Erin Morgenstern Quotes & Sayings

Do you sometimes feel like you are dreaming, all the time? — Erin Morgenstern

He is sure that the Bailey he is now is closer to the Bailey he is supposed to be than the Bailey he had been before — Erin Morgenstern

I do not mourn the loss of my sister because she will always be with me, in my heart," she says. "I am, however, rather annoyed that my Tara has left me to suffer you lot alone. 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. Then at least she would be here to mock my appearance and claim to be the pretty one for a change. We have all lost our Tara, but I have lost a part of myself as well. — Erin Morgenstern

Follow your dreams Bailey. Be they Harvard or somehing else entirely. 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 — Erin Morgenstern

And now, I'm a best selling author, a different sort of fairy tale that I still sometimes wonder when I'll wake up from. — Erin Morgenstern

Most maidens are perfectly capable of rescuing themselves in my experience, at least the ones worth something, in any case. — Erin Morgenstern

The most difficult thing to read is time. Maybe because it changes so many things. — Erin Morgenstern

The flames are visible in the gaps between and rising slightly above. They are obscured only at the bottom, so it is impossible to tell what is burning, if it is wood or coal or something else entirely.
The flames are not yellow or orange, but white as snow as they dance. — Erin Morgenstern

People are naive about such things, and they would rather write them off as evil than attempt to understand them. An unfortunate truth, but a truth nonetheless. — Erin Morgenstern

And there are never really endings, happy or otherwise. Things keep going on, they overlap and blur, your story is part of your sister's story is part of many other stories, and there is no telling where any of them may lead. — Erin Morgenstern

When you meet someone new who instantly gets you, your sense of humor and your attitudes and your worldview, even if theirs are different - and you get them in return. You both talk and talk and agree and laugh and nod and yes, yes, of course you should get another round of drinks. — Erin Morgenstern

The sound of his pencil scratching against paper is as methodical and precise as the ticking of the clock in the corner. — Erin Morgenstern

A winner is not declared, — Erin Morgenstern

They say it's darkest before the dawn, but it also tend to be quietest, and the quiet lets you hear yourself better. — Erin Morgenstern

I knew that, and still it surprised me. How long I was willing to wait for something that was only a possibility. — Erin Morgenstern

Every eye in the crowded ballroom turns in their direction. And then he releases her and walks away.
By the time Marco leaves the room, almost everyone has forgotten the incident entirely. — Erin Morgenstern

I like that 'once upon a time' quality, where the telling of a tale has an elevated sense of story. There's a whimsical quality to it. Sometimes in fairy tales more things seem possible, even though often they're real world based. — Erin Morgenstern

You are no longer quite certain which side of the fence is a dream. — Erin Morgenstern

I draft quickly and then revise, a lot. — Erin Morgenstern

If I had a story idea that I felt would work best in three volumes I might write a trilogy eventually. I'd very likely write it all at once, though, so I could work on it as a whole and not broken into individual volumes. — Erin Morgenstern

Kelly Link is inimitable. Her stories are like nothing else, dark yet sparkling with her unique brand of fairy dust. This is the most marvelous kind of trouble to get in. — Erin Morgenstern

I'm actually not a huge circus fan in the traditional sense, but I like a lot of the circus trappings of striped tents and caramel. I lean more towards Cirque du Soleil than Barnum and Bailey. — Erin Morgenstern

Whatever you wish to pay for a glimpse of your future," the fortune-teller says. Bailey stops to consider this for a moment. It is strange, but fair. — Erin Morgenstern

Is magic not enough to live for? — Erin Morgenstern

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. — Erin Morgenstern

Something about the circus stirs their souls, and they ache for it when it is absent. — Erin Morgenstern

I'm a firm believer that lighting affects mood, and twinkly lights on strings bring something magical to occasions ranging from concerts to weddings, though I'm fond of using them as year-round home decor. There's a reason why they're sometimes called fairy lights. When the night is right, there aren't any strings at all. — Erin Morgenstern

... there is less magic in the world today. Magic is secret and secrets are magic, after all ... — Erin Morgenstern

