Cassandra Clare · 61 pages
Rating: (13K votes)
“One can give up many things for love, but one should not give up oneself.”
“I shall never eat duck again. I cannot believe I used to like duck. The duck betrayed me.”
“Excuse me, Bane?" said Roderick Morgenstern. "Are you attending?"
"I'm so sorry," Magnus said politely. "Somebody incredibly attractive just came into the room, and I ceased to pay attention to a word you were saying.”
“Years later Magnus would return to London and Camille Belcourt's side, and find it not all that he had dreamed. Years later another desperate Herondale boy with blue, blue eyes would come to his door, shaking with the cold of the rain and his own wretchedness, and this one Magnus would be able to help.”
“Flirting? We were merely indulging in a little risqué conversation," Magnus said, offended.
"When I begin to flirt, I assure you the entire room will know. My flirtations cause sensations.”
“I have very few rules in life, but one of them is to never decline an adventure. The others are: to avoid becoming romantically entangled with sea creatures; to always ask for what you want, because the worst thing that can happen is embarrassment but the best thing that can happen is nudity; to demand ready money up front; and to never play cards with Catarina Loss.”
“Very well," Magnus said. "Let us pause for a moment and consider—Oh, you have already run off Splendid.”
“I thought of love as a game. It is not a game. It is more serious than death.”
“No fewer than four of my esteemed elders told me I was on no account to ever converse with you, so I vowed that I would know you. My name is Edmund Herondale. May I ask your name? They reffered to you only as 'that disgraceful one-warlock show.”
“Ma'am," Magnus said, advancing. "I must counsel you not to exit the carriage while a demon-slaying is in progress.”
“The most remarkable thing about him were his eyes. They were laughing eyes, at once both joyous and tender: they were the radiant pale blue of a sky slipping toward evening in Heaven, when angels who had been sweet all day found themselves tempted to sin.”
“Always ask for what you want, because the worst thing that can happen is embarrassment but the best thing that can happen is nudity.”
“Magnus had been alive hundreds of years himself, and yet the simplest things could turn a day into a jewel, and a succession of days into a glittering chain that went on and on. Here was the simplest thing: a pretty girl liked him, and the day shone.”
“I want my people to be protected, strong, and not to be driven into corners until they either become killers or are killed!”
“I do not mean to seem indelicate or ungrateful," said Linette Owens, "but are you a dangerous lunatic?”
“Vampires bore a grudge longer than any technically living creatures, and whenever they were in a bad temper, they expressed themselves through murder.”
“Ladies' hearts are like china on a mantelpiece. There are so many of them, and it is so easy to break them without noticing.”
“I fear I must agree," Magnus murmured. He pressed a hand over his heart and his new peacock-blue waistcoast. "I strive to find some respect in my heart for you, but alas! It seems an impossible quest.”
“Somebody incredibly attractive just came into the room, and I ceased to pay attention to a word you were saying.”
“Sometimes he thought they were all forsaken, every soul on this earth.”
“Yet love was not something to be thrown aside lightly. It came so rarely, only a few times in a mortal life. Some- times it came but once”
“Magnus gazed upon Camille. "Some of my fondest memories include lashings of cream and beautiful women.”
“He found himself looking into many faces for potentional love, and seeing many people as shining vessels of possibility. Perhaps this time there would be that indefinable something that sent hungry hearts roving, longing and searching for something, they knew not what, and yet could not give up the quest.”
“After all,' Magnus remarked aloud to himself, swinging his monkey-headed cane, 'attractive and interesting persons do not simply drop out of the sky.'
It was then that the fair-headed Shadowhunter that Magnus had spotted at the Institute somersaulted from the top of a wall and landed gracefully in the street before him.
'Devastating ensembles made on Bond Street with red brocade waistcoats do not simply drop out of the sky!' Magnus proclaimed experimentally to the Heavens.”
“There was also the fact that sometimes vampires committed crimes worse than murder. They commited crimes against fashion.”
“I am not perfectly certain I believe in marriage. Why have just one bonbon when you can have the box?”
“Blue Duck could never avoid a moment of fear, when his father's eyes became the eyes of a snake. He choked off his insult -- he knew that if he spoke, he might, in an instant, find himself fighting Buffalo Hump. He had seen it before, with other warriors. Someone would say one word too many, would fail to see the snake in his father's eyes, and the next moment Buffalo Hump would be pulling his long bloody knife from between the other warrior's ribs.
Blue Duck waited. He knew that it was not a day to fight his father.”
“Tis better to have love and lust
Than to let our apparatus rust.”
“The fact is I am a compulsive reader. Thirty-five cents’ worth of Gold Medal Original will put me right to sleep. Or Perry Mason. But I’ll read the ads in an old Paris-Match that has been used to wrap herring before I’ll do without.”
“Her heart lurched and tears burned her eyes. “Surely you can escape.”
“Not this time.” He captured a tear that rolled down her cheek. “Don’t cry. You’ve given me more joy than I’ve ever known.”
“It’s not enough.”
He gave her a sad grin. “That’s how pirates are made. The plunder we take is never enough. We’re never content with what we have. We always want more.”
“What is certain is this, that I never rested in that way again, my feet obscenely resting on the earth, my arms on the handlebars and on my arms my head, rocking and abandoned. It is indeed a delporable sight, a deplorable example, for the people, who so need to be encouraged, in their bitter toil, and to have before their eyes manifestations of strength only, of courage and joy, without which they might collapse, at the end of the day, and roll on the ground.”
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.