Quotes from Kissing the Witch: Old Tales in New Skins

“The sound of the pages turning was the sound of magic. The dry liquid feel of paper under fingertips was what magic felt like.”
― Emma Donoghue, quote from Kissing the Witch: Old Tales in New Skins

“And as the years flowed by, some villagers told travelers of a beast and a beauty who lived in the castle and could be seen walking on the battlements, and others told of two beauties, and others, of two beasts.”
― Emma Donoghue, quote from Kissing the Witch: Old Tales in New Skins

“Change for your own sake, if you must, not for what you imagine another will ask of you.”
― Emma Donoghue, quote from Kissing the Witch: Old Tales in New Skins

“There are some tales not for telling, whether because they are too long, too precious, too laughable, too painful, too easy to need telling or too hard to explain. After all, after years and travels my secrets are all I have left to chew on in the night.”
― Emma Donoghue, quote from Kissing the Witch: Old Tales in New Skins

“I looked in my mirror and saw, not myself, but every place I'd never been.”
― Emma Donoghue, quote from Kissing the Witch: Old Tales in New Skins

“Sometimes you must shed your skin to save it.”
― Emma Donoghue, quote from Kissing the Witch: Old Tales in New Skins

“I was beautiful, or so my father told me. My oval mirror showed me a face with nothing written on it. I had suitors aplenty but wanted none of them: their doggish devotion seemed too easily won. I had an appetite for magic, even then. I wanted something improbably and perfect as a red rose just opening.”
― Emma Donoghue, quote from Kissing the Witch: Old Tales in New Skins

“Your songs are still out there on the clifftop, hanging in the air for you when you want them. Wish to speak and you will speak, girl. Wish to die and you can do it. Wish to live and here you are.”
― Emma Donoghue, quote from Kissing the Witch: Old Tales in New Skins

“If he guessed his mistake, if he wanted me back, I thought, let him suffer and work for it as I had worked and suffered. Let him follow me over a mountain of iron and a lake of glass, and wear out three swords in my defense. But at my truest, lying awake trying to count the stars, I knew my prince would not follow. In my mind's eye I saw him in his palace, stroking the gold and silver and starry dresses which were fading now like leaves in winter, weeping for a spotless princess who did not exist, who had drowned in the river of time.”
― Emma Donoghue, quote from Kissing the Witch: Old Tales in New Skins

“So then she took me home, or I took her home, or we were both somehow taken to the closest thing.”
― Emma Donoghue, quote from Kissing the Witch: Old Tales in New Skins

“No point my telling you he's not worth it, I suppose. . . I've seen enough men in my time. Whoever he is, he's not worth what you'll pay.”
― Emma Donoghue, quote from Kissing the Witch: Old Tales in New Skins

“Perhaps we get, not what we deserve, but what we demand.”
― Emma Donoghue, quote from Kissing the Witch: Old Tales in New Skins

“In the days when wishing was having, I got what I wished and then I wish I hadn't.”
― Emma Donoghue, quote from Kissing the Witch: Old Tales in New Skins

“One of them asked what was in my skirts to make them so heavy, and I said, Knives, and he took his hand off my thigh and never touched me again.”
― Emma Donoghue, quote from Kissing the Witch: Old Tales in New Skins

“Once I was a stupid girl; now I am an angry woman.”
― Emma Donoghue, quote from Kissing the Witch: Old Tales in New Skins

“Keep your heart infinitesimally small and sorrow will never spy it, never plunge, never flap away with your heart in her claws.”
― Emma Donoghue, quote from Kissing the Witch: Old Tales in New Skins

“So when one spring in spite of all this good advice I fell in love, it felt like disaster. I took a tiny bite and it exploded in my stomach. Love splashed through every cranny, hauled on every muscle, unlocked every joint. I was so full of astonishment, I felt ten feet tall. My shoulders itched as if wings might break through.”
― Emma Donoghue, quote from Kissing the Witch: Old Tales in New Skins

“Daughter, he said in a voice like old wood breaking, can you ever forgive me?
I could only answer his question with one of my own. Putting my hand over his mouth, I whispered, Which of us would not sell all we had to stay alive?”
― Emma Donoghue, quote from Kissing the Witch: Old Tales in New Skins

“That night my new skin was red silk, shivering in the breeze.”
― Emma Donoghue, quote from Kissing the Witch: Old Tales in New Skins

“Under the thousand crystal candelabras I danced with ten elderly gentlemen who had nothing to say but did not let that stop them. I answered only, Indeed and Oh yes and Do you think so?”
― Emma Donoghue, quote from Kissing the Witch: Old Tales in New Skins

“My names were hand-me-downs too: girl, the creature, or, most often, you there.”
― Emma Donoghue, quote from Kissing the Witch: Old Tales in New Skins

“What this good man had sworn to protect me from was not the same as what I feared. I trusted that he would never let anything hurt me, but he would never let anything touch me either.”
― Emma Donoghue, quote from Kissing the Witch: Old Tales in New Skins

“I heard a knocking in my skull, and kept running to the door, but there was never anyone there.”
― Emma Donoghue, quote from Kissing the Witch: Old Tales in New Skins

“When I was as young as you are now I learned how to save my own life.”
― Emma Donoghue, quote from Kissing the Witch: Old Tales in New Skins

“The thing is to take your life in your hands.”
― Emma Donoghue, quote from Kissing the Witch: Old Tales in New Skins

About the author

Popular quotes

“During the day, memories could be held at bay, but at night, dreams became the devil's own accomplices.”
― Sharon Kay Penman, quote from The Reckoning

“Kit in the bough of the tree.”
― James Patterson, quote from When the Wind Blows

“What are you? (Danger)
Well, had you listened before you stabbed me, you would have heard the ‘I’m Acheron’s Squire’ part. Apparently that somehow escaped your hearing and you mistook me for a pin cushion. (Alexion) ”
― Sherrilyn Kenyon, quote from Sins of the Night

“People didn't like having to come up with something smart or helpful or sensitive to say, and they weren't intelligent enough to realize that all we wanted, all I wanted, was to be treated the same as I had been three months before. I wanted to be ignored because of my eccentricities, not because of my brother. And I wanted to be offered help from people because they cared about me, not because they felt some strange social obligation to do so. I wanted the world to sit back, listen up, and let me explain to it that when someone is sad and hopeless, the last thing they need to feel is that they are the only ones in the world with that feeling. So, if you feel sorry for someone, don't pretend to be happy. Don't pretend to care only about their problems. People aren't stupid. Not all of us, anyway. If someone's little brother disappears, don't give him a free hamburger to make him feel better-- it doesn't work. It's a good burger, sure, but it means nothing. It means something only to the Mr. Burkes of the world. Offering free meals, free stays in condos in Florida, even free plumbing. And we let them. We let them because they need it, not us. We didn't let them help us because we needed it, we let them help us because inside of humans is this thing, this unnamed need to feel as if we were useful in the world. To feel as if we have something significant to contribute. So, old ladies, make your casseroles and set them on doorsteps. And old men, grill your burgers and give them to teenagers with cynical worldviews. The world can't be satisfied, but that need to fix it all can.”
― John Corey Whaley, quote from Where Things Come Back

“Suddenly I’m aware of my own heartbeat. This is what my father said would happen. He told me that they would ask me if I was aware during the simulation, and he told me what to say when they did. “No,” I say. “If I was, do you think I would have chewed through my lip?” Tori studies me”
― Veronica Roth, quote from The Transfer

Interesting books

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.