Bracken Quotes & Sayings

Everyone knew the truth, but the truth didn't live inside them the same way it did for us. — Alexandra Bracken

And people like you are the reason we have middle fingers. — Alexandra Bracken

I could do it-because that was the only option. That was the only one I was willing to accept. — Alexandra Bracken

The thought occurred to me that she could easily take her knife and slash it though my spine. — Alexandra Bracken

He thought himself awake when he was already asleep. He saw the stars above his face, whirling on their silent and sleepless axis, and the leaves of the trees rustling against them, and he heard small changes in the grass. These little noises of footsteps and soft-fringed wing-beats and stealthy bellies drawn over the grass blades or rattling against the bracken at first frightened or interested him, so that he moved to see what they were (but never saw), then soothed him, so that he no longer cared to see what they were but trusted them to be themselves, and finally left him altogether as he swam down deeper and deeper, nuzzling into the scented turf, into the warm ground, into the unending waters under the earth. — T.H. White

The darkest minds never fade in the afterlight. — Alexandra Bracken

Red Five standing by, Luke said when it was his turn. — Alexandra Bracken

Breathing him in wasn't enough, I wanted to inhale him. The leather, the smoke, the sweetness. — Alexandra Bracken

I love you.' For whatever small comfort it was worth, he would have the truth between them now. 'Most desperately. Bloody inconvenient, that. — Alexandra Bracken

I have to say," he muttered, leaning back, "I am harboring some incredible ill will toward this mother of yours. — Alexandra Bracken

There's something I forgot to do. I know I left something I didn't mean to.But when I look back in the rear-view mirror, no one's there. There's nothing at all. Nothing. — Alexandra Bracken

Only, they've done such a good job of making this place hell that I wouldn't be surprised if the real one turned out to be a much nicer place. — Alexandra Bracken

What was the point of being holed up with someone who didn't believe in me when I had people out there who did? — Alexandra Bracken

Ruby," Chubs said. Then again, louder. "Ruby! Oh, for the love of ... we were talking about Black Betty, not your Orange ass. — Alexandra Bracken

There are rules, but rules may be rewritten if only one hand holds the ink. — Alexandra Bracken

All around the garage and house were pieces of me, but they couln't put them together. They didn't see the completed puzzle standing in front of them. — Alexandra Bracken

I've never found anything whatsoever that is as easy to do the right way as the wrong way, and if there is such a thing I would like to know about it. — Peg Bracken

I think there's some part of everyone, that's turned into the memories of a place. Strong feelings leave an inmprint on the air that echo back to whorever's unlucky enought to walk through that place again. — Alexandra Bracken

A flower is no less beautiful because it does not bloom in the expected form. Because it lasts an hour, not days. — Alexandra Bracken

Ugh." Cole rolled his eyes, gave a small laugh. "In a move straight out of Lee's playbook, I rolled over in bed this morning and hit the dresser. Already killing it this morning. — Alexandra Bracken

These are the people we're dealing with ... This is reality. These are people who won't hesitate to kill anyone who interferes with their orders. This is what hesitation has cost us. Revolutions are won with blood, not words. These photos have been out for days, and what have they done to get people involved
angry enough to stand up and protest? Nothing. — Alexandra Bracken

Okay, two brothers and a sister. Interesting. If they aren't with her, they must be too old to be affected by the psi virus, in camps, or dead. — Alexandra Bracken

Through the window I can see Rooks above the cherry-tree, Sparrows in the violet bed, Bramble-bush and bumble-bee, And old red bracken smoulders still Among boulders on the hill, Far too bright to seem quite dead. But old Death, who can't forget, Waits his time and watches yet, Waits and watches by the door. — Robert Graves

Etta saw the way Sophia took a deep breathe, set her shoulders back, and moved with practiced grace on her way out - and she understood something about the other girl, truly understood for the first time. Sophia wanted it, when she was only ever sent out. — Alexandra Bracken

