c2p-cmd/Good-Quotes-Authors huggingface dataset:
What did you do?" Kate asked."Nothing. We're inside the wards." Simon laughed and drank the elixir.She looked around with surprise. "How can you tell? At night? In the snow?""That tree." He indicated an ash tree standing amidst other ash trees."It looks like a thousand other trees.""No, it looks like you." Simon took a shallow, pained breath, but smiled. "It's my marker."Both Kate and Malcolm stared at the tree. Kate cocked her hip. "It looks like me? A tree? That's flattering.""Yes. See how the curves--" Simon worked his hands in an hourglass shape. "It looks like you.
— Clay Griffith, The Undying Legion
Fantasy, myth, legend, truth - all are intertwined in the story that is Scotland.
— Laurence Overmire, The Ghost of Rabbie Burns: An American Poet's Journey Through Scotland
Hastra, you think you see, but you don't see this. You never have." Corgren, from The Bow of Destiny
— P. H. Solomon
The Light shines brightest, when the world is at its darkest.
— Michael Lackey
The ABC's success by Bob Proctor is one powerful book, such books are rare. Even sometimes it's hard to find a book which is based on somebody's experience... fantasy??For god sake, one drop truth which is about from 10% up to 20% and the other from 80% up to 90% it's a lie.
— Deyth Banger
Charlotte." Kate attempted to distract the child from her endless questions and held up the glass tube. "This is wulfsyl. I can't be sure it's correct."The girl looked at Kate with excitement, then asked hopefully, "Will it stop me from eating someone?"Kate looked uncomfortable. "We believe that if you take it now, you will n ever have to eat someone.""But what if I do?""Eat Malcolm," Simon suggested.
— Clay Griffith, The Undying Legion
Justice lay on the edge o his blessed sword, but revenge - sweet as candy - filled his senses." The Bow of Destiny
— P. H. Solomon, The Bow of Destiny
Names are for those who do not know themselves." Makwi - from The Bow of Destiny
— P. H. Solomon
For the mind of man alone is free to explore the lofty vastness of the cosmic infinite, to transcend ordinary consciousness, to roam the secret corridors of the brain where past and future melt into one... And universe and individual are linked, the one mirrored in the other, and each contains the other.
— Michael Moorcock
What else did you imagine?" His voice is low and rough and oh, so fucking sexy. "Tell me what happens next.""You already know, " I whisper. "All the very good, very wrong things.""I want to hear you say it.""Okay," I say through my teeth. "You fuck me until I forget my own name.""Wrong," he says. "I fuck you until the only name you know is mine.
— Mercy Brown, Stay Until We Break
You sort of start thinking anything’s possible if you’ve got enough nerve
— J.K. Rowling
Memories sharp enough to cut himself on - the smells, the sounds, the feel of the air on his skin, the desperate hope and mad anger.
— Joe Abercrombie, Best Served Cold
How do you pay for what you've done?
— Hope Estheim
It was meant to be, two trolls living in a tree.
— KayeC Jones, The Wandering Troll
Crooked Warden, I will fear no darkness for the night is yours. Your night is my cloak, my shield, my escape from those who hunt to feed the noose. I will fear no evil, for you have made the night my friend.
— Scott Lynch, Red Seas Under Red Skies
To love is to destroy and to be loved is to be the one destroyed
— Cassandra Clare, City of Bones
You haven't lived life to the fullest until you've found something worth dying for
— Luke Edison, Valcarion: Sacrifices
You'll never be as OK with the thought of dying as you are in the moments when you know that you are truly living
— Luke Edison, Valcarion: Sacrifices
Remember, there were dragons long before men came into the world. Why, it was none other than The Great Dragons of Yore who invented the idea of knighthood. Yes, yes, that’s right! Dragons had knights, Kings, princesses and queens long before men crawled out of the muck.
— Sully Tarnish, The Dragon and the Apprentice: A Wizard's Wager
Noontime was absolutely the perfect time for a duel in the dragon’s opinion as this was also lunchtime, his favorite part of the day. As the saying went, he could kill two birds with one stone.
— Sully Tarnish, The Dragon and the Apprentice: A Wizard's Wager
How does one have a duel with a dragon? Well, since they live high up in the mountains, and getting all the way up there can be quite a nuisance indeed, one just has to ring the guest bell the dragons rather politely placed at the bottom many years ago when very incensed farmers kept appearing with complaints about their dwindling livestock. Dragons jokingly refer to it as “their dinner bell.
— Sully Tarnish, The Dragon and the Apprentice: A Wizard's Wager
Bravery is not the absence of fear, but rather, it is the decision to look fear in the eyes and press on regardless
— Luke Edison
The greatest things in life always come with a chance of great loss
— Luke Edison, Valcarion: Sacrifices
It is good to be willing to stand as a hero, but you must also be willing to fall as a hero
— Luke Edison, Valcarion: Sacrifices
All the strangest things are true.
— April Genevieve Tucholke, Wink Poppy Midnight
Together they’d run away. Together they could find a place to call home. Together they’d finally form their own constellation and never break apart again. He would be her starlight again and she his sun.
— Hella Grichi, Fae Visions of the Mediterranean
Don't come, I was thinking now. Wherever you are, stay there. Because with her reduced to a fantasy, I could imagine a wonderful meeting. I could see her smiling, tossing her red-haired head, staring at me with inquisitive eyes. I'd say something meaningful to her, and she'd melt for me. Reality could not live up to that.
