Quotes from Rebel Angels

“Sometimes we seek that which we are not yet ready to find.”
― Libba Bray, quote from Rebel Angels

“What if evil doesn't really exist? What if evil is something dreamed up by man, and there is nothing to struggle against except out own limitations? The constant battle between our will, our desires, and our choices?”
― Libba Bray, quote from Rebel Angels

“And for a moment, I understand that I have friends on this lonely path; that sometimes your place is not something you find, but something you have when you need it.”
― Libba Bray, quote from Rebel Angels

“Do you think they missed him terribly when he fell? Did God cry over his lost angel, I wonder?”
― Libba Bray, quote from Rebel Angels

“Heaven's brightest and best-loved angel, who was cast out for inspiring a rebellion against God. Having lost Heaven, Lucifer and his rebel angels vowed to continue fighting here on earth."
"I don't understand why he had to fight. He was already in heaven."
"True. But he wasn't content to serve. He wanted more."
"He had all he could ask for, didn't he?" Ann asks.
"Exactly." Miss Moore states. "He had to ask. He was dependent upon someone else's whim. It's a terrible thing to have no power of one's own. To be denied.”
― Libba Bray, quote from Rebel Angels

“Did God ever cry over his lost angel, I wonder?”
― Libba Bray, quote from Rebel Angels

“Because you can't keep up the illusion forever," I say. "No one has that much magic.”
― Libba Bray, quote from Rebel Angels

“Beneath the skin, there is fear. Pain. Remorse. Yearning. Desire. A fierce longing for power. All of this. We are joined. It is as if we live in the center of a great storm. Around us the world of the realms revolves like a giant kaleidoscope, images refracted again and again. So many worlds! So much to know.”
― Libba Bray, quote from Rebel Angels

“A place to keep all your secrets”
― Libba Bray, quote from Rebel Angels

“Fate determines your caste. You must accept it and live according to the rules."
You can't really believe that!"
I do believe it. That man's misfortune is that he cannot accept his caste, his fate."
I know that the Indians wear their caste as a mark upon their foreheads for all to see. I know that in England, we have our own unacknowledged caste system. A laborer will never hold a seat in Parliament. Neither will a woman. I don't think I've ever questioned such things until this moment.
But what about will and desire? What if someone wants to change things."
Kartik keeps his eyes on the room "You cannot change your caste. You cannot go against fate."
That means there is no hope of a better life. It is a trap."
That is how you see it," he says softly.
What do you mean?"
It can be a relief to follow the path that has been laid oud for you, to know your course and play your part in it."
But how can you be sure that you are following the right course? What if there is no such thing as destiny, only choice?"
Then I do not choose to live without destiny," he says with a slight smile.”
― Libba Bray, quote from Rebel Angels

“Or perhaps it is some combination of spirit and desire, love and hope, some alchemy that we each possess and can put to use, if we first know where to look without flinching.”
― Libba Bray, quote from Rebel Angels

“The wind picks up. It sends leaves scurrying for cover until a softer breeze blows through, settling them down again as if to say, Shhh, there, there, it's all right. One leaf still dances in the air. It spins higher and higher, defying gravity and logic, stretching for something just out of reach. It shall have to fall, of course. Eventually. But for now, I hold my breath, willing it to keep going, taking comfort in its struggle.”
― Libba Bray, quote from Rebel Angels

“Meraa mitra yahaan aaiye," he murmurs. I understand only a little Hindi, enough to know what he has said: Come here, my friend.
I've never known a braver girl," he says.”
― Libba Bray, quote from Rebel Angels

“The mere suggestion of fame and fortune casts a glamour all its own. It is rather alarming how quickly people will turn someone else's fiction into fact in order to support their own fictions of themselves.”
― Libba Bray, quote from Rebel Angels

“Travel opens your mind as few other things do.”
― Libba Bray, quote from Rebel Angels

