“Sadness is an emotion you can trust. It is stronger than all of the other emotions. It makes happiness look fickle and untrustworthy. It pervades, lasts longer, and replaces the good feelings with such an eloquent ease you don’t even feel the shift until you are suddenly wrapped in its chains. How hard we strive for happiness, and once we finally have the elusive feeling in our grasp, we hold it briefly, like water as it trickles through our fingers.”
― Tarryn Fisher, quote from Marrow
“I believe in loneliness so deep and profound it has a physical presence”
― Tarryn Fisher, quote from Marrow
“I have to stop fucking killing people.”
― Tarryn Fisher, quote from Marrow
“You have to be willing to be happy. Despite the mess of your life—just accept what’s happened, throw away your ideals, and create a new map of happiness to follow.”
― Tarryn Fisher, quote from Marrow
“The loss of innocence is the most severe of growing pains.”
― Tarryn Fisher, quote from Marrow
“Weak people let their pain choke them to a slow, emotional death. Strong people use that pain, Margo. They use it as fuel.”
― Tarryn Fisher, quote from Marrow
“I want to be fireproof. Nothing should have the power to break my heart.”
― Tarryn Fisher, quote from Marrow
“I've always been afraid that love isn't real. So I watched movies that assured me that there can be happy endings and shit.”
― Tarryn Fisher, quote from Marrow
“Life is all about allowing people choices to be who they want. But the majority of people choose to be worthless.”
― Tarryn Fisher, quote from Marrow
“We are all pretenders in life, finding a patch of humanity that we relate to, and then embrace it. We come straight down the birth canal and our parents start telling us who to be, simply by being themselves. We see their lives, their cars, the way they interact, the rules they set, and the foundations for our own lives are laid. And when our parents aren’t molding us, our situations are. We are all sheep, who get jobs, and have babies, and diet, and try to carve something special out for ourselves using the broken hearts, and bored minds, and scathed souls life delivered to us. And it’s all been done before, every bit of suffering, every joy.
And the minute you realize that we are all pretenders is the minute everything stops intimidating you: punishment, and failure, and death. Even people. There is nothing so ingenious about another human who has pretended well. They are, in fact, just another soul, perhaps more clever, better at failing than you are. But not worth a second of intimidation.”
― Tarryn Fisher, quote from Marrow
“Be bold about your right to be loved.”
― Tarryn Fisher, quote from Marrow
“Nothing is better than the discovery of another living, breathing human, who fights the same as you do, loves the same as you do, and understands you with such clarity that it feels erotic.”
― Tarryn Fisher, quote from Marrow
“The moon is wicked, jealous of the sun. People do bad things in the dark, under the hollow gaze of the moon. It’s smiling at me now, proud of my sin.”
― Tarryn Fisher, quote from Marrow
“Every bad thing that happens here reminds people of what they’re trying to forget”
― Tarryn Fisher, quote from Marrow
“I can’t stay the way I am. I don’t remember what it’s like to be free. To be wide open without fear. I need something to break me. Just enough so that I have new pieces to work with—make them into something else. I don’t want to give anyone the right to treat me like a loser. I don’t want to be fat, I don’t want to live in the Bone, I don’t want to be without knowledge. I won’t be the girl who people laugh at. Not anymore. Good thing I memorized their license plate. Just in case.”
― Tarryn Fisher, quote from Marrow
“I told myself that I was the one pretending to fit in, but life has taught me that we are all pretenders. Every single one of us.”
― Tarryn Fisher, quote from Marrow
“What a hypocrite I am; I spend my whole life reading books that allude to happiness, when I refuse to experience it. Sadness is an emotion you can trust. It is stronger than all of the other emotions. It makes happiness look fickle and untrustworthy. It pervades, lasts longer, and replaces the good feelings with such an eloquent ease you don’t even feel the shift until you are suddenly wrapped in its chains. How hard we strive for happiness, and once we finally have the elusive feeling in our grasp, we hold it briefly, like water as it trickles through our fingers. I don’t want to hold water. I want to hold something heavy and solid. Something I can understand. I understand sadness, and so I trust it. We are meant to feel sadness, if only to protect us from the brief spiels of happiness. Darkness is all I’ll ever know; maybe the key is to make poetry out of it.”
