“... everyone knows that ice cream is worth the trouble of being cold. Like all things virtuous, you have to suffer to gain the reward.”
“Joel, lad, school is about learning to learn. If you don't practice studying things you don't like, then you'll have a very hard time in life.”
“The most dangerous kind of man is not the one who spent his youth shoving others around. That kind of man gets lazy, and is often too content with his life to be truly dangerous. The man who spent his youth being shoved around, however … When that man gets a little power and authority, he often uses it to become a tyrant on par with the worst warlords in history.”
“we're all freaks sometimes, Melody," he replied. "You're just... well, better at it than most.”
“That was terribly thoughtless of you. What good is having friends if they don’t put you in mortal peril every once in a while?”
“Not having ice cream,” she proclaimed, “is the culmination of all disasters!”
“It's going to be painful."
"It's a fun tradition."
"So was witch-burning," Melody said. "Unless you were the witch.”
“My life," Melody declared, "is a tragedy.”
“It had been eight years. The pain of loss was still there. It never went away. It just got buried in time, like a rock slowly being covered over by dirt.”
“Well, that’s because they’re wrong and I’m right. No more reading for you. Let’s go get some ice cream.”
“I don’t know if the kitchen has any,” Joel said. “It’s hard to get in the summers, and—”
“Not from the kitchen, stupid,” Melody said, rolling her eyes. “From the parlor out on Knight Street.”
“Oh. I’ve … never been there.”
“What! That’s a tragedy.”
“Melody, everything is a tragedy to you.”
“Not having ice cream,” she proclaimed, “is the culmination of all disasters! That’s it. No more discussion. We’re going. Follow.”
“Tantrums are a noble and time-tested strategy,she said airily. Particularly if you have a good set of lungs and are facing down a crotchety old priest. I know Stewart; he always bends if you make enough noise.”
“I'm like that," she said. "Wild mood swings. It makes me more interesting.”
“Librarians seemed to have a sixth sense for noticing when students were doing things they weren't supposed to.”
“He gritted his teeth, frustrated with himself, but there was nothing he could do about years past. Perhaps he could change the future.”
“Parents are unpredictable when their children are involved,” Harding said. “I’d much rather fight a squadron of Forgotten than deal with an affluent mother who thinks her son is in danger.”
“What’s wrong with unicorns?” she demanded from behind him, her chalk sounding as it scraped the ground. “They’re a noble and—”
“They’re a noble and incredibly girly animal,” Joel said. “I’ve got my masculine reputation to think of.”
“Oh hush, you,” she said. “You’ll deal with unicorns—maybe some flower people and a pegasus or two—and you’ll like it. Otherwise, you can just go draw your own circle, thank you very much.”
“So much about life was disappointment. He often wondered how humankind endured so long, and if the few moments when things went right really made up for all the rest.”
“-Es una tradición de lo más divertida.
-La quema de brujas también lo era -replicó Melody-. A menos que fueras una bruja.”
“school is about learning to learn. If you don’t practice studying things you don’t like, then you’ll have a very hard time in life.”
“Don’t you know how to use chopsticks?” Joel asked. Melody grimaced. “I’ve never been one for European food. A fork works just fine.”
“What! That’s a tragedy.” “Melody, everything is a tragedy to you.” “Not having ice cream,” she proclaimed, “is the culmination of all disasters! That’s it. No more discussion. We’re going. Follow.”
“It won’t be cold in the parlor,” she said. “Or … well, maybe it will. But everyone knows that ice cream is worth the trouble of being cold. Like all things virtuous, you have to suffer to gain the reward.”
“I don't know what to say," Joel said. "I figure that if you are there, you'll be angry if I claim to believe when I don't. The truth is, I'm not sure I don't believe, either. You might be there. I hope you are, I guess.”
“Though I believe it's beyond the power of any mortal to completely relieve my prose of typos.”
“It's like you said the other day," said Adam. "You grow up readin' about pirates and cowboys and spacemen and stuff, and jus' when you think the world's full of amazin' things, they tell you it's really all dead whales and chopped-down forests and nucular waste hangin' about for millions of years. 'Snot worth growin' up for, if you ask my opinion.”
“What good are laws that cannot be read or understood, or a tongue that spews only hatred or ignorance? What good is the written word to an illiterate man?”
“hear his will and carry it out without fear or fail. Stay in this petal for as long as it takes you to submerge yourself and find the blessed release of surrender to his will rather than your own. Embrace the third petal, which is to say the petal of SERVICE, and pray, On earth as it is in heaven. Here you will reaffirm your promise, to God and to yourself, if you are fully anthropos and have remembered it. If you have not yet reached the state of realization, you will confirm your commitment to create heaven on earth by acting in accordance with the Way of Love, by loving the Lord thy God above all else, and by loving your brothers and sisters on earth as yourself, for they are a part of”
“He was the first, the only love her life, and in a nature like hers such passions take deep root and die-hard.”
“If we observe nature, we will find that all creatures are born with or develop everything they need to secure their natural food. No human has yet been born with a stove on his back or the keys to a tractor in her hand. ”
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