Maggie Stiefvater

“names are a way to keep people in your mind”

“What about us? Can i see you again? You can say no. You'd crush all my hopes and dreams, but it's an option.”

“I hear laughter and someone asks if I need help, not in a nice way. I snarl, 'What I need is for your mother to have thought a little harder nine months before your birthday.”

“Tell me what it's like. The race.""What it's like is a battle. A mess of horses and men and blood. The fastest and strongest of what is left from two weeks of preparation on the sand. It's the surf in your face, the deadly magic of November on your skin, the Scorpio drums in the place of your heartbeat. It's speed, if you're lucky. It's life and it's death or it's both, and there's nothing like it.”

“Do you know how to wrap a leg?''I was born wrapping legs,' I say stiffly, because I'm insulted.'Must've been a challenging delivery,' Sean notes.”

“One of the lines in Finn's code is that you're not to say anything about Finn being attractive to the opposite sex. I'm not sure which exact statue governs this, but it's closely related to the one that won't let you thank him. Something about compliments and Finn don't work.”

“We are shoulder to shoulder due to the size of the cab, and if Gratton is made of flour and potatoes, Sean is made of stone and driftwood and possibly those prickly anemones that sometimes wash up on shore.”

“Shhhhhh, shhhhhh, says the sea, but I don't believe her.”

“There are too many people on horseback today trying to prove themselves, trying to prepare, trying to get faster. They haven't discovered yet that it's not the fastest who make it to race day.You only have to be the fastest of those who are left.”

“The piebald mare paws at the sand; I see her digging out of the corner of my eye and hear her grinding her teeth. That bridle's her curse, this island her prison. She still smells of rot.”

“It's for personal reasons," I say stiffly, which is what my mother had always told me to say about things that had to do with fighting with your brothers, getting any sort of illness that had intestinal ramifications, starting your period, and money.”

“I try to think of something catchy to say, but there's nothing but irritation that something that was funny yo an eleven-year-old boy is still funny to a seventeen-year-old one.”

“All of them are men, not a girl amongst them unless you count Tommy Falk because his lips are so pretty.”

“No existe mejor sabor que la risa de otra persona en tu boca. Sam”

“Can I ask you a question? Ya just did. Can I ask you 2 questions then?Ya just did.Ohh, so you're a smart ass”

“Sam reached his hand toward mine and I automatically put my fingers in his.”

“I believe in the same thing they believe in,' I say, with a jerk of my chin toward town and St. Columba’s. 'I just don't believe you can find it in a building.”

“Boys,' she says, 'just aren't very good at being afraid.”

“Neatness makes me feel like I have to be on my best behavior. Clutter is my natural habitat.”

“...beer makes people deaf...”

“...the sound of our lack of conversation amplified by the echo of our footsteps on the stone around us.”

“There was nothing particularly special about her, except that she was good with numbers, and very good at lying, and she made her home in between the pages of books.”

“It was possible that I'd thrown one too many Molotov cocktails over God's fence.”

“Once upon a time, there was a girl named Grace Brisbane. There was nothing particularly special about her, except that she was good with numbers, and very good at lying, and she made her home in between the pages of books. She loved all the wolves behind her house, but she love one of them most of all.”

“Hello, Grace's parents. I'm Grace's boyfriend. Please notice the chaste distance between us. I am very responsible and have never had my tongue in your daughter's mouth.”

“I'm an equation that only she solves,these X's and Y's by other names called.My way of dividing is desperately flawedas I multiply the days without her"- Page 165”

“Lunch." I said. "Immediately. I'm going to wither away to absolutely nothing. Then you'll be racked with guilt." "I doubt it.”

“So, Grace, how's school?" I asked myself. Dad nodded, eyes on the baby koala now struggling in the guest's arms. "Oh, it's fine," I continued, and Dad made a mumbling noise of agreement. I added, "Nothing special, aside from the load of pandas they brought in, and the teachers abandoning us to cannibalistic savages-" I paused to see if I'd caught his attention yet, then pressed on. "The whole building caught fire, then I failed drama, and then sex, sex, sex." Dad's eyes abruptly focused, and he turned to me and frowned. "What did you say they were teaching you in school?”

