“You couldnt erase everything that caused you pain with recollection.Every memory was valuable; even the bad ones”

“Every memory was valuable; even the bad ones.”

“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.”

“You behave as if everything is funny to you, but you never laugh. Sometimes you smile when you think no one is paying attention.”

“Comforting someone when they were stricken with loss was something else. It meant commitment. It meant caring. It meant you wanted to ease their pain, and at the same time you were thanking God that whatever the bad thing was that had happened, it hadn't happened to them.”

“For you to find a needle in-God, not even in a haystack. A needle in a tower full of other needles.''Plunge your hand into a tower of needles,' said Magnus, 'and you are likely to cut yourself badly.”

“Do you think it's possible to do something so bad, even if you didn't mean to do it, that you can never come back from it? That no one can forgive you?"Luke looked at him for a long, silent moment. Then he said, "Think of someone you love, Simon. Really love. Is there anything they could ever do that would mean you would stop loving them?”