“Neil thought about Renee's bruised knuckles, Dan's fierce spirit, and Allison holding her ground on the court a week after Seth's death. He thought about his mother standing unflinching in the face of his father's violent anger and her ruthlessly leaving bodies in their wake. He felt compelled to say, "Some of the strongest people I've known are women.”
― Nora Sakavic, quote from The Raven King
“I am a bad person trying very hard to be a good person.”
― Nora Sakavic, quote from The Raven King
“He was their family. They were his. They were worth every cut and bruise and scream.”
― Nora Sakavic, quote from The Raven King
“Your parents are dead, you are not fine, and nothing is going to be okay. This is not news to you. But from now until May you are still Neil Josten and I am still the man who said he would keep you alive.”
― Nora Sakavic, quote from The Raven King
“Do girls need kid-glove treatment? I thought they were tougher than that."
Dan's grin was approving. "Most of us are. Some of us are like boys, though, and have delicate egos.”
― Nora Sakavic, quote from The Raven King
“You know, I get it. Being raised as a superstar must be really, really difficult for you. Always a commodity, never a human being, not a single person in your family thinking you’re worth a damn off the court— yeah, sounds rough. Kevin and I talk about your intricate and endless daddy issues all the time. I know it’s not entirely your fault that you are mentally unbalanced and infected with these delusions of grandeur, and I know you’re physically incapable of holding a decent conversation with anyone like every other normal human being can, but I don’t think any of us should have to put up with this much of your bullshit. Pity only gets you so many concessions, and you used yours up about six insults ago. So please, please, just shut the fuck up and leave us alone.”
― Nora Sakavic, quote from The Raven King
“They never pried, but it took him weeks to realize they didn't have to. They didn't ask for secrets; they settled for the breadcrumb truths of day to day life. They knew he hated vegetables but loved fruit, that his favorite color was gray, and that he didn't like movies or loud music. They were things Neil understood only in terms of survival, but his teammates hoarded these insights like gold. They were piecing Neil together and building a real person around all of his lies. They found the parts of him no disguise could change.”
― Nora Sakavic, quote from The Raven King
“Some of the strongest people I’ve known are women.”
― Nora Sakavic, quote from The Raven King
“Why don't you like girls?"
Nicky looked startled by the interruption, but he rallied quickly and made a face. "They're so soft."
Neil thought about Renee's bruised knuckles, Dan's fierce spirit, and Allison holding her ground on the court a week after Seth's death. He thought about his mother standing unflinching in the face of his father's violent anger and her ruthlessly leaving bodies in their wake. He felt compelled to say, "Some of the strongest people I've known are women."
"What? Oh, no," Nicky hurried to say. "I mean literally soft. Too many curves, see? I feel like my hands would slide right off. It's totally not my thing. I like…" He drew a box with his fingers as he searched for words. "Erik. Erik's perfect. He's a total outdoors junkie, rock climbing and hiking and mountain biking, all that awful bug-infested fresh-air stuff. But oh my god, you should see what it does to his body. He's like this, all hard edges." He drew another box. "He's stronger than I am, and I like that. I feel like I could lean on him all day and he wouldn't break a sweat.”
― Nora Sakavic, quote from The Raven King
“He was content to watch and imagine. Lonely, too, but there was nothing he could do about that.”
― Nora Sakavic, quote from The Raven King
“Neil's grief was a knife spinning circles in his stomach, tearing him to shreds from the inside out until he could barely breathe.”
― Nora Sakavic, quote from The Raven King
“Look. Shit happened. Shit's going to keep happening. You don't need me to tell your life isn't fair. You're here because you know it isn't. Life doesn't care what we want out of it; it's up to us to fight for what we want with everything we've got. Seth wanted us to win. He wanted us to make it past the fourth match. I think we owe it to him to perform. Let's show the world what we've got. Let's make this our year.”
― Nora Sakavic, quote from The Raven King
“Thanks, but I can handle him," Neil said.
"We noticed," Dan said dryly.”
― Nora Sakavic, quote from The Raven King
“Facing Riko like this went against everything his mother taught him. He'd been raised to run, to sacrifice everything and everyone to ensure his own survival. His mother had never given him ground to stand on. Maybe that was why he hadn't been strong enough to save her in the end. A jumble of lies had nothing to fight for. But Neil Josten was a Fox. Andrew called this home; Nicky called him family. Neil wasn't going to lose any of it. If two weeks with Riko was the price to keep his team safe, Neil would pay it. Somehow”
― Nora Sakavic, quote from The Raven King
“You can't cut down someone who's already in the gutter.”
― Nora Sakavic, quote from The Raven King
“They were different kinds of heartless and Neil, for all his problems connecting with other people, didn't want to be a monster.”
― Nora Sakavic, quote from The Raven King
“Death was unpleasant, but it was a familiar and tolerable ache in his chest.”
― Nora Sakavic, quote from The Raven King
“As he listened to them, Neil realised he was happy. It was such an unexpected and unfamiliar feeling he lost track of the conversation for a minute.”
