“Life is made of so many moments that mean nothing. Then one day, a single moment comes along to define every second that comes after. Such moments are tests of courage, of strength.”
― Sabaa Tahir, quote from An Ember in the Ashes
“There are two kinds of guilt. The kind that's a burden and the kind that gives you purpose. Let your guilt be your fuel. Let it remind you of who you want to be. Draw a line in your mind. Never cross it again. You have a soul. It's damaged but it's there. Don't let them take it from you.”
― Sabaa Tahir, quote from An Ember in the Ashes
“Fear is only your enemy if you allow it to be.”
― Sabaa Tahir, quote from An Ember in the Ashes
“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, quote from An Ember in the Ashes
“All the beauty of the stars means nothing when life here on earth is so ugly.”
― Sabaa Tahir, quote from An Ember in the Ashes
“You are full, Laia. Full of life and dark and strength and spirit. You are in our dreams. You will burn, for you are an ember in the ashes.”
― Sabaa Tahir, quote from An Ember in the Ashes
“I'd rather die than live with no mercy, no honor, no soul.”
― Sabaa Tahir, quote from An Ember in the Ashes
“Fear can be good, Laia. It can keep you alive. But don't let it control you. Don't let it sow doubts within you. When the fear takes over, use the only thing more powerful, more indestructible to fight it: your spirit. Your heart.”
― Sabaa Tahir, quote from An Ember in the Ashes
“There are two kinds of guilt: the kind that drowns you until you’re useless, and the kind that fires your soul to purpose.”
― Sabaa Tahir, quote from An Ember in the Ashes
“The field of battle is my temple. The swordpoint is my priest. The dance of death is my prayer. The killing blow is my release.”
― Sabaa Tahir, quote from An Ember in the Ashes
“Nan always said that as long as there is life, there is hope.”
― Sabaa Tahir, quote from An Ember in the Ashes
“Just because he's a good leader doesn't mean he's a good person.”
― Sabaa Tahir, quote from An Ember in the Ashes
“In the night, your loneliness crushes you, as if the sky itself has swooped down to smother you in its cold arms.”
― Sabaa Tahir, quote from An Ember in the Ashes
“But I’m not strong. I’m weak, and I’m sick of pretending I’m not.”
― Sabaa Tahir, quote from An Ember in the Ashes
“I do not doubt, I do not hesitate. I am the Lioness's daughter, and I have the Lioness's strength.”
― Sabaa Tahir, quote from An Ember in the Ashes
“It will get better. You'll never forget them, not even after years. But one day, you'll go a whole minute without feeling the pain. Then an hour. A day. That's all you can ask for, really.” His voice drops. “You'll heal, I promise.”
― Sabaa Tahir, quote from An Ember in the Ashes
“Once, I'd have wanted that. I'd have wanted someone to tell me what to do, to fix everything. Once, I'd have wanted to be saved.”
― Sabaa Tahir, quote from An Ember in the Ashes
“Fear is only your enemy if you allow it to be. Too much fear and you're paralyzed. Too little fear and you're arrogant.”
― Sabaa Tahir, quote from An Ember in the Ashes
“The field of battle is my temple. I mentally chant a saying my grandfather taught me the day he met me, when I was six. He insists it sharpens the mind the way a whetstone sharpens a blade. The swordpoint is my priest. The dance of death is my prayer. The killing blow is my release.”
― Sabaa Tahir, quote from An Ember in the Ashes
“Laia and Helene: They’re so different. I like that Laia says things I don’t expect, that she speaks almost formally, as if she’s telling a story. I like that she defied my mother to go to the Moon Festival, whereas Helene always obeys the Commandant. Laia is the wild dance of a Tribal campfire, while Helene is the cold blue of an alchemist’s flame.
But why am I even comparing them? I’ve know Laia a few days and Helene all my life. Helene’s no passing attraction. She’s family. More than that. She’s part of me.”
― Sabaa Tahir, quote from An Ember in the Ashes
“Exhaustion is temporary. Pain is temporary. But Helene dying because I didn't find a way to get her back on time—that's permanent.”
― Sabaa Tahir, quote from An Ember in the Ashes
“I never feared the night, not even as a child, but Blackcliff’s night is different, heavy with a silence that makes you look over your shoulder, a silence that feels like a living thing.”