I suggest you keep your distance from her and concentrate on your own work."
"I'm in love with her."
"I am sorry to hear that," he says. "It will make the challenge a great deal more difficult for you."
"We have been playing at this for more than a decade, when does it end?"
"It ends when there is a victor. — Erin Morgenstern

Like stepping into a fairy tale under a curtain of stars. — Erin Morgenstern

It bothers him most at times like this, in the bottom of the brandy bottle and the quiet of the night. — Erin Morgenstern

We are such stuff As dreams are made on; and our little life Is rounded with a sleep. - PROSPERO, THE TEMPEST, ACT IV, SCENE 1 — Erin Morgenstern

Trespassers Will Be Exsanguinated. — Erin Morgenstern

I mean only that I hope they find darkness or paradise without fear of it, if they can. — Erin Morgenstern

This card entitles the holder to unlimited admission
is imprinted on one side in black ink, and on the reverse it reads:
Le Cirque des Reves
and in smaller letters beneath that:
Chandresh Christophe Lefevere, Proprietor — Erin Morgenstern

It arrived only a few days ago and is still a novelty. Had it been present for longer, Caroline likely would have chosen a different dare, but the circus is currently the talk of the town, and Caroline likes to keep her dares en vogue. — Erin Morgenstern

I know, interference is one of the very few things that is apparently against the rules. I do not intend to interfere, I intend to learn his systems so I can stop having to constantly manage so much of the circus. — Erin Morgenstern

Marionettes that control their own strings. — Erin Morgenstern

Behind him, the sheep, left to their own devices, decide to wander through the open gate into the field beyond. — Erin Morgenstern

This is a typical Tsukiko response, one that does not truly answer the question. Isobel does not pry. — Erin Morgenstern

I have absurdly vivid dreams. — Erin Morgenstern

I would dearly love to read the reactions, the observations of each and every person who walks through the gates of Le Cirque des Reves, to know what they see and hear and feel. To see how their experience overlaps with my own and how it differs. I have been fortunate letters with such information, to have reveurs share with me writings from journals or thoughts scribbled on scraps of paper.
We add our own stories, each visitor, each visit each night spent at the circus. I suppose there will never be a lack of things to say, of stories to be told and shared. -Friedrick Thiessen, 1895 — Erin Morgenstern

He remembers when he was very small his mother once said she wished happiness and adventure for him. If this does not count as adventure, he is not sure what does. — Erin Morgenstern

I have read for countless people on innumerable subjects and the most difficult thing to understand within the cards is always the timing. I knew that, and still it surprised me. How long I was willing to wait for something that was only a possibility. I always thought it was just a matter of time but I was wrong. — Erin Morgenstern

I have never lied, " Mr. Barris counters, standing as well. "I do not share what I am not at liberty to say. I gave my word and I intend to keep it but I have never lied to you. You never even asked me, you assumed I knew nothing. — Erin Morgenstern

Life takes us to unexpected places sometimes. The future is never set in stone, remember that. — Erin Morgenstern

When I was growing up, if there was a Young Adult section of my town's library, I missed it. I wandered right from 'The Babysitter's Club' over to Stephen King. His books were big and fat and they seemed important. I eventually worked my way through most of the shelf, but 'It' is the one that stuck with me. — Erin Morgenstern

I tried to explain as much as I could," Poppet says. "I think I made an analogy about cake."
"Well, that must have worked," Widget says. "Who doesn't like a good cake analogy? — Erin Morgenstern

Old stories have a habit of being told and retold and changed. Each subsequent storyteller puts his or her mark upon it. Whatever truth the story once had is buried in bias and embellishment. The reasons do not matter as much as the story itself. — Erin Morgenstern

I binge write. I think it's because I started seriously writing by participating in National Novel Writing Month, an online-based challenge to write 50,000 words in 30 days. — Erin Morgenstern

Perhaps it is controlling the chaos within more than the chaos without. — Erin Morgenstern

He spends the majority of the evening in the company of Celia Bowen, whose elaborate gown changes color, shifting through a rainbow of hues to compliment whoever she is closest to. — Erin Morgenstern

