Jennifer Donnelly citations

Page 2

“Happiness was useless to me. It was heartache that filled my purse. What happy man has need of Shakespeare?”

“But words are more powerful than anything.”

“She was his soulmate, as much a part of him as the very flesh and bone that made him. She was with him, in him, in everything he did. She was everything he wanted from his life, the very measure of his dreams.”

“A new word. Bright with possibilities. A flawless pearl to turn over and over in my hand, then put away for safekeeping.”

“It has an L on it. L for love. See? It's the key to the universe, Dad. You said you were looking for it. You told Mom you were. I found it for you so you don't have to look anymore. So you can come home at night.”

“I played a role. That is what actors do. But I played it too well. I went too far. And by the time I wanted to stop, to take a bow and leave the stage, it was too late.”

“You should spend more time reading the Good Book and less reading all those novels. What are you going to tell the Lord on Judgement Day when He asks you why you didn't read your bible? Hmm?"I said. To myself.”

“Because beautiful things never last. Not roses nor snow… And not fireworks, either”

“Why is it that weeks and months and years go by so quickly, all in a blur, but moments last forever?”

“I need a boy who thinks with his big head, not his little one. Since they do not exist, I have fashioned my own.”

“And Robespierre, the Incorruptible, who loved us so much he cut off our heads so we would not be troubled by too many thoughts.”

“I play until my fingertips are raw. Until I rip a nail and bleed on the strings. Until my hands hurt so bad I forget my heart does.”

“I was only glad to be saved and never once thought to ask why.”

“When you can write music that endures, bravo. Until then, keep quiet and study the work of those who can.”

“Make them care, Mattie,' she said softly. 'And don't you ever be sorry.'
-Emily Wilcox”

“You can't argue with the dead, no matter what you say, they always have the last word.”

“Only the hopeless love God.”

“That was what people did when they wanted to stop a girl from doing something—they shamed her.”

“You, on the other hand, wish to know things. And no one can forgive a girl for that.”

“For I have seen it and I have felt it and it is love, not death, that undoes us.”

“Men are the weak ones, luv. Didn't you know? Oh, you make a lot of noise, but its the women who are strong. Where it counts. In 'ere”

“Had you but seen it, I promise you, your high-minded principles would have melted like candle wax. Never would you have wished such beauty away.”

“Who needs make-believe monsters when there are so many real ones.”

“Why is it, she wondered now, that boys get to do things and be things and girls only get to watch?”

“The rain comes down harder, darkness falls. We don't care. Together in our house, in the firelight, we are the world made small.”

“There was a basket at her feet. She reached into it and lifted out the head of a young woman, a marquise. She wore Bourbon white to her death, but wears the tricolor now - white cheeks, blue lips, red dripping from her neck. Long live the revolution.”

“Never take what's offered, always ask for more.”

“Isn't that what a good story does? It pulls you in and never lets you go.”