34 "Clockwork Angel" Quotes

"Clockwork Angel," the first novel in Cassandra Clare's enthralling "The Infernal Devices" series, has captivated readers with its rich blend of fantasy, romance, and Victorian-era intrigue. As fans journey with Tessa Gray through a shadowy London filled with mysterious automatons and enigmatic Shadowhunters, they encounter numerous memorable lines that resonate long after the final page is turned. In this post, we've curated a collection of 34 standout quotes from "Clockwork Angel" that encapsulate the essence of this beloved story.

1. “It's all right to love someone who doesn't love you back, as long as they're worth you loving them. As long as they deserve it.” - Cassandra Clare

2. “Sometimes, when I have to do something I don't want to do, I pretend I'm a character from a book. It's easier to know what they would do.” - Cassandra Clare

3. “And Jessamine-Jessamine was gazing at her in abject horror, like someone who has seen a vision of their own ghost. For a moment Tessa felt a stab of guilt.It lasted only a moment, though. Slowly Jessamine lowered her hand from her mouth, her face still very pale. "Goodness, my nose is enormous," she exclaimed. "Why didn't anyone tell me?” - Cassandra Clare

4. “If you have a soul of a warrior, you are a warrior. Whatever the color, the shape, the design of the shade that conceals it, the flame inside the lamp remains the same. You are that flame.” - Cassandra Clare

5. “A sort of good-bye without saying good-bye," he said. "It is a reference to a passage in the Bible. 'And Mizpah, for he said, the Lord watch between me and thee when we are absent one from another.” - Cassandra Clare

6. “I suspect he's sweet on Sophie and doesn't like to see her work too hard.'Tessa was glad to hear it. She'd felt awful about her reaction to Sophie's scar, and the thought that Sophie had a male admirer - and a handsome one like that- eased her conscience slightly. 'Perhaps he's in love with Agatha', she said.'I hope not. I intend to marry Agatha myself. She may be a thousand years old, but she makes an incomparable jam tart. Beauty fades, but cooking is eternal.” - Cassandra Clare

7. “I do not believe you can threaten people into goodness.” - Jem Carstairs” - Cassandra Clare

8. “The more beautiful the skin is, the more deadly it is. That's what Will's like. All that pretty face and whatnot just hides how twisted up and rotten he is on the inside.” - Cassandra Clare

9. “Of course, the guests were also staring because they know of my relationship with Camille, and are wondering what we might be doing here in the library... alone." He wiggled his eyebrows at Tessa.” - Cassandra Clare

10. “Will rolled up his sleeves. "We'll probably have to knock down the door--" "Or," said Jem, reaching out and giving the knob a twist, "not." The door swung open onto a rectangle of darkness. "Now, that's simply laziness," said Will.” - Cassandra Clare

11. “Will: "Nice place to live, isn't it? Let's hope they left something behind other than filth. Forwarding addresses, a few severed limbs, a prostitute or two ..."Jem: "Indeed. Perhaps, if we're fortunate, we can still catch syphilis." "Or demon pox," Will suggested cheerfully, trying the door under the stairs.” - Cassandra Clare

12. “Well, she's not responding to my advances," he observed more brightly than he felt, "so she must be dead." "Or she's a woman of good taste and sense.” - Cassandra Clare

13. “Blue does not go with everything," Will told her. "It does not go with red, for instance." "I have a red and blue striped waistcoat," Henry interjected, reaching for the peas. "And if that isn't proof that those two colors should never be seen together under Heaven, I don't know what is.” - Cassandra Clare

14. “Do reasons matter when there's nothing that can be done to change things.” - Cassandra Clare

15. “How rude. Many who have gazed upon me have compared the experience to gazingat the radiance of the sun."Jem still had his eyes closed. "If they mean it gives you a headache, they aren't wrong.” - Cassandra Clare

