“Be prepared for the worst, my love, for it lives next door to the best.”
― Melina Marchetta, quote from Finnikin of the Rock
“Because without our language, we have lost ourselves. Who are we without our words?”
― Melina Marchetta, quote from Finnikin of the Rock
“Sir Topher finally looked up. “Because any hope beyond that, my boy, would be too much. I feared we would drown in it.”
"Then I choose to drown,” Finnikin said. “In hope. Rather than float into nothing.”
― Melina Marchetta, quote from Finnikin of the Rock
“This hand says you spend the rest of your life with me," he said, holding out his left hand, "and this one says I spend the rest of my life with you. Choose."
She bit her lip, tears welling in her eyes. She took both of his hands in hers and he shuddered. "I will die protecting you," he says.
There was a look of dismay on her face. "Just like a man of this kingdom, Finnikin. Talking of death, yours or mine, is not a good way to begin a-"
Isaboe gave a small gasp when he leaned forward, his lips an inch away from hers. "I will die for you," he whispered.
She cupped his face in her hands. "But promise me you'll live first. Because nothing we are about to do is going to be easy and I need you by my side.”
― Melina Marchetta, quote from Finnikin of the Rock
“There are worse things than a lie and there are better things than the truth!”
― Melina Marchetta, quote from Finnikin of the Rock
“Never underestimate the value of knowing another's language. It can be far more powerful than swords and arrows.”
― Melina Marchetta, quote from Finnikin of the Rock
“Somehow, even in the worst of times, the tiniest fragments of good survive. It was the grip in which one held those fragments that counted.”
― Melina Marchetta, quote from Finnikin of the Rock
“It’s against the rules of humanity to believe there is nothing we can do.”
― Melina Marchetta, quote from Finnikin of the Rock
“When one is silent, those around speak even more.”
― Melina Marchetta, quote from Finnikin of the Rock
“Tell me about the farm," she pleaded as drops of blood began to appear on her hand.
"The farm?"
"The farm that Finnikin the peasant would have lived on with his bride."
"Evanjalin. That was her name. Did I mention that?"
She laughed through a sob. "No, you didn't."
"They would plant rows upon rows of wheat and barley, and each night they would sit under the stars to admire what they owned. Oh, and they would argue. She believes the money made would be better spent on a horse, and he believes they need a new barn. But then later they would forget all their anger and he would hold her fiercely and never let her go."
"And he'd place marigolds in her hair?" she asked.
He clasped her hands against his and watched her blood seep through the lines of his skin. "And he would love her until the day he died," he said.”
― Melina Marchetta, quote from Finnikin of the Rock
“Finn, listen!" Trevanion said, his voice raw."I prayed to see you one more time. It's all I prayed for. Nothing more. And my prayers were answered. Go east, I'll lend them west."
"We have a dilemma, then," Finnikin said fiercely. "Because I prayed that you would grow old and hold my children in your arms as you held me. My prayers have not been answered yet, Trevanion. So whose prayer is more worthy? Yours or mine?”
― Melina Marchetta, quote from Finnikin of the Rock
“Do you think you should warn him (the guard) that I'm going to kiss you?"
He loved the flush that appeared on her face, and there was an intake of breath from the girls.
"Aldron," she said clearing her throat,"if he agrees to become king, I'm going to let him kiss me. Please don't stop him."
Aldron thought for a moment and sighed, holding up his hand. "Wait there and do not move," he ordered Finnikin, before calling out to one of the other guards who stood on the platform. "Ask Perri if he's allowed to touch her if he's agreed to be king.”
― Melina Marchetta, quote from Finnikin of the Rock
“Balthazar pledged to die defending his royal house of Lumuatere. Finnikin swore to be their protector and guide for as long as he lived. Lucian vowed he would be the light whom they traveled toward in times of need.”
― Melina Marchetta, quote from Finnikin of the Rock
“The gods do make playthings of us ... but it is we mortals who provide them with the tools.”
― Melina Marchetta, quote from Finnikin of the Rock
“Then I choose to drown. In hope. Rather than float into nothing.”
― Melina Marchetta, quote from Finnikin of the Rock
“Everything is evil that humans can't control or conquer”
― Melina Marchetta, quote from Finnikin of the Rock
“You list the dead. You tell the stories of the past. You write about the catastrophes and the massacres. What about the living, Finnikin? Who honors them?”
― Melina Marchetta, quote from Finnikin of the Rock
“I would pick them when they bloomed. And when she called me home for supper, I'd place them in her hair and the contrast would take my breath away.”
― Melina Marchetta, quote from Finnikin of the Rock
“A blind man can see what she feels for you and you for her. Your souls are not merely entwined; they are fused.”
