“In Ixion music and party are our only beliefs. Darkness is our comfort. We have few rules but they are absolute. Your endocrine systems have been altered by changes to your hypothalamus. You no longer need to sleep or see sunlight.”
― Marianne de Pierres, quote from Burn Bright
“Ixion exists as an antidote to the rules and conventions of other places. We believe that indulging in pleasure will make better people. Self-denial and discipline and virtue are all myths invented to control you.”
― Marianne de Pierres, quote from Burn Bright
“Rules? Ixion is supposed to be free of rules, yet it seems as strict as Grave in its own way and more...more dangerous.”
― Marianne de Pierres, quote from Burn Bright
“Everyone comes here for pleasure. Even if they think they don't. Embracing it is harder for some and they go mad before they truly accept it. Most of the places they cme from are founded on guilt and rules. The Ripers want us to break away from that - some wish to tear it from us while others are more subtle.”
― Marianne de Pierres, quote from Burn Bright
“Kero and Rollo stood over it, slick with blood, both holding knives.
‘Kero, you came? Why?’ asked Naif.
‘Maybe I just needed someone to show me how to be brave enough,’ he replied with a hint of a dangerous grin.”
― Marianne de Pierres, quote from Burn Bright
“I burned too bright. I saw too much.”
― Marianne de Pierres, quote from Burn Bright
“Will you wait for me on the platform then?’
Suki looked at Rollo and cast her eyes upward. ‘I suppose so.’
Retra smiled at her. ‘Don’t you mean, “I guess so”?”
― Marianne de Pierres, quote from Burn Bright
“Something from out in the dark brushed her throat, damp
fingers smearing her with warm wetness. She started, raising a hand against it, but touched nothing.
A teasing whisper in her ear – no, more a thought. Come to me …
She glanced around to see if anyone else had heard, but those near her gazed eagerly ahead. Except the Riper; he watched her.”
― Marianne de Pierres, quote from Burn Bright
“We all pretend things sometimes. And sometimes we leave thing too late.”
― Marianne de Pierres, quote from Burn Bright
“Retra recoiled from his dangling nakedness...”
― Marianne de Pierres, quote from Burn Bright
“Can you really change anything, Joel?”
― Marianne de Pierres, quote from Burn Bright
“Your kind shouldn’t come here. The change is too great for Seals. Yet you have chosen it and rejected your society, so you must learn quickly or perish.”
― Marianne de Pierres, quote from Burn Bright
“Ixion music and party are our only beliefs. Darkness is our comfort. We have few rules but they are absolute. Your endocrine systems have been altered by changes to your hypothalamus. You no longer need to sleep or see sunlight.’ More titters and cheers.”
― Marianne de Pierres, quote from Burn Bright
“Why did you get involved? That’s not a Seal thing to do.’ ‘I … what Brand was doing to Krista-belle … she was scared … like when the warden gave me the obedience strip.’ ‘You had a pain strip? Fross! How did you leave the compound then?’ Retra gave him a small, anxious smile. ‘I practised. The pain.’ Rollo’s expression changed. His eyes widened in a kind of admiration and he enveloped her in a comforting hug. But Retra didn’t want comfort right now. She wanted to leave. As she tried to edge out his grip he held on. ‘There’s something I’m going to tell you. The real reason that I came here,’ he said.”
― Marianne de Pierres, quote from Burn Bright
“Retra pressed her fingers to her thigh. The intense pain from her obedience strip had receded to a steady throb and nausea. Perhaps that was the worst it would get, now that she’d left the compound. She glanced back. No shout came. No lights followed her. The rust-mesh fence that segregated the Seal enclave from the rest of Grave rose like a grey fortress in the dark. And she’d climbed it. Pain can be dismissed. Her brother Joel had said that to her after Father had beat him one time. Retra remembered that more clearly than anything after he ran away to Ixion. It was the thing that gave her hope. She could control pain. And she could follow him. So she’d practised. Hours with her arm twisted, or something sharp pressed into her skin; practised thinking and acting, despite hurt. And now was the time. The barge would be waiting at”
― Marianne de Pierres, quote from Burn Bright
“What’s Ixion? she’d asked him. He’d laid his face close to hers, whispering so their parents couldn’t hear. Imagine a place where there are no Elders. No rules. No punishment. Only music and laughter and freedom. That’s Ixion, Ret. That’s me. Soon after,”
― Marianne de Pierres, quote from Burn Bright
“Welcome aboard the way to Ixion: island of ever-night, ever-youth and never-sleep. Burn bright!’ He gave her a mock salute and disappeared along the long, shadowy deck towards the bridge, leaving her shivering over what she had done. At least the pain from her strip had ebbed, as if his icy hands had robbed it of heat. She could breathe again.”