Timing is a sensitive thing. — Erin Morgenstern

We are two different people, Ethan. Just because you could never decide which one of us you were in love with does not make us interchangeable. — Erin Morgenstern

The fact that people are already reading and loving something I wrote is still hard to believe. — Erin Morgenstern

I would have written you, myself, if I could put down in words everything I want to say to you. A sea of ink would not be enough.' 'But you built me dreams instead. — Erin Morgenstern

I liked the idea of having actual magic performed as stage magic, so you could assume that it was just a trick, that something is all smoke and mirrors, but there's that, like, feeling at the back of your mind: What if it's not? — Erin Morgenstern

You don't have to be a chef or even a particularly good cook to experience proper kitchen alchemy: the moment when ingredients combine to form something more delectable than the sum of their parts. Fancy ingredients or recipes not required; simple, made-up things are usually even better. — Erin Morgenstern

He will always choose the circus. — Erin Morgenstern

What happened?" Bailey asks.
"That is somewhat difficult to explain," Tsukiko answers. "It is a long and complicated story."
"And you're not going to tell me, are you?"
She tilts her head a bit ... "No, I am not," she says.
"Great," Bailey mutters under his breath ... "The bonfire exploded? How?"
"Remember when I said it was difficult to explain? That has not changed. — Erin Morgenstern

Do you remember all of your audiences?" Marco asks.
"Not all of them," Celia says. "But I remember the people who look at me the way you do."
"What way might that be?"
"As though they cannot decide if they are afraid of me or they want to kiss me."
" I am not afraid of you," Marco says. — Erin Morgenstern

The funeral is a quiet one, despite the number of mourners present. There are no sobs or flailing handkerchiefs. There is a smattering of color amongst the sea of traditional black. Even the light rain cannot push it down into the realms of despair. It rests instead in a space of thoughtful melancholy. — Erin Morgenstern

The Burgess sisters arrived together. Tara and Lainie do a little bit of everything. Sometimes dancers, sometimes actresses. Once they were librarians, but that is a subject they will only discuss if heavily intoxicated. — Erin Morgenstern

I have tried to let you go and I cannot. I cannot stop thinking of you. I cannot stop dreaming about you. — Erin Morgenstern

Wine is bottled poetry, he thinks. — Erin Morgenstern

Unusual yet beautiful. Provocative while remaining elegant. — Erin Morgenstern

Wine is bottled poetry, he thinks [...] He wonders if the poem of the circus could possibly be bottled. — Erin Morgenstern

I am already married, she remarks to the empty air, twisting the ring on her right hand that covers an sold, distinctive scar. — Erin Morgenstern

The breaking is the easy part. The pulling back together is the problem. — Erin Morgenstern

Every element of the circus blends together in a wonderful coalescence. Acts that have been training in separate countries on separate continents now perform in adjacent tents, each part melding seamlessly into a whole. Each costume, each gesture, each sign on each tent is more perfect than the last. — Erin Morgenstern

Gates Open at Nightfall & Close at Dawn in swirly lettering, and under that, in tiny plain letters: Trespassers Will Be Exsanguinated Bailey doesn't know what "exsanguinated" means, but he doesn't much like the sound of it. — Erin Morgenstern

And yet I cannot be myself. You teach me all these things and then you put me here to pretend to be something I am not, while she is center stage, doing exactly what she does. — Erin Morgenstern

I am a fan of magic and fantasy, particularly when it's grounded in reality. — Erin Morgenstern

Tarot is just stories on cards. — Erin Morgenstern

Each of them always gravitating toward the other. Yet still they do not touch. — Erin Morgenstern

He reads histories and mythologies and fairy tales, wondering why it seems that only girls are ever swept away from their mundane lives on farms by knights or princes or wolves. It strikes him as unfair to not have the same fanciful opportunity himself. And he is not in the position to do any rescuing of his own. — Erin Morgenstern

Which tent is your favourite?" he asks.
"The Ice Garden," Celia answers, without even pausing to consider.
"Why is that?" Marco asks.
"Because of the way it feels," she says. "It's like walking into a dream. As though it is someplace else entirely and not simply another tent ... — Erin Morgenstern

