Kristoff Quotes & Sayings

Own nothing. Know nothing. Be nothing.
Because then you can do anything. — Jay Kristoff

He presses the triggers. And like roses in his hands, death blooms. — Jay Kristoff

An avalanche starts with one pebble. A forest with one seed. And it takes one word to make the whole world stop and listen. All you need is the right one. — Jay Kristoff

She was ten years old, after all. Alone and helpless and afraid. But here is truth, gentlefriends, no matter the number of suns in your sky. At the heart of it, two kinds of people live in this world or any other: those who flee and those who fight. Your kind has many terms for the latter sort. Berserker. Killer instinct. More balls than brains. And it shouldn't surprise you, knowing what little you know already, that in the face of this thug and his blade, and laden with memory of her father's execution never flinch never fear instead of wailing or breaking as another ten-year-old might have, young Mia gripped the stiletto she'd fished from the darkness, and slipped it straight up into the puppy-choker's eye. The — Jay Kristoff

Dark now. Blacker than black, I know it. And words are tiny things in the face of all that dark and all that cold. But hear these words, little sister. Hear and know. Tomorrow is coming, just as fast as the turning of the sky. And as sure as it's black now, the sun will rise. Always. No matter how faint the glow. — Jay Kristoff

You deserve every star in the galaxy laid out at your feet and a thousand diamonds in your hair. You deserve someone who'll run with you as far and as fast as you want to. Holding your hand, not holding you back. — Jay Kristoff

Mia stayed where she was, distrust plain in her eyes.
"I've got tea," Mercurio sighed. "And cake."
The girl covered her growling belly with both palms.
". . . What kind of cake?"
"The free kind."
Mia pouted. Licked her lips and tasted blood.
"My favorite."
And she took the old man's hand. — Jay Kristoff

The truth is, the abyss lives in us. In our greed. In the way we look at things different to us, and see things lesser. In the way we see the smaller, or the weaker, and think them prey.

It begins with the beasts of the land, the birds of the sky. And in a blinking, we find ourselves seeing our lessers in people with different colored skins. Different gods. Different creeds. We see them as lessers, and we hurt, and we kill, and we think nothing of it. Because they are different, we think ourselves just. Because we are stronger, we think ourselves righteous.

That is the abyss in all of us. And we stand close to the edge still. Closer than any can dream. We need but stray for a moment and we will find ourselves back again, staring down into that black. And who will save us? When everything that was different to us is already gone? — Jay Kristoff

You're hungry.
The beast glared.
STAY OUT OF MY MIND, INSECT. — Jay Kristoff

Too many to defeat.
But not too many to fight. — Jay Kristoff

Iron or glass? they'd ask.
She was neither.
She was steel. — Jay Kristoff

If her face were a puzzle, most would put it back in the box, unfinished. Moreover, — Jay Kristoff

FEATHERS GROW BACK.... SISTERS DO NOT. — Jay Kristoff

You lied to me."
"I never lied. I just didn't tell you the whole truth."
"You said you were alone."
"I am alone."
"There's hundreds of you. Maybe thousands. You and your 'family' are everywhere."
"Just because you're standing in a crowd doesn't mean you belong there." -Yukiko and Kin — Jay Kristoff

Listen, girl," Aelius sniffed. "The books we love, they love us back. And just as we mark our places in the pages, those pages leave their marks on us. I can see it in you, sure as I see it in me. You're a daughter of words. A girl with a story to tell. — Jay Kristoff

With all my might, I heave the axe into the ice, just inches from Kristoff's head. Oops. — Elise Allen

The gaze of Daniio's slow cousin eye seemed to be wandering off, as if distracted by pretty flowers, or perhaps a rainbow.* — Jay Kristoff

If I were going to name my blade," Mia said thoughtfully, "I'd call it 'Fluffy. — Jay Kristoff

You have me. Until the last star in the galaxy dies, you have me. — Jay Kristoff

Sometimes weakness is a weapon. If you're smart enough to use it. — Jay Kristoff

Just so you know, if it comes down to cannibalism, you get eaten first. — Jay Kristoff

There's a fairy story called the 'The Shoemaker and the Elves' where this old cobbler keeps leaving leather out overnight and wakes up the next day, and there's a new pair of shoes. Co-authoring is a little like that. You send off the manuscript to your partner, and a few days later, you check your email, and hey, there's more book in here! — Jay Kristoff

Forget the girl who had everything. She died when her father did."
"But I--"
"Nothing is where you start. Own nothing. Know nothing."
"But why would I want to do that?"
His smile made her smile in return.
"Because then you can do anything. — Jay Kristoff

RAIJIN, TAKE ME NOW.
She shot Buruu a withering glance as he rolled over on his back and pawed at the sky.
HAVE MERCY ON ME, FATHER. TAKE MY WINGS. CHAIN ME TO STINKING EARTH. BUT THIS TORTURE I CANNOT ENDURE.
Oh, shut it. — Jay Kristoff

WHEN IT IS DONE, WE WILL FLY FAR FROM HERE. FAR FROM THIS SCAB AND ITS POISONED SKY.
WE WILL DANCE IN THE STORMS, YOU AND I. — Jay Kristoff

It's truth to say in all save solitude - and in some sad cases, even then - you can always count on the company of fools. — Jay Kristoff