― Tarryn Fisher, quote from Marrow
“Dreams are plans; they get your heart moving, and once your heart gets moving, your brain will follow”
― Tarryn Fisher, quote from Marrow
“You are worth loving. They just don’t have any love to give. Forgive them, Margo.”
― Tarryn Fisher, quote from Marrow
“Depression is a deep, black wave—so powerful, building from a swell and rising … rising”
― Tarryn Fisher, quote from Marrow
“Do we create our own heroes and then kill them with the truth?”
― Tarryn Fisher, quote from Marrow
“My mother is beautiful in the same way that a storm is beautiful. She is wild and destructive, and in the middle of her fury you feel her God given right to destroy.”
― Tarryn Fisher, quote from Marrow
“But the truth of the matter—as I’ve come to understand it—is that people will ignore every warning sign when blinded by their thirst for something. It’s better to not be thirsty.”
― Tarryn Fisher, quote from Marrow
“We are all pretenders in life, finding a patch of humanity that we relate to, and then embrace it.”
― Tarryn Fisher, quote from Marrow
“Stop feeling useless and worthless. Stop drowning in regret. Stop listening to the persistent voice of your past failures. You were that child once, who Margo would have killed for. Fight for yourselves. You have a right to live, and to live well. You’ll inherit flaws; you’ll develop new ones. And that’s okay. Wear them, own them, use them to survive. Don’t kill others; don’t kill yourselves. Be bold about your right to be loved. And most importantly, don’t be ashamed of where you’ve come from, or the mistakes you’ve made. In blindness, love will exhume you.”
― Tarryn Fisher, quote from Marrow
“People—our dads, our moms, our friends—they are so broken they don’t even know that most of what they do reflects that brokenness. They just hurt whoever is in their wake. They don’t sit and think about what their hurt is doing to us. Pain makes humans selfish. Blocked off. Focused inward instead of outward”
― Tarryn Fisher, quote from Marrow
“That’s because humans are built to live with pain. Weak people let their pain choke them to a slow, emotional death. Strong people use that pain, Margo. They use it as fuel.”
― Tarryn Fisher, quote from Marrow
“Darkness is all I’ll ever know; maybe the key is to make poetry out of it.”
― Tarryn Fisher, quote from Marrow
“Wanting someone to notice you all the while praying no one does.”
― Tarryn Fisher, quote from Marrow
“I've never been to the ocean, never heard the waves lick the sand in that quiet shushing you read about in books. I've never been to the zoo, smelled the elephant piss, and heard the cries of the monkeys. I've never had frozen yogurt from one of those places where you pull on the handle and fill your own cup with whatever you like. I've never eaten dinner at a restaurant with napkins that you set on your lap and silverware that isn't plastic. I've never painted my nails like the other girls at school, in bright neons and decadent reds. I've never been more than ten miles from home. Ten miles. It's like I live in the forever ago, not where buses rumble and trains have racks. I've never had a birthday cake, though I've wanted one very much. I've never owned a bra that is new, and had to cut the tags off with the scissors from the kitchen drawer. I've never been loved in a way that makes me feel as if I was supposed to be born, if only to feel loved. I've never, I've never, I've never. And it's my own fault. The things that we never do because someone makes us fearful of them, or makes us believe we don't deserve them. I want to do all my nevers-- alone or with someone who matters. I don't care. I just want to live.”