― Nora Sakavic, quote from The Raven King
“What the hell was that?" "Coach?" "Don't you dare 'Coach?' me, you malfunctioning retard." "No, but really," Nicky said, looking wide-eyed at Neil. "What happened?" "Neil hit Riko," Matt said. "It was beautiful.”
― Nora Sakavic, quote from The Raven King
“Neil wanted to tell them death was no reason to hold back, but he found their humanity interesting.”
― Nora Sakavic, quote from The Raven King
“But Neil Josten was a Fox. Andrew called his home; Nicky called him family. Neil wasn't going to lose any of it.”
― Nora Sakavic, quote from The Raven King
“It's not really about the food. It's about family. Not necessarily the one we were born with, but the one we chose. This one," Nicky emphasized, gesturing between them. "The people we trust to be part of our lives. The people we care about.”
― Nora Sakavic, quote from The Raven King
“It's about family. Not necessarily the one we were born with, but the one we choose. This one. The people we trust to be part of our lives. The people we care about.”
― Nora Sakavic, quote from The Raven King
“You know, I get it," Neil said. "Being raised as a superstar must be really, really difficult for you. Always a commodity, never a human being, not a single person in your family thinking you're worth a damn off the court—yeah, sounds rough. Kevin and I talk about your intricate and endless daddy issues all the time."
"Neil," Kevin said, low and frantic.
Neil ignored him. "I know it's not entirely your fault that you are mentally unbalanced and infected with these delusions of grandeur, and I know you're physically incapable of holding a decent conversation with anyone like every other normal human being can, but I don't think any of us should have to put up with this much of your bullshit. Pity only gets you so many concessions, and you used yours up about six insults ago. So please, please, just shut the fuck up and leave us alone.”
― Nora Sakavic, quote from The Raven King
“You wouldn't trust me to pick out your costume, would you? I'd probably make you a French maid or something. Come on.”
― Nora Sakavic, quote from The Raven King
“Enlighten us. If the first step isn't tolerance, where does a pair of bigots begin in fixing a mess like this?”
― Nora Sakavic, quote from The Raven King
“I won't lie and say I didn't think about it, but I decided to stay. I trusted you more than I was scared
of him. So trust me now if you can. I'm not going anywhere. I'll take care of Kevin until you return.”
― Nora Sakavic, quote from The Raven King
“Neil." There was a world of regret in that name, but it was a promise, too. Neil pulled himself back together piece by broken piece and followed Kevin off the Foxhole Court.”
― Nora Sakavic, quote from The Raven King
“At the Foxhole Court "family" was a fantasy invented to make books and Hollywood movies more interesting.”
― Nora Sakavic, quote from The Raven King
“She was breathing, but she was lifeless, a marionette whose strings had been cut. Neil”
― Nora Sakavic, quote from The Raven King
Nora Sakavic
See more on GoodReads
“And I realize now that that was . . . that’s the best way to love someone. Hold them close, know that you’re loved, let it wash over you”
― quote from This Star Won't Go Out: The Life and Words of Esther Grace Earl
“Never tell all you know—not even to the person you know best.”
― Agatha Christie, quote from The Secret Adversary
“There were days when no kid came out of his house without looking around. The week after Halloween had a quality both hungover and ominous, the light pitched, the sky smashed against the rooftops.”
― Jonathan Lethem, quote from The Fortress of Solitude
“SCORPIUS: Thank you for being my light in the darkness”
― John Tiffany, quote from Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Parts 1 & 2
“I only have two kinds of dreams: the bad and the terrible. Bad dreams I can cope with. They're just nightmares, and they end eventually. The terrible dreams are the good dreams.”
― Neil Gaiman, quote from Dream Country
Fifteen
Home of the Gentry
The Mauritius Comman...
The Idiot Girls' Act...
Come, Thou Tortoise
And the Hippos Were...BookQuoters is a community of passionate readers who enjoy sharing the most meaningful, memorable and interesting quotes from great books. As the world communicates more and more via texts, memes and sound bytes, short but profound quotes from books have become more relevant and important. For some of us a quote becomes a mantra, a goal or a philosophy by which we live. For all of us, quotes are a great way to remember a book and to carry with us the author’s best ideas.
We thoughtfully gather quotes from our favorite books, both classic and current, and choose the ones that are most thought-provoking. Each quote represents a book that is interesting, well written and has potential to enhance the reader’s life. We also accept submissions from our visitors and will select the quotes we feel are most appealing to the BookQuoters community.
Founded in 2023, BookQuoters has quickly become a large and vibrant community of people who share an affinity for books. Books are seen by some as a throwback to a previous world; conversely, gleaning the main ideas of a book via a quote or a quick summary is typical of the Information Age but is a habit disdained by some diehard readers. We feel that we have the best of both worlds at BookQuoters; we read books cover-to-cover but offer you some of the highlights. We hope you’ll join us.