― Melina Marchetta, quote from Finnikin of the Rock
“And when Finnikin grabbed her to him and buried his face in her neck and then bent down and placed his mouth on hers, the others pretended that there was something very interesting happening in the meadow. The priest-king even pointed at the nothing they were pretending to see. But Froi didn’t. He just watched the way Finnikin’s hands rested on Evanjalin’s neck and he rubbed his thumb along her jaw and the way his tongue seemed to disappear inside her mouth as if he needed a part of her to breathe himself. And Froi wondered what Evanjalin was saying against Finnikin’s lips when they stopped because whatever the words were it made them start all over again and this time their hunger for each other was so frightening to watch that it made Froi look away.”
― Melina Marchetta, quote from Finnikin of the Rock
“And it was this image that was stamped on the hearts and minds of all who were present that day. Of Froi of the Exiles holding the future of Lumatere in his hands.”
― Melina Marchetta, quote from Finnikin of the Rock
“I do not believe that the desires of young boys cause catastrophic events. The actions of humans do.”
― Melina Marchetta, quote from Finnikin of the Rock
“He knows no other way but ugliness,” Sir Topher said quietly. “He was taught no other lessons but those of force. His teachers have been scum who live by their own rules. No one has ever taught him otherwise.”
“Am I to forgive?” she said, her voice shaking with anger.
“No,” he said sadly. “Pity him. Or give him new rules. Or put him down like a wild animal before he becomes a monster who destroys everything he encounters.”
― Melina Marchetta, quote from Finnikin of the Rock
“But then Froi looked back to where his work lay unfinished and it made him sad because there had been something about the touch of earth in his hands that made him feel worthwhile.”
― Melina Marchetta, quote from Finnikin of the Rock
“His seed will issue kings, but he will never reign
For she would be Queen of Lumatere.
But he would be king to her.”
― Melina Marchetta, quote from Finnikin of the Rock
“He hesitated, remembering something Finnikin had said to him on their journey. That somehow, even in the worst of times, the tiniest fragments of good survive. It was the grip in which one held those fragments that counted.”
― Melina Marchetta, quote from Finnikin of the Rock
“If there was one weapon he had against these savages, it was not acknowledging their existence.”
― Melina Marchetta, quote from Finnikin of the Rock
“Those full of fear were the most dangerous of people.”
― Melina Marchetta, quote from Finnikin of the Rock
“See them together and you will feel a force that will take your breath away.”
― Melina Marchetta, quote from Finnikin of the Rock
“you grab at any sign of hope. You grab it with both hands and breathe life into it, day after day. You do anything to keep it alive.”
― Melina Marchetta, quote from Finnikin of the Rock
Melina Marchetta
Born place: Sydney, Australia
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“As an observer, I am particularly interested in watching women, married, divorced, single. So many of them trapped in lives they think they must live, in roles they have come to resent, with little job and no laughter. They've "settled." They've compromised. They've learned to adjust.
Among the divorced, many are bitter, coloring their lives with resentment; others live only to meet the man who will complete them.
I have no intentions of adjusting, and I am not looking to define myself by the man I am with. The new me is feeling rebellious, looking for excitement, bursting with energy to explore. There is no way that I am going to sit around feeling sorry for myself, thinking that the only way I can enjoy life is with a man.
With no possessions, no home, and no precedent, I am free to design a life that fits me. Best of all, I have tasted the life I want. My Mexican adventure opened me up. I want more. During my four months away, I met interesting people, I was never bored, and I laughed more than I had in years. I resolve to continue exploring the world, ignoring the THEY who define how people should live.”
― quote from Tales of a Female Nomad: Living at Large in the World
“This is why she wanted to make pictures, to have something to leave behind even after she was gone, something that showed what she had observed in a way that no one else had and no one else would after her.”
― Edwidge Danticat, quote from Krik? Krak!
“...there were two gentleman seated by it talking in French;impossible to follow their rapid utterance, or comprehend much of the purport of what they said ...yet French, in the mouths of Frenchmen or Belgians (...), was as music to my ears. One of these gentlemen presently discerned me to be an Englishman - no doubt from the fashion in which I addressed the waiter; for I would persist in speaking French in my execrable South-of-England style, though the man understood English. The gentleman, after looking towards me once or twice ,politely accosted me in very good English; I remember I wish to God that I could speak French as well; his fluency and correct pronunciation impressed me for the first time with a due notion of the cosmopolitan character of the capital I was in, it was my first experience of that skill in living languages I afterwards found to be so general in Brussels.”
― Charlotte Brontë, quote from The Professor
“Deep at the center of my being there is an infinite well of love.”
― Louise L. Hay, quote from You Can Heal Your Life
“What do you care more about? The kids or your hair?”
― Ridley Pearson, quote from Disney at Dawn
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