Don’t you just love and hate reading something you absolutely adore and wish you’d written or come up with it?
Yeah, I do this a lot, especially when I read beautifulness on the page. Mostly I post pretty quotes on Instagram because why not, but other times I just squee too much and I have to rely on Goodreads to have my favorite lines somewhere. Thankfully, many of these lines that I absolutely loved are listed on Goodreads, so I don’t feel like too much of a nerd when there are many others who love the same quotes I do!
Anyway, beauty is always in the eye of the beholder, but these were definitely quotes that stay with me even after it’s been months since I’d finished reading the books.
Top Ten Beautiful Quotes
“To the stars who listen–and the dreams that are answered.”
– Sarah J. Maas, A Court of Mist and Fury
I totally used this one in the classroom for a good few weeks. It’s just such a pretty line, and I thank Maas for having written it.
“You are an ember in the ashes, Elias Veturius. You will spark and burn, ravage and destroy. You cannot change it. You cannot stop it.”
– Sabaa Tahir, An Ember in the Ashes
I’ve yet to read the rest of the books, because I get way too hyped over Tahir’s words. I just…ugh, so good.
I release the throwing knife as something I can’t place deflates in my chest. It sinks like disappointment.
It breathes like relief.
– Tomi Adeyemi, Children of Blood and Bone
Honestly, if I could, I’d put the entire book on as a quote, because Adeyemi seriously knows how to string words together to make them feel musical. What Inan says in the quote really gives you an idea of how he’s feeling when he doesn’t find Zelie during his hunt.
“You are not weak. You are not indecisive. You are strong. Fierce. Capable beyond measure.”
– Renee Ahdieh, The Wrath and the Dawn
I want Khalid to be my hype man. I could use a personal motivator, too, even though I already know I’m a queen.
“There is only one guiding principle in this family.”
“Learning, right, mom?”
“Exactly. Not a fear of knowledge, but embracing every facet of it. It’s what sets us apart…places us higher than everyone else.”
– Kurtis J. Wiebe, Rat Queens
There was just something that resonated with me when I read this in Rat Queens. I really loved the entire panel of Hannah’s mother comforting the poor demon-child for what most people see as her shortcomings.
“I am not ruined. I am ruination.”
– Leigh Bardugo, Ruin and Rising
CHILLS. I love it when Bardugo’s characters get very dark and wax poetic. I mean, I pretty much wear a “Make me your villain” T-shirt, because the Darkling is fabulous. The quote I’m showcasing is from Genya, and considering the context, this was beautifully said.
“I can’t go back to yesterday. I was a different person then.”
– Lewis Carroll, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
Still true. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland is just really quotable, too.
“I claim the shadows that the Shadow may not.”
– Brent Weeks, The Night Angel Trilogy
Weeks is a wordsmith, and I don’t know why I haven’t read anything else besides his Night Angel Trilogy! I really should read more, though, because I loved how he wrote his stories.
Once upon a time, the sky knew the weight of angel armies on the move, and the wind blew infernal with the fire of their wings.
– Laini Taylor, Days of Blood and Starlight
I swear, when words come together this perfectly, I just have no choice but to sigh. It’s just…ugh, such a good intro to one of her sections.
“Don’t you see? He wasn’t coming to pay your debt. He was coming to see if you’d returned to pay it yourself. I do not know why you two are circling each other like stars. It is not my cosmic dance. But I do know that you come asking after one another, when only a few strides and a handful of stars divide you.”
– V.E. Schwab, A Gathering of Shadows
I WILL ALWAYS REMEMBER THIS QUOTE. ALWAYS. Like…there were so many others I could have used from Schwab’s collection of quotable quotes, but this one trumps all, and I can’t even tell you why. Maybe I just like stars. Stars are quite lovely.
Story and Somnomancy 