Libba Bray Quotes & Sayings

It's always darkest before the ultimate sparkle. — Libba Bray

No one can steal our dream. — Libba Bray

She hadn't meant to get trapped in a conversation. That was the trouble with offering help to old people. — Libba Bray

Will you punish me forever? — Libba Bray

We're all damaged, somehow. — Libba Bray

You know that moment in 'The Matrix' when Neo takes the red pill and is plunged into the real world? That's what it felt like when I first read 'Watchmen' - like someone was taking a can opener to my head to make room for Moore's audacious brilliance. — Libba Bray

Tonight, she went into the woods, and I fear she shall live in the woods of my soul for the rest of my days. — Libba Bray

I think that the lady dies not because she leaves the tower for the outside world but because she lets herself float through the world pulled by the current after a dream.
Do you mean she should of paddled Cecily asks.
Miss Moore laughs. In a manner of speaking yes.
Ann stops drumming. But it wouldn't matter whether she paddled or not. She's cursed. No matter what she does she'll die.
And she'll die if she stays in the tower too. Perhaps not for a long time but she will die. We all will. Miss Moore says softly. — Libba Bray

I've had so many bikini waxes, I cry every time I see a Popsicle stick. — Libba Bray

Live life as if today is your last day living. — Libba Bray

I think we should find some kind of shelter; a cave or something."
"I don't want to do that! What if there's like, a creature living in the cave?" Tiara said. "Seriously, I saw this show once where these people were stranded on an island and there were these other people who were sort of crazy-slash-bad and there was this polar bear creature running around."
"What happened?" Miss Ohio asked.
"I don't know. My parents got divorced in the middle of season two and we lost our TiVo. — Libba Bray

Reminds us that greatness lies even in the smallest of moments, in the humblest of hearts, and we shall, each of us, be called to greatness. Whether we shall rise to meet it or let it slip away is the challenge put before us all. — Libba Bray

But you've changed,' I whisper. 'Haven't you?'
It is the scorpian's nature to sting. Just because he has no opportunity doesn't mean that he cannot. — Libba Bray

What makes a girl a girl? What makes a guy a guy? Do you have to be what they want you to be? Or do you stop and listen to that voice inside you? I know who I am. I'm Petra West. And I'm a girl. You want me to sleep somewhere else, fine. Whatever. But I'm not going to pretend to be somebody I'm not. I've done enough of that. — Libba Bray

Little clue: wasted on me." "What?" "I'm into girls." "Oh. Oh!" Chu said. "Right. Got it. That's cool. I've got a cousin who's gay. Amy Liu. Know her?" Jennifer laughed. "Oh, sure. I'll just look her up in the Big Book of Lesbians. We get a copy of that with the purchase of our first flannel shirt. — Libba Bray

Besides, things you loved deeply could be lost in a second, and then there was no filling the hole left inside you. So she lived in the moment, as if her life were one long party that never had to stop as long as she kept the good times going. — Libba Bray

She loved attention. It was like a glass of the best champagne - bubbly and intoxicating - and as with champagne, she always wanted more of it. Still, she didn't want to seem like an easy mark.
"If you must know, I've come to join a convent," Evie said, testing him. — Libba Bray

When the world moves forward too fast for some people, they try to pull us all back with their fear. — Libba Bray

I think sometimes in literature we kind of police ourselves. I know a lot of people talked about Twilight, and they would say, oh, but the heroine, she lets this man make her decisions. And I thought, that may not be the particular fantasy or trope that works for me.
But listen man, I read Wuthering Heights. I wanted me a little Heathcliff action. I mean, why can't we indulge that fantasy and also be like, And now I would like the ERA passed, please. Also, this lipstick is fuckin' killer. — Libba Bray

Just once I'd like to meet a fella who isn't a phony. Somebody who doesn't wanna buy me a fur so he can show me off to his boys. — Libba Bray

Don't you? if you keep them from the magic, they will never know what their lives could be.'
They will remain protected,' Asha insists.
No, 'I say. 'Only untested. — Libba Bray

I have seen what a handful of girls can do. They can hold back an army if necessary, so please don't tell me it isn't possible. — Libba Bray

Ohmigosh. No food at all." Tiara sank down on the sand as if the full weight of their predicament had finally hit her. She blinked back tears. And then that megawatt smile that belonged on cereal boxes across the nation reappeared. "I am going to be so superskinny by pageant time! — Libba Bray

But as soon as the thought enters my mind, another one swims in and eats the first one like a shark. Fuck that, it burps. — Libba Bray

