A Great and Terrible Beauty Quotes
some of my fave quotes from AGaTB by Libba Bray... and some how all of theses quotes seem to hit a little close to home right now.
He’s waiting for me to tremble and agree to his terms. But something inside me has changed tonight. And I cannot go back.
The one thing I do know for certain is that I can no longer ignore whatever power is inside me.
And now I understand that truth casts a spell of its own, one I’m not sure how to hold on to, though I’m desperate to try.
A woman prepared to fly, even if she has to lose her legs to do it.
Because you don’t notice the light without a bit of shadow. Everything has both dark and light.
There are no safe choices, Miss Temple. Only other choices. There are no safe choices.
What happens if your choice is misguided,
You must try to correct it
But what if it’s too late? What if you can’t?
Then you must find a way to live with it.
I’ve always been so irritated when Pippa opens her mouth, I haven’t stopped to think she may babble on because she’s afraid she won’t be heard.
There’s no one around to stifle us. No one to tell us that what we think and feel is wrong. It isn’t that we do what we want. It’s that we’re not allowed to want at all.
This rude old man with the fat face is going to be lovely Pippa’s husband? Pippa, whose every waking moment is consumed by thoughts of a pure, undying, romantic love, has been sold to the highest bidder, a man she does not know, does not care about. She stares at the Persian carpet as if it might open up and swallow her down whole, save her.
She doesn’t say it bitterly. That’s what hurts. She’s accepted her fate without fighting it.
No one asks how or what I am doing. They could not care less. We’re all looking glasses, we girls, existing only to reflect their images back to them as they’d like to be seen. Hollow vessels of girls to be rinsed of our own ambitions, wants, and opinions, just waiting to be filled with the cool, tepid water of gracious compliance.
A fissure forms in the vessel. I’m cracking open.
I’m sorry, Gemma. But we can’t live in the light all of the time. You have to take whatever light you can hold in the dark with you.
Who cares about one girl’s lifelong happiness in the face of such important matters as maintaining appearances?
I had thought Felicity dangerous a moment ago, when she felt powerful. I was wrong. Wounded and powerless, she is more dangerous than I could imagine.
This is a time for goodbyes. But I’ve had too many goodbyes of late, a lifetime of them to come, so I say nothing.
All the small, simple, conscious acts of living a sudden defense against the dying we do every day.
You can never really know someone completely. That’s why it’s the most terrifying thing in the world, really-taking someone on faith, hoping they’ll take you on faith too. It’s such a precarious balance, It’s a wonder we do it at all. And yet...
In a world beyond this one, that river goes on singing sweetly, enchanting us with what we want to hear, shaping what we need in order to keep us going. In those waters all disappointments are forgotten, our mistakes forgiven. Gazing into them, we see a strong father. A loving mother. Warm rooms where we are sheltered, adored, wanted. And the uncertainty of our futures is nothing more than the fog of breath on a windowpane.
But forgiveness... I'll hold on to that fragile slice of hope and keep it close, remembering that in each of us lie good and bad, light and dark, art and pain, choice and regret, cruelty and sacrifice. We're each of us our own chiaroscuro, our own bit of illusion fighting to emerge into something solid, something real. We've got to forgive ourselves that. I must remember to forgive myself. Because there is an awful lot of gray to work with. And no one can live in the light all the time.
The wind shifts, bringing with it the smell of roses, strong and sweet. Across teh ravine, i see her in the dry crackle of leaves. A deer. She spies me and bolts through the trees. I run after her, not really giving chase. I'm running because I can, because I must.
Because I want to see how far I can go before I have to stop. --- best ending to a book EVER
He’s waiting for me to tremble and agree to his terms. But something inside me has changed tonight. And I cannot go back.
The one thing I do know for certain is that I can no longer ignore whatever power is inside me.
And now I understand that truth casts a spell of its own, one I’m not sure how to hold on to, though I’m desperate to try.
A woman prepared to fly, even if she has to lose her legs to do it.
Because you don’t notice the light without a bit of shadow. Everything has both dark and light.
There are no safe choices, Miss Temple. Only other choices. There are no safe choices.
What happens if your choice is misguided,
You must try to correct it
But what if it’s too late? What if you can’t?
Then you must find a way to live with it.
I’ve always been so irritated when Pippa opens her mouth, I haven’t stopped to think she may babble on because she’s afraid she won’t be heard.
There’s no one around to stifle us. No one to tell us that what we think and feel is wrong. It isn’t that we do what we want. It’s that we’re not allowed to want at all.
This rude old man with the fat face is going to be lovely Pippa’s husband? Pippa, whose every waking moment is consumed by thoughts of a pure, undying, romantic love, has been sold to the highest bidder, a man she does not know, does not care about. She stares at the Persian carpet as if it might open up and swallow her down whole, save her.
She doesn’t say it bitterly. That’s what hurts. She’s accepted her fate without fighting it.
No one asks how or what I am doing. They could not care less. We’re all looking glasses, we girls, existing only to reflect their images back to them as they’d like to be seen. Hollow vessels of girls to be rinsed of our own ambitions, wants, and opinions, just waiting to be filled with the cool, tepid water of gracious compliance.
A fissure forms in the vessel. I’m cracking open.
I’m sorry, Gemma. But we can’t live in the light all of the time. You have to take whatever light you can hold in the dark with you.
Who cares about one girl’s lifelong happiness in the face of such important matters as maintaining appearances?
I had thought Felicity dangerous a moment ago, when she felt powerful. I was wrong. Wounded and powerless, she is more dangerous than I could imagine.
This is a time for goodbyes. But I’ve had too many goodbyes of late, a lifetime of them to come, so I say nothing.
All the small, simple, conscious acts of living a sudden defense against the dying we do every day.
You can never really know someone completely. That’s why it’s the most terrifying thing in the world, really-taking someone on faith, hoping they’ll take you on faith too. It’s such a precarious balance, It’s a wonder we do it at all. And yet...
In a world beyond this one, that river goes on singing sweetly, enchanting us with what we want to hear, shaping what we need in order to keep us going. In those waters all disappointments are forgotten, our mistakes forgiven. Gazing into them, we see a strong father. A loving mother. Warm rooms where we are sheltered, adored, wanted. And the uncertainty of our futures is nothing more than the fog of breath on a windowpane.
But forgiveness... I'll hold on to that fragile slice of hope and keep it close, remembering that in each of us lie good and bad, light and dark, art and pain, choice and regret, cruelty and sacrifice. We're each of us our own chiaroscuro, our own bit of illusion fighting to emerge into something solid, something real. We've got to forgive ourselves that. I must remember to forgive myself. Because there is an awful lot of gray to work with. And no one can live in the light all the time.
The wind shifts, bringing with it the smell of roses, strong and sweet. Across teh ravine, i see her in the dry crackle of leaves. A deer. She spies me and bolts through the trees. I run after her, not really giving chase. I'm running because I can, because I must.
Because I want to see how far I can go before I have to stop. --- best ending to a book EVER