“In any case, fire burns; that's its nature, and you can't expect to change that. You can use it to cook your meat or to burn down your neighbor's house. And is the fire you use for cooking any different from the one you use for burning? And does that mean you should eat your supper raw?"
Maddy shook her head, still puzzled. "So what you're saying is . . . I shouldn't play with fire," she said at last.
Of course you should," said One-Eye gently. "But don't be surprised if the fire plays back.”
― Joanne Harris, quote from Runemarks
“A thing named is a thing tamed.”
― Joanne Harris, quote from Runemarks
“I speak as I must and cannot be silent.”
― Joanne Harris, quote from Runemarks
“A man may plant a tree for a number of reasons. Perhaps he likes trees. Perhaps he wants shelter. Or perhaps he knows that someday he may need the firewood.”
― Joanne Harris, quote from Runemarks
“But I rather thought--I mean, I heard you'd killed Balder the Fair."
"I never did," snapped Loki crossly. "Well, no one ever proved I did. What happened to the presumption of innocence? Besides, he was supposed to be invulnerable. Was it my fault that he wasn't?”
― Joanne Harris, quote from Runemarks
“Gods? Don't let that impress you. Anyone can be a god if they have enough worshippers. You don't even have to have powers anymore. In my time I've seen theatre gods, gladiator gods, even storyteller gods - you people see gods everywhere. Gives you an excuse for not thinking for yourselves.
God is just a word. Like Fury. like demon, Just words people use for things they don't understand. Reverse it and you get dog. It's just as appropriate.”
― Joanne Harris, quote from Runemarks
“I know you,” said Maddy. “You’re -“
“What’s a name?” Loki grinned. “Wear it like a coat; turn it, burn it, throw it aside, and borrow another. One-Eye knows; you should ask him.”
“But Loki died,” she said, shaking her head. “He died on the field at Ragnarok.”
“Not quite.” He pulled a face. “You know there’s rather a lot the Oracle didn’t foretell, and old tales have a habit of getting twisted.”
“But in any case, that was centuries ago,” Maddy said bewildered. “I mean - that was the End of the World, wasn’t it?”
“So?” said Loki impatiently. “This isn’t the first time the world has come to an end, and it won’t be the last either.”
― Joanne Harris, quote from Runemarks
“Was it my fault that I got out of hand?
--Loki”
― Joanne Harris, quote from Runemarks
“As she grew older, Maddy discovered that she had disappointed almost everyone. An awkward girl with a sullen mouth, a curtain of hair, and a tendency to slouch, she had neither Mae's sweet nature nor sweet face. Her eyes were rather beautiful, but few people ever noticed this, and it was widely believed Maddy was ugly, a troublemaker, too clever for her own good, too stubborn - or too slack - to change.
Of course, folk agreed that it was not her fault she was so brown or her sister so pretty, but a smile costs nothing, as the saying goes, and if only the girl had made an effort once in a while, or even showed a little gratitude for all the help and free advice, then maybe she would have settled down.”
― Joanne Harris, quote from Runemarks
“You seem to know a lot about it," she said. "And you do subtleties."
"Yeah. Like I've always wanted to destroy the Nine Worlds while committing suicide."
"Well, there's no need to be rude," protested Sif.”
― Joanne Harris, quote from Runemarks
“Nat Parson says it's the devil's mark."
"Nat Parson's a gobshite."
Maddy was torn between a natural feeling of sacrilege and a deep admiration of anyone who dared call a parson 'gobshite.”
― Joanne Harris, quote from Runemarks
“Anything that can be dreamed is true.”
― Joanne Harris, quote from Runemarks
“Our lives are like these things I make. Turn 'em, build 'em, bake 'em in fire. That's what you've been, son. Baked and fired. But a pot don't have the right to choose whether he be for water, wine, or just left empty. You have, son. You have.”
― Joanne Harris, quote from Runemarks
“And so Nat stood up and joined the group, and followed, and watched, and awaited his chance as the light of Chaos lit the plain and gods and demons marched to war.”
― Joanne Harris, quote from Runemarks
“A named thing is a tamed thing.”