— Scott Adlerberg, Graveyard Love
When you live on the edge of a cursed forest, you do a lot of staring into the dark.
— Sarah Dalton, White Hart
Why is life so much easier to live when people are trying to take it from you than when you’re forced to actually live it?
— Sebastien de Castell, Saint's Blood
The entire history of mankind is problem solving, or science fiction swallowing ideas, digesting them, and excreting formulas for survival. You can't have one without the other. No fantasy, no reality. No studies concerning loss, no gain. No imagination, no will. No impossible dreams: No possible solutions.
— Ray Bradbury, Zen and the Art of Writing and the Joy of Writing: Two Essays
The sword has no strength unless the hand that holds it has courage
— The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
The only thing more unpredictable than magic is language.
— Sully Tarnish, The Dragon and the Apprentice: A Wizard's Wager
Go on with what your heart tells you, or you'll lose it all
— Rick Riordan, The Lightning Thief
Sometimes there's nothing you can do. Maybe sometimes promises had to be broken. Maybe sometimes you were doomed to failure from the start, no matter how hard you fought. But acknowledging your own helplessness was no consolation - if anything, it just made you feel worse.
— Gillian Bronte Adams, Songkeeper
If this is dying, Chloe thought, I'd like to do it again sometime.
— Lucas Mangum, Dark of Night - Flesh and Fire
Thinking sure could get a fellow in a lot of trouble. Almost as much as opening his big gabber and sticking his muddy foot in it.
— Gillian Bronte Adams, Songkeeper
They say 'Chaos is the ally of the desperate man,' and I reckon it applies to dwarves and snot-nosed boys too. Let's test is at the front gate, shall we?
— Gillian Bronte Adams, Songkeeper
There were problems with having a reputation like his. Folks either wanted your hide or wanted you to save theirs. There was never any happy, indifferent middle ground.
— Gillian Bronte Adams, Songkeeper
I am Mae Waylander from Halts-Walden, daughter of Robert Wallander, a good man who lost his life saving hers.' I point to Ellen. 'And I am the girl who has saved your brother's life on numerous occasions in the Waerg Woods - who fought off a wood nymph, a psychotic pre-adolescent prophet, and a determined flock of killer birds - only to have your father shoot an arrow in my side because I wouldn't let him kill my stag.
— Sarah Dalton, White Hart
I am Mae Waylander from Halts-Walden, daughter of Robert Waylander, a good man who lost his life saving hers.' I point to Ellen. 'And I am the girl who has saved your brother's life on numerous occasions in the Waerg Woods - who fought off a wood nymph, a psychotic pre-adolescent prophet, and a determined flock of killer birds - only to have your father shoot an arrow in my side because I wouldn't let him kill my stag.
— Sarah Dalton
But I say that this isn't the Underground. We are the Underground. You . . . me . . . all of your brothers, sisters, friends. This cavern is nothing more than a hole in the ground. We make it something more. No matter where we are, so long as we survive and stick together, the Underground is not lost.
— Gillian Bronte Adams, Songkeeper
The key to having good scales is a healthy diet of venison when you’re just a wee dragon lad.
— Sully Tarnish, The Dragon and the Apprentice: A Wizard's Wager
Dragons were notoriously finicky about whom they ate, and thought it the height of bad manners to be kept waiting by their selected fare.
— Sully Tarnish, The Dragon and the Apprentice: A Wizard's Wager
Love can open like a flower out of even the hardest places.
— Lauren Oliver, Liesl & Po
As a demigod - Fen cleared his throat - "I am flush with power. My power can be transformed into the kind of energy you need to feed." As he spoke, his eyes sparked with something feral that sent shivers racing down my spine. "It can happen from touch, kissing, but the greatest source is during the act of..."	Ohmygodsinheaven.	"Sex? Are you referring to sex?"...	"My power becomes concentrated for... a very brief moment. It's all about the transfer of energy from one body to another." He looked wildly uncomfortable. "All who live in Asgard know this already. I've never had to explain it to someone."	His semen packs a punch?
— Amanda  Carlson, Struck
My body felt alive.	I need more.	"Valkyrie," Fen growled, eyes locked on my mouth. "Put your lips back on mine, and I will give you what you crave.
— Amanda  Carlson, Struck
I sighed. "Would it be too much to ask that Asgard be peaceful? Made up of big, fluffy clouds, serenity, and lots of hot yoga?
— Amanda  Carlson, Struck
As many of you know, I am not very fond of the human race. However, I will not let them die by the hands of our species nor any other. For thousands of years, we've walked this earth in peace with them, and a war is not in the best interest of either party. It'll only create suffering and tragedy on both sides. We can't allow this to happen. Our only option is to find him and kill him.
— Christine Gabriel, Crimson Forest
Stories are like islands, go out exploring and you're bound to get lost fantastically.
— M. Robert Randolph
Do not think me a maiden who needs saving from a dragon. I am the dragon, and I will set the world aflame.
— Sydney Marie Hughes
It seemed everything would be alright after all.
— Ross  Turner, The Kingdom of Tamarack
A full harvest moon lit the sky. In its glow, there appeared an old woman dressed in black lace. A shimmering veil covered her head. With her back to the old oak tree, she keened wildly. Her cry was carried by the autumn winds and lost on the wings of the nightingales.
— AnneMarie Dapp, The Wall People
Reality wins, and I'd rather see the truth than stay in love with a fantasy.
