Quotes from Birthmarked

Caragh M. O'Brien ·  361 pages

Rating: (42K votes)


“There are some things, once they are done, that we can never question, because if we did, we wouldn't be able to go on. And we have to go on, every single day.”
― Caragh M. O'Brien, quote from Birthmarked


“Even the worst feeling, with time and familiarity, became tolerable.”
― Caragh M. O'Brien, quote from Birthmarked


“Would you have this?” the Protectorat hissed at his son.
Rafael's gaze narrowed in a slow inspection while she stared defiantly back. Rafael's gaze faltered, shot briefly toward Leon, and then down. His answer was obvious: no.
And in spite of everything, in the face of all the other more important dangers that threatened her, it still stung that someone, some boy, found her ugly. Gaia burned with sudden hate for all of them.
The Protectorat saw. He smiled slightly.
“I thought not,” said the Protectorat, releasing her with a flick. He turned back toward his family. “I can't thrust her on any family I know, no matter what her genes are. She's a freak, not a hero. I'd rather make a hero out of Myrna Silk.”
Leon had been standing tensely throughout this exchange. “I'd take Gaia,” Leon said, his low voice resonating in the space.”
― Caragh M. O'Brien, quote from Birthmarked


“What happened to your face?' he asked. 'When I was little, my grandmother was making candles and she had a big vat of hot beeswax in the backyard,' she said. 'I walked into the vat.' Usually that ended the conversation. 'I don't remember it,' she added. 'How old were you?' he asked. She tilted her face slightly, watching him. 'Ten months.' 'You were walking at ten months?' he asked. 'Not very well, apparently,' she said dryly.”
― Caragh M. O'Brien, quote from Birthmarked


“When you decide something's right, there's nothing that can stop you from doing it.”
― Caragh M. O'Brien, quote from Birthmarked



“There are many ways to be a criminal or hero. Don't forget that.”
― Caragh M. O'Brien, quote from Birthmarked


“Be good, Gaia,” Capt. Grey told her, his voice grave. She still refused to look at him, but she could feel the heated flush of anger again in her cheeks. “Cooperate with the guards. For your own sake,” he continued.

“Be good yourself, Captain,” she said bitterly. “If you know how.”
― Caragh M. O'Brien, quote from Birthmarked


“Though she could not see his shadowed eyes clearly, she sensed an emptiness in there that matched the controlled composure of his other features. It chilled her.”
― Caragh M. O'Brien, quote from Birthmarked


“As she walked through the dark, stepping softly through the wet stones, she looked ahead to where the first cautious star managed to blink through the clouds.”
― Caragh M. O'Brien, quote from Birthmarked


“She pivoted right, and sensed the vast, open space of the wasteland stretching before her under the opaque sky, a darkness as thin and final as the velvet lining of a shroud.”
― Caragh M. O'Brien, quote from Birthmarked



“The tinkle of a wind chime stirred from over a window. Purple and white phlox cascaded cheerfully over the top of a nearby stone wall. Sunlight sifted through the weave of her straw hat, casting freckles of light on her nose and cheeks that shifted, out of focus, as she walked.”
― Caragh M. O'Brien, quote from Birthmarked


“That was a sauna parlor, there, where I found you," the baker said. "They'll just think you were working the late shift."

Gaia was baffled. "A sauna parlor?"

She saw the baker and his wife hesitate.

The girl clarified in her open, childish voice. "He means it's a brothel."

The baked clapped a hand to his forehead.

"What?" the girl said. "It's a very discreet, high-class brothel.”
― Caragh M. O'Brien, quote from Birthmarked


“Todos somos vulnerables, sobre todo cuando amamos a alguien.”
― Caragh M. O'Brien, quote from Birthmarked


“She waited, unwilling to meet his eyes, hoping he would go on. When he didn't, the silence stretched between them like invisible cobwebs. In the dimmest part of her, she realized she might have wishes, too, elusive wishes that belonged more to a girl in a garden than they did to a captive.”
― Caragh M. O'Brien, quote from Birthmarked


