Cassandra Clare

“You cannot buy or drug or dream your way out of pain.”

“I feel that the sins of the fathers should not be visited on the sons.”

“No good sentences ever include the word ‘should.’ I should have paid the tavern bill; now they’re coming to break my legs. I should never have run off with my best friend’s wife; now she devils me constantly. I should—”

“So much saintlike patience cannot be good for anyone.”

“There are some mechanisms that are so—so broken that they cannot be repaired.”

“To be friends is a beautiful thing, Tessa, and I do not scorn it, but I have hoped for a long time now that we might be more than friends.”

“I had always thought one could not be truly lost if one knew one’s own heart.”

“I think it's Jace he's trying to get back at. Jace must havedone something last night on the boat, something that reallypissed Valentine off. Pissed him off enough to abandonwhatever plan he had before and make a new one."Luke looked baffled. "What makes you think that Valentine'schange of plans had anything to do with your brother?""Because," Clary said with grim certainty, "only Jace canpiss someone off that much.”

“Simon grinned. "You've never heard of Dungeons and Dragons?""I've heard of dungeons," Jace said. "Also dragons. Although they're mostly extinct.”

“Simon?”“Yeah?”“Can you tell me a story?”He blinked. “What kind of story?”“Something where the good guys win and the bad guys lose. A nd stay dead.”“So, like a fairy tale?” he said. He racked his brain. He knew only the Disney versions of fairy tales, and the first knew only the Disney versions of fairy tales, and the first image that came to mind was A riel in her seashell bra.He’d had a crush on her when he was eight. Not that this seemed like the time to mention it.“No.” The word was an exhaled breath. “We study fairy tales in school. A lot of that magic is real—but, anyway.No, I want something I haven’t heard yet.”“Okay. I’ve got a good one.” Simon stroked Isabelle’s hair, feeling her lashes flutter against his neck as she closed her eyes. “A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away…”

“You’re a heartbreaker, Isabelle Lightwood,” he said, as lightly as he could with her blood still running through him like fire. “Jace told Clary once you’d walk all over me in high-heeled boots.”“That was then. You’re different now.” She eyed him.“You’re not scared of me.”He touched her face. “A nd you’re not scared of anything.”“I don’t know.” Her hair fell forward. “Maybe you’ll b r eak my heart.” Before he could say anything, she kissed him, and he wondered if she could taste her own blood. “Now shut up. I want to sleep,” she said, and she curled up against his side and closed her eyes.Somehow, now, they fit, where they hadn’t before.Nothing was awkward, or poking into him, or banging against his leg. It didn’t feel like childhood and sunlight and gentleness. It felt strange and heated and exciting and powerful and… different. Simon lay awake, his eyes on the ceiling, his hand stroking Isabelle’s silky black hair absently. He felt like he’d been caught up in a tornado and deposited somewhere very far away, where nothing was familiar. Eventually he turned his head and kissed Izzy, very lightly, on the forehead; she stirred and murmured but didn’t open her eyes.”

“It faded slowly, ebbing like the tide. He rolled onto his back, staring up, his head still aching. The black clouds were beginning to roll back, showing a widening strip of blue; the Angel was gone, the lake surging under the growing light as if the water were boiling.Simon began to sit up slowly, his eyes squinted painfully against the sun. He could see someone racing down the path from the farmhouse to the lake. Someone with long black hair, and a purple jacket that flew out behind her like wings. She hit the end of the path and leaped onto the lakeside, her boots kicking up puffs of sand behind her. She reached him and threw herself sand behind her. She reached him and threw herself down, wrapping her arms around him. “Simon,” she whispered.He could feel the strong, steady beat of Isabelle’s heart.“I thought you were dead,” she went on. “I saw you fall down, and—I thought you were dead.” Simon let her hold him, propping himself up on his hands. He realized he was listing like a ship with a hole in the side, and tried not to move. He was afraid that if he did, he would fall over. “I am dead.”“ I know,” Izzy snapped. “I mean more dead than usual.”

“I thought you were dead,” she went on. “I saw you fall down, and—I thought you were dead.”

“Some people value sentiments over diamonds.”

“There is more to someone being lovable than the way they look.”

“Sometimes our lives can change so fast that the change outpaces our minds and hearts.”

“I suppose we all lie to ourselves sometimes.”

“Simon had never noticed before, but she wore a silver ring on her right hand, with a partner of flames around the band of it, and a carved L in the center. It reminded him of the ring Clary wore around her neck, with its design of stars. "It's the Lightwood family ring," she said, noticing where his gaze was fixed. "Every family has an emblem. Ours is fire.”

“I'm not sure there's such thing a thing as a normal life.”

“Though Will was saying earlier,” Tessa added, “that heroes all come to bad ends, and he could not imagine why anyone would want to be one, anyway.”“Ah.” Jem’s hand squeezed hers briefly, and then let it go. “Well, Will is looking at it from the hero’s viewpoint, isn’t he? But as for the rest of us, it’s an easy answer.”“Is it?”“Of course.” His voice was almost a whisper now. “Heroes endure because we need them. Not for their own sakes. If Will …”

“By the Angel, Bridget’s depressing,” said Henry, setting down his newspaper directly on his plate and causing the edge to soak through with egg yolk. Charlotte opened her mouth as if to object, and closed it again. “It’s all heartbreak, death and unrequited love.”“Well, that is what most songs are about,” said Will. “Requited love is nice, but it doesn’t make much of a ballad.”

