Cassandra Clare · 198 pages
Rating: (4.9K votes)
“See, Jace never learned how to flirt properly, because he was raised by a murderous sociopath.”
― Cassandra Clare, quote from Shadowhunters and Downworlders: A Mortal Instruments Reader
“If you’ve been reading the Mortal Instruments for any length of time, you know that only two things are certain: Dead doesn’t necessarily mean dead, and you never know whose blood is going to wind up running through your veins.”
― Cassandra Clare, quote from Shadowhunters and Downworlders: A Mortal Instruments Reader
“It's significantly more satisfying to kick a wall than it is to kick thin air. For the rebellious teen- or the teen who wants to feel like a rebel- a clearly defined law gives you something to define yourself against.”
― Cassandra Clare, quote from Shadowhunters and Downworlders: A Mortal Instruments Reader
“Not every girl can be Isabelle Lightwood or Katniss Everdeen. I think the true measure of a hero is what a person does with what they have, how hard they are willing to fight, and how far they are willing to go to set things right.”
― Cassandra Clare, quote from Shadowhunters and Downworlders: A Mortal Instruments Reader
“The only thing more dangerous than a willingness to ignore the Law is an ability to change it.”
― Cassandra Clare, quote from Shadowhunters and Downworlders: A Mortal Instruments Reader
“Places, like people, are complex, and loving them isn't simple.”
― Cassandra Clare, quote from Shadowhunters and Downworlders: A Mortal Instruments Reader
“Everyone loves a kick-ass girl. (Well- maybe not her enemies, but you know what I mean.)”
― Cassandra Clare, quote from Shadowhunters and Downworlders: A Mortal Instruments Reader
“A fighter is someone who fights- with everything and anything she has at her disposal.”
― Cassandra Clare, quote from Shadowhunters and Downworlders: A Mortal Instruments Reader
“It's her ability as an artist to see possibility where others see a blank page and, by extension, to see victory where others see certain defeat that truly empowers her...”
― Cassandra Clare, quote from Shadowhunters and Downworlders: A Mortal Instruments Reader
“One of the greatest tragedies of growing up is the discovery that your parents- and your teachers, and your sports heroes, and your favorite actors, singers, YouTube sensations- are fallible. Adults don't know all, and what they do know, they often won't tell you- because they've got their own agendas, or because they want to shield you from the hard truths "for your own good." Adults lie, they betray, they screw up in every way possible...”
― Cassandra Clare, quote from Shadowhunters and Downworlders: A Mortal Instruments Reader
“Every city, every town, hides beneath a certain amount of glamour that- either intentionally or not- can misdirect the eye or hide something worth finding. Learning to see through those glamours is part of the process of calling any place home.”
― Cassandra Clare, quote from Shadowhunters and Downworlders: A Mortal Instruments Reader
“Popularity gives you power only over people who care about being popular. Ostracism gives you power only over those who fear being ostracized.”
― Cassandra Clare, quote from Shadowhunters and Downworlders: A Mortal Instruments Reader
“Even places you know well can take on a touch of the unknown when you arrive there from a different direction.”
― Cassandra Clare, quote from Shadowhunters and Downworlders: A Mortal Instruments Reader
“Art is a kind of magic. Creativity is mysterious, even to artists, who might be able to name their inspiration but can't always explain how their influences and experiences came together to create this new thing- this painting, this story, this song. If you break art down to its base elements, there's nothing miraculous about the letters of the alphabet or a drop of paint. But an artist can put those elements together to create something powerful, something that moves us and withstands the test of time. A work that no one but that artist could have imagined, let alone created.”
― Cassandra Clare, quote from Shadowhunters and Downworlders: A Mortal Instruments Reader
“Art is magic, and art is powerful. Art saves lives- I really believe that. It gives us courage and compassion we might not have on our own.”
― Cassandra Clare, quote from Shadowhunters and Downworlders: A Mortal Instruments Reader
“In a city, with all of its enclaves and boundaries, both real and imagined, it is impossible not to feel the presence of those who are not like you and impossible not to feel like an outsider.”
― Cassandra Clare, quote from Shadowhunters and Downworlders: A Mortal Instruments Reader
“But Clary's a hero at heart- and that means she'll find a way to be the hero she needs to be, to look beyond the skills she doesn't have and draw on the skills she does have to ultimately save the day.”
― Cassandra Clare, quote from Shadowhunters and Downworlders: A Mortal Instruments Reader
“Love is what matters. Love is the song you hear even while you sleep, and you know you are healed, and safe, and where you belong.”
― Cassandra Clare, quote from Shadowhunters and Downworlders: A Mortal Instruments Reader
“No matter how terrifying, they need to decide that the only rules that matter are the ones they write themselves.”
― Cassandra Clare, quote from Shadowhunters and Downworlders: A Mortal Instruments Reader
“But if home suddenly becomes not like home, what then?”
