the night circus - erin morgenstern sentence starters
change tenses/pronouns as needed !! some lines have been edited for clarity / length / ease of roleplaying
tw : death
‘we must put effort and energy into anything we wish to change.’
‘you need to understand your limitations so you can over come them.’
‘you want to win, don’t you?’
‘people see what they want to see. and in most cases, what they are told that they see.’
‘people are naïve about such things. and they would rather write them off as evil than attempt to understand them.’
‘an unfortunate truth, but a truth nonetheless.’
‘time is a peculiar thing. you’ll learn that eventually.’
‘you need the practice. your control is still lacking.’
‘it is a part of who I was, who I am, and who I will be.’
‘you’re white as a sheet.’
‘it would not have been my choice for her, but a child should not have their choices dictated for them.’
‘follow your dreams. no matter what that father of yours says, or how loudly he might say it. he forgets that he was someone’s dream once, himself.’
‘you are a sensitive person. it is not unusual for sensitive people to be affected by such events.’
‘you did it to yourself, it’s not my fault you cannot undo it.’
‘working with others will only drag you down. these people are not your friends, they are inconsequential.’
‘do you often see things in the stars?’
‘I have a social engagement, and I thought you might join me. you spend too much time in solitude.’
‘I expected the corset unlacing would take place after dinner.’
‘the finest of pleasures are always the unexpected ones.’
‘you are a disappointment. I expected better from you.’
‘it becomes difficult to tell the difference between old friends and old business associates in cases like ours. whether we are the kind of people who make polite conversation to cover shared secrets or something more than that.’
‘are we going to discuss whatever it is you are here to discuss instead of dancing around it? I was never a particularly good dancer.’
‘I feel… not trapped but something like it, and I don’t know what to do about it.’
‘I do not like being left in the dark. I am not particularly fond of believing in impossible things.’
‘I am not usually in the mood to know anything about my future. tonight I am feeling a tiny bit curious.’
‘the future is never set in stone, remember that.’
‘secrets have power. and that power diminishes when they are shared, so they are best kept and kept well.’
‘it was inevitable, perhaps, but not unavoidable.’
‘I prefer to remain unenlightened, to better appreciate the dark.’
‘I do not see as well without her. I do not hear as well without her. I do not feel as well without her.’
‘I would be better off without a hand or a leg than without my sister.’
‘you have seen things that defy belief, have you not?’
‘it is difficult to see a situation for what it is when you are in the midst of it. it is too familiar. too comfortable.’
‘it will come apart. the cracks are beginning to show. sooner or later it is bond to break.’
‘people don’t pay much attention to anything unless you give them reason to.’
‘I see things before they happen.’
‘most of the time I don’t know what things mean until later. sometimes not until it’s too late.’
‘the past stays on you the way powered sugar stays on your fingers. some people can get rid of it, but it’s still there.’
‘it’s precisely what you do. you enchant. you’re clearly good at it. you have so many people in love with you.’
‘when I was old enough to understand, I promised myself I would not suffer so for anyone.’
‘it will take a great deal more than that charming smile of yours to seduce me.’
‘it is refreshing to be truly honest with someone for a change.’
‘you smile as though you have a secret.’
‘the circumstances may have played out the same way regardless of anything you or I did.’
‘you cannot take away anyone’s free will, that was one of my very first lessons.’
‘just because you could never decide which one of us you were in love with does not make us interchangeable.’
‘I asked you to marry me and you never gave me an answer.’
‘how could I ever be certain if that was a choice you made or one that was made for you?’
‘how many times have you lied to me?’
‘I have never lied. I do not share what I’m not at liberty to say.’
‘I am tired of everyone keeping their secrets so well that they get other people killed.’
‘I refuse to believe you could ever disappoint anyone.’
‘I have spent a great deal of my life struggling to keep myself in control. to know myself inside and out, everything kept in perfect order. I lose that when I’m with you. that frightens me.’
‘it frightens me how much I like it. how tempting it is to lose myself in you. to let go.’
‘I only wanted to be with you. I thought I would ask you to run away with me.’
‘it is likely to make us think that we are not caged. we cannot feel the bars unless we push against them.’
‘this is extremely distracting. I worry what might happen if I lose my concentration.’
‘when all of this is over, I will not let you go so easily. agreed?’
‘I don’t know why yet, but I’m sure you belong with me.’
‘staying here won’t make me happy. it will make you happy because you are insipid and boring, and an insipid and boring life is enough for you.’
‘an insipid and boring life is enough for you. it’s not enough for me. it will never be enough for me.’
‘did you feel as though you had the ground removed from beneath you as well?’
‘I am tired of trying to hold things together that cannot be held. trying to control what can’t be controlled.’
‘I am tired of denying myself what I want for fear of breaking things I cannot fix. they will break no matter what we do.’
‘you can stay away from him, and you can stay away from me.’
‘you should have figured that out by now. you used to be somewhat clever.’
‘stop behaving as if you love that boy. you are above such mundane things.’
‘you are willing to sacrifice me for this. to let me destroy myself just so you can attempt to prove a point.’
‘don’t look at me like that, as if you think I’m inhuman.’
‘should you choose your questions more carefully, you may receive more satisfying answers.’
‘love is fickle and fleeting. it is rarely a solid foundation for decisions to be made upon.’
‘how I can believe that you are honest with me and not with them, when I am the one you have the most reason to deceive?’
‘this is not a tactic to deceive you; do you think me that cruel?’
‘you keep leaving me. you leave me longing for you again and again when I would give anything for you to stay, and it is killing me.’
‘how can you think that I don’t love you? you are everything to me.’
‘you are special. you are beyond this. there is so much more you could accomplish with your talents.’
‘you are too intelligent for this behavior. I expected more of you.’
‘you are letting your emotions trump your power.’
‘I have told you it is not your fault, and there is nothing that could have been done to prevent it. not by you, not by me, not by anyone else.’
‘what’s the use in seeing the future if I can’t do anything to stop it?’
‘you cannot stop things. you can only be prepared for them to happen.’
‘if I have not been completely honest with you, it is only because I know a great deal of things you do not wish to know.’
‘i’m going to ask that you trust me when I tell you I am trying to make things better.’
‘the best we can do right now is take everything as if comes, and not worry ourselves over things that’s have happened, or things that are to come.’
‘we cannot go backward. a great deal is not how it used to be.’
‘I couldn’t tell the difference between what was real and what I wanted to be real.’
‘I couldn’t let you do it. I couldn’t let you go.’
‘you’re not destined or chosen, I wish I could tell you that you were if that would make it easier, but it’s not true.’
‘you’re in the right place at the right time, and you care enough to do what needs to be done. sometimes that’s enough.’
‘you are the strongest person I have ever known. you can hold on for awhile longer, I know you can.’
‘everything fades with time. I am no exception to that rule.’
‘is magic not enough to live for?’
‘I don’t think there’s anything wrong with being a dreamer.’