“...I do have to wonder what sort of childhood the Grimm brothers endured. They are not a merry bunch of storytellers, what with their children roasted by witches, maidens poisoned by old crones, and whatnot.”
― Libba Bray, quote from Rebel Angels

“Come awake, Tom. Fathers can willfully hurt their children. They can be addicts too weak to give up their vices, no matter the pain it causes. Mothers can turn you invisible with neglect. They can erase you with a denial, a refusal to see. Friends can deceive you. People lie. It is a cold, hard world. I do not blame Nell Hawkins for retreating from it into a madness of her own choosing.”
― Libba Bray, quote from Rebel Angels

“- So my own sister will not promote me? Speaking of which, weren't you supposed to find me a beautiful future wife with a small fortune? Have you had any success on that front?
- Yes - I have warned them all.”
― Libba Bray, quote from Rebel Angels

“Mrs. Nightwing glances at the box in my hands. She clears her throat."I understand you've decided against Mr. Middleton."...
It's best to be sure, through and through," she says, keeping her eyes steadfastly on the girls running and playing on the lawn. "Else you could find yourself one day coming home to an empty house, save for a note: I've gone out. You could wait all night for him to return. Nights turn into weeks, to years. It's horrible, the waiting. You can scarcely bear it. And perhaps years later on holiday in Brighton, you see him, walking along the boardwalk as if out of some dream. No longer lost. Your heartbeat quickens. You must call out to him. Someone else calls first. A pretty young woman with a child. He stops and bends to lift the child into his arms. His child. He gives a furtive kiss to his young wife. He hands her a box of candy, which you know to be Chollier's chocolates. He and his family stroll on. Something in you falls away. You will never be as you were. What is left to you is the chance to become something new and unsure. But at least the waiting is over.”
― Libba Bray, quote from Rebel Angels

“Really? And what curse befalls the Adams of the world?"
Ann opens her mouth and, presumably thinking of nothing to say, closes it again.
It is Felicity who answers, eyes steely. "They are weak to temptation. And we are their temptresses.”
― Libba Bray, quote from Rebel Angels

“Did you hear? You are free."
Yessss. Choice. It is a fine thing. And I choose to take you back, Most High.”
― Libba Bray, quote from Rebel Angels

“Simon, would you still care for me if you discovered I was not who I say I am?"
What do you mean?"
I mean would you still care for me, no matter what you came to know?"
What a thing to ponder. I don't know what to say."
The answer is no. He does not need to say it.
With a sigh, Simon digs at the fire with the iron poker. Bits of the charred log fall away, revealing the angry insides. they flare orange for a moment, then quiet down again. After three tries, he gives up.
I'm afraid this fire's had it."
I can see a few embers remaining. "No, I think not. If..."
He sighs, and it says everything.”
― Libba Bray, quote from Rebel Angels

“What you want can be yours. But you must first know what it is you want.”
― Libba Bray, quote from Rebel Angels

“Gemma~Was he really looking at me that way?

Kartik~What way?

Gemma~Like a piece of ripe fruit?

Katrik~You'd best be on your guard with him.”
― Libba Bray, quote from Rebel Angels

“Live life as if today is your last day living. :-)”
― Libba Bray, quote from Rebel Angels

“A man bumps me on his busy way without so much as an apology. But that is all right. I forgive you, busy man about town with the sharp elbows. Hail and farewell to you! For I, Gemma Doyle, am to have a splendid Christmas in London town. All shall be well.

God rest us merry gentlemen. And gentlewomen.”
― Libba Bray, quote from Rebel Angels

“Yes, go on. Leave. You're always coming and going. The rest of us are stuck here. Do you think he'd still love you if he knew who you are? He doesn't really care—only when it suits him.”
― Libba Bray, quote from Rebel Angels

“Travel opens your mind as few other things do. It is its own form of hypnotism, and I am forever under its spell.”
― Libba Bray, quote from Rebel Angels

“We've barley stepped into the bright glow of the realms when everything goes dark...”
― Libba Bray, quote from Rebel Angels

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