“I don't know why you're so hard to convince," I said, "But I'm really not that bad of a guy."
"Spoken like a true serial killer.”
― Anne Greenwood Brown, quote from Lies Beneath
“There was no point in lying. "Yes. I am following you."
Her carefully controlled exterior faltered. "Why?"
"Because I like you. I'm sorry if that makes you nervous."
All the color drained from her face. "I thought you thought I was crazy."
"I like crazy."
"You're unbelievable," she grumbled.
"So I've been told.”
― Anne Greenwood Brown, quote from Lies Beneath
“Forgiveness is freedom. It's something you do for yourself - to keep who you are intact. Now that I think about it - in some ways, it's kind of a selfish act.”
― Anne Greenwood Brown, quote from Lies Beneath
“You can't find happiness outside yourself, Calder."
I shook my head. "You sound like a fortune cookie."
"It's still true. Everyone's always trying to do it, y'know. They try to get with the right people, hook up with the right guy, join the right club - without ever asking what 'right' is."
"And this is somehow supposed to apply to me? I'm not some identity-confused sophomore, Lily. If you haven't been listening, I turn into a thieving, murdering fish.”
― Anne Greenwood Brown, quote from Lies Beneath
“What are you doing out there?" Lily hissed.
"Would you believe me if I said I was just passing by?"
She groaned. "You are a terrible liar, Calder White.”
― Anne Greenwood Brown, quote from Lies Beneath
“I like the color of the Caribbean." I paused and absorbed the warmth of her smile before adding, "Dogs, not cats. Boxers, not briefs. Redheads over brunettes..." I glanced sideways at her, and she met my gaze. "I have a penchant for girls in velvet jackets... and I think you're the most beautiful girl I've ever seen."
She choked in surprise, sputtered, and shook her head.
"You see? This is what I mean."
"What?"
"Nobody talks like that. I barely know you."
I was genuinely confused. Didn't girls like to hear this stuff? Besides, it was, conveniently enough, the truth. "Well, I talk like this. And you should be used to people telling you you're beautiful."
"Well, I'm not," she said, and she sounded like she was getting irritated with me again. The feeling was mutual.
I leaned against the wall and pulled up one knee. "Okay. I take it back. You are completely average. Dull, dull, dull. Unremarkable in every way.”
― Anne Greenwood Brown, quote from Lies Beneath
“She rolled her eyes. " I was talking about your temperature, jerk. But just to be clear, I never said you weren't good-looking. If you remember, I said you made me nervous."
"Right. So, you think I'm good-looking?"
She swatted me over the head with her fedora, then went back to the cash register, saying, "You're really annoying. If you're sisters are pains in the ass, I'm thinking they learned it from you.”
― Anne Greenwood Brown, quote from Lies Beneath
“See the stars, Lily?"
She sighed, surrendering. "Of course."
"Do you think they can see the sun coming up?"
"I don't know. Probably?"
"Do you think they're scared?"
"They're burning balls of gas, Calder."
"Oh, c'mon. Where's the poet in you?"
She exhaled, and I sensed her smile. "I see. Well, in that case, yes. They've finally come home. They are triumphant in their midnight kingdom. But the enemy approaches. They have the numbers on their side, but the enemy is bigger, stronger, with a history of winning that goes back to the dawn of time. They're definitvely terrified."
I nodded. She understood my analogy.
"But they don't run, Calder.”
― Anne Greenwood Brown, quote from Lies Beneath
“I'd rather lie in a hammock with you -- with nothing but happiness surrounding us -- and be ambushed than run away.”
― Anne Greenwood Brown, quote from Lies Beneath
“I squirmed in my hiding spot. Do something, people,” I urged. Say something. The silence dragged on. I imagined my first report to Maris. “We have underestimated our enemy. They are lethal. We are in serious danger of the Hancocks boring us to death. Abort, abort, abort.”
― Anne Greenwood Brown, quote from Lies Beneath
“Calder, do you like me?" And then I laughed, breaking the spell. Her eyes flashed open and blood flooded her cheeks. She pushed off, but I reached out and pulled her toward me again. That one second of physical separation was too painful a void.”