— Jewel, Never Broken: Songs Are Only Half the Story
Dust is not a constant. There’s not a fixed quantity that has always been the same. Conscious beings make Dust—they renew it all the time, by thinking and feeling and reflecting, by gaining wisdom and passing it on. And if you help everyone else in your worlds to do that, by helping them to learn and understand about themselves and each other and the way everything works, and by showing them how to be kind instead of cruel, and patient instead of hasty, and cheerful instead of surly, and above all how to keep their minds open and free and curious…Then they will renew enough to replace what is lost through one window. So there could be one left open.
— Philip Pullman
You sit beside the sorcerer, your love, and unzip your ribs. Tucked under your heart is a small oak box, plain and unvarnished. You offer it to the sorcerer. 'I brought this for you.
— A. Merc Rustad, Love Hurts: A Speculative Fiction Anthology
Gerard turned away and ignored the cruelty of the meerkats, tore it from his mind. Lucretia needed a heart.
— Jeff VanderMeer, Secret Life
Adapt or die. It was savagely simple." -- CelesteALL LIGHT WILL FALL
— Almney King, All Light Will Fall
Where have they gone?" "Wherever magicians used to go. Behind the sky. On the other side of the rain.
— Susanna Clarke, Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
Fantasy or fiction is just a persons secret life. A world they want to be in. The only diffrence between them and you, is that they wrote it down in detail, printed it and shared it with the world.
— Mariana Hak
Nothing is what one thinks it is. Cloth is stone and circus is an art. There are no certainties.
— Walter Moers
I stare into the ruggedly handsome face, the eyes alight with a vast intelligence and that eerie, unearthly power. He's beautiful, so haunted with power it takes me a second to realize exactly what position Nolan Storm has put me in, and by extension, my family.
— L.E. Sterling, True Born
When his dead father touched his hand, Athson almost dropped the arrow.
— P. H. Solomon
I'm afraid we were so eager to avoid war, we've made it all but certain.
— Brent Weeks, The Blinding Knife
When his dead father touched his hand, Athson almost dropped the arrow." From The Bow of Destiny
— P. H. Solomon
Words,' he said, 'is oh such a twitch-tickling problem to me all my life.
— Road Dahl
The Fourth Crown Princess of the blue Cresent Islands had sixteen rituals to observe from the moment of waking to when she broke her fast.
— Julia Golding, Dragonfly
All that is gold does not glitter.Not all those who wander are lost:The old that is strong does not wither.Deep roots are not reached by the frost.
— J.R.R. Tolkien
So now you're on the run,' Warrick said wistfully. 'Travelling the Dark Highway, a lone wolf. With your friend, who is another wolf. Two lone wolves. Two wolves, really. Not really alone. Two wolves in a car. Travelling. One of them naked and bloody. The other with her ass hanging out.
— Derek Landy
..There were two undeniable truths in the Realms: It was very easy to overestimate a drow and even easier to underestimate a dwarf.
— R.A. Salvatore, Maestro
He places a hand on either side of the bar, locking me in. 'And why won't you admit it?' he asks. I'm so startled by his new, gentler tone that I hazard a glance. My breath catches in my throat. Jared's eyes have changed to that sumptuous green, huge and mesmerizing, the pupils dilating like a cat's. I can't see to look away as he inches forward, until he's standing all but a hair's breadth away from me.
— L.E. Sterling, True Born
That's one huge puppy.
— Ksenia Anske, The Badlings
Frown deepening, Jared bounces a hand off the chair arm. 'You know you're different, Princess. And it's not just because you're some fancy, spoiled rich girl. Hell, you don't smell like anyone else. Money can't buy that smell.' I assume he wasn't talking about my expensive perfume, which money did in fact buy.
— L.E. Sterling, True Born
The anvil is hard so that it can help shape the blade. If life were easy, we would all be soft and misshapen shards of metal, tossed into a bin.
— J.M. Bush
Life does wait, if only for a limited time.
— Ross  Turner, The Kingdom of Tamarack
The seed of the gift may come, but a seedling that isn't nourished dies quickly.
— Mary E. Pearson, The Kiss of Deception
It's a wholly illogical but nonetheless powerful belief that things will change for the better in a new place
—  that the urge to self-destruct will magically disappear.
I wait in fear, as the shadows draw near, spreading over the sky, will I live or die?
— H.G. Warrender, The King's Decree
A bit of fantasy can be good for ones heart
— Sylvia Abolis Mennear, Enchanted Castle on the River: 'Matt's Journey'
[Fantasy] is a constructive aspect of the child's experimental exploration of reality, or his progressive relating of himself to reality, of his trial-and-error attempts to solve his reality problems.
— Lauretta Bender
It’s about Nietzsche’s theory of universal debt. Your parents make it possible for you to believe a far better myth than Santa. They let you think that you, as a kid, don’t owe the world a thing. The world can give you, even if just for a few minutes, utter joy without requiring anything from you. It’s not about consumerism. As far as you know, no one buys you these presents. They come out of nothingness, with fantasies of elves attached. You aren’t required to be grateful to your parents or anything like that. They can give to you and nothing is required in return. When you get old enough, when you have kids, you get to enact this myth for them. It has nothing to do with any fat man in a red suit, no matter what we tell ourselves. It’s about owing nothing, and then realizing that you have to do this job of perpetuating this… this fantasy world, whether you like it or not.
— Thomm Quackenbush, Flies to Wanton Boys
Maybe this journey is a way for you to get your redemption..." he said softly, "Maybe, if Elder Man Belduran is right, it is the start of a journey, that leads to redemption for all of us...""Not all of us... There's no redemption for Elder Man Vaymaz..." Melchor replied softly, before turning and continuing to walk.