― Joanne Harris, quote from Runemarks
“Fred Potter voltou-se para o filho e sorriu. Estás a ver?, disse. AS nossas vidas são como as coisas que fazemos. Damos-lhe forma, construímo-las e levamo-las ao forno. É assim, meu filho, somos moldados e levados ao lume. Mas um jarro não tem possibilidade de escolher se quer conter água, vinho ou ficar simplesmente vazio. Tu tens, filho. Tu tens.”
― Joanne Harris, quote from Runemarks
“I don't understand a word you're saying," snapped Odin.
"That's because you're throttlin' me, sir," said Sugar.
Odin loosened his grip.”
― Joanne Harris, quote from Runemarks
“Please!" yelled Loki. "I am not being noble!”
― Joanne Harris, quote from Runemarks
“Your wolf is eating that man. I thought you should know.”
― Joanne Harris, quote from Runemarks
“Porque um contador de histórias não morre nunca, mantém-se sempre vivo nas suas histórias enquanto houver álguem para as ouvir.”
― Joanne Harris, quote from Runemarks
“Thor looked at Maddy. "What d'you mean, Father?"
He had loosened his grip on Loki, who was now flattened against the cell wall as far from Jormungand as he could manage while Ellie, incensed at this latest invasion, lashed out at the serpent with her walking stick.
"Terrific," said Loki under his breath. "Come to Netherworld. Meet the kids.”
― Joanne Harris, quote from Runemarks
“I'm warning you now," said Freyja stiffly, "I have...certain issues...with Loki." (Maddy wondered briefly whether there was anyone in the Nine Worlds who didn't have issues with Loki.)”
― Joanne Harris, quote from Runemarks
“Seven o'clock on a Monday morning, five hundred years after the End of the World, and goblins had been at the cellar again.”
― Joanne Harris, quote from Runemarks
Joanne Harris
Born place: in Barnsley, The United Kingdom
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“At the ripe old age of seventeen, Donna had decided that "happily ever after" didn't exist for freaks like her.”
― Karen Mahoney, quote from The Iron Witch
“Writing is finally about one thing: going into a room alone and doing it. Putting words on paper that have never been there in quite that way before. And although you are physically by yourself, the haunting Demon never leaves you, that Demon being the knowledge of your own terrible limitations, your hopeless inadequacy, the impossibility of ever getting it right. No matter how diamond-bright your ideas are dancing in your brain, on paper they are earthbound. If you’re trying a screenplay, you know it’s never going to be Bergman. If it’s a novel, well, what kind of a novelist can you hope to be when Dostoevski was there before you. And Dickens and Cervantes and all the other masters that led you to the prison of your desk. But if you’re a writer, that’s what you must do, and in order to accomplish anything at all, at the rock bottom of it all is your confidence. You tell yourself lies and you force them into belief: Hey, you suckers, I’m going to do it this one time. I’m going to tell you things you never knew. I’ve—got—secrets!”
― William Goldman, quote from Adventures in the Screen Trade
“Take one day at a time. Today, after all, is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday.”
― Billy Graham, quote from Hope for the Troubled Heart: Finding God in the Midst of Pain
“Fairies were different. In the winding mountain paths and emerald-topped forests of Feyland, there were so many magical creatures.”
― Kailin Gow, quote from Frost Kisses
“As the weeks progressed, I developed a morbid fascination with the enormity of all he didn’t know. I reminded myself incessantly that the happiness I heard in his voice when we spoke each night was predicated upon a trust and faith and mutual understanding that I had already betrayed countless times in countless different ways, ways that would make him scream, were he to glimpse them. The thought tortured me. I felt like a poisoner sprinkling arsenic on Hansen’s food while he wasn’t looking, watching him eat it bite by bite. I wished he would guess, but I did everything in my power to keep him from guessing, and it was easy. I sounded the same! He had no reason to doubt me! He believed that I loved him, and he was right! I was made for this treachery! Each night, as I reported to him the jobs I was on hold for, the church I’d wandered into, the croque monsieur I’d had for lunch, I would imagine rescuing him from his ignorance and my duplicity by telling him everything. This fantasy of absolution so enthralled me that at times I completely lost track of our conversation. To say it and have him know, to close the gap between us. I couldn’t do it. And yet I knew that it couldn’t go on this way, either, that sooner or later I would have to choose between Hansen and everyone else. A lifetime of deceiving a good man was more than even I could stomach. So I left.”
― Jennifer Egan, quote from Look at Me
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