I've never done acid, finding it hard to go willingly to a place that could be frightening, hellish, and totally beyond my control. A place much like high school. — Libba Bray

I grew up doing theatre and spent a long time as a playwright. I still think very visually when I write. — Libba Bray

Because 'You're perfect just the way you are,' is what your guidance counselor says. And she's an alcoholic. — Libba Bray

Yes, go on. Leave. You're always coming and going. The rest of us are stuck here. Do you think he'd still love you if he knew who you are? He doesn't really care - only when it suits him. — Libba Bray

Wow, you're awesome and The universe loves a winner, so the universe must really love you! — Libba Bray

No historians or librar ians were harmed in the making of this book, but some were badgered extensively with questions. — Libba Bray

He took comfort in the neon signs, the wild strands of jazz creeping out of clubs whenever happy swells of people pushed through the doors in their finery. — Libba Bray

Can we really conquer chaos so easily? If that were so, I should be able to prune the pandemonium of my own soul into something neat and tidy rather than this maze of wants and needs and misgivings that has me forever feeling as if I cannot fit into the landscape of things. — Libba Bray

Please, I'm a transgender former boy-bander. You think I don't know how to defend myself? — Libba Bray

Do not be tempted by English roses. Their beauty fades, but their thorns are forever. — Libba Bray

I'm related to Davy Crockett on my mom's side. Honest. — Libba Bray

She smiled as sweetly as a show poster for the glorified, all-American Ziegfeld girl just before dumping her second cigarette into Wally's fresh cup of coffee. — Libba Bray

I love myself. They make it so hard for us to love ourselves. — Libba Bray

Simon, would you still care for me if you discovered I was not who I say I am?"
What do you mean?"
I mean would you still care for me, no matter what you came to know?"
What a thing to ponder. I don't know what to say."
The answer is no. He does not need to say it.
With a sigh, Simon digs at the fire with the iron poker. Bits of the charred log fall away, revealing the angry insides. they flare orange for a moment, then quiet down again. After three tries, he gives up.
I'm afraid this fire's had it."
I can see a few embers remaining. "No, I think not. If ... "
He sighs, and it says everything. — Libba Bray

Power changes everything till it is difficult to say who are the heroes and who the villains. — Libba Bray

Why had this power come to me? I can scarcely govern myself. At times, I feel as if I could dance through the halls with happiness, and then, just as suddenly, my thoughts are dark and lost and frightening. — Libba Bray

I can see his pain, see it in the way he runs his fingers through his hair, over and over, and I understand what it costs him to hide it all. — Libba Bray

Often, the monsters we create in our imagination are not nearly as frightening as the monstrous acts perpetrated by ordinary human beings in the aim of one cause or another. — Libba Bray

In a manner befitting your station while at Spence. It's fine to be kind to the lesser girls, but remember that they are not your equals. Station. Lesser girls. Not your equals. It's a laugh, really. — Libba Bray

We are English, and I expect you to behave as such. No more crying. — Libba Bray

I know. And I'm Sorry. People will disappoint you, Gemma. The question to ask is whether you can learn to live with the disappointment and move on. I'm offering you a new world. — Libba Bray

He loved her very much. She inspired his work. He used to say, 'There is no meaning but what we assign to life, and she is my meaning. — Libba Bray

Reason was for suckers and Presbyterians. — Libba Bray

You are unique, and this is a beautiful, beautiful thing, grasshopper. — Libba Bray

The world expected girls to pluck and primp and put on heels. Meanwhile, boys dressed in rumpled T-shirts and baggy pants and misplace their combs, and yet you were suppose to fall at their feet? Unacceptable. — Libba Bray

Sometimes we seek that which we are not yet ready to find. — Libba Bray

Evie was so nervous that she downed her cocktail in two stiff swigs, then refilled her glass.
Henry arched an eyebrow. "A pro, I see."
"What else is there to do in Ohio? — Libba Bray

It is a giggle full of high spirits and merry mischief, proof that we never lose our girlish selves, no matter what sort of women we become. — Libba Bray

Come on, Father. Stop me. Tell me to behave, to go to hell, something, anything. — Libba Bray

What if evil doesn't really exist? What if evil is something dreamed up by man, and there is nothing to struggle against except out own limitations? The constant battle between our will, our desires, and our choices? — Libba Bray

Sometimes I just want to go in a room and break things and scream. Like, it's so much pressure all the time and if you get upset or angry, people say, 'Are you on the rag of something?' And it's like I want to say, 'No. I'm just pissed off right now. Can't I just be pissed off? How come that's not okay for me?' Like my dad will say, 'I can't talk to you when you're hysterical.' And I'm totally not being hysterical! I'm just mad. And he's the one losing it. But then I feel embarrassed anyway. So I slap on that smile and pretend everything's okay even though it's not. — Libba Bray