— Nathalie M.L. Römer, The Stone of Truth
Robert explained how much simpler it was to pay money for things than to exchange them as the people were doing in the market. Later on the soldier gave the coins to his captain, who, later still, showed them to Pharaoh, who of course kept them and was much struck with the idea. That was really how coins first came to be used in Egypt. You will not believe this, I daresay, but really, if you believe the rest of the story, I don't see why you shouldn't believe this as well.
— E. Nesbit, The Story of the Amulet
Necessity is the mother of invention, which probably explains why invention’s father left home on the pretext of buying a newspaper and hasn’t been heard of since.
— Tom Holt, Doughnut
Being together came close to destroying both of us once already," he says. "But I don't fucking care. You are the memory that gets me through my days, and the fantasy that saves me in the night.
— J. Kenner, Dirtiest Secret
Greatness, Master, is generally only considered enough if you are the greatest.
— Jessica O'Toole, The Fate of Vultures
Do only the greatest good, for the greatest number of people. They will do the rest.
— Jessica O'Toole, The Price of Sanctuary
I wish this world had none of it. That we were all bound only by the matter around us and the dreams in our hearts. But it does, and we are all slave to it, unless we give the challenge. What is the point of possessing the power you have if not to use it for the greatest good you hold so dear? And why do you think that goodness exists in doing nothing, rather than trying something you’re uncertain of?
— Jessica O'Toole, The Price of Sanctuary
He spun round under her grip. She smelled so good, her touch so soft as she unhooked the buttons on his tunic. Pushing the shirt apart she frowned, her hands running over the thin scars through his tattoos. ‘And you belong to him, too.
— Jessica O'Toole, The Price of Sanctuary
One of the tribes of Lisser, Kisera, has a saying. "Tra ulea keyē milyenura keyē gryētu - you only live on through that which you leave." You have to leave something for others to remember.' She gazed at his solemn face, pulling the cord of her cloak open, grasping half the heavy material and launching it over his shoulders. He pulled it further until in encompassed them both. Then she did something both of them were surprised at - she slid her hand into his. ‘And you will.
— Jessica O'Toole, The Fate of Vultures
Something stirred within him that was new, dangerous. The question of whether that was wise. ‘Sure.
— Jessica O'Toole, The Fate of Vultures
It wouldn't do to go mixing up the present and the past, and cutting bits out of one to fit into the other.
— E. Nesbit
You have no idea how powerful it can be the truth.""No tienes ni idea de lo poderosa que puede ser la verdad.
— Arrow
If a wish turns to hope, it’s worth chasing. (Lucas Warbuck: Darkotika - Book 2)
— Ariel Roma, Lucas Warbuck: The Prophet's Call
I stare at the long, almost elegant thinness of the wrist bone jutting out from a heap of flesh and cloth. All that separates us, that poor woman and me, is an accident of birth.
— L.E. Sterling, True Born
He licks his lips as his head tilts down toward me. My body goes wild. Frissons of electricity travel up and down my spine as the True Born leans down. His voice is silk in my ear. 'You're not with your parents now. No restrictions. How does that make you feel?
— L.E. Sterling, True Born
What's a Laster? A dead man.
— L.E. Sterling, True Born
The fact that you can't see how much you're worth makes you worth so much more." She opened her mouth once, her brow bunched, but nothing came out. She didn't know the words to ask. I continued. "A diamond doesn't know how much it's worth; it's just beautiful because it exists.
— Shelly Crane, The Other Side Of Gravity
I don't pay much attention to the distinction between fantasy and science fiction–or between “genre” and “mainstream” for that matter. For me, all fiction is about prizing the logic of metaphors-which is the logic of narratives in general–over reality, which is irreducibly random and senseless.We spend our entire lives trying to tell stories about ourselves–they’re the essence of memory. It is how we make living in this unfeeling accidental universe tolerable. That we call such a tendency “the narrative fallacy” doesn’t mean it doesn’t also touch upon some aspect of the truth.Some stories simply literalize their metaphors a bit more explicitly.
— Ken Liu, The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories
Quitters always believe the lies they tell themselves because delusion is easier to live with than the reality that they settled for an easier path.
— Shannon L. Alder
Your imaginary friend isn’t the problem, Amanda. The problem is that you don’t seem to have any real friends.
— Rebecca McNutt, Shadowed Skies: The Third Smog City Novel
It is perhaps not the Church and all that it stands for that some fear so, but instead the demons of humanity that lurk within, tainting its Holy walls with their evil and their lust and their malice.And what if that window into our own souls wasn't just to show us our reflections, the good and bad of who we are, but instead the reflection of the whole world around us, and how we see that, in all its entirety of good and evil.
— Ross  Turner, Voices in the Mirror
It was too lonely to be heaven, and there wouldn't be stars in hell.
— Kali Wallace, Shallow Graves
Don't make rash decisions while the world is dark. Wait for the light to make all things clear.
