a sentence starter prompts list comprised of quotes from the novel blood over bright haven by m. l. wang. please be advised that this list may involve topics including, but not limited to, murder, death, violence, alcohol, and religion. change verbiage as needed.
was that a veiled dig at my intelligence?
leave your tools and weapons. they’re just weight.
while you can still breathe, keep moving. stop for nothing. turn back for no one. not even your own blood.
it must be hard to be you! how terrible to be so singularly talented!
since when do you really care about people who aren’t you?
i take it that wasn’t supposed to happen?
be cold, be hard, and don’t give them an inch, you understand? no matter what they say of you.
when i care how attractive you find me, i’ll let you know.
you’re certainly not going to survive playing against me.
i already missed my train. i’m going to sleep here.
the world isn’t about love for me. it’s about power.
i think i’ve just had a problem with magic since the first time i tasted it–like some people have a problem with alcohol.
magic is the one area where i can shut myself in a room with my books and my thoughts and come out more powerful than i went in.
the unbreakable rules of magic are unbreakable for a reason.
don’t play dumb with me. it doesn’t suit you.
is there something unreasonable about wanting to do my own work correctly?
brilliant men–even moderately intelligent men–in this city get showered with opportunities to succeed. brilliant women have to fight for those opportunities, and, when we get them, we have to defend them tooth and nail, or they’ll be snatched away.
i’m not married, i’m no one’s apprentice, and i’ll be damned if i let a man find some other way to take my glory from me.
women are always told to be kind, be forgiving, be nurturing. as far as i know, it’s never gotten them anywhere. the men, who have the real power, won’t return the favor when it matters.
if you are capable of everything they are as a group, then who can say you’ve been arrogant or unvirtuous?
if i can’t clear that clouded glass, there’s nothing left to do but break through it.
i never said i didn’t believe your god existed. i just don’t believe he’s the greatest or only deity at work in the world.
a ravine won’t water crops or quench the dying. at some point, there has to be a river, or what good can you really claim? if the man of good intentions never manifests a river, only calamity, should he not go to hell?
this is the balance of the universe. it is only right for the world to bring back upon him what he brought upon the world.
anyone with enough self-delusion can admit himself to heaven. this is nonsense.
it’s much easier to tell yourself you’re a good person than it is to actually be one.
i can’t work with you if we’re not honest with each other.
i’m not trying to twist your words. i’m trying to make sure you mean them.
you want me to be honest. i want the same thing from you, but you can do that without disrespecting me, my discipline, and my culture.
i can be civil, or i can be honest. you can’t have both in their entirety.
my knowledge of magic and history is obviously nothing in the face of yours.
maybe you’re not remembering clearly. sometimes, when an event is too upsetting to wrap your mind around, your memory gets muddled.
you’re that committed to your god of greed? go on, then. serve him. destroy me.
you’re the worst kind of murderer, i think. the kind who won’t even acknowledge their crime.
you never worshiped a god of truth. you worship a delusion.
i lost myself a little. and it took today–took something terrible–to bring me back to reality.
let me pose you a question that’s been troubling me for hours: must i forgo brilliance–no, not even brilliance; must i forgo any sort of intelligence; must i forgo the baseline mental functions that come with being alive–for stability?
you must be the dullest conversation partner i’ve ever met!
they’re either evil or they’re the stupidest people who ever lived!
you have to play along. pretend to buy his cover story. whatever he wants you to believe, act like you believe it and go about your business like nothing is wrong. don’t ask questions. don’t antagonize.
swear to me on your god and your mother’s grave.
i’ll be happy when i see you alive and whole tomorrow morning.
i just want you to be smart. be careful. acting on your every emotion the way you do is going to get you into trouble.
the most powerful minds and hardest hearts have a breaking point.
your head will clear, you will remember who you are, and you will move beyond this.
your devotion has always been to magic. none of that has to change because you’ve uncovered a few skeletons.
it seems i misjudged you. my theories about you were flawed.
for many, the denial must be a necessary shield against the guilt.
we’re surrounded by devils.
someone’s going to bleed and nothing bleeds like a mage’s ego.
things are about to change. the future has to be different. it will be different.
are you really going to do this? is this the mark you want to leave on the world?
i’m realizing how ridiculous it is to demand civility when the world is so disgustingly uncivil upon closer inspection. so, i’m not here to ask for your friendship or your politeness.
mages are detached from reality. they’re obsessive, socially stunted egomaniacs. you know, like me.
good people will turn monstrous when it’s down to their survival or someone else’s.
all i can say is… if you’re going to do this, i don’t co-sign it. don’t do it for me–or for anyone else. be selfish. be arrogant. do it for yourself.
i don’t want to be the reason anyone gets hurt. i don’t want to be the reason you die.
is it better to be safe and broken than it is to be dead?
all this agony for your goddamn ego.
i can’t believe i ever called you my family.
the forces of darkness are nothing to the light of god.
sorry about your reputation.
you could’ve been something great.
as far as the public is concerned, you will be forgotten–all your skill and innovation.
i never helped you for glory. i did it because it was the right thing to do.
i’m not your glory. i’m your penance.
we have done a great evil, and you’re smart enough to know that, deep in your soul, no matter what lies you spin around it. and i’m your attempt to get out of that feeling, aren’t i?
we all bear the burden of knowledge in different ways. some of us endeavor to do good.
have i dragged you anywhere you weren’t determined to go by your own power?
if i was to be your penance for what you have done, is it working? do you feel absolved?
you want me to throw away honesty in exchange for my life?
i don’t know what you’re capable of.
i think it’s important to be honest with the people you care about.
i don’t want your protection! do you hear me? do you understand? if you harm any of those people down there, it’s for yourself, not me.
you still have a chance to do the right and honest thing.
you have a long way to go yet before you’re half the monster i am.
if i’m going to die, i want to go knowing i left you safe and right with yourself.
if this is the last night of the world as we know it, i want to spend it with someone who can appreciate that with me. i want to spend it with you… if that’s alright?
don’t stay because you’re hoping to talk me into your plan over the course of the night.
honestly, i don’t know why i indulge your pessimism.
remember all this grief and terror–and try to do something good with it.
