Quotes by Holly Black

You can break a thing, but you cannot always guide it afterward into the shape you want.

Mutually assured destruction.

A stray dog, I might understand, she said. But this? You are too softhearted.No, Mabry, Ravus said. I am not. He looked in Vals direction. I think she wants to die.Maybe you can help her after all, Mabry said. Youre good at helping people die.

This is the part in the movie where that guy says, Zombies? What zombies? just before they eat his brains. I dont want to be that guy.

She tastes like every dark thought Ive ever had.

He gave her a smile that wasn’t really a smile at all. “Eh, it wouldn’t be so bad. I wouldn’t have to study for the SATs or get a summer job or figure out my major. I can drink Elderflower wine all day, dance all through the night, and sleep on a bower of roses.”Hazel made a face. “I’m pretty sure there are some colleges where you can do that. I bet there are some colleges where you can major in that.

Dead or not, I have come for his heart and I will have it.

She looks honestly upset, but then, I’ve learned that I can’t read her. The problem with a really excellent liar is that you have to just assume they’re always lying.

We are, largely, who we remember ourselves to be

Even from the beginning, that was the problem. People liked pretty things. People even liked pretty things that wanted to kill and eat them.

Remember that I’m still a monster. I can listen to you scream and cry and beg and I still won’t let you out.

She was torn between the impulse to run and the urge to curl up like a pill bug, close her eyes, tuck her head beneath her arms, and play the game of since-I-cant-see-monsters-monsters-cant-see-me.

Three of them, dressed in silvery gray, on three horses—one black, one white, and the third red.

I think there are a lot of really positive aspects to social media for novelists. Even though our work is pretty solitary, through Twitter and Tumblr and Facebook and Instagram and blogging in general, were better able to connect directly with readers.

Inspiration comes from everywhere. From life, observing people, etc. From movies and books you love. From research.

I really love the idea of the poetically mad - the character that is imbued with the romantic madness. Like River from Firefly or Drusilla from Buffy. Someone dangerously unhinged, where youre really not sure theyre going to be reliable minute-to-minute.

“It is said we learn more from our failures than our successes.”

“The truth is messy. Its raw and uncomfortable. You cant blame people for preferring lies.”

“Telling Sam and Daneca feels like peeling off my own skin to expose everything underneath. It hurts.”

“This, the language of deception, we both understand. We were born to it, along with the curses.”