— Bryan Davis
One of my earliest memories was of a maze of pale green walls. The corridors never ended, no matter which way I turned. I was running, my feet bare, my paper-thin gown flapping around skinny foal-like legs, and the demons kept on coming. I’d run the maze before, because I always knew which way to turn to find the little clear plastic box. I’d run, and run. Lungs aching, throat burning, my feet slapping against the smooth floor, and the sound of scrabbling claws chased me down. I made it to the box, every time (I’d learned later, there were others who hadn’t) and once inside, I’d yank the clear door closed. The demons didn’t see the box. They saw only me, the wraith-like little half-blood girl. They would launch themselves—claws extended, jaws wide, eyes ablaze—and slam into my box, sending shudders rattling through my bones. They’d snap and snarl, hook their teeth into the box and gnaw at its edges, desperate to get to the feast huddling a few millimeters away. Flooding, the Institute had called it. At first I was afraid, and I learned how to run. Then I was angry, and I learned how to fight with my fists and my element. Then, I got even. I lured those demons into a corner and ambushed them, killing every last one. After countless visits to the maze, after weeks, years, I’d started liking it, and killing became as natural as breathing. It was what I was good at. What I was made for. What I lived for.© Copyright Pippa DaCosta 2016.
— Pippa DaCosta, Chaos Rises
There is nothing but heartache for a coru woman and a hunti man," she said, deliberately contrary. "He cannot control her and she cannot change him.""He never fails her and she always moves him," Darien corrected. "She can trust his strength, and he can be lifted by her joy.
— Sharon Shinn, Troubled Waters
To love, to live, to feel so much that your world keeps spinning, faster and faster, in that wonderful, chaotic mess of humanity that you’d so hastily give up. Immortality is overrated. It is nothing but the ability to live through it all and not experience a single thing, to eat everything without tasting it at all." Isak’s eyes shone with a desperate need. He wanted, more than anything it seemed, to be like me, when all I wanted was to be like him.
— Sophia Whittemore, The Funnyman
Sometimes Truth cannot be silenced.
— Rachel L. Schade, Silent Kingdom
You can't just pick up a gun and become a gunfighter, or go off and explore for a new world, or pull a sword out of a stone, or rescue a damsel in distress, or-- so we play games and we read books because the world isn't the world we thought we were supposed to get, the world we thought we'd been promised by somebody. Because things didn't turn out the way they were supposed to. So we go someplace else.
— J. Michael Straczynski, Spider-Man: One More Day
Sometimes, it seemed, the business of a Witch or a Godmother was not so much using magic as knowing when not to use it.
— Mercedes Lackey, The Fairy Godmother
Only a child expects life to be just
—  it's a man's part to stand by the consequences of his deeds.
It is one thing to have the gift of seeing the spirits and hearing the Gods who move about us as we come and go
—  but it is a gift of darkness as well as light.
The creature which stood before me was no bigger than a child, yet I would have sworn she was wood nymph. With pointed ears, translucent skin and a halo of woodland flowers in her silvery hair, the small woman held a strange presence. Besides the creature's obvious beauty, I couldn't draw my gaze away from her magnificent opaque wings. They fluttered in the breeze like the leaves above us.
— Freedom Matthews, Inherited
Apple Tree Inn, the nightly gathering place of all Winslow residents, and in many ways the core of the town's happiness, always had a warm fire crackling on the hearth and was known for its good cider and company.
— Clara Diane Thompson, Five Glass Slippers
She told herself there had been nothing outside, nothing peering in at her from the darkness. Nothing at all.
— Clara Diane Thompson, Five Glass Slippers
Light, show yourself pure and strong,Save a man from evil's throng,Take a form, small and white,Give this girl the strength to fight.
— Clara Diane Thompson, Five Glass Slippers
Losing someone close to you is more haunting than a life of cursed solitude.~The Moon Master
— Clara Diane Thompson, Five Glass Slippers
I've read all of the old stories now – "Red Blood and Dirty Gold", "The Winter Witch", "The Scarlet Varulv" – and I want more. Though I want fantasy – made-up, impossible things – I don't want stories that step out of the pages and into the world around me.
— Melinda Salisbury, The Sin Eater’s Daughter
She looked at her best friend as he unraveled the tightly wound cord from his heart and told her what she had been hoping to hear." from the upcoming The Witch of Belle Fleur
— Isabelle Hardesty
She pointed a long lacquered nail at the pocket where his hand was fidgeting. “So is that an Obsidian in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?
— D.A. Henneman, Sea of Dreams
Ah, so that must have been her mystery: she had discovered a trail into the forest. Surely that was where she went during her absences. Returning with her eyes filled with gentleness & ignorance, eyes made whole. An ignorance so vast that inside it all the world's wisdom could be contained & lost.
— Clarice Lispector
Sometimes fantasy provides the only reasonable explanation for life's inexplicable moments.
— J.S. Bierman
I do the same with my books...Nothing like a good argument in the margins with someone who's already said all they have to say on the subject.
— Betsy Cornwell, Mechanica
For what is magic, but passion freed from reason?
— Nenia Campbell, Evergloom
I am married to a prince who will one day be a king. Usually this is where the fairy tale ends. Stories don't go much further than this moment, and I fear there's a good reason for it. A sense of dread hung over today, a black cloud I still can't get rid of. It is an unease deep in the heart of me, feeding off my strength.
— Victoria Aveyard, Cruel Crown
The only person in my head is me.Tibe is not the same. The crown has changed him, as you feared it would.The fire is in him, the fire that will burn all the world.And it is in your son, in the prince who will never change his blood and will never sit a throne.  The only person in my head is me. The only person who has not changed is you. You are still the little girl in a dusty room, forgotten, unwanted, out of place. You are the queen of everything, mother to a beautiful son, wife to a king who loves you, and still you cannot find it in yourself to smile. Still you make nothing. Still you are empty. The only person in your head is you. And she is no one of any importance. She is nothing
— Victoria Aveyard, Cruel Crown
We go straight". I say again. "If we start making turns, we might not know what direction is what. If we keep going straight, at least we know how to get back to where we came from if we get into trouble. I know it's tiring, but walking uphill is a good thing-every step we take is a step closer to getting out." "I see shoulders droop, I hear heavy sighs. They don't want to agree with me; they want to go the easier way".