He has gone to a place I cannot find him. I cannot sing him home. — Alexandra Bracken

I had the strangest sensation of floating, of drifting farther and farther away with nothing and no one to cling to. I was standing right beside her, but the distance between us had split into the kind of canyon I couldn't jump across. — Alexandra Bracken

Don't just get up and go like that again-like you always do. — Alexandra Bracken

You're not supposed to cuss when you're an old lady, and just when there's so much more to cuss about ... — Peg Bracken

Nicholas had not seen such a look of unwelcome surprise on his captain's face since the time their former cook announced he had served the crew stewed rat instead of salted beef. — Alexandra Bracken

Stop trying to make me feel better," Sophia ordered. "It won't work. I'm determined to be angry and guilty about this for at least another two days, and then again when I'm punching your corpse. — Alexandra Bracken

A celebrity is someone who no longer does the things that made him a celebrity. — Peg Bracken

Where's Philips?" he demanded. "Or this ship's surgeon?"
"Philips went below to tend the men there. Their surgeon is no longer in possession of the lower half of his body. I believe he is presently indisposed with the business of dying. — Alexandra Bracken

Seat belts. Welcome to Psi Services. I'm Zach and I'll be your driver on this epic quest to freedom. If you look out your windows
but, obviously, don't because Ruby just told you not to
you can give Nevada the finger as we pull away. — Alexandra Bracken

Why do you assume I forced him to do anything, darlin'?"
"Don't," I gritted out, "call me that."
Cole's light brows rose. "I guess that answers my question about why you lied to Alban. Care to
explain how you even know my brother? — Alexandra Bracken

I love you. With my whole heart. My whole life, however long I'm lucky enough to get, nothing will change for me. — Alexandra Bracken

I can't tell which direction is right or wrong anymore, but I know I want to stay. — Alexandra Bracken

Every idea is my last. I feel sure of it. So, I try to do the best with each as it comes and that's where my responsibility ends. But I just don't wait for ideas. I look for them. Constantly. And if I don't use the ideas that I find, they're going to quit showing up. — Peg Bracken

She would drive a saint to murder. Like, ten-stab-wounds-to-the-torso murder." "Good thing you're not a saint. — Alexandra Bracken

No spinning, I said. I wasn't sure my head or heart could take it. Up close, he was so warm, and so beautiful. I was already dizzy enough. — Alexandra Bracken

He was looking at his friend and seeing a stranger. — Alexandra Bracken

It was almost painful, I thought, to have a heart so swollen with gratitude and what must have been pure, untainted happiness. I wanted to live inside the feeling forever. — Alexandra Bracken

Alice had this magical look about her, like she would be at home in front of a hearth, wrapped in a large quilt, telling nursery rhymes to sweet-faced forest critters. — Alexandra Bracken

Never, never, never. I am never going to forget you. — Alexandra Bracken

We were the same, in the ways that mattered. — Alexandra Bracken

You're a wizard," I snapped. "Can't you just use magic to make your own food?"
"Ah, yes," he retorted. "Because mud pies are so very delicious and the wind fills empty stomachs quite nicely. — Alexandra Bracken

Well, things can't get much worse
that's one consolation, the Muskrat groaned. He had hidden himself in a forest of bracken in the bathroom, and had wrapped his head in a handkerchief so that nothing should grow into his ears. — Tove Jansson

Because one moment in life does not define a person," Li Min said. "Without mistakes and misjudgments we would stagnate. It is no shameful thing to be beaten when outnumbered, not when you were brave enough to try. Nor is a scar or injury something to despair over, for it is a mark that you were strong enough to survive. — Alexandra Bracken

Next time it'll be your nuts. — Alexandra Bracken

When people say it's a funny thing about them, you will probably be able to control your hysterics. They are only getting ready to announce the shattering fact that they don't like something. And it's not going to be something that's really quite awful, like suttee or apartheid; it's going to be something small. — Peg Bracken