I change the world, the world changes me. — Libba Bray

My head kinda hurts," Miss New Mexico said. Several of the girls gasped. Half of an airline serving tray was lodged in her forehead, forming a small blue canopy over her eyes. "What is it?" Miss New Mexico checked to make sure her bra straps weren't showing. "N-nothing." Miss Ohio managed an awkward smile. — Libba Bray

Well, are you going to motivate people to bring peace to war-torn nations, or are you going to motivate people to join a cult and drink the Kool-Aid? — Libba Bray

They don't know what they're in for at Spence, getting me, a ghost of a girl who'll nod and smile and take her tea but who isn't really here. — Libba Bray

I knew it. You're an alien," said her former best friend, the pale, bespectacled creature with the spectacular cleavage.
"Yes, I'm an alien and I still made cheerleader. And now I'm going to steal your boyfriend to prove girls can't really be friends."
"I sat back timidly when you torched my house, killed my parents, and ate my dog. But now you're stealing my boyfriend? That's a step too far! — Libba Bray

A pair of Blue Noses on the next bench glared their disapproval at Evie's knee-length dress. Evie decided to give them a real show. She hiked her skirt and, humming jauntily, rolled down her stockings, exposing her legs. It had the desired effect on the Blue Noses, who moved down the platform, clucking about the "disgrace of the young." She would not miss this place. — Libba Bray

Creostus's booming laugh leaves gooseflesh upon my arms. He paces close to me. "Jealous, Priestess? Do you wish to compete for my affections? I should like to see that." "I'm sure you would. But you will die first and so let us journey to Philon, if you please. — Libba Bray

Peace is not happenstance. It is a living fire that must be fed constantly. It must be tended to with vigilance, else it dies out. — Libba Bray

Evie narrowed her eyes. "A time limit. Four weeks of the swooniest, swellest romance New York City has ever seen. And then, kaput. Over and out. Off the air."
"Golly, when you say it like that, it sounds as if our love's not real, Lamb Chop. — Libba Bray

What happens if your choice is misguided?' I ask, softly.
Miss Moore takes a pear from the bowl and offers us the grapes to devour. 'You must try to correct it.'
'But what if it's too late? What if you can't?'
There's a sad sympathy in Miss Moore's catlike eyes as she regards my painting again. She paints the thinnest sliver of shadow along the bottom of the apple, bringing it fully to life.
'Then you must find a way to live with it. — Libba Bray

True affection and love have a purity which shall always prevail over bigotry. — Libba Bray

It was hard to feel safe in the world when you were a girl. — Libba Bray

The best day of my life happened when I was five and almost died at Disney World. I'm sixteen now, so you can imagine that's left me with quite a few days of major suckage. — Libba Bray

Nicole did what she'd been taught since she was little and her parents had moved into an all-white neighborhood: She smiled and made herself as friendly and non threatening as possible. Its what she did when she met the parents of her friends. There was always that split second- something almost felt rather than seen- when the parents' faces would register a tiny shock, a palpable discomfort with Nicole's 'otherness.' And Nicole would smile wide and say how nice it was to come over. She would call the parents Mr. or Mrs., never by their first names. Their suspicion would ebb away, replaced by an unspoken but nonetheless palpable pride in her 'good breeding,' for which they should take no credit but did anyway. Nicole could never quite relax in these homes. She'd spend the evening perched on the edge of the couch, ready to make a quick getaway. — Libba Bray

I've learned that feminism is for everybody and there's nothing wrong with taking up space in the world, even if you have to fight for it a little bit, and that if you don't feel like smiling or waving, that's okay. You don't have to, and you don't have to say sorry. Mostly, I've learned that I don't really care if you like these answers or not, because they're the best, most honest ones I've got, and I just don't feel like I can cheat myself enough to give you what you want me to say. — Libba Bray

How now Mad Cow? — Libba Bray

We're all strangers connected by what we reveal, what we share, what we take away
our stories. I guess that's what I love about books
they are thin strands of humanity that tether us to one another for a small bit of time, that make us feel less alone or even more comfortable with our aloneness, if need be. — Libba Bray

Sometimes when Sam's pretending to be in love with me, my stomach does funny things."
"Well, get some milk of magnesia and stop it. — Libba Bray

Helloooo." Miss Ohio rolled her eyes. "I'm from the Buckeye State. We are serious about our tailgating parties. I can turn anything into a grill. — Libba Bray

