Robin McKinley · 256 pages
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“As I have said, you have no reason to trust me, and an excellent reason not to.”
― Robin McKinley, quote from Beauty: A Retelling of the Story of Beauty and the Beast
“At least I was true. My intellectual abilities gave me a release, and an excuse. I shunned company because I preferred books; and the dreams I confided to my father were of becoming a scholar in good earnest, and going to University. It was unheard-of several shocked governesses were only too quick to tell me, when I spoke a little too boldly -- but my father nodded and smiled and said, 'We'll see.' Since I believed my father could do anything -- except of course make me pretty -- I worked and studied with passionate dedication, lived in hope, and avoided society and mirrors.”
― Robin McKinley, quote from Beauty: A Retelling of the Story of Beauty and the Beast
“I said: "He cannot be so bad if he loves roses so much."
"But he is a Beast," said Father helplessly.
I saw that he was weakening, and wishing only to comfort him I said, "Cannot a Beast be tamed?”
― Robin McKinley, quote from Beauty: A Retelling of the Story of Beauty and the Beast
“Beauty: "You called me beautiful last night."
Beast: "You do not believe me then?"
Beauty: "Well - no. Any number of mirrors have told me otherwise."
Beast: "You will find no mirrors here, for I cannot bear them: nor any quiet water in ponds. And since I am the only one who sees you, why are you not then beautiful?”
― Robin McKinley, quote from Beauty: A Retelling of the Story of Beauty and the Beast
“I smiled. "I understand now. But It doesn't matter and you needn't apologize. They have been very kind to me too. Even if we did differ a little about suitable dresses." He considered me a moment, a mischievous light creeping into his eyes, and said: "Was THAT the dress - that night you wouldn't come out of your room?"
I grinned and nodded, and we both laughed;”
― Robin McKinley, quote from Beauty: A Retelling of the Story of Beauty and the Beast
“The weak grey light that serves as harbinger of red and golden dawn faintly lit my window. I fumbled for a candle, found and lit it, and by its little light saw that the rose floating in the bowl was dying. It had already lost most of its petals, which floated on the water like tiny, un-seaworthy boats, deserted for safer craft.
"Dear God," I said. "I must go back at once.”
― Robin McKinley, quote from Beauty: A Retelling of the Story of Beauty and the Beast
“It was of grey stone, huge block set on block;but it caught the sunlight like a dolphin's back at dawn.”
― Robin McKinley, quote from Beauty: A Retelling of the Story of Beauty and the Beast
“And since I am the only one who sees you, why are you not then beautiful?”
― Robin McKinley, quote from Beauty: A Retelling of the Story of Beauty and the Beast
“Would it help perhaps if I told you that, had your father returned to me alone, I would have sent him on his way unharmed?”
“You would!” I said; it was half a shriek. “You mean that I came here for nothing?”
A shadowy movement like the shaking of a great shaggy head. “No. Not what you would count as nothing. He would have returned to you, and you would have been glad, but you also would have been ashamed, because you had sent him, as you thought, to his death. Your shame would have grown until you came to hate the sight of your father, because he reminded you of a deed you hated, and hated yourself for. In time it would have ruined your peace and happiness, and at last your mind and heart.”
― Robin McKinley, quote from Beauty: A Retelling of the Story of Beauty and the Beast
“The Beast turned back to me. I could look at him fairly steadily this time. After a moment he said harshly: “I am very ugly, am I not?”
“You are certainly, uh, very hairy,” I said.
“You are being polite,” he said.
“Well, yes,” I conceded. “But then you called me beautiful, last night.”
He made a noise somewhere between a roar and a bark, and after an anxious minute, I decided it was probably a laugh. “You do not believe me then?” he inquired.
“Well’—no,” I said, hesitantly, wondering if this might anger him. “Any number of mirrors have told me otherwise.”
“You will find no mirrors here,” he said, “for I cannot bear them: nor any quiet water in ponds. And since I am the only one who sees you, why are you not then beautiful?”
― Robin McKinley, quote from Beauty: A Retelling of the Story of Beauty and the Beast
“I want no presents from the Beast,” said Father. “Is he trying to buy us off? Let him take his rich gifts back, and leave us our girl.”
“Please, Father,” I said. “Think of them as presents from me. I’d like you to keep them, and think of me.” Father dropped his eyes, and reluctantly put out a hand and stroked the fur collar of his new jacket.
Ger sighed. “I still don’t understand—and I don’t like not understanding. It makes me feel like a child again”
― Robin McKinley, quote from Beauty: A Retelling of the Story of Beauty and the Beast
“I was not frightened, but I was ashamed. “I’m sorry,” I said.
The claws retreated, and his arm dropped. “Don’t be,” he said. “I don’t mind telling you.” He looked at me. “But perhaps you mind being told.”
― Robin McKinley, quote from Beauty: A Retelling of the Story of Beauty and the Beast
“he followed me with his eyes as if I wore a black hood and carried an axe, and he was next in line.”
― Robin McKinley, quote from Beauty: A Retelling of the Story of Beauty and the Beast
Robin McKinley
Born place: in Warren, Ohio, The United States
Born date November 16, 1952
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“I wandered back over to where Deborah stood, talking to Angel-no-relation. They both looked at me expectantly, but I had no readily available wit to offer, which was very much out of character. Happily for my world-famous reputation for permanently cheerful stoicism, before I could really turn gloomy, Deborah looked over my shoulder and snorted. “About fucking time.”
― Jeff Lindsay, quote from Dexter in the Dark
“Pascal was even convinced that he could use his theories to justify a belief in God. He stated that ‘the excitement that a gambler feels when making a bet is equal to the amount he might win multiplied by the probability of winning it’. He then argued that the possible prize of eternal happiness has an infinite value and that the probability of entering heaven by leading a virtuous life, no matter how small, is certainly finite. Therefore, according to Pascal’s definition, religion was a game of infinite excitement and one worth playing, because multiplying an infinite prize by a finite probability results in infinity.”
― Simon Singh, quote from Fermat's Enigma: The Epic Quest to Solve the World's Greatest Mathematical Problem
“We had to survive to remember. Otherwise everything we were would disappear. Those people we loved would fade as though we'd never loved them, as if they'd never walked and talked and burned, forgetting them was the real evil. That was the hole of darkness.”
― Alice Hoffman, quote from Incantation
“That was on the pillar stone on Ynys Bainail," I said, indicating the carving. "What does it mean?"
"It is Mor Cylch, the maze of life," Tegid told me. "It is trodden with just enough light to see the next step or two ahead, but not more. At each turn the soul must decide whether to journey on or whether to go back the way it came."
"What if the soul does not journey on? What if it chooses to go back the way it came?"
"Stagnation and death," replied Tegid with mild vehemence. He seemed irritated that anyone would consider retreating.
"And if the soul travels on?"
"It draws nearer its destination," the bard answered. "The ultimate destination of all souls is the Heart of the Heart.”
― Stephen R. Lawhead, quote from The Paradise War
“Selling is about a transference of emotion, not a presentation of facts.”
― Seth Godin, quote from The Dip: A Little Book That Teaches You When to Quit (and When to Stick)
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