“The last thing the justice system is, is just.”
― Megan Shepherd, quote from The Madman's Daughter
“My heartbeat faltered. He pulled away, taking a little piece of my heart with him.”
― Megan Shepherd, quote from The Madman's Daughter
“Dead flesh and sharpened scalpels didn't bother me. I was my father's daughter, after all. My nightmares were made of darker things.”
― Megan Shepherd, quote from The Madman's Daughter
“The ways of men and women are such a puzzle. And I could barely decipher my own feelings, let along anyone else's.”
― Megan Shepherd, quote from The Madman's Daughter
“Analyzing, always analyzing— I couldn’t feel safe until I knew every aspect of what I was facing.”
― Megan Shepherd, quote from The Madman's Daughter
“Paranoia had crept into that part of my brain usually reserved for reason.”
― Megan Shepherd, quote from The Madman's Daughter
“I folded my arm. "You know, I suspect you and Edward would be friends if it weren't for this place."
His eyes were on fire. "It's not this island keeping us from being friends."
My pounding heart stole the words to reply to that.”
― Megan Shepherd, quote from The Madman's Daughter
“Thwack. The nail drove deeper, as if Montgomery was driving it into my very heart. How hard was it to fix a loose nail? He hit it again and again, determined to set that bookshelf straight. Determined to do something right, after so much wrong.”
― Megan Shepherd, quote from The Madman's Daughter
“The rising and falling cadence of words, carried on the wind, spoken in a language other than human.”
― Megan Shepherd, quote from The Madman's Daughter
“Whether I'm right or wrong has nothing to do with gender.”
― Megan Shepherd, quote from The Madman's Daughter
“I ran after him, but he was already back with the others. My footsteps echoed in the hollow space below the dock. I stopped. If he'd wanted me to catch him, he'd have let me.”
― Megan Shepherd, quote from The Madman's Daughter
“I rested my forehead against the wall and closed my eyes. It wasn’t just my curiosity, or my fascination with anatomy, or how I could unhesitatingly chop a rabbit’s head off with an ax when a roomful of boys couldn’t. Those things were all symptoms of the same sickness - a kind of madness inherited from my father. It was a dangerous pull in my gut drawing me toward the dark possibilities of science, toward the thin line between life and death, toward the animal impulses hidden behind a corset and a smile.”
― Megan Shepherd, quote from The Madman's Daughter
“A scream hurled up my throat, but I never heard it. I'd slipped into a welcoming darkness.”
― Megan Shepherd, quote from The Madman's Daughter
“We're going to die, aren't we?" I asked bitterly.
He held me so tight I could hardly breathe. But I wanted tighter still. "Not here. I swear it.”
― Megan Shepherd, quote from The Madman's Daughter
“Apparently profanity had a way of making men listen.”
― Megan Shepherd, quote from The Madman's Daughter
“He pushed my back against the stall door, kissing me. Edward had tried kissing me, but I'd been so shocked I'd barely had time to explore how it felt. Lucy had told me stories of shady corners and sweaty palms. But this was passionate. Wild. Something I'd never known.
"Have you kissed a girl before?" I whispered. He ran his thumb over my cheek. His eyes lingered on my lips.
"Yes," he said. I thought of Alice, her pretty blonde hair, the split lip that made her so vulnerable. But it wasn't her name he said.
"A woman at the docks in Brisbane. She didn't mean anything. I was lonely. It wasn't love." A prostitute, he meant.”
― Megan Shepherd, quote from The Madman's Daughter
“Oh, and Juliet," he said. I turned back. Half of his face was thrown in deep shadow, while the whites of his teeth gleamed in the distant lights from the salon. "I’ll be working in the laboratory late tonight. I’ve a good start on the new specimens. Don’t be alarmed if you’re awoken. The animals - they scream, you know. An unfortunate effect of vivisection. It keeps the whole household up."
For a breath, the world seemed to freeze. And then the clouds rolled again, the wind howled again. I realized that he had charmed me, just like he charmed everyone. I’d thought I was so clever. I thought I could see past his manipulations. But I’d heard only what I wanted to.
He’d never said the accusations were untrue. Just unfair.”
― Megan Shepherd, quote from The Madman's Daughter
“Believing in nothing except the truth of Montgomery, who for all his faults was as steady as the sea, as honest as the sun. My eyes watered with unexpected tears, and I kissed him harder, desperately. It wasn't a happy ending.”
― Megan Shepherd, quote from The Madman's Daughter
“But I couldn't get the image out of my head of the beast strapped to the table, Father humming while the candle wax slowly dripped, and Montgomery assisting. I felt betrayed, as though the boy I'd idolized was nothing more than a fantasy.”