— Scott Sigler, Alive
If you truly love someone, you will cherish what they despise most about themselves" - Fernando Conclaves
— Deborah Harkness, The Book of Life
I've never been this dirty. I've never been this sweaty and disgusting. I've never been this afraid, this thirsty, this alone". "I haven't been a good leader, but--people are counting on me to take them to safety. I don't know if I'm twelve or twenty or if I'm twenty and I don't think age matters anymore-------There is a way out. I will find a way out.
— Scott Sigler, Alive
People survived by being cautious, but they got ahead by being bold.
— V.E. Schwab
He’s drowning, suffocating under the weight of my darkness and there’s nothing I can do to stop it.
— Aimee L. Salter, Dark Touch
She floated across the boundary of realms, nothing more than a human shell. She existed but only as a shadow of who she once was.
— Abbie Chandler, The Veiled Soul
I'd never asked what year it was here-1492? 1750?-though to the animals I guess it hardly mattered. This was a safe place apart from the world of people, and only in the world of people did the year make any difference.
— Ransom Riggs, Hollow City
Before long, the smokey spectre appeared, as I knew it would, the barest whisper of a shadow, inky and incandescent. It darted forwards, then back, closer, then ppfft, it was gone in an instant, only to return, darker and more substantial. As ever, it grew bolder, and bolder, until finally it dared to drift through the window and into my home.Every night I had lain here, the geist had come.
— Hazel Butler, Bleizgeist
Come, kiss me sweet, and then let us return to bed, for I am tired, and I would sleep.
— Christopher Paolini, Brisingr
Blood always weighed the heaviest when it belonged to someone else.
— Abbie Chandler, The Veiled Soul
The future will be different from how they have told us
— John Nexdar, Nexus Hegemony
Criminal activity exploded throughout the city – thugs multiplied by the thousands. Without fear of rebuke, there was nothing to stop them. It is the ultimate penalty that comes with tolerating the intolerant.
— Sarah Brownlee, How the Tiger Faced His Challenge
Cursed the crown that brought such grief to me
— J. Leigh Bralick, The Madness Project
He felt the imaginary weight of shackles press against his soul. He bound himself to her once more.
— Abbie Chandler, The Veiled Soul
The sudden pounding in her chest, the trembling of her hands, the inflation of her lungs. It was exactly like being alive. It was reanimating the dead.
— Abbie Chandler, The Veiled Soul
She has this passion to learn everything she can about life, and it is so amazing to see everything through her eyes. She’s guarded in a way that even she can’t explain, but she is embracing this life and giving it all. It’s beautiful. She’s beautiful.
— Abbie Chandler, The Veiled Soul
If they had met on different grounds, he may have been able to help her. Now all he could do was hope they reached the end with as little blood shed as possible.
— Abbie Chandler, The Veiled Soul
The rain out again, hammering the puddles full of holes, pocking the black-and-silver world with shining darkness. Rain soaks each leaf and blade of grass, bloating the lawns until they seem to roll and swell. Houses recede. The wind rises. The eyes and ears of God come down for the walk".
— Mary Gatskill
the shadows may come and engulf your world, but if you look hard enough you'll always see that spark in the abyss leading you back to the light and the next adventure waiting to be had
— B.B.  Taylor
I am ugly. I am black inside, rotting and putrid.
— Aimee L. Salter, Dark Touch
You know, I don’t think your brother dislikes you as much as you think. After all, he gave up a kingdom to stay with his family.
— C.J. Milbrandt, Inside the Tree: A Ewan Johns Adventure
The day will come when you need them to respect you, even fear you a little. Laughter is poison to fear.
— George R.R. Martin, A Game of Thrones
How is it every time we're talking about the real world, you manage to bring up fantasy, and every time we're talking about fantasy, you manage to bring up the real world?Travis shrugged. "My fantasies are more interesting than the real world and machines and tools are more interesting than you guys' fantasies.
— Jeff Zentner, The Serpent King
Girls are genius at getting through sexual abuse. Often the only way to get through is not to feel. And that is exactly what these fantasy worlds allow: They give girls a place to go so they don't have to be present in their violated bodies. Brilliant.
— Patti Feuereisen, Invisible Girls: The Truth About Sexual Abuse--A Book for Teen Girls, Young Women, and Everyone Who Cares About Them
She made the beast rear its ugly head. Stirred fantasies in my mind I would have never otherwise entertained. Owning her wasn’t enough. Controlling her didn’t douse the inferno blazing inside me.
— A. Zavarelli, Stutter
The odd was the ordinary at Alistair Grim's. The people who lived there were odd. The things they did there were odd. Even the there itself there was odd.
— Gregory Funaro, Alistair Grim's Odditorium
I think that's just a story.""But, Jace," she said. "All stories are true.
— Cassandra Clare
Chiron looked surprised. “I thought that would be obvious enough. The entrance to the Underworld is in Los Angeles.
— Rick Riordan, The Lightning Thief
An old childhood playmate once told me ‘second guessing every step prevents any forward momentum. Trust yourself. Forgive yourself. And move on.