Then he was stepping back, away, letting distance flood between us again. His voice was low, rough. "Give 'em hell, darlin'."
"And for the love of God, bitch, don't get stabbed this time!" Vida added. — Alexandra Bracken

Chubs jumped out of the driver's seat, leaving the engine running. oh, thank God. I saw you both on the ground and thought you killed each other. — Alexandra Bracken

Like a chastity belt, the package tour keeps you out of mischief but a bit restive for wondering what you missed. — Peg Bracken

It's not worth it to weigh what you could have done or should have done when there's no way of changing it. — Alexandra Bracken

How about a kiss, hey?" Etta liked that she was still able to startle him, just a little. The blank look of concentration broke as he barked out a laugh. "I don't know if that's a wise idea. We'd never leave. — Alexandra Bracken

They will never have this, will they? They might not ever know the feeling of cozying up to a lightning bolt, what it feels like to look at someone's face and see your heart there. — Alexandra Bracken

When had I started believing in "normal," anyway? — Alexandra Bracken

This is your dividing line, by the way, between child and nonchild - when the first trouble happens that Mama can't fix. — Peg Bracken

We - we spread out," he said. "Yes. We spread out. That's what we do."
They moved carefully through the bracken. The sergeant crouched behind a handy log, and said, "Right. Very good. You've got the general idea. Now let's spread out again, and this time we spread out separately. — Terry Pratchett

There was something immensely comforting, I found, about a crumpet - so comforting that I've never forgotten about them and have even learned to make them myself against those times when I have no other source of supply. — Peg Bracken

I didn't have time for tears anymore. I had questions. — Alexandra Bracken

I missed him. I missed him, I missed him -oh my God, I missed him so much. — Alexandra Bracken

Thing is, though, fear is worthless. It stops you when you need to keep moving most. And it only exists inside of your head. — Alexandra Bracken

Abbi described to me what it was to travel, to see the fabric of life spread out before him. He said it was 'possibility.' It is said that there is time enough for every purpose, and so you must continue to believe that there is a time for you. — Alexandra Bracken

Anything can break if you hit it hard enough. Aren't we all proof of that? — Alexandra Bracken

I'm not saving you, I remind her. But something makes me wonder if she even wants me to. — Alexandra Bracken

I think no one can ever really know another person unless you really pay attention. — Alexandra Bracken

They want you to think that darkness or evil is only something that gets inflicted on you by the outside world, but I know better, and I think the freak does, too. Sometimes the darkness lives inside you, and sometimes it wins. — Alexandra Bracken

A part of me wonders if it's not what she went through that has shaped her into something so solid and strong, but the people who went through it with her. — Alexandra Bracken

Maybe I was still broken and would always be-but now, at least, I was piecing myself back together, lining up one jagged edge at a time. — Alexandra Bracken

What?" Chubs called. "No minivan?" "Whoa, — Alexandra Bracken

What good is honour when greed eats away at it's foundations? — Alexandra Bracken

Leaf was staring down into shadow, and Thunder followed his gaze. The land dropped away into a small ravine. Moonlight pooled at the bottom, lighting a clearing ringed by bracken and trees. — Erin Hunter

Of course. My girl? She's incredible. — Alexandra Bracken

Oh my God, Green," I heard Chubs say from somewhere in the room. "Just take the damn socks
and put the kid out of his misery. — Alexandra Bracken

Hadn't he shown me, time and time again, that he was willing to be my friend if I was willing to let him?
It had been so long since I'd even wanted a friend that I wasn't sure I even remembered how to go about making one. — Alexandra Bracken

Give me one reason why we can't be together, and I'll give you a hundred why we can. — Alexandra Bracken

I kept my head down but my thoughts moving. — Alexandra Bracken

I hated him- I hated him for everything he had done, but, more than that, I hated him for being right. — Alexandra Bracken

