the quiet florilegium

“When every door is closed, one learns to climb through windows. Human nature, I suppose.”

“My father will never understand or forgive me. But I can understand him, and forgive him in time. And that is probably enough.”

“Hope is a dangerous thing for a scientist,” Agatha said coolly.”

“People were animals, and animals were nothing but teeth. You bit first, and you bit often. That was the only way to survive.”

“It could be kindness. Faith felt hollow at the thought. She had needed kindness before, and had received none. Now it was too late and she did not know what to do with it.”

“She knew that if you wanted somebody to believe something, there was no point forcing it down their throat. Far better to give them a hint, a glimpse, a taste, then snatch it away from them. The faster you ran, the more they would give chase, and the more likely to believe the hard-won information when they caught it.”

“Her mind spent a few moments in cold, helpless free fall, before her anger spread its wings and buoyed her up again.”

“Howard’s voice tugged at Faith. He did not want to be alone, she knew it. His world had ended just as hers had, and he did not understand how or why and the phantasms of his own mind were bellowing at him from the dark places. But when Faith thought of opening the door she felt terror. There was a pit outside, filled with his fears, his confusion, and his misery, and if she fell into it she would tumble down, down, down, until there would be no Faith left for solving mysteries, or righting wrongs. She would lose this strange wild fire, and right now she needed it.”

“Faith had dropped out of the household’s thoughts like a coin into the lining of a coat. Quiet people often do.”

“She felt the way snakes looked when they moved.”

“What had she just done? She had obediently opened a door and stepped through into blackness, without even knowing if there was a floor on the other side.”

“If someone throws aside their pride and begs with all their heart, and if they do so in vain, then they are never quite the same person afterwards. Something in them dies, and something else comes to life.”

“Children are little priests of their parents, watching their every gesture and expression for signs of their divine will.”

“I think in some ways every single person, human, vampire, whatever, has a choice to make: to be full of rage about what happens to you or to reconcile with it, to strive for the most honorable existence you can despite the odds.”

“Morrigan didn’t like the sound of the Goal-Setting and Achieving Club for Highly Ambitious Youth, which met on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday evenings, and all day Sunday. But she thought she could probably get on board with Introverts Utterly Anonymous, which promised no meetings or gatherings of any sort, ever.”

“There was no question of forgiving them. She had not, in any case, a forgiving nature; and the injury they had done her was not done by them. If she were to start forgiving she must needs forgive Society, the Law, the Church, the History of Europe, the Old Testament, great-great-aunt Salome and her prayer-book, the Bank of England, Prostitution, the Architect of Apsley Terrace, and half a dozen other useful props of civilization.”

“The weight of all her unhappy years seemed for a moment to weigh her bosom down to the earth; she trembled, understanding for the first time how miserable she had been; and in another moment she was released. It was all gone, it could never be again, and never had been. Tears of thankfulness ran down her face. With every breath she drew, the scent of the cowslips flowed in and absolved her.”