― Sabaa Tahir, quote from An Ember in the Ashes
“I don't need to believe in the supernatural, not when there's worse that roams the night.”
― Sabaa Tahir, quote from An Ember in the Ashes
“You—you were like me. You were a child. A normal child. And that was taken from you.”
“Does that bother you?”
“Well, it certainly makes you harder to hate.”
― Sabaa Tahir, quote from An Ember in the Ashes
“The best lies come from the truth.”
― Sabaa Tahir, quote from An Ember in the Ashes
“The voice is deep and soft, not a sound so much as a feeling. It is storm and wind and leaves twisting in the night. It is roots sucking deep at the earth, and the pale, sightless creatures that live below the ground. But there’s something wrong with this voice, something diseased at its core.”
― Sabaa Tahir, quote from An Ember in the Ashes
“When Hel and I were Fivers, a Barbarian raiding party took us prisoner. I was trussed like a festival-day goat, but they tied Helene's hands in front of her with twine and propped her on the back of a pony, assuming she was harmless. That night, she used the twine to garrote three of our jailers and broke the necks of the other three with her bare hands.
“They always underestimate me,” she said afterward, sounding puzzled.”
― Sabaa Tahir, quote from An Ember in the Ashes
“Draw a line in your mind. Never cross it again. You have a soul. It's damaged, but it's there. Don't let them take it from you, Elias.”
― Sabaa Tahir, quote from An Ember in the Ashes
“Fight back, Laia. For Darin. For Izzi. For every Scholar this beast has abused. Fight. A scream bursts from me, and I claw at Marcus’s face, but a punch to my stomach takes the wind out of my lungs. I double over, retching, and his knee comer up into my forehead. The hallway spins, and I drop to my knees. Then I hear him laughting, a sadistic chuckle that stokes my defiance.
Sluggishly, I throw myself at his legs. It won’t be like before, like during the raid when I let that Mask drag me about my own house like some dead thing.
This time, I’ll fight. Tooth and nail, I’ll fight.”
― Sabaa Tahir, quote from An Ember in the Ashes
“Safety is an illusion never to trust.”
― Sabaa Tahir, quote from An Ember in the Ashes
Sabaa Tahir
Born place: London, The United Kingdom
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“. . . and in the end the logical thing would be to give up and I would give up if I were laboring for a reader today, but as there is in the world not a single human who can speak my language; or, more simply, not a single human who can speak; or, even more simply, not a single human; I must think only of myself, of that force which urges me to express myself. I repeat: there is something I know, there is something I know, there is something...”
― Vladimir Nabokov, quote from Invitation to a Beheading
“For what good turn?
Messenger: For the best turn of the bed.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from Antony and Cleopatra
“Whether Neil left today or tomorrow or next week, he'd leave alone. Two, five, ten years from now, if Neil was even still alive, he'd still be alone. He could be anyone, anywhere in the world, but he'd be alone until the day he died. He'd never trust anyone enough to let them in.”
― Nora Sakavic, quote from The Foxhole Court
“Knowing that everything comes to an end is a gift of experience, a consolation gift for knowing that we ourselves are coming to an end. Before we get it we live in a continuous present, and imagine the future as more of that present. Happiness is endless happiness, innocent of its own sure passing. Pain is endless pain.”
― Tobias Wolff, quote from This Boy's Life
“Ian saw the tears shimmering in her magnificent eyes and one of them traced unheeded down her smooth cheek.
With a raw ache in his voice he said, "If you would take one step forward, darling, you could cry in my arms. And while you do, I'll tell you how sorry I am for everything I've done - " Unable to wait, Ian caught her, pulling her tightly against him. "And when I'm finished," he whispered hoarsely as she wrapped her arms around him and wept brokenly, "you can help me find a way to forgive myself."
Tortured by her tears, he clasped her tighter and rubbed his jaw against her temple, his voice a ravaged whisper: "I'm sorry," he told her. He cupped her face between his palms, tipping it up and gazing into her eyes, his thumbs moving over her wet cheeks. "I'm sorry." Slowly, he bent his head, covering her mouth with his. "I'm so damned sorry.”
― Judith McNaught, quote from Almost Heaven
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