― Anne Greenwood Brown, quote from Lies Beneath
“But it seemed I had fallen for a human—and not just any human, the worst possible human out of all seven billion possibilities.”
― Anne Greenwood Brown, quote from Lies Beneath
“Lily walked up the beach, looking over her shoulder at me again, probably afraid I was going to swim off and leave her. For a second I considered it. It wasn’t a terrible idea. She’d be out of the way. Maris wouldn’t be looking for her here. In a couple months, there’d be plenty of wild blackberries to eat . . . that was about when idea fizzled.”
― Anne Greenwood Brown, quote from Lies Beneath
“The memory of her kiss was still fresh on my lips, and I knew that with Lily, I was both free and imprisoned for all eternity.”
― Anne Greenwood Brown, quote from Lies Beneath
“I hadn't killed anyone all winter and I have to say I felt pretty good about that.”
― Anne Greenwood Brown, quote from Lies Beneath
“Forgiveness isn't just for them, Calder. It's for you. Forgiveness is freedom. It's something you do for yourself - to keep who you are intact. Now that I think about it, in some ways, it's kind of a selfish act" -Lily”
― Anne Greenwood Brown, quote from Lies Beneath
“I swallowed hard. Fortunately, she had no way of knowing the demon was inches from her, steaming a carafe of milk into a perfect froth.”
― Anne Greenwood Brown, quote from Lies Beneath
“I had no idea how long that breath would last. I hoped not long. I wanted another excuse to tie myself to her.”
― Anne Greenwood Brown, quote from Lies Beneath
“Spontaneity is a good thing. The best things in life happen when you just let events … unfold. When you try to control things too much, you do yourself a disservice.”
― Anne Greenwood Brown, quote from Lies Beneath
“Was it better to see the source of one’s demise approaching or to be surprised?”
― Anne Greenwood Brown, quote from Lies Beneath
“all the world’s religions cannot be right, and they know it. Sooner or later man has to learn the truth:”
― Arthur C. Clarke, quote from Childhood's End
“I want you to tell me
about the Survivor," he finally said.
"He was lord of the mists," Demoux said immediately.
"Not the rhetoric," Elend said. "Someone tell me about the man, Kelsier. I never met him, you know. I
saw him once, right before he died, but I never knew him."
"What's the point?" Cett asked. "We've all heard the stories. He's practically a god, if you listen to the
skaa."
"Just do as I ask," Elend said.
The tent was still for a few moments. Finally, Ham spoke. "Kell was . . . grand. He wasn't just a man,
he was bigger than that. Everything he did was large—his dreams, the way he spoke, the way he thought.
. . ."
"And it wasn't false," Breeze added. "I can tell when a man is being a fake. That's why I started my
first job with Kelsier, actually. Amidst all the pretenders and posturers, he was genuine. Everyone wanted
to be the best. Kelsier really was."
"He was a man," Vin said quietly. "Just a man. Yet, you always knew he'd succeed. He made you be
what he wanted you to be."
"So he could use you," Breeze said.
"But you were better when he was done with you," Ham added”
― Brandon Sanderson, quote from The Hero of Ages
“I told myself, 'All I want is a normal life'. But was that true? I wasn't so sure. Because there was a part of me that enjoyed hating school, and the drama of not going, the potential consequences whatever they were. I was intrigued by the unknown. I was even slightly thrilled that my mother was such a mess. Had I become addicted to crisis? I traced my finger along the windowsill. 'Want something normal, want something normal, want something normal', I told myself.”
― Augusten Burroughs, quote from Running with Scissors
“Philosophizing is simply one way of being afraid, a cowardly pretense that doesn't get you anywhere.”
― Louis-Ferdinand Céline, quote from Journey to the End of the Night
“What is family? They were the people who claimed you. In good, in bad, in parts or in whole, they were the ones who showed up, who stayed in there, regardless. It wasn't just about blood relations or shared chromosomes, but something wider, bigger. We had many families over time. Our family of origin, the family we created, and the groups you moved through while all of this was happening: friends, lovers, sometimes even strangers. None of them perfect, and we couldn't expect them to be. You can't make any one person your world. The trick was to take what each could give you and build your world from it.”
― Sarah Dessen, quote from Lock and Key
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