uniquely portable magic

favorite quotes from my favorite books | url: "I have always imagined that paradise will be a kind of library." - Jorge Luis Borges | title: "Books are a uniquely portable magic." - Stephen King

[paradises-library]

I started screenshotting quotes a year or so ago and finally decided I might as well do something with them. Hope you find something you enjoy :)

Popular book tags below the cut:

Diana Wynne Jones

Terry Pratchett

Martha Wells (Murderbot Diaries)

Tamsyn Muir (The Locked Tomb)

Lois McMaster Bujold (The Vorkosigan Saga)

Seth Dickinson (The Masquerade Series - Baru Cormorant)

Natasha Pulley

Casey McQuiston

[paradises-library]

I always thought my parents could fix anything. Now it's my turn. Dear God, how did this happen?

-Diplomatic Immunity, Lois McMaster Bujold

[paradises-library]

'There is a deal of sanity to be saved in letting the past go, and moving on.'

-Diplomatic Immunity, Lois McMaster Bujold

[paradises-library]

‘Fitzroy,’ he said slowly and seriously, ‘have you ever told someone what you were truly thinking?’

I could had said something flippant, one of those truths that no one ever believed - I could have told them about those truths that no one ever believed - but I was tired, and spoke a hard truth, instead. ‘Masseo, people have committed suicide because I told them what I actually thought.’

- The Return of Fitzroy Angursell, Victoria Goddard

[paradises-library]

He was giving me an 'I'm not quite sure who you are, but I like it' look. 'I'm beginning to think you might be better at relationships than you've claimed.' 'I,' I announced, 'am growing as a person.'

-Boyfriend Material, Alexis Hall

[paradises-library]

Until now, the crowd had been divided between those shouting for the goose and those shouting for the civet. Now it was divided between those who were still enjoying a fine and ribald night out, and those who had noticed that a large and hungry wolf was wandering through their midst.

Fly By Night, Frances Hardinge

[paradises-library]

If he would just do the little show that men always did for each other, pretending to be tough in the face of someone they didn't like, he would have been more manageable. That he didn't care was becoming so disturbing that Joe wasn't sure how to respond anymore.

The Kingdoms, Natasha Pulley

[paradises-library]

It was worth a wound—it was worth many wounds—to know the depth of loyalty and love which lay behind that cold mask. The clear, hard eyes were dimmed for a moment, and the firm lips were shaking. For the one and only time I caught a glimpse of a great heart as well as of a great brain. All my years of humble but single-minded service culminated in that moment of revelation.

-"The Three Garridebs," Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

[paradises-library]

It was at such moments that for an instant he ceased to be a reasoning machine, and betrayed his human love for admiration and applause. The same singularly proud and reserved nature which turned away with disdain from popular notoriety was capable of being moved to its depths by spontaneous wonder and praise from a friend.

-"The Six Napoleons," Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

[paradises-library]

It was at such moments that for an instant he ceased to be a reasoning machine, and betrayed his human love for admiration and applause. The same singularly proud and reserved nature which turned away with disdain from popular notoriety was capable of being moved to its depths by spontaneous wonder and praise from a friend.

-"The Six Napoleons," Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

[paradises-library]

“You are not coming.”

“Then you are not going,” said I. “I give you my word of honour —and I never broke it in my life—that I will take a cab straight to the police-station and give you away unless you let me share this adventure with you.”

-"Charles Augustus Milverton," Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

[paradises-library]

He looked back at her with a stare so void of emotion, Alice struggled not to dreamily sigh. A woman could never drown in eyes like that! She could stand on safely dry ground while other women flailed about in swooning, adoring gazes.

-The Secret Service of Tea and Treason, India Holton

[paradises-library]

'Of course in a democratic government,' he had remarked bitterly during the debate, 'we deal with men as they are reputed to be, and not with men as they really are.'

-Advise and Consent, Allen Drury

[paradises-library]

Home, she'd realized, wasn't a place or a time or a person, though it could be any and all of those things: home was a feeling, a sense of being complete. The opposite of 'home' wasn't 'away,' it was 'lonely.' When someone said, 'I want to go home,' what they really meant was that they didn't want to feel lonely anymore.

-Dear Edward, Ann Napolitano

[paradises-library]

“The Haven is the name of Mr. Josiah Amberley's house,” I explained. “I think it would interest you, Holmes. It is like some penurious patrician who has sunk into the company of his inferiors. You know that particular quarter, the monotonous brick streets, the weary suburban highways. Right in the middle of them, a little island of ancient culture and comfort, lies this old home, surrounded by a high sun-baked wall mottled with lichens and topped with moss, the sort of wall—” “Cut out the poetry, Watson,” said Holmes severely. “I note that it was a high brick wall.”

-"The Retired Colourman," Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

[paradises-library]

"Upon my word, Watson!" said Holmes at last with an unsteady voice, "I owe you both my thanks and an apology. It was an unjustifiable experiment even for one's self, and doubly so for a friend. I am really very sorry." "You know," I answered with some emotion, for I have never seen so much of Holmes's heart before, "that it is my greatest joy and privilege to help you."

-"The Devil's Foot," Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

[paradises-library]

"How do you know that?" "I followed you." "I saw no one." "That is what you may expect to see when I follow you."

-"The Devil's Foot," Sir Arthur Conan Doyle