“What do you eat?" "Baby bunnies." She narrowed her eyes, so I grinned and said, "Adult bunnies, too. I'm an equal-opportunity bunny-eater.”

“I would say that by virtue of your not acting parental up to this point, you've relinquished your ability to wield any power now. Sam and I are together. It's not an option.”

“We had this big grill at his house, and I remember, one night he said, 'Sam, tonight you're feeding us,' He showed me how to push on the middle of the steaks to see how done they were, and how to sear them fast on each side to keep the juices in." "And they were awesome, weren't they?" "I burned the hell out of them," I said, matter-of-fact. "I'd compare them to charcoal, but charcoal is still sort of edible.”

“Grace," I said, my vision swirling now because of her blood smeared across my wrists, "Can you hear me?" She nodded then stumbled to her knees. I knelt beside her; her eyes were huge and afraid and my heart was breaking. "I'll come find you, I said. "I promise I'll come find you. Don't forget me. Don't-don't lose yourself.”

“As the hours crept by, the afternoon sunlight bleached all the books on the shelves to pale, gilded versions of themselves and warmed the paper and ink inside the covers so that the smell of unread words hung in the air.”

“when we're married, can we go to the ocean? I've never been”

“It is possible to be in love with you just because of who you are.”

“M'Dear," I said cordially, "Your butt's blocking my bumper. Do you think you could move your loitering five feet to the south and let me leave?”

“Crashing into the trembling voidStretching my hand to youLosing myself to frigid regretIs this fragile loveA wayTo sayGood-bye”

“I wasn’t sure which of us was being more selfish—her, for wanting something that no one could promise, or me, for not promising her something that was too painfully impossible to want.”

“Behind the counter, I slouched on my stool in the sun and sucked up the summer as If I could hold every drop of it inside of me. As the hours crept by, the afternoon sunlight bleached all the books on the shelves to pale, gilded versions of themselfs and warmed the paper and ink indside the covers so that the smell of unread words hung in the air.”

“Really, Rachel looked like a sun, bright and exuding energy, holding us two moons in a parallel orbit by the sheer force of her will. ”

“I missed the sound of her shuffling her homework while I listened to music on her bed. I missed the cold of her feet against my legs when she climbed into bed.I missed the shape of her shadow where it fell across the page of my book. I missed the smell of her hair and the sound of her breath and my Rilke on her nightstand and her wet towel thrown over the back of her desk chair. It felt like I should be sated after having a whole day with her, but it just made me miss her more.”

“Did you know you get one happy day for every one you catch?...One happy day for every falling leaf you catch" -sam”

“Sometimes, your eyes see something your brain doesn't. You pick up a nmewspaper and yourhead gives you a phrase that you didn't consciously read yet. You walk into a room and you realize something's out of place before you've bothered to properly look.I felt that happening now.""Sam's thoughts on page 304 of Linger.”

“I considered calling Grace to ask her what I should say to a reticent suicidal werewolf, but I'd left my phone somewhere. Car, maybe.”

“All these perfect days, made of glassPut on the shelf where they can castperfect shadows that stretch and growon the imperfect days down below.... perfect shadows that shift and glow...... perfect shadows that shift and grow...""Sam singing on page 256 of Linger.”

“Luke', I said, and immediately added, 'My boyfriend.' My supernatural, doomed, gorgeous, killer boyfriend.”

“Here is another secret: I have no business being fascinated by you.”

“..and me holding this moment that was as fragile as a bird in my hands”

“Do you feel better?” I asked Sam as he opened the door to the Volkswagen for me.“Yes,” he said. He was still a terrible liar.“Good,” I said. I was still a fantastic one.”

“Sam,' the girl said. 'Sam.'She was the past present and future. I wanted to answer , but I was broken.”