer Donnelly
67
They sat quietly together for a few minutes, Joe holding Fiona's hand, Fiona sniffling. No flowery words, no platitudes passed between them. Joe would have done anything to ease her suffering, but he knew nothing he might do, or say, could. Her grief would run its course, like a fever, and release her when it was spent. He would not shush her or tell her it was God's will and that her da was better off. That was rubbish and they both knew it. When something hurt as bad as this, you had to let it hurt. There were no shortcuts.Jennifer Donnelly
68
Because I'm on the phone, Mom! ""Fooling around with your friends again! Who is that?"" Ahmadinejad."" Oh, my goodness! What is he saying?"" That he wants to see Jeezy at the Beacon tonight. Putin's going too. He scalped a ticket from Kim Jong Il. All tha gangstas are going."" Don't be so fresh, young man! "" Gotta go, " he says to me. "Enemy forces have dropped a Momshell.""Fall back, solider. Over and out.Jennifer Donnelly
69
She's got a big belt around her hips. It has a shiny buckle with PRADA on it, which is Italian for insecure.Jennifer Donnelly
70
Beautiful people don't need coats. They've got their auras to keep them warm.Jennifer Donnelly
71
Happiness was useless to me. It was heartache that filled my purse. What happy man has need of Shakespeare?Jennifer Donnelly
72
And Robespierre, the Incorruptible, who loved us so much he cut off our heads so we would not be troubled by too many thoughts.Jennifer Donnelly
73
Beautiful people don't need coats. They've got their auras keeping them warm.Jennifer Donnelly
74
Murder is not a suitable topic of conversation for a young lady.Jennifer Donnelly
75
Voice is not just the sound that comes from your throat, but the feelings that come from your words.Jennifer Donnelly
76
The more obscure our tastes, the greater the proof of our genius.Jennifer Donnelly
77
Sometimes you have to do wrong to do right.Jennifer Donnelly
78
The thing is, you can't ever really know how rotten someone will turn out to be.Jennifer Donnelly
79
But you are a different sort of girl. Not at all what I expected you to be. And this is a different sort of time. And so I am hopeful for all the things you may yet find.Jennifer Donnelly
80
I will go out again this very night with my rockets and fuses. I will blow them straight out of their comfortable beds. Blow the rooftops off their houses. Blow the black, wretched night to bits. I will not stop. For mad I may be, but I will never be convenient.Jennifer Donnelly
81
Who knew that listening to a guy sleep could be so much deeper than sleeping with a guy.Jennifer Donnelly
82
And besides, I couldn't stay at the party. It was too dangerous. I nearly died."" From what?"" Boredom.Jennifer Donnelly
83
I need a boy who thinks with his big head, not his little one. Since they do not exist, I have fashioned my own.Jennifer Donnelly
84
I'm safer with the Tailor and Pretty Will and every thief and cutthroat in the bend than I am with Miss Josephine Montfort of Gramecy Park.Jennifer Donnelly
85
With 'A Northern Light, ' I've already heard from teenage readers, teachers, librarians - it's been so gratifying. It's amazing that you can take something that matters so deeply to you and make it matter to someone else.Jennifer Donnelly