“There's always the dinner rolls," said Will, pointing to a covered basket. "Though I warn you, they're as hard as stones. You could use them to kill black beetles, if any beetles bother you in the middle of the night.”

“...We die, we turn, we are reborn as we deserve to be reborn, based on our doings in this world." Will looked down at his bitten nails. "I will probably be reborn as a slug that someone salts.”

“...If you'd like to go back in there and try kicking him, I recommend aiming upward and a bit to the left--”

“Is this a game? We just blurt out whatever word comes next to mind? In that case mine's 'genuphobia'. It means an unreasonable fear of knees." "What's the word for a perfectly reasonable fear of annoying idiots?" inqired Jessamine.”

“So John took out of his pocket A knife both long and sharp, And stuck it through his brother's heart, And the blood came pouring down. Says John to William, "Take off thy shirt, And tear it from gore to gore, And wrap it round your bleeding heart, And the blood will pour no more.”

“Tessa exhaled. She hadn't realized that she had been holding her breath until that moment. Will must have heard her, for he raised his head and his gaze met hers across the clearing. Something in it made her look away. Agony stripped so raw was not meant for her eyes.”

“Light like thin grey soup seeped through the windows. The door opened and Mrs. Dark came in, followed by her sister, who had no head, only the white bone of her spine protruding from her raggedly severed neck.”

“He understands now why kisses in movies are filmed the way they are, with the camera endlessly circling, circling: the ground is unsteady under his.”

“Jace,” she said. “Why are you doing this to me?”“Because you’re lying to me. And you’re lying to yourself.” Jace’s eyes were blazing, and even though his hands were stuffed into his pockets, she could see that they were knotted into fists.”

“Jem always said that Will rushed toward the end of a mission rather than proceeding in a measured manner, and that one must look at the next step on the path ahead, rather than the destination in the distance, or one would never reach one’s goal. Will closed his eyes for a moment. He knew that Jem was right, but it was hard to remember, when the goal that he sought was the girl that he loved.”

“And so what? I just killed a demon in my own house, and you're going to be a dickhead about it because I'm not some spoiled-rotten rich brat like you and your sister?" Alec looked astonished. "What did you call me?”

“From what I experienced from vampires, you mostly suck. No pun intended.”

“You cannot save every fallen bird," said Woolsey."One will do," said Magnus.”

“Tell me you love me. Tell me you love me and will fight with me.”

“Mundane humans create distinctions between themselves, distinctions that seem ridiculous to any Shadowhunter. Their distinctions are based on race, religion, national identity, any of a dozen minor and irrelevant markers. ~ Valentine”

“Jace was yelling... Clary leaned forward... "My mother always told me if I rode a motorcycle with a boy, she'd kill me,"... "She wouldn't say that if she knew me," he called back to her confidently. "I'm an excellent driver.”

“To love is to destroy, and to be loved is to be destroyed”

“Stop it," he hissed in her ear. "You'll just make it worse for yourself. It's better if you don't look.""Like you do?" she hissed back. "Shutting your eyes and pretending something's not happening doesn't make it not true, Jace. You ought to know better-”

“If you're really tired, I could put you to sleep," he said. "Tell you a bedtime story."She looked at him. "Are you serious?""I'm always serious”

“Oh dear," said Jace..."I hope that wasn't anything important.""It was a sleeping potion," she said angrily, toeing the vial with the tip of a sneaker. "And now it's gone.""If only Simon were here. He could bore you to sleep.”

“As dull as Nate Gray is," Will said, "his head is not actually filled with gears, Henry. He's a human.”

“I love your name. I love the sound of it”

“His blue eyes were very dark...Will's were the colour of the sky just on the edge of the night...”

“[Jem] 'It will help you sleep.''All I’ve been doing is sleeping!' [Tessa]'And very amusing it is to watch, said Jem. 'Did you know you twitch your nose when you sleep, like a rabbit?''I do not,' she said, with a whispered laugh.'You do,' he said. 'Fortunately, I like rabbits.”

“Being a Silent Brother is life, Clary Fray. But if you mean I remember my life before the Brotherhood, I do.Clary took a deep breath. “Were you ever in love? Before the Brotherhood? Was there ever anyone you would have died for?”There was a long silence. Then:Two people, said Brother Zachariah. There are memories that time does not erase, Clarissa. Ask your friend Magnus Bane, if you do not believe me. Forever does not make loss forgettable, only bearable.”

“Will’s eyes met Tessa’s as she came closer, almost tripping again over the torn hem of her gown. For a moment, they were in perfect understanding. Jem was what they could still look each other straight in the eye about. On the topic of Jem, they were both fierce and unyielding. Tessa saw Will’s hand tighten on Jem’s sleeve. “She’s here,” he said.Jem’s eyes opened slowly. Tessa fought to keep the look of shock from her face. His pupils were blown out, his irises a thin ring of silver around the black. “Ni shou shang le ma, quin ai de?” he whispered.”

“It is stupid to hope, but sometimes hope is all you have.”

“He saved your life,” Clary pointed out.“Details,” said Simon dismissively.”

“He raised an eyebrow, which made Clary instantly jealous. She’d always wanted to be able to do that....Magnus raised an eyebrow. Damn, Clary thought, another one.”