Quotes from Ruin

“Maybe it's not in the perfection of life that things make sense, but in the chaos.”
― Rachel Van Dyken, quote from Ruin

“Wherever I am, whatever I'm doing, alive or dead, young or old, my heart will always be with yours. Every beat you feel against your fingertips..." His fingers tapped against my chest, once, twice. "... is me calling out to you. It's you returning the call. It's us talking, communicating, bonding, sharing, Living -- Kiersten, it's us living.”
― Rachel Van Dyken, quote from Ruin

“Life isn’t fair, but living? Living is heaven. Living is a gift. Every gift is different — every path is different — for some reason this is ours, and the sooner we accept it, the sooner we can stop crying and start living.”
― Rachel Van Dyken, quote from Ruin

“Just because you need help to cope doesn’t make you any less strong. The truly weak people in this life are the ones who can’t admit they need help. They’re the ones who can’t admit that they can no longer go at it alone. Those are the people who are weak. By asking for help, by taking help, you’ve just admitted your weakness and in that, you find your strength. The weak of the world are those who think they’ve got it all figured out and flaunt it to others.”
― Rachel Van Dyken, quote from Ruin

“You may not see every single piece of the puzzle that creates your life -- you may not see every move the grand chess player makes -- but know, He is in complete control of the game board. Sometimes certain pieces are moved or knocked over to make room for new ones. Other times, things happen because of the world we live in. But everything in the end, will always turn out for good. It's a nice promise, isn't it? To know there's a reason for it all?”
― Rachel Van Dyken, quote from Ruin

“I can tell you have a good heart..." I sighed, opening the door to the outside." ... because the minute I met you, I wanted to fight for it.”
― Rachel Van Dyken, quote from Ruin

“Living is hard--dying is easy. You close your eyes and never open them again. What's so difficult about that? Nothing really--except it hurts like hell to those you leave behind.”
― Rachel Van Dyken, quote from Ruin

“the nurse smiled and patted my arm. “Don’t give up yet. Sometimes when we think God has written The End, what he really means is The Beginning.”
― Rachel Van Dyken, quote from Ruin

“I’m going to make it so hard for you to forget this first kiss that you don’t want anyone else kissing you ever again. When the guy you fall in love with kisses you — it better put this kiss to shame — if it doesn’t, then he isn’t the right guy. Because I’m going to do a damn good job, and I want the guy that earns you, that takes that heart of yours and holds it in the palm of his hands… I want that guy to be able to make you feel things I’ll just be tapping into. Do you understand, Kiersten?”
― Rachel Van Dyken, quote from Ruin

“What do you love more?” she teased. “My hair or my heart?” “Why give me only two choices? Don’t leave out your legs, your laugh, the way you bite your lip when you’re thinking, the feel of your breath on my face, the sound of your voice in the morning, the way you taste, the three freckles on your nose, the fan of your eyelashes, the caring spirit, the determined soul — so why stop at your hair and your heart? How do you expect me to choose? When what I love the most about you — is you.”
― Rachel Van Dyken, quote from Ruin

“I prayed over and over again that God would spare me, not because I cared that much about my own life -- but because I cared about hers.”
― Rachel Van Dyken, quote from Ruin

“For the first time in a year, I wanted to live -- because I wanted to spend every freaking day watching her open her eyes to the world. Hell, I wanted to be the first thing she saw. Sometimes, reality's a bitch.”
― Rachel Van Dyken, quote from Ruin

“We're all a bit crazy,it's what makes us human.”
― Rachel Van Dyken, quote from Ruin

“Note to self, when a girl’s smile makes you forget your own name – you’re in some deep shit.”
― Rachel Van Dyken, quote from Ruin

“So there’s never a reason to be afraid of running out of time — because we keep our own.”
― Rachel Van Dyken, quote from Ruin

“Life isn’t about deserving.” I closed my eyes and sighed. “Aren’t you the one always spouting all that wisdom?” He grinned. “If we wait until we’re deserving, we’re going to be waiting for a really long time.” I shrugged. “I’d rather appreciate the fact that I’ll never deserve anything — doesn’t make me a bad person, just makes me all the more thankful.”
― Rachel Van Dyken, quote from Ruin

“Fear..." I uncrossed her arms and linked my fingers with hers. "Is what makes us feel alive. Fear causes our blood vessels to constrict, and then the amygdala, a tiny almond shaped part of our brain, sends signals to our nervous system. The signal says run or fight.”
― Rachel Van Dyken, quote from Ruin

“I can tell you have a good heart…” I sighed, opening the door to the
outside. “…because the minute I met you, I wanted to fight for it.”
She was silent.
“That’s how you can tell when someone has a good heart.”
“When you want to start a war?” She laughed, clearly trying to lighten my
mood.
“Nah.” I sighed.
“When you want to be the one to make it beat.”
― Rachel Van Dyken, quote from Ruin

“No matter how afraid you are - you can still make the choice to fight. You can still make the choice to walk through the fire- he said to do it afraid.”
― Rachel Van Dyken, quote from Ruin