― Marianne de Pierres, quote from Burn Bright
“The obedience strip began to glow at 1492 steps, and with it came the pain. A hundred steps before the fence. Stabbing then easing, then stabbing harder. Like a branding iron sizzling skin at first touch, then easing in a rush of endorphins, only to turn into an inescapable agony as it bit deeper into the skin. Retra knew how branding felt. Seal girls and boys received theirs at puberty. The strong ones didn’t make a sound when the hot iron bit their flesh. Retra hadn’t been strong. Then.”
― Marianne de Pierres, quote from Burn Bright
Marianne de Pierres
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“My husband claims I have an unhealthy obsession with secondhand bookshops. That I spend too much time daydreaming altogether. But either you intrinsically understand the attraction of searching for hidden treasure amongst rows of dusty shelves or you don't; it's a passion, bordering on a spiritual illness, which cannot be explained to the unaffected.
True, they're not for the faint of heart. Wild and chaotic, capricious and frustrating, there are certain physical laws that govern secondhand bookstores and like gravity, they're pretty much nonnegotiable. Paperback editions of D. H. Lawrence must constitute no less than 55 percent of all stock in any shop. Natural law also dictates that the remaining 45 percent consist of at least two shelves worth of literary criticism on Paradise Lost and there should always be an entire room in the basement devoted to military history which, by sheer coincidence, will be haunted by a man in his seventies. (Personal studies prove it's the same man. No matter how quickly you move from one bookshop to the next, he's always there. He's forgotten something about the war that no book can contain, but like a figure in Greek mythology, is doomed to spend his days wandering from basement room to basement room, searching through memoirs of the best/worst days of his life.)
Modern booksellers can't really compare with these eccentric charms. They keep regular hours, have central heating, and are staffed by freshly scrubbed young people in black T-shirts. They're devoid of both basement rooms and fallen Greek heroes in smelly tweeds. You'll find no dogs or cats curled up next to ancient space heathers like familiars nor the intoxicating smell of mold and mildew that could emanate equally from the unevenly stacked volumes or from the owner himself. People visit Waterstone's and leave. But secondhand bookshops have pilgrims. The words out of print are a call to arms for those who seek a Holy Grail made of paper and ink.”
― Kathleen Tessaro, quote from Elegance
“I used to think things were the way they are for a reason, that there was some hidden meaning. I used to think that this meaning governed the way the world was. But it's an illusion to think that there are good and bad reasons. Grammar is a lie to make us think that what we say is connected by a logic that you'll find if you study it, a lie that gone on for centuries. Because I now know that life just lurches between stability and instability and doesn't obey any law.”
― Delphine de Vigan, quote from No and Me
“Премина един трамвай, сигурно беше първият, излязъл от депото, най-обикновен трамвай, като всички останали, избелял и стар – този трамвай може да ме е виждал как тичам, а след мен Кимет, когато изтичахме като пощръклели откъм площад „Диамант“. Нещо застана на гърлото ми, като зърно нахут, забило се в мъжеца. Зави ми се свят, затворих очи и вятърът, кой то направи трамваят, ме тласна напред, сякаш животът ми си отиваше. И при първата си крачка още виждах трамвая как преминава с голяма скорост и пуска червени и сини искри между колелата и релсите. Сякаш вървях в празно пространство , очите ми не виждаха, всеки миг си мислех, че ще потъна, пресякох, стиснала здраво ножа, без да виждам сини светлини. На отсрещната страна се обърнах и погледнах с очите си и душата си и не можех да повярвам, че е станало невъзможното. Бях пресякла. Вървях по предишния си живот, докато стигнах до стената на къщата, под покрития балкон…”
― Mercè Rodoreda, quote from The Time of the Doves
“The way my heart raced like I was being chased through the woods even though I wasn't scared at all.”
― Tricia Rayburn, quote from Siren
“Have you ever noticed that the end has a more distinctive feel than the beginning?”
― David Cristofano, quote from The Girl She Used to Be
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Key of LightBookQuoters 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.
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