After five years living in Canada, this happens to be my first Christmas/New Year back in Australia. After a year of cramming books in, I decided to gather some of the quotes that really nailed me in the reading. To those authors I say... damn you.
'Do not try to be a saviour because the old world cannot be saved. Do not try to be a hero of history because history is dead. Every pathway ever walked has been washed away and there is no map, no message, no gospel, no god. There is only you, alone in this darkness, deciding how to take your first step. If there is a future, that’s how it will be determined. Not by winning wars or medals or fame, but by searching out into the darkness and, when you find it, holding up the light.'
~ The Last Smile In Sunder City, Luke Arnold
'A devil was on my shoulder whispering the kinds of things that stopped working on me years ago. I was only in my thirties but I was old. You don't measure age in years, you measure it in lessons learned and repeated mistakes and how hard it is to force a little hope into your heart. Old just means jaded and cynical and tired. And boy, was I tired.'
~ The Last Smile In Sunder City, Luke Arnold
'I mopped at the crusted blood that had collected in the corners of my eyes and mouth. I ran a comb through my haggard mop of hair and brushed my busted teeth and gums. Half an hour later, I still looked like a bucket of shit, I just had a cleaner bucket.'
~ The Last Smile In Sunder City, Luke Arnold
"I am the most miserable person who ever lived," he said to the Lord Primus, when they stopped to feed the horses feedbags of damp oats. "You are young, and in love," said Primus. "Every young man in your position is the most miserable young man who ever lived."
~ Stardust, Neil Gaiman
'The world was against my and my body was broken but I had one last thing to push me on. Hate. I've never found a better fuel. A man might cross an ocean for love but with enough hate, he'll try to drink it.'
~ Dead Man In A Ditch, Luke Arnold
“In the end, they're the only ones who can answer for themselves. So stop blaming yourself."
"I can't seem to help it."
"Bullshit. The truth is you don't WANT to. It makes you feel good to blame yourself. You know why?" Kira shook her head, mute. "Because it gives you a sense of control. The hardest lesson in life is learning to accept that there are some things we can't change." Falconi paused, his eyes hard and glittering. "Blaming yourself is perfectly normal, but it doesn't do you any good. Until you stop, unless you CAN stop, you'll never be able to fully recover.”
~ To Sleep in a Sea of Stars, Christopher Paolini
"Why do you think I keep these scars?"
"Because you feel guilty over..."
"No," Falcone said harshly.
Then, in a gentler tone, "No. I keep them to remind me of what I can survive. Of what I have survived. If I'm having a rough time, I look at my arms and then I know I'll get through whatever problem I'm dealing with. Life's not gonna break me. It can't break me. It might kill me, but nothing it throws at me is gonna make me give up.”
~ To Sleep in a Sea of Stars, Christopher Paolini
“I do not miss childhood, but I miss the way I took pleasure in small things, even as greater things crumbled. I could not control the world I was in, could not walk away from things or people or moments that hurt, but I took joy in the things that made me happy.”
~ The Ocean at the End of the Lane, Neil Gaiman
“Oh, monsters are scared," said Lettie. "That's why they're monsters.”
~ The Ocean at the End of the Lane, Neil Gaiman