“God…” I choked on the word. “I know we haven’t talked much in the past few years. Hell, I told you I hated you when Tye took his own life.” I cursed again and pinched the bridge of my nose. “I don’t even care about myself anymore, just promise me she’ll be okay. If I don’t make it… if you take me, just let Kiersten be okay. She can’t go down that road — I don’t care if you have to punish me, God. If she’s going to suffer, give me her pain instead. If her heart’s going to break, break mine for hers. Please, God… please.”
― Rachel Van Dyken, quote from Ruin

“What you two have — it’s a once in a lifetime — you fight for him, sweetheart. Fight for him with every last breath. No regrets, okay?”
― Rachel Van Dyken, quote from Ruin

“You rescued me and I found my ruin." I bit down on my lip. "I'm ruined for you - and I won't ever be the same. It's the greatest gift anyone has ever given me.”
― Rachel Van Dyken, quote from Ruin

“…one, two, three, four, six, Good Lord, eight? Eight packs? Furthermore, had I actually been feeling said person’s eight pack? And, dear God, I was counting. I had touched each muscle. And great, my hand was still firmly placed against the guy’s stomach.

I jerked my hand back and closed my eyes.

“Were you just counting my abs?” His voice sounded amused. It also sounded like a movie star voice, the type that makes you want to jump into the TV screen.”
― Rachel Van Dyken, quote from Ruin

“Dying without really living. Leaving this world knowing that the girl who makes me want to live the most-will have to do it without me”
― Rachel Van Dyken, quote from Ruin

“Leave it to Wes to use sex as a reason not to die.”
― Rachel Van Dyken, quote from Ruin

“All that damn therapy you made me go through — and sometimes, Dad, it takes going through hell to reach your heaven.” I looked at the door. “That bad huh?” “What?” “You like her that much?” “No.” I swallowed. “I love her.”
― Rachel Van Dyken, quote from Ruin

“I just want to feel your heart beating.That's all...”
― Rachel Van Dyken, quote from Ruin

“In life we always have some measure of control whether it be over our emotions or choices, but when it comes to cancer? The only thing you can control is how you respond to it”
― Rachel Van Dyken, quote from Ruin

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Popular quotes

“I'm said, I think. I frown into space for a minute. No. I'm lonely.
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“While these tactics were aggressive and crude, they confirmed that our legislation had touched a nerve. I wasn’t the only one who recognized this. Many other victims of human rights abuses in Russia saw the same thing. After the bill was introduced they came to Washington or wrote letters to the Magnitsky Act’s cosponsors with the same basic message: “You have found the Achilles’ heel of the Putin regime.” Then, one by one, they would ask, “Can you add the people who killed my brother to the Magnitsky Act?” “Can you add the people who tortured my mother?” “How about the people who kidnapped my husband?” And on and on. The senators quickly realized that they’d stumbled onto something much bigger than one horrific case. They had inadvertently discovered a new method for fighting human rights abuses in authoritarian regimes in the twenty-first century: targeted visa sanctions and asset freezes. After a dozen or so of these visits and letters, Senator Cardin and his cosponsors conferred and decided to expand the law, adding sixty-five words to the Magnitsky Act. Those new words said that in addition to sanctioning Sergei’s tormentors, the Magnitsky Act would sanction all other gross human rights abusers in Russia. With those extra sixty-five words, my personal fight for justice had become everyone’s fight. The revised bill was officially introduced on May 19, 2011, less than a month after we posted the Olga Stepanova YouTube video. Following its introduction, a small army of Russian activists descended on Capitol Hill, pushing for the bill’s passage. They pressed every senator who would talk to them to sign on. There was Garry Kasparov, the famous chess grand master and human rights activist; there was Alexei Navalny, the most popular Russian opposition leader; and there was Evgenia Chirikova, a well-known Russian environmental activist. I didn’t have to recruit any of these people. They just showed up by themselves. This uncoordinated initiative worked beautifully. The number of Senate cosponsors grew quickly, with three or four new senators signing on every month. It was an easy sell. There wasn’t a pro-Russian-torture-and-murder lobby in Washington to oppose it. No senator, whether the most liberal Democrat or the most conservative Republican, would lose a single vote for banning Russian torturers and murderers from coming to America. The Magnitsky Act was gathering so much momentum that it appeared it might be unstoppable. From the day that Kyle Scott at the State Department stonewalled me, I knew that the administration was dead set against this, but now they were in a tough spot. If they openly opposed the law, it would look as if they were siding with the Russians. However, if they publicly supported it, it would threaten Obama’s “reset” with Russia. They needed to come up with some other solution. On July 20, 2011, the State Department showed its cards. They sent a memo to the Senate entitled “Administration Comments on S.1039 Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law.” Though not meant to be made public, within a day it was leaked.”
― Bill Browder, quote from Red Notice: A True Story of High Finance, Murder, and One Man's Fight for Justice

“I want revenge." She whispers, and her fingers trail bloody streaks down Natalia's arms.
"And then I want my crown.”
― Kendare Blake, quote from Three Dark Crowns

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