― Tarryn Fisher, quote from Marrow
Tarryn Fisher
Born place: in Johannesburg, South Africa
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“My brave husband came back from fighting the Turks and brought me a robe of silk and a necklace of human teeth. He sat up at night by his hearth telling tales of battle. Apparently the Turks are ten times more ferocious and fearless than the Scots. 'Perhaps we should invite them here to drive the Scots back,' I suggested, and he laughed, but he didn't kiss me. That's when I learned the truth about scars. A man with a battle scar is a veteran, a hero, given an honoured place at the fire. Small boys gaze up fascinated, dreaming of winning such badges of courage. Maids caress his thighs with their buttocks as they bend over to mull his ale. Women cluck and cosset, and if in time other men grow a little weary of that tale of honour, then they call for his cup to be filled again and again until he is fuddled and dozes quietly in the warmth of the embers.
But a scarred woman is not encouraged to tell her story. Boys jeer and mothers cross themselves. Pregnant women will not come close for fear that if they look upon such a sight, the infant in their belly will be marked. You've heard of the tales of Beauty and the Beast no doubt. How a fair maid falls in love with a monster and sees the beauty of his soul beneath the hideous visage. But you've never heard the tale of the handsome man falling for the monstrous woman and finding joy in her love, because it doesn't happen, not even in fairytales. The truth is that the scarred woman's husband buys her a good thick veil and enquires about nunneries for the good of her health. He spends his days with his falcons and his nights instructing pageboys in their duties. For if nothing else, the wars taught him how to be a diligent master to such pretty lads.”
― Karen Maitland, quote from Company of Liars
“Brother to a Prince and fellow to a beggar if he be found worthy.”
― Rudyard Kipling, quote from The Man Who Would Be King
“I went up on my toes to kiss him, and he groaned. "Do you really think this is appropriate on school grounds?"
"Nope." I wrapped my arms around his neck. "And I happen to know there isn't an appropriate thought running through your head right now."
"Or any other time." Tod pulled me close and held me so tight my ribs almost hut, but I didn't want him to let go. Ever.”
― Rachel Vincent, quote from With All My Soul
“You’re right,” Jacks said. “You’re not part of my world. You’re not one of those girls. And maybe that’s why.”
“Why what?”
“Why I can’t stop thinking about you.”
Maddy rolled her eyes. “Guys like you don’t say that to girls like me.”
“I’ve never said that to anyone, actually,” Jacks corrected. “In fact, I’ve never done anything like this before.” He let out a little laugh. “How am I doing?”
He swallowed hard, trying to push down his nervousness. He was astonished to realize he was nervous. Somehow being around Maddy just put him in a different space. Jacks felt so present.
Maddy stared at him, letting the anger and frustration surge through her.
“Why are you doing this to me?” she asked finally.
He paused, considering.
“I’m being honest. I know you may not believe me. But I haven’t been able to not think about you. When we were in the back at the restaurant, and . . .” Jacks’s voice trailed off, his face coloring. “I still feel terrible about what I did. I lied to you and, even though I had good reasons for it, it was wrong of me.”
Maddy studied him. Was he telling the truth?
Jacks smiled. “I mean this in the best possible way: I’m not going to leave you alone until you let me make it up to you. I’m serious. I’ll be here every night. You might as well get me some pajamas and a toothbrush.”
Despite her best efforts not to, Maddy laughed. She looked at Jacks and could see the faintest twinkle of light in his eyes.
“So what you’re saying is that I should just give in and let you make it up to me. Otherwise you’ll be tormenting me like this for the rest of my life?”
“Pretty much. Yeah.”
“Well.” She sighed. “What do you have in mind?”
“Come fly with me.”
― Scott Speer, quote from Immortal City
“I’ve put some thought to it. How can we set up a system which encourages individuals to strive and excel, and yet which shows some compassion to the weak, and weeds out madmen and tyrants?”
― David Brin, quote from The Postman
Graveminder
Warrior's Cross
Laney
Airel: The Awakening
Waking Rose
The Watch That Ends...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.
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