I am no longer content to be the scared, obedient schoolgirl. Who are you, a stranger, to tell me what I can and cannot do? — Libba Bray

You have a steady fella?" Sam asked after a bit.
"No fella can hold me for long."
Sam gave her a sideways glance. "That a challenge?"
"No. A statement of fact. — Libba Bray

But without that spark of anger, without destruction, there can be no rebirth. — Libba Bray

From the elevator, Mabel watched the old woman's bare feet hobbling away, a trail of salt and the lace hem of her nightgown left in her wake like sea foam. — Libba Bray

There are times when one friend requires the blind faith of another ... — Libba Bray

Duff's little moans traveled up her spine, made her head buzz. And another thought grabbed hold: She was doing this. She had the power to do this. THat she could be both completely vulnerable and totally in control was mind-blowing. — Libba Bray

Long shadows of evening creep up the walls, inching closer. Gradually, they reach fully across us, holding us in the stillness that only night can bring. In the hazy gloom of dusk, we are silhouettes of ourselves, reduced to our very essence. The night grows bolder. Unafraid, it opens its mouth and swallows us whole. — Libba Bray

I feel like I swallowed a Magritte. Like on the inside, I'm made of clouds and floating eyes, green apples, and slowly rising men in bowler hats. — Libba Bray

What is the French word for rain? Le rain? La rain? Is the rain masculine or feminine? It's such a bother that it must be masculine. — Libba Bray

People always think they know other people, but they don't. Not really. I mean, maybe they know things about them, like they won't eat doughnuts or they like action movies or whatever. But they don't know what their friends do in their rooms alone at night or what happened to them when they were kids or if they feel fucked up and sad for no reason at all. — Libba Bray

You can't blame a fella for kissing the prettiest girl in New York, can you, sister?" Sam's grin was anything but apologetic.
Evie brought up her knee quickly and decisively, and he dropped to the floor like a grain sack. "You can't blame a girl for her quick reflexes now, can you, pal? — Libba Bray

I have done what they expected of me. I have curtsied for my Queen and made my debut. This is what I have anticipated eagerly for years. So why do I feel so unsatisfied? Everyone is merry. They haven't a care in the world. And perhaps that is it. How terrible it is to have no cares, no longings. I do not fit. I feel too deeply and want too much. — Libba Bray

One could argue that it's romantic to die for love. Of course, then you're dead and unable to take that honeymoon trip to the Alps with all the other fashionable young couples, which is a shame. — Libba Bray

My platform's called Don't Even Think About It. I go to schools and I say, 'Whatever bad thing it is you're thinking of doing, don't even think about it. 'Cause I can see into your soul, and I will hide in your closet and come for you in the night, and the last sound you ever hear will be my sharp teeth popping through the flesh of my gums, ready to eat you.' Their eyes get all big. It's awesome. I love little kids, man. They're the cutest — Libba Bray

We're never prepared for how much we love our children, for how much we wish we could protect them by being perfect. — Libba Bray

These are hard times. The world hurts. We live in fear and forget to walk with hope. But hope has not forgotten you. So ask it to dinner. It's probably hungry and would appreciate the invitation. — Libba Bray

You can never know about about your own destiny: are the people you meet there to play a part on your oun destiny, or do you exist just to play a role in theirs? — Libba Bray

Your mother and I do not approve of drinking. Have you not heard of the Eighteenth Amendment?"
"Prohibition? I drink to its health whenever I can. — Libba Bray

Cash or check?" he said cheekily. Even the dullest Ohio girls knew that bit of lingo: Kiss now or kiss later?
"Bank's closed, pal. — Libba Bray

I'm coming with you," Kartik insists. "You'll get yourself killed," I argue. "Then it's a good day to die," he says, — Libba Bray

She is the elephant's eyebrows, — Libba Bray

My aunt says you should only pray to Jesus."
Blind Bill grunted and spat. "You think the white folks' god is gonna help you? You think he's on our side?"
"I don't think anybody's god is on our side. — Libba Bray

A man bumps me on his busy way without so much as an apology. But that is all right. I forgive you, busy man about town with the sharp elbows. Hail and farewell to you! For I, Gemma Doyle, am to have a splendid Christmas in London town. All shall be well.
God rest us merry gentlemen. And gentlewomen. — Libba Bray

It seemed odd to Sosie that she had to make some hard-and-fast decision about such an arbitrary, individual thing as attraction, like having to declare an orientation major: I am straight with a minor in gay. — Libba Bray

She wished she were as inconsequential as the ghosts in her dreams. — Libba Bray

In every end, there is also a beginning. — Libba Bray