“You always have a choice, Gaia. You can always say no.” His voice was strangely hollow. “They might kill you for it, but you can always say no.”
― Caragh M. O'Brien, quote from Birthmarked



“Unutma, hepimiz savunmasızız. Özellikle de birini seviyorsak.”
― Caragh M. O'Brien, quote from Birthmarked


“Nothing was right with her parents gone, no matter how much she'd tried to go on without them.”
― Caragh M. O'Brien, quote from Birthmarked


“You know what? You re pretty good at pushing people away from you. Did you know that? Maybe that's why you had only one friend growing up.”
― Caragh M. O'Brien, quote from Birthmarked


“Once I'm gone, be careful who you trust. Use your wits, Gaia," the woman said. "Remember we're all vulnerable. Especially if we love someone."

"You've got that wrong," Gaia said, thinking of her parents.
"It's love that makes us strong.”
― Caragh M. O'Brien, quote from Birthmarked


About the author

Caragh M. O'Brien
See more on GoodReads

Popular quotes

“It's time to leave fear behind or you'll be robbed of your destiny. You don't need confidence in yourselves or in your own power. Be strong in the Lord. When disaster seems close, don't be discouraged. God will never leave you.”
― Tessa Afshar, quote from Pearl in the Sand


“I had chosen to believe that my recent promotion was due to my overall sense of responsibility, my razor-sharp attention to detail, and that fact that I had yet to show up to work drunk. I now realized that what had really given me the edge over my fellow employees was that I simply wasn’t on crack.”
― Dave Hill, quote from Tasteful Nudes and Other Misguided Attempts at Personal Growth and Validation


“He sang “I wish I weren’t me” over and over again just flat of the key of love until he forgot the words and could only hum along. Everyday was the same. The same stupid smile on the same stupid boy. Until the days blurred into a haze and the boy dropped into a depression. Not a cool dark room and cigarette depression like the songs he loved, but one that felt like he was being smothered by a safe, suburban, monotonous blanket. Everything felt like a headache to the boy. Every face, every stupid stuttered sentence all wrapped up into the biggest headache ever. So the boy took an aspirin. And another and another and then went to sleep, lullabyed by hopes he would never wake up to.”
― Pete Wentz, quote from The Boy With The Thorn In His Side


“What you lost weakened you, could kill you. What you wanted kept you going. What you wanted gave you strength.”
― Peter Behrens, quote from The Law of Dreams


“Vanity is a weakness. I know this. It’s a shallow dependence on the exterior self, on how one looks instead of what one is.”
― Dennis Lehane, quote from Un dernier verre avant la guerre


Interesting books

Gomorrah
(10.5K)
Gomorrah
by Roberto Saviano
The Undead Pool
(22.8K)
The Undead Pool
by Kim Harrison
Being Jamie Baker
(6.4K)
Being Jamie Baker
by Kelly Oram
Edge of Eternity
(59.3K)
Edge of Eternity
by Ken Follett
O Alienista
(5.8K)
O Alienista
by Machado de Assis
Suicide Watch
(1.5K)
Suicide Watch
by Kelley York

About BookQuoters

BookQuoters is a community of passionate readers who enjoy sharing the most meaningful, memorable and interesting quotes from great books. As the world communicates more and more via texts, memes and sound bytes, short but profound quotes from books have become more relevant and important. For some of us a quote becomes a mantra, a goal or a philosophy by which we live. For all of us, quotes are a great way to remember a book and to carry with us the author’s best ideas.

We thoughtfully gather quotes from our favorite books, both classic and current, and choose the ones that are most thought-provoking. Each quote represents a book that is interesting, well written and has potential to enhance the reader’s life. We also accept submissions from our visitors and will select the quotes we feel are most appealing to the BookQuoters community.

Founded in 2023, BookQuoters has quickly become a large and vibrant community of people who share an affinity for books. Books are seen by some as a throwback to a previous world; conversely, gleaning the main ideas of a book via a quote or a quick summary is typical of the Information Age but is a habit disdained by some diehard readers. We feel that we have the best of both worlds at BookQuoters; we read books cover-to-cover but offer you some of the highlights. We hope you’ll join us.