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Magic Lessons

by Alice Hoffman · 2020

In an unforgettable novel that traces a centuries-old curse to its source, beloved author Alice Hoffman unveils the story of Maria Owens, accused of witchcraft in Salem, and matriarch of a line of the amazing Owens women and… more

28 quotes ★ 4.22 (70,795) Fantasy

Quotes from the Book

This is how you begin in this world. These are the lessons to be learned. Drink chamomile tea to calm the spirit. Feed a cold and starve a fever. Read as many books as you can. Always choose courage. Never watch another woman burn. Know that love is the only answer.
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When you fall in love like that, time doesn’t matter. This was the secret he told Maria, the last words he ever said. What belonged to you once, will always belong to you. Be grateful if you have walked through the world with another’s heart in your hand.
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Read as many books as you can. Always choose courage,
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It was true, when you saved someone, they belonged to you in some small way, but it was also true that you belonged to them. They would stay with you and enter into your dreams and your thoughts, as you would enter into theirs.
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Some people grow weak when they are victimized, others grow stronger, and still others combine those two attributes to become dangerous,
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But what you give up you can learn to live without, even if it causes you heartbreak at the start.
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There are none who can fight as fiercely as a mother and a daughter, and none who can forgive more completely.
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What you send out comes back to you threefold. What you give to the world returns in kind. Blood begets blood.
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You never know what you want or need until you are old, for old age is a mystery that is impossible to unwind until you step into its maze.
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It was always best to step into the future while it was still waiting for you.
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Be grateful if you have walked through the world with another's heart in your hand.
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Fate is what you make of it ... You can make the best of it, or you can let it make the best of you.
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For a man tells you who he is the instant you meet him, all you have to do is listen.
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No one knows where time goes, all the same it disappears.
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Talent is something you’re born with. It’s a gift and a curse, and it’s often cause for jealousy from those who are without it.
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These are the lessons to be learned. Drink chamomile tea to calm the spirit. Feed a cold and starve a fever. Read as many books as you can. Always choose courage. Never watch another woman burn. Know that love is the only answer.
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Tell a witch to go, and she’ll plant her feet on the ground and stay exactly where she is. Instead of doing as she’s told, she’ll take a knife to her arm and let her blood drip onto the ground, and in that way she will claim the earth for herself and for her daughters and for all the daughters who follow her. It is the future she’s claiming, the right to be a woman who can do as she pleases.
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Desire, if handled incorrectly, could become a curse.
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Know what you want, and be sure of it, for regret gives birth to more regret and nothing more.
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You feel your heart and bones and blood. You wait for him like a bird in a cage.
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What is broken can also be mended.
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Love was the thing that tore you apart; it made you believe the lies you were told, obvious as they might be. It was nearly impossible to see your own fate while it was happening to you. It was only after, when what’s done had been done, that one’s vision cleared.
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For some, witchery was a choice, but not for them.
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Some creatures do not care how polite a person might be, they will hurt you for no reason, and then all you can do is heal yourself with whatever ingredients are necessary
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Likely it was true that the flaws you saw in other women you didn't notice in yourself.
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First they burned the books, then the people who wrote them, then those who read them.
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Finding your soul mate is like coming home to a house where everything is familiar. You can walk in the dark and know where everything is.
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Fate is what you make it, or you will be what it makes of you.
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About Alice Hoffman

We have collected 502 quotes from 22 books by Alice Hoffman on BookQuoters.

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About the book

In an unforgettable novel that traces a centuries-old curse to its source, beloved author Alice Hoffman unveils the story of Maria Owens, accused of witchcraft in Salem, and matriarch of a line of the amazing Owens women and men featured in Practical Magic and The Rules of Magic.

Where does the story of the Owens bloodline begin? With Maria Owens, in the 1600s, when she’s abandoned in a snowy field in rural England as a baby. Under the care of Hannah Owens, Maria learns about the “Nameless Arts.” Hannah recognizes that Maria has a gift and she teaches the girl all she knows. It is here that she learns her first important lesson: Always love someone who will love you back.

When Maria is abandoned by the man who has declared his love for her, she follows him to Salem, Massachusetts. Here she invokes the curse that will haunt her family. And it’s here that she learns the rules of magi

Book details

First published
2020
Genre
Fantasy
Goodreads rating
4.22 (71k ratings)

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