— A.G. Howard, Untamed
Now fair and marvellous was that vessel made, and it was filled with a wavering flame, pure and bright; and Earendil the Mariner sat at the helm, glistening with dust of elven-gems, and the Silmaril was bound upon his brow. Far he journeyed in that ship, even into the starless voids; but most often was he seen at morning or at evening, glimmering in sunrise or sunset, as he came back to Valinor from voyages beyond the confines of the world.
— J.R.R. Tolkien, The Silmarillion
I hope so,” grumbled Ian. “I’m going to look for another one of ‘em winged dogs for Mabel.
— Ness Kingsley, The Curse of Cackling Meadows
When it came to time travel, science and science fiction and fantasy had flip-flopped. Nobody was going to create a machine that traveled to the future or the past. Time machines might be accepted in science fiction as an enabling device to get the story moving, but they're like faster-than-light space ships-- neither one is going to happen any time soon, not with any technology we know how to implement.The guys who had it figured were the fantasists, Dennis. The Finneys and the Mathesons and the Ellisons and the Serlings. No machines and no advanced physics, at least not most of the time. Just an overpowering desire. Just need and longing and pain and regret and the right talisman or the right surroundings. Put the right person in the right place, and perhaps with the right objects, and the potential for time travel is there.
— Tony Rabig, Doorways
He has come to seduce the god of seduction, and oh, has he come prepared.
— N.K. Jemisin, The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms
How terrible to be a god of change and endure grief unending.
— N.K. Jemisin, The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms
Each part of your body corresponds with an element,” the Maiden explained. “Your hair is air. How you toss your head, play with your hair - that is all for air magic. You can command the wind. Arms are for fire,” she said, making fluttery, flame-like motions with her tendriled fingers and slim green arms. “Fire, fire elementals, electricity, light, and heat come from their movements. Water,” she said, swaying her hips, “is from your center. This is why your middle must be free to move. And earth is the feet, where you make contact with the mother of us all.
— Christie Golden
She was tasked with guarding the doorway to the Otherworld, keeping the balance of nature (as much as anyone could in these modern times), and occasionally, helping a worthy seeker.
— Deborah Blake, Wickedly Magical
If the future historians were to digitally unearth our generation, they would decipher the facial expressions on the "Selfie's" as the generation of people suffering from wide spread constipation!
— Vishwanath S J
Is he evil?" the dog asked, an eager gleam in his wide brown eyes. "If he's evil, I'd be happy to eat him for you.
— Deborah Blake, Wickedly Magical
Bethany had liked Miles because he made her laugh. He makes me laugh, too. Miles figured that digging up Bethany's grave, even that would've made her laugh. Bethany had had a great laugh, which went up and up, like a clarinetist on an escalator. It wasn't annoying. It had been delightful, if you liked that kind of laugh. It would have made Bethany laugh that Miles Googled “grave digging” in order to educate himself. He read an Edgar Allan Poe story. He watched several relevant episodes of Buffy The Vampire Slayer, and he bought Vicks®VapoRub™, which you were supposed to apply under your nose.
— Kelly Link
A Baba Yaga never breaks a promise. Legs, yes. Hearts, occasionally. But never a promise.
— Deborah Blake, Wickedly Magical
Instead she looked very hard at the woman's chin. On it was a single white hair - visible even in the heavy dusk - that closely resembled a piece of thread hanging off a scrap of fabric. The woman forgot about Rusty for a moment. "I call her Hephzibah," she said with pride. "It's taken years for her to grow.
— Ness Kingsley, The Curse of Cackling Meadows
During those years he met his seminars,went & lectured & read, talked with human beings,paid insurance & taxes;but his mind was not on it. his mind was elsewheresin an area where the soul not talks but sings& where foes are attacked with axes.
— John Berryman, The Dream Songs
Ganix didn't need to make friends. Everyone was a friend!
— C.J. Milbrandt, On Your Marks: The Adventure Begins
They were daughters of the sky. Luck belonged to them— never bad, often good, sometimes hard.
— C.J. Milbrandt, Aboard the Train
Your name isn't Sniffles?" Ewan pretended to be surprised.
— C.J. Milbrandt, Aboard the Train
But I assure you, a government that is willing to put their own children in danger, their own future, just to see their potential, is twisted. We do not grab babies, newborns, and throw them out of windows just to see if they sprout wings.
— S. Elizabeth Dover
They were like lightning and rain, existing together but clashing at their very natures.
— T.S. Pettibone, Hatred Day
What would you here, unhappy mortal, and for what cause have you left your own land to enter this, which is forbidden to such as you? Can you show reason why my power should not be laid on you in heavy punishment for your insolence and folly?" Then Beren looking up beheld the eyes of Luthien, and his glance went also to the face of Melian; and it seemed to him that words were put into his mouth. Fear left him, and the pride of the eldest house of Men returned to him; and he said: "My fate, O King, led me hither, through perils such as few even of the Elves would dare. And here I have found what I sought not indeed, but finding I would possess for ever. For it is above all gold and silver, and beyond all jewels. Neither rock, nor steel, nor the fires of Morgoth, nor all the powers of the Elf-kingdoms, shall keep from me the treasure that I desire. For Luthien your daughter is the fairest of all the Children of the World." Then silence fell upon the hall...
— J.R.R. Tolkien, The Silmarillion
I found myself speaking softly as if I were telling an old tale to a young child. And giving it a happy ending, when all know that tales never end, and the happy ending is but a moment to catch one’s breath before the next disaster. But I didn’t want to think about that. I didn’t want to wonder what would happen next.