― Megan Shepherd, quote from The Madman's Daughter
“He left slowly, as if he had to pry himself away before he something improper. A growing part of me wished he'd stayed.”
― Megan Shepherd, quote from The Madman's Daughter
“Do you have any idea of the pain [the animals have] suffered at human hands?”
― Megan Shepherd, quote from The Madman's Daughter
“How did you survive?” I asked. My question caught him off guard, and his hand curled around the dice. He gave a cautious shrug. “The grace of God, I suppose.”
― Megan Shepherd, quote from The Madman's Daughter
“Don’t say it,” I said, almost a plea. “I love Montgomery.” But deep inside, my God, I wanted him to say it. To kiss me feverishly and end this terrible pull between us.”
― Megan Shepherd, quote from The Madman's Daughter
“Do you have any idea of the pain [the animals] have suffered at human hands?”
― Megan Shepherd, quote from The Madman's Daughter
“Suddenly he brushed his rough thumb against my jaw, catching me by surprise. Heat erupted across my face as I drew in a sharp breath. Was he going to kiss me? My eyelids sank closed. Our bodies were practically touching. It was wrong to be so close to a boy—every moment of Mother’s upbringing had taught me that. But I didn’t care. We were bound together, he and I.”
― Megan Shepherd, quote from The Madman's Daughter
“Her cheeks turned a deep shade of peach. A pang of jealousy struck me deep inside, and I flopped into my chair. The others joined me at the table. Didn’t Montgomery remember last night, during the storm, running his fingers down the bare skin of my back? I did. I could barely think about anything else. Edward sat across from me, deep in his own thoughts. His hands still bore the scratches from our escape. I wondered if his ribs still hurt him. I absently touched my own, remembering the feel of his hands holding me there, that night behind the waterfall.”
― Megan Shepherd, quote from The Madman's Daughter
“I can't say that I mind a little time with you before the world rises.”
― Megan Shepherd, quote from The Madman's Daughter
“voice spoke in my ear, both familiar and terrifying. “Don’t run,”
― Megan Shepherd, quote from The Madman's Daughter
“The heel of Montgomery’s boot tapped nervously against the floor, as if he knew he was a bad liar. “I can’t say how he’ll take the news at first. He can be unpredictable, but in the end he’ll be glad you came.” He leaned forward, blue eyes simmering. His boot tapped faster. “I’m glad you came.”
― Megan Shepherd, quote from The Madman's Daughter
“I could feel the blood rushing to my cheeks. Montgomery had gotten the flowers. Sometime yesterday he’d picked wild flowers like he used to when we’d visit cousins in the country.”
― Megan Shepherd, quote from The Madman's Daughter
“We want to fight.”
“And I want J.K. Rowling to keep writing in the Potterverse, but I know that’s never going to happen,” I said blithely.”
― Laura Kreitzer, quote from Fallen Legion
“But life ebbed and flowed. The universe took things away and gave things back”
― Ann McMan, quote from Jericho
“If what I feel for you is dislike -- for coming between me and my work sometime every day in the last fifteen months --if that's dislike...If being unable to forget your voice, or the way you turn your neck, or the lights in your hair -- if that's dislike...If wanting to hear that you're married and dreading to hear that you're married...If resenting the condescension that pretends you're not out of my reach...Perhaps you can identify these symptoms for me.”
― Winston Graham, quote from Warleggan
“Jesus alone is worthy of our highest admiration. Jesus alone is worthy of our trust. He can show us the Father (Matthew 11:27). He can give us irresistible wisdom (Luke 21:15). He can see how to make all things work together for our good (Romans 8:28). Not one of his judgments about anything is ever mistaken (John 8:16). He teaches the way of God with infallible truthfulness (Matthew 22:16). Trust him. Admire him. Follow him. For "in [him] are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge" (Colossians 2:3).”
― John Piper, quote from Seeing and Savoring Jesus Christ
“Can I ask a stupid question?"
"Sure. Ask away."
"It's sort of more than one question. But... Look, um... Why do we hurt? Why do we die? Why isn't life good all the time? Why isn't it fair?"
"Those aren't stupid questions, Hazel. For some people they're the only questions that matter."
"Does that mean you won't answer them?"
"Sure, I'll answer. But it's kind of a big subject, and it's got lots of answers, and the answers don't really mean anything-- They aren't stupid questions but they could just as well be 'When is purple?' or 'Why does Thursday?', if you see what I mean..."
"Not really."
"Well, I think some of it is probably contrasts. Light and Shadow. If you never had the bad times, how would you know you had the good times? But some of it is just: If you're going to be Human, then there are a whole load of things that come with it. Eyes, a Heart, Days and Life.
It's the moments that illuminate it, though. The times you don't see when you're having them... They make the rest of it matter.”
― Neil Gaiman, quote from Death: The Time of Your Life
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