“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
“He stepped back across the invisible line married people wear around them when spending time with the opposite sex, folded the letter protectively, and put it back in his robe pocket.”
― Emily Bleeker, quote from When I'm Gone
“two Florida Highway Patrol cars and a third, black car pulled up in front of the house, and several white men emerged, among them the deputies Campbell and Yates. “Where is the guy that was with you last night?” Yates asked Shepherd, and what began with that question led to the beatings he and Irvin endured on the deserted clay road outside of Groveland. “They must have beat us about a half hour,” Shepherd told the lawyers, who were at once riveted and appalled by his testimony. After the beating, he and Irvin were shoved back into the patrol car. Irvin’s shirt was drenched in blood, and when he reached his hand up to his head he felt “a big chunk knocked out of it.” A patrolman told them to scoot up to the edge of the seat so their blood wouldn’t drip onto the upholstery.”
― Gilbert King, quote from Devil in the Grove: Thurgood Marshall, the Groveland Boys, and the Dawn of a New America
“You must suffer me to go my own dark way.”
― Robert Louis Stevenson, quote from The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
“When people are cruel it's often said that they have no heart, only a cold space or lump of ice in their chest. This was never true of Avalon. She had no heart, everyone knew, but there was nothing cold about her. In her chest burned an enormous coal, white-hot, brighter than the North Star. North knew the truth about Avalon: she was made of fire, and she would burn them all.”
― Kirsty Logan, quote from The Gracekeepers
“scavengers who attacked dragons for their treasure, waving sharp little toothpick claw things called swords.”
― Tui T. Sutherland, quote from The Brightest Night
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