Cock is just another word for 'fool.' But you call someone a cunt, well..." The girl smiled. "You're implying a sense of malice there. An intent. Malevolent and self-aware. Don't think I name Consul Scaeva a cunt to gift him insult. Cunts have brains, Don Tric. Cunts have teeth. Someone calls you a cunt, you take it as a compliment. As a sign that folks believe you're not to be lightly fucked with. — Jay Kristoff

People often shit themselves when they die. Their muscles slack and their souls flutter free and everything else just...slips out. — Jay Kristoff

Dying is easy. Anyone can throw themselves onto the pyre and rest a happy martyr. Enduring the suffering that comes with sacrifice is the real test. — Jay Kristoff

i listen to his heartbeat. hear him breath.
as thought becomes motion and motion becomes all that lies between him and his end. as the black is burned blue with the light of tiny funeral pyres. as his missiles and bullets take away his enemies, all they were and will ever be. i can taste it in his sweat. hear it in his whispers. see it in the tiny photograph he has taped to his console.
all he thinks of amid this loveless dance,
all he cares about here on the edge of forever,
is her.
he does not want to die. not because he is afraid. simply because he cannot bear the thought of leaving her behind.
and there, in that tiny moment, i envy him. — Jay Kristoff

I appear to have misplaced the fucks I give for what you think. — Jay Kristoff

And who am I, mighty Khan?
She felt warmth in him then, the beginnings of a smile deep inside.
He spread his wings.
Bowed his head.
Purred.
YOU ARE YUKIKO. — Jay Kristoff

It's like these fellows who name their swords 'Skullbane' or 'Souldrinker' or somesuch." Tric tied his saltlocks into a matted knot atop his head. "Tossers, all."
"If I were going to name my blade," Mia said thoughtfully, "I'd call it 'Fluffy.'"
Tric snorted with laughter. "Fluffy?"
"Byss, yes," the girl nodded. "Think of the terror you'd instill. Being bested by a foe wielding a sword called Souldrinker... that you could live with. Imagine the shame of having the piss smacked out of you by a blade called Fluffy. — Jay Kristoff

The brighter the light, the deeper the shadow. — Jay Kristoff

This is how the rain becomes a flood. One drop at a time. — Jay Kristoff

Yukiko steered the subject away from sex as fast as she could. She was still occasionally woken by nightmares about the day her father had tried to sit her down for "the talk". — Jay Kristoff

Too many books. Too few centuries. — Jay Kristoff

You tend to find the best in yourself as an artist when you're challenged. — Jay Kristoff

Lay hand upon me again, sir, and I'll feed your jewels to the fucking drakes. — Jay Kristoff

The pair stood watching each other, still as statues, moments ticking by like hours as the gale howled about them.
"You have very good ears, sir." she finally said.
"You have better feet, Pale Daughter. I heard nothing."
"Then how?"
The boy offered a dimpled smile. "You stink of cigarillo smoke. Cloves, I think."
"That's impossible. I'm upwind from you."
The boy glanced at the shadows moving like snakes around his feet.
"Seems to be raining impossible in these parts. — Jay Kristoff

There are plenty of genre-crossover books, films, and games out there, but to do the job well, you have to do more than just smoosh a couple of 'in' concepts together, and hey presto, instant millions. — Jay Kristoff

For a moment, she wasn't Mia Corvere, daughter of a murdered house, parched with the thirst for revenge. Not a fledgling assassin or a servant of a goddess. Just a girl. And he a boy. Their eyes blind to all but each other. Aalea's voice echoing in her ears. — Jay Kristoff

ENOUGH NOISE. STAND ASIDE. I WILL GUT HIM. — Jay Kristoff

And within the computer's innards, a spreading cancer. A self-replicating corruption. A B-pop mutiny of bass and drum and oscillating frequency. Inane quasi poetry glorifying a pointless act of intimacy. — Jay Kristoff

Beauty you're born with, but brains you earn. — Jay Kristoff

With a far-future setting merging Chinese and American culture, 'Firefly' also saw high-tech futurism blended with the traditional Wild West. — Jay Kristoff

Speaking of shabby looks, we're going to have to give you a haircut soon.
... WHAT?
These feathers are getting messy.
LET ME UNDERSTAND THIS CORRECTLY. YOU WISH TO CUT MY MANE?
Thunder tigers grow manes?
OF COURSE! HOW ELSE WOULD YOU TELL MALES FROM FEMALES?
This is a trick question, right?
A MANE IS A SIGN A MALE ARASHITORA HAS REACHED MATURITY.
Her laughter rang out in his mind.
So it's going to be a few more decades growing, then?
HMPH. I'LL HAVE YOU KNOW MOST FEMALES FIND IT FETCHING. — Jay Kristoff

The thunder tiger looked at her like an avalanche looks at a butterfly. — Jay Kristoff

You wear your heart on your sleeve. Guard it more carefully, lest others see it and pluck it out. — Jay Kristoff

since i will not send this, i also feel it is my duty to inform you that almost six months on I think I still love you and that makes me sad becaue love shouldn't feel this way. is like getting kicked in the stomach every time i think of you and it makes me want to roll my face across this keyboardbiu;///ubEWdcfhugiov'byhi;.//////-='-0i9juh8ygtfdcsaazs34defg7uefg7u8hi9o0p8hi9o0p-[[09ju8dcsaazs34d9o0p-[[09. — Jay Kristoff

Hanna D: Your pep talks ----ing suck, AIDAN.
AIDAN: . . . Suck what?
Hanna D: Never mind. — Jay Kristoff

You'll be a rumor. A whisper. The thought that wakes the bastards of this world sweating in the nevernight. The last thing you will ever be, girl, is