Quotes from Masque of the Red Death

“I’ve perfected the art of the fake smile. It’s not so difficult when you are completely numb.”
― Bethany Griffin, quote from Masque of the Red Death

“And I'm falling in love with you," he whispers. "But I would throw you in the water and watch crocodiles tear you to bits, if I thought that doing so would accomplish my goals. Do. Not. Trust. Anyone. Especially me.”
― Bethany Griffin, quote from Masque of the Red Death

“Bursts of hope make despair harder to live with.”
― Bethany Griffin, quote from Masque of the Red Death

“Just because you don't want to see something doesn't mean that it will go away. Do you think inhumanity doesn't exist if you pretend not to see it? Or maybe get too drunk to understand? We've forgotten the things that make life worthwhile.”
― Bethany Griffin, quote from Masque of the Red Death

“I won't cry. When the guilt is this heavy, you can't. It just settles and stays with you, and it's cold.”
― Bethany Griffin, quote from Masque of the Red Death

“She has to live, Eliott. I owe her a lifetime of apologies.”
“Sometimes I think that’s all we owe our parents.”
― Bethany Griffin, quote from Masque of the Red Death

“Hours trickle by, and I wilt. The magic isn't here for me tonight. I can't get away from the heavy feeling of being me. I want to blend in, to be someone besides myself, someone who is part of something secret and subversive and exciting.”
― Bethany Griffin, quote from Masque of the Red Death

“Or maybe the ugliness is in us.
That's just the way we are.
Underneath the pretense of civilization.”
― Bethany Griffin, quote from Masque of the Red Death

“She's made herself so artificial; it's okay to wear next to nothing because we aren't real people any longer.”
― Bethany Griffin, quote from Masque of the Red Death

“Thank you for keeping her safe," Elliott tells Will.
"I will always keep her safe.”
― Bethany Griffin, quote from Masque of the Red Death

“I need some fresh air," I say.

"Then by all means go outside. If it doesn't clear your head, it will probably kill you." Will might be teasing. I can't tell.”
― Bethany Griffin, quote from Masque of the Red Death

“where do you want to go?

Back to violinist. I want to hear songs about suicide.”
― Bethany Griffin, quote from Masque of the Red Death

“No matter what creatures people fear in the dead of the night, in this city, violence is more likely to be carried out by men”
― Bethany Griffin, quote from Masque of the Red Death

“You have to remember that there are reasons to live, and that at least a few people are decent, and that the world is worthwhile some of the time, okay?”
I raise my face to his, wanting another kiss, but he stops me.
“You will remember?”
The balloon bumps downward again. His eyes are still closed.
“Why don’t you open your eyes?”
He opens one and squints at me for a second. “I’m terrified of heights,” he says.”
― Bethany Griffin, quote from Masque of the Red Death

“Araby is good at getting men to sleep beside her without anything... happening”
― Bethany Griffin, quote from Masque of the Red Death

“I stand alone for several minutes, watching the shadows move across the stones. The mortar that holds them in place is coarse and thick, as if the stones didn't exactly fit together and had to be glued into place. The prince had the entire castle moved from across the sea. A prop for his megalomania. I shiver.”
― Bethany Griffin, quote from Masque of the Red Death

“You're April's closest friend. I wasn't expecting you to fall into bed with me, but the two of you haven't exactly
been living a chaste lifestyle.
"I was". My voice is small.
"What?"
"Chaste. I made a promise."...
"So there you are, drinking and taking drugs to the point of incapacitation, and you've been missing out on the
best part of debauchery?"
"I wouldn't know"
"If you want to know, tell me”
― Bethany Griffin, quote from Masque of the Red Death

“Will leans forward, pulls off his mask, and kisses my forehead. "I'm glad I was the one to save you this time
" he whispers.”
― Bethany Griffin, quote from Masque of the Red Death

“So there you are, drinking and taking drugs to the point of incapacitation, and you've been missing out on the
best part of debauchery?"
"I wouldn't know."
"If you want to know, tell me.”
― Bethany Griffin, quote from Masque of the Red Death

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Popular quotes

“Meditation here is not reflection or any other kind of discursive thinking. It is pure concentration: training the mind to dwell on an interior focus without wandering, until it becomes absorbed in the object of its contemplation. But absorption does not mean unconsciousness. The outside world may be forgotten, but meditation is a state of intense inner wakefulness.”
― quote from The Upanishads: Translations from the Sanskrit

“In truth, there are only two realities: the one for people who are in love or love each other, and the one for people who are standing outside all that.”
― Charles Baxter, quote from The Feast of Love

“He called me Jess because that is the name of the hood which restrains the falcon.
I was his falcon. I hung on his arm and fed at his hand.
He said my nose was sharp and cruel and that my eyes had madness in them. He said I would tear him to pieces if he dealt softly with me.
At night, if he was away, he had me chained to our bed. It was a long chain, long enough for me to use the chamber pot or to stand at the window and wait for the late owls. I love to hear the owls. I love to see the sudden glide of wings spread out for prey, and then the dip and the noise like a lover in pain.
He used the chain when we went riding together. I had a horse as strong as his, and he’d whip the horse from behind and send it charging through the trees, and he’d follow, half a head behind, pulling on the chain and asking me how I liked my ride.
His game was to have me sit astride him when we made love and hold me tight in the small of my back. He said he had to have me above him, in case I picked his eyes out in the faltering candlelight.
I was none of these things, but I became them.
At night, in June I think, I flew off his wrist and tore his liver from his body, and bit my chain in pieces and left him on the bed with his eyes open.
He looked surprised, I don’t know why. As your lover describes you, so you are.”
― Jeanette Winterson, quote from Sexing the Cherry

“Knock and it shall be opened.' But does knocking mean hammering and kicking the door like a maniac?”
― C.S. Lewis, quote from A Grief Observed

“By the time I make my way to the border of Mauritania, to the edge of the Sahara, I see no end to being lost. You can spend your entire life simply falling in that direction. It isn't a station you reach but just the general state of going down. Once you make it back, if you make it back, you will stand before your long-lost friends but in some essential way they will no longer know you.”
― Nick Flynn, quote from Another Bullshit Night in Suck City

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