16. “Jessamine recoiled from the paper as if it were a snake. "A lady does not read the newspaper. The society pages, perhaps, or the theater news. Not this filth.""But you are not a lady, Jessamine---," Charlotte began."Dear me," said Will. "Such harsh truths so early in the morning cannot be good for the digestion.” - Cassandra Clare

17. “So you're a Shadowhunter,' Nate said. 'De Quincey told me that you lot were monsters.''Was that before or after he tried to eat you?' Will inquired.” - Cassandra Clare

18. “Do you think Charlotte will let me handle the investigation?""Do you think you can be trusted in Downworld? The gaming hells, the dens of magical vice, the women of loose morals..." Will smiled the way Lucifer might have smiled, moments before he fell from heaven. "Would tomorrow be to early to start looking, do you think?Jem sighed. 'Do what you like, William. You always do.” - Cassandra Clare

19. “I'm trying to figure out how someone could live in a brothel for a month and not notice. You must be terribly dull-witted." Tessa glared."If it helps at all, it seemed to be quite a high-class establishment. Nicely furnished, fairly clean...""Sounds as if you've visited your fair share of brothels," Tessa said, sourly. "Making a study of them?""More of a hobby," said Will, and smiled like a bad angel.” - Cassandra Clare

20. “I played it for my bride, and one day you will play for yours.” - Cassandra Clare

21. “But I will never have a bride.” - Cassandra Clare

22. “The light that burned twice as bright burned half as long.” - Cassandra Clare

23. “For that was love, wasnt it--to burn bright in someone else's eyes?” - Cassandra Clare

24. “It is the mundanes who look at me and see something they do not understand—a boy who is not quite white and not quite foreign either.""Just as I am not human, and not demon either," Tessa said softly.His eyes softened. "You are human," he said. "Never think you are not. I have seen you with your brother; I know how you care for him. If you can feel hope, guilt, sorrow, love—then you are human.” - Cassandra Clare

25. “As the carriage whipped forward, they passed the alley she had spent so many days staring at—it was there, and then gone as they careened around a corner, nearly knocking over a costermonger pushing a donkey cart piled high with new potatoes. Tessa screamed.Will reached past her and yanked the curtain shut. "It's better if you don't look," he told her pleasantly."He's going to kill someone. Or get us killed.""No, he won't. Thomas is an excellent driver."Tessa glared at him. "Clearly the word excellent means something else on this side of the Atlantic.” - Cassandra Clare

26. “He opened his mouth. The words were there. He was about to say them when a jolt of terror went through him, the terror of someone who, wandering in a mist, pauses only to realise that they have stopped inches from the edge of a gaping abyss. The way she was looking at him - she could read what was in his eyes, he realised. It must have been written plainly there, like words on the page of a book. There had been no time, no chance, to hide it.“Will,” she whispered. “Say something, Will.”But there was nothing to say. There was only emptiness, as there had been before her. As there would always be.'I have lost everything', Will thought. 'Everything.” - Cassandra Clare

27. “Sometimes we are less unhappy in being deceived by those we love, than in being undecieved by them.” - Francois La Rochefoucauld

28. “He had lost Will Herondale. And he did not know if he could ever get him back.” - Cassandra Clare

29. “Never trust a duck.” - Cassandra Clare

30. “You bit de Quincey," he said. "You fool. He's a vampire. You know what it means to bite a vampire." "I had no choice," said Will. "He was choking me.""I know," Jem said. "But really, Will. Again?” - Cassandra Clare

31. “When Will says 'enterprising', he means 'morally deficient.'" "No, I mean enterprising," said Will. "When I mean morally deficient, I say, 'Now, that's something I would have done.” - Cassandra Clare

32. “When to people tell the same lie...""They are working together," Will finished” - Cassandra Clare

33. “Their beauty had always seemed to him like the beauty of pressed flowers-lovely, but dead.” - Cassandra Clare

34. “Your angel cannot protect you against that which neither god nor the devil had made” - Cassandra Clare