To-day I think
Only with scents, - scents dead leaves yield,
And bracken, and wild carrot's seed,
And the square mustard field;
Odours that rise
When the spade wounds the root of tree,
Rose, currant, raspberry, or goutweed,
Rhubarb or celery;
The smoke's smell, too,
Flowing from where a bonfire burns
The dead, the waste, the dangerous,
And all to sweetness turns.
It is enough
To smell, to crumble the dark earth,
While the robin sings over again
Sad songs of Autumn mirth.
- A poem called DIGGING. — Edward Thomas

I do not know what, in the end, makes a person who they are. If we're all born one way, or if we only arrive there after as series of chioces. The bible claims that the wicked act on their own desires and impulses, because God is good, only good, and He would never compel a soul to wickedness. That I'm supposed to count on justice in the next life, even if I can't have it in this one. — Alexandra Bracken

My bad, Z. I shouldn't have gone bitch on you. We cool? — Alexandra Bracken

People will admit to arson and mayhem sooner than no sense of humor. — Peg Bracken

Seeing that my words had done absolutely nothing to pull North from whatever depths he was clinging to, Owain did what came naturally. He smacked North upside the head hard enough to send him sprawling into the window. And when it seemed that North would turn around and return the favor, Owain hit him again, harder. — Alexandra Bracken

You gotta stand up and walk, Gem," he said quietly, turning his back on them. "You have to walk out of here. Not just for them, but for yourself. Come on. You have to walk out of here on your own two feet."
So I did. — Alexandra Bracken

But we are stronger for what's happened to us. I am stronger, even if I couldn't see it at first. We have been given the gift of understanding that we can come through struggle and pain. We have built new families in place of the ones that cast us out. We have learned that life is one journey, and the purpose is not to reach some treasure at the end of it, but to find the courage to decide which paths to take, who to travel with, and to let things fall into place as they should and will. — Alexandra Bracken

What most of us are after, when we have a picture taken, is a good natural-looking picture that doesn't resemble us. — Peg Bracken

Give 'em hell, darlin — Alexandra Bracken

Forgive yourself, but don't forget — Alexandra Bracken

This time should have been no different. But it was. — Alexandra Bracken

Sometimes we have to bend," she says, "to survive. — Alexandra Bracken

I don't care," I said, leaning my head back against the seat. "Can we just get lost and see where that lands us? — Alexandra Bracken

Rest assured," he said, when he managed to find his voice, "there will always be a position for you on my ship."
Her face brightened with her clever, beautiful smile. "Will you let me climb up into the rigging? Reef the sails?"
A burst of thunder rolled through him. "Absolutely not."
She laughed again. "As if you could stop me. — Alexandra Bracken

It isn't true, by the way, that nothing is as bad as you think it's going to be. Some things are exactly as bad as you thought they were going to be, and some things are worse. — Peg Bracken

Why does a slight tax increase cost you two hundred dollars and a substantial tax cut save you thirty cents? — Peg Bracken

She'd known instinctively that they'd been building toward something, and she was only glad it had been the same 'something' she wanted. And maybe she was a pirate after all, because she would fight like hell before ever voluntarily surrendering the treasure she'd already found. — Alexandra Bracken

That was the Liam Stewart way of saying, Hi, darlin', missed you something fierce. — Alexandra Bracken

They were never scared of the kids who might die, or the empty spaces they would leave behind. They were afraid of us-the ones who lived. — Alexandra Bracken

Baha'ar," he began, his voice soft; grave. "Do not die so far away from the sea. — Alexandra Bracken

Ruby,
I lied before. I would have run.
- CG — Alexandra Bracken

When his hands were dry and chapped, he recalled the softness of her skin. When the world shivered at the approaching winter, he recalled the warmth of being beside her. When he felt the sneering judgment of the eyes around him, he recalled the invincibility she'd instilled in him with her belief. — Alexandra Bracken