— Robin Hobb, Fool's Quest
It's been a pleasure pleasing you.
— T.S. Pettibone, Hatred Day
It was as if I had been following a narrow trail, and had suddenly realized that at any time I could leave it and strike out cross-country.
— Robin Hobb, Fool's Assassin
It’s like a jolt of electricity, but worse.
— Lee Davidson, Satellite
Dude, it's mind control. That's got to be the best superpower ever!
— Lee   Davidson, Satellite
In the year 2052, it's not love but hate that unites the world.
— T.S. Pettibone, Hatred Day
Let the deal be spoken first and then manipulate it to your advantage.
— T.S. Pettibone, Hatred Day
I heard our kid here is quite the scrapper.
— Lee Davidson, Elite
If upper management found out, they’d send you off to the Probing Department.
— Lee Davidson, Elite
He gives new meaning to the word bombed.
— Lee Davidson, Elite
My memories came back like a punch in the face. Only good.
— Lee   Davidson, Satellite
You'll regret that, Bourkan.
— T.S. Pettibone, Hatred Day
You really are Captain Oblivious.
— Lee   Davidson, Satellite
It's like a jolt of electric, but worse.
— Lee   Davidson, Satellite
Duty over fear.
— T.S. Pettibone, Hatred Day
She wasn’t looking at herself in the glass, but out at a great silver moon hanging beyond a thin metal balcony that looked over the grey towers of a human city.
— Denny B. Reese, The Broken Court
Will we have pets?” I bite back the question regarding kids. While this might be a fun fantasy, imagining being responsible for something like that is terrifying.“Sure.” Noah stays near the fire on one bent knee and occasionally pokes it to keep the dwindling flames alive. “I had a dog once.”“What type?”“A mix of some sort. Part Lab, part something smaller than Lab. Its paws were too big for its body, so it skidded across the kitchen floor.”“Is that what you want?”“If we’re going to live alone on a mountain, we need a guard dog. A German shepherd. Something like that.”“Guard dog?” Not what I had in mind for the fantasy. “We need something cute and cuddly.” I squish my fingers in the air as if I have the little puff ball in my hands. “It can sleep in our bed.”“No fucking way, Echo. I’m not sharing my bed with a dog.
— Katie McGarry, Breaking the Rules
Be very chary of telling your hoarded secrets. Many lose all power once they have been divulged.
— Robin Hobb, Fool's Quest
The combined odors of Cass's subtle aftershave and the disgusting reek of Nic are overpowering. I wonder if Cass will keel over and I'll have to perform CPR. This speculation should not feel so much like a fantasy.
— Huntley Fitzpatrick, What I Thought Was True
I am War. I am Death. I am the Unloved God.
— T.S. Pettibone, Hatred Day
Next to her a calico cat puffed away at a hubble-bubble. Puss’s watch cost more than his vest, and his vest cost more than his boots, and his boots cost more than a house. If you stripped him naked and sold off his costume, you’d walk away with enough money to retire—though if you left him alive you wouldn’t have long to enjoy it. The only thing that could rival Puss’s vanity was his sadism.
— Daniel Polansky, The Builders
My own brother calling me a brickhead. Sneering faeries insulting me. Women punching me in the face. How much more am I to swallow in one bloody day?
— Nora Roberts
Shall I prick my prick as well?
— George R.R. Martin
I know he sees it, because for the briefest moment he drops his expressionless mask and the look in his eyes shows me he feels the same way. A mirror of every part of myself I can't bear to face.
— Sara Raasch, Snow Like Ashes
The best of fiction, as we know, of course, doesn't tell the truth; it tales the truth.
— Criss Jami, Healology
Therefore Morgoth came, climbing slowly from his subterranean throne, and the rumour of his feet was like thunder underground. And he issued forth clad in black armour; and he stood before the King like a tower, iron-crowned, and his vast shield, sable unblazoned, cast a shadow over him like a stormcloud. But Fingolfin gleamed beneath it as a star; for his mail was overlaid with silver, and his blue shield was set with crystals; and he drew his sword Ringil, that glittered like ice.
— J.R.R. Tolkien, The Silmarillion
I'll govern for the good of the governed.I'll make sure every citizen is properly educated and doctored.I'll cease wasteful spending and ease the burden on the poor through redistribution of land and goods and taxation.
— Erika Johansen, The Queen of the Tearling
No, that's where you are wrong. Your mind was full of sadness and darkness. That is a very different thing entirely. On earth it's nearly impossible to know it, but our minds are not at all who we are. Our brains are just an organ. When we died, our minds died too. All of this, all of what is to come, it's your soul. Our souls never die. They are the very root of who we are, not what we are, but who we are.
— Kathryn Perez, Letters Written in White
Who wanted to make lemonade from lemons, when you could make perfectly good lemonade grenades?
— Melissa de la Cruz, The Isle of the Lost
Fantasy is a reaction to the constraints of reality.
— Stewart Stafford
Then Maeglin bowed low and took Turgon for lord and king, to do all his will; but thereafter he stood silent and watchful, for the bliss and splendour of Gondolin surpassed all that he had imagined from the tales of his mother, and he was amazed by the strength of the city and the hosts of its people, and the many things strange and beautiful that he beheld. Yet to none were his eyes more often drawn than to Idril the King's daughter, who sat beside him; for she was golden as the Vanyar, her mother's kindred, and she seemed to him as the sun from which all the King's hall drew its light.
— J.R.R. Tolkien, The Silmarillion