Welcome to another Top Ten Tuesday, hosted by Jana of That Artsy Reader Girl! Today’s topic is about quotes from books, and you can spin it how you want, but I wanted to talk about quotes that hit me in the feels. Most of these quotes are due to some sort of heightened emotion at the time they were said in the book. Not all are dialogue, but some are, so let’s jump into it!
“You have consumed my thoughts since the moment I met you. […] I feel now, in your presence, entirely strange. I think I might fetch you the moon if only to spare your tears again.”
This Woven Kingdom by Tahereh Mafi – Are you kidding me??? That’s one of the most romantic things I’ve ever heard, especially in the context of the story. (I raved about it in my review of the book, too lol)
My heart squeezes around the reality of my father really being gone. Of the people I’ve loved and lost. I don’t blame Mama for slipping away sometimes, her mid taking refuge where it finds it. If I could escape to a place where they were still alive, I would. Sometimes I want to say Take me with you to this place where you can still hug Daddy, still sing hymns with Grammy, and freeze-frame the best times of our lives. I can’t do that, but I can be a harbor when she comes back to this dimming present. I allow myself one last tear because it’s not actually Maverick who is teaching me how it feels to miss someone before they’re gone.
It’s Mama.
Can’t Get Enough by Kennedy Ryan – This book was so beautiful to me, and I could really tell Kennedy Ryan did her research with this one. As someone who lost her own parent to dementia, seeing the main character, Hendrix, deal with her own mother’s ailment of Alzheimer’s and the parallels to what I experienced with my own mom, it really hit home just everything she felt and went through. It doesn’t matter what age it happens at – I was 25 when she first got sick and she passed when I was 30, whereas the character, Hendrix, was around 41 or so – it can hit you like a truck. I felt seen in the pages of this book like never before. The romance was beautiful, sure, but these moments meant more to me than anything.
“Greatness takes time, Banu Nahida. Often the mightiest things have the humblest beginnings.”
The City of Brass by S. A. Chakraborty – This was on the back of one of my special editions for the book, and honestly, it’s a great quote that hints at what to expect from the rest of the trilogy. The series starts humbly, building something that starts off as one thing that you think you know where it’s going to go, and then the sequel explodes into something completely different, and the last book into something wholly different after that. Not in a bad way, mind you, but in a way that follows the major thread of the story and shows how truly amazing the characters can be if only they dare to try.
“To the people who look up at the stars and wish, Rhys.” … “To the stars who listen — and the dreams that are answered.”
A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas – This quote has been so beautiful and special to me since I read it all those years ago when the book first came out. It symbolizes hope, a promise of a future untold, for a better tomorrow. Who doesn’t want that?
“Then how,” Dex said, “how does the idea of maybe being meaningless sit well with you?”
Mosscap considered. “Because I know that no matter what, I’m wonderful.”
A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers – I love this short novella duology so much. It’s very philosophical in many ways and so many quotes got me thinking. I just love how Mosscap, the robot, knows without a doubt that it’s wonderful no matter what the point of life is. That’s just so beautiful to me.
“I will say this once, angel, for I feel you should be warned. No man alive has ever loved a woman the way that I love you, and I would rather die, damned as I am, than disgrace us both with the pitiful, unrequited performance of my heart.”
Every Spiral of Fate by Tahereh Mafi – I could honestly do all ten quotes from the four books out for this series so far because the prose in here are so astounding. The vulnerability in Cyrus’s words to Alizeh were so cutting, and it was such a sad, tense moment. Ugh, I need the fifth book, please.
“Don’t let others make you feel small because they’re struggling to measure up,”
The River of Silver by S. A. Chakraborty – A great reminder that no matter what others may say or think of you that you matter. You’re important. And just because someone else may be trying to bring you down to their level, that doesn’t mean you have to be down there with them.
“And I think I’m most grateful for time, which doesn’t always heal all wounds, but teaches us how to be happy again even with our scars.”
Before I Let Go by Kennedy Ryan – A great quote on what it means to actually heal. I love Kennedy Ryan’s books, truly. Her writing feels lived in and well researched, and like I’m reading about real people who are fleshed out and actually exist in the world. Little nuggets of wisdom are sprinkled throughout her works, including this one, and I think it’s just a great reminder that we all have scars; we just have to learn how to be happy again with them.
Amren put a hand above Nesta’s heart. “That’s the key, isn’t it? To know the darkness will always remain, but how you choose to face it, handle it… that’s the most important part. To not let it consume. To focus upon the good, the things that fill you with wonder.” She gestured to the stars zooming past. “The struggle with that darkness is worth it, just to see such things.”
A Court of Silver Flames by Sarah J. Maas – I know quite well what it feels like to be in darkness and to fight and claw your way out of it. To remember that even though things are so bleak, that there are things out there that are totally worth it, to not let the darkness totally consume you.
“You don’t have to have a reason to be tired. You don’t have to earn rest or comfort. You’re allowed to just be.”
A Prayer for the Crown-Shy by Becky Chambers – An important reminder that we’re allowed to just exist as ourselves as we are wherever we are at the time we are in our lives.
There we go! Quotes from some books that I love. I realized when I was almost done that these were all from the same five authors, but these are all books I’ve read within the last few years that have really just meant the world to me, or books that have touched my heart for a long time now, so I couldn’t not quote them.
(I also don’t make a habit of writing down quotes unless I’m reading on kindle, and even then I don’t do it for everything I read, so lol)
Reader Rayna 
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