It is too difficult to see a situation for what it is when you are in the midst of it. — Erin Morgenstern

When all of this is over, no matter which one of us wins, I will not let you go so easily. Agreed? — Erin Morgenstern

There are so many questions, so many things she longs to discuss despite her father's constant nagging about not concerning herself with her opponent. But at the same time, she feels suddenly exposed, aware that he has always known where each of them stood. Known every time he opened a door for her or took notes for Chandresh. Every time he stared at her as he does now, with those disconcertingly bright-green eyes. Still, it is a tempting invitation. — Erin Morgenstern

And then he tells her stories. Myths he learned from his instructor. Fantasies he created himself, inspired by bits and pieces of others read in archaic books with crackling spines. — Erin Morgenstern

The way cats lose bits of fur when you pet them thoroughly. — Erin Morgenstern

They are enthusiasts, devotees. Addicts. Something about the circus stirs their souls, and they ache for it when it is absent. They seek each other out, these people of such specific like mind. They tell of how they found the circus, how those first few steps were like magic. Like stepping into a fairy tale under a curtain of stars ... When they depart, they shake hands and embrace like old friends, even if they have only just met, and as they go their separate ways they feel less alone than they had before. — Erin Morgenstern

A soft breeze plays with her hair, bringing with it the mingling scent of dusty tomes and damp, rich ink. — Erin Morgenstern

Dear Miss Bowen, he begins. He hopes that he will receive another letter in turn. — Erin Morgenstern

I prefer to remain unenlightened, to better appreciate the dark." The — Erin Morgenstern

There is so much that glows in the circus, from flames to lanterns to stars. I have heard the expression "trick of the light" applied to sights within Le Cirque des Reves so frequently that I sometimes suspect the entirety of the circus is itself a complex illusion of illumination" . — Erin Morgenstern

I think that's a hallmark of a really good story that it has readers that it speaks to more than others. — Erin Morgenstern

Not a single person in that audience believes for a second that what I do up there is real," he says, gesturing in the general direction of the stage. "That's the beauty of it. Have you seen the contraptions these magicians build to accomplish the most mundane feats? They are a bunch of fish covered in feathers trying to convince the public they can fly, and I am simply a bird in their midst. The audience cannot tell the difference beyond knowing that I am better at it. — Erin Morgenstern

I wanted you to have a place where you felt safe enough to cry if I could not be with you. — Erin Morgenstern

Mr. Ethan W. Barris is an engineer and architect of somerenown, and the second of the guest to arrive.
He looks as though he has wandered into the wrong building and would be more at home in an office or a bank with his timid manner and silver spectacles, his hair carefully combed to diguise the fact that it is beginning to thin.
He met Chandresh only once before, at a symposium on ancient Greek architect.
The dinner invitation came as a surprise; Mr. Barris is not the type of man who receives invitations to unsual late-night social functions, or usual social functions for that matter, but he deemed it too impolite to decline. — Erin Morgenstern

Often diners remark that they are too pretty, too impressive to eat, but they always find a way to manage. — Erin Morgenstern

The false face had been handsome, yes, but consciously so. As though he was too aware of his own attractivensss, something she found distinctly unappealing. — Erin Morgenstern

She leans forward and kisses him, not on the cheek, as she has a handful of times before, but on the lips, and Bailey knows in that moment that he will follow her anywhere. Poppet — Erin Morgenstern

Is it not that bad to be trapped somewhere, then? Depending on where you're trapped?"
"I suppose it depends on how much you like the place you're trapped in," Widget says.
"And how much you like whoever you're stuck there with," Poppet adds, kicking his black boot with her white one. — Erin Morgenstern

But dreams have ways of turning into nightmares. — Erin Morgenstern

It's lovely, the way wishes are added to it, by lighting candles with ones that are already lit and adding them to the branches. New wishes ignited by old wishes. — Erin Morgenstern

I wished for her," he says. — Erin Morgenstern

Love is fickle and fleeting," Tsukiko continues. "It is rarely a solid foundation for decisions to be made upon, in any game. — Erin Morgenstern

It would be so simple to let go.
It would be so much easier to let go.
So much less painful. — Erin Morgenstern