― Cassandra Clare, quote from Shadowhunters and Downworlders: A Mortal Instruments Reader
“I always assume people are hiding parts of themselves from each other. People do that.”
― Cassandra Clare, quote from Shadowhunters and Downworlders: A Mortal Instruments Reader
“You have to look at a thing long enough for it to really show itself to you...”
― Cassandra Clare, quote from Shadowhunters and Downworlders: A Mortal Instruments Reader
“Cities have the capability to at any moment shift out of the familiar, even if you've lived in one all your life.”
― Cassandra Clare, quote from Shadowhunters and Downworlders: A Mortal Instruments Reader
“The beauty of fantasy is that it allows the protagonist to pass through fear to come to know this different reality and to find a place in it.”
― Cassandra Clare, quote from Shadowhunters and Downworlders: A Mortal Instruments Reader
“As an artist, her imagination isn't fettered by the constraints of reality.”
― Cassandra Clare, quote from Shadowhunters and Downworlders: A Mortal Instruments Reader
“We live vicariously through stories, because our own lives provide so few opportunities for high-stakes adventure and noble sacrifice.”
― Cassandra Clare, quote from Shadowhunters and Downworlders: A Mortal Instruments Reader
“There are a few things that even sarcasm can't protect you from.”
― Cassandra Clare, quote from Shadowhunters and Downworlders: A Mortal Instruments Reader
“There is the world you know, the world you have always known; and then you blink, and there is a place you never had any inkling of, and it spreads out across your eyescape. And then, most shockingly of all: there is the realization that these two places are one and the same. It turns out you never really knew the world around you at all. This is often the moment at which adventure begins.”
― Cassandra Clare, quote from Shadowhunters and Downworlders: A Mortal Instruments Reader
“I started grasping at moments that weren't misery. Slowly, slowly, I found them.”
― Cassandra Clare, quote from Shadowhunters and Downworlders: A Mortal Instruments Reader
“There are more hidden spaces in a city, more hidden lives and hidden emptinesses, and more darkened windows where shadow people pass fleetingly in and out of sight.”
― Cassandra Clare, quote from Shadowhunters and Downworlders: A Mortal Instruments Reader
Cassandra Clare
Born place: Teheran, Iran
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“If your pilot was supposed to land at 10pm and instead landed at 12am and only had the minimum amount of rest required by law before the next flight, then the flight will have to be delayed for two hours to ensure that the pilot is legally rested.”
― quote from Why Your Flight Attendant Hates You
“To my lovely starling,
Maybe there are magical words that will make you understand, but if so, I do not know them. Words are your domain. I've always been better with pictures.
I fear you think I am a monster. It's true I've disrupted many graves. The way I see it, the dead are dead. If, after their death, we can learn things from the about the human form - things that will increase the sum of human knowledge and the possibilities of art - what harm is that? After death, new life, new beauty. How can that be wrong? My friends and I have made use of some of the bodies as models. some we sell to surgeons who study them with the hopes of learning something about the frail mechanisms of the human body.
I don't know exactly what Dottor de Gradi does in his workshop on the Rialto, and I was as surprised as you were to stumble on it. He couldn't - he wouldn't tell me if your friend's body ended up there. But he did assure me all of his work is focused solely on extending human life.
I won't lie. I did it for the money as well. Don Loredan is holding a private exhibition in his palazzo tomorrow. The entry fee was quite steep but two of my paintings were accepted. This could be the beginning for me. I could find my own patrons. I could be more than just a peasant. Tommaso's assistant.
So yes; a little for money. But mostly I did for the art.
I don't expect these words to change how you feel. I simply want you not to see me as a monster. I don't want to be a monster. Not anymore. Not after meeting you. I know that we disrupted you dear friend's body, and for that I am deeply regretful. But if we had not done so, if I had not lingered in the San Domenico churchyard after standing guard for my friends, you and I might never have met. Meeting you is one thing I will never regret.
I hope you like the painting. Consider tit a wedding gift. How stupid of me to let my heart go. It was a lovely fantasy while it lasted, though, wasn't it?
Yours,
Falco”
― Fiona Paul, quote from Venom
“There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about.”
― Douglas Preston, quote from White Fire
“Yoga is asking us to pay attention to the nature of all of our relationships and to apply the yamas and the niyamas to them. Whether it is our relationship to our breath, the bottoms of our feet, the ant crawling across the kitchen floor, our families, or to God, we are being asked to pay attention. The aim of yogic practice is to free us from the endless distractions of the kleshas—fear, pride, desire, and ignorance—and to teach us to bring a focused mind to bear on the nature of our relationships. Our time spent on the mat is dedicated to that end.”
― quote from Meditations from the Mat: Daily Reflections on the Path of Yoga
“Ho l'impressione che l'uomo non possa essere felice così facilmente! La felicità è come quei palazzi delle isole incantate alle cui porte stanno a difesa i draghi: bisogna combattere per conquistarli.”
― Alexandre Dumas, quote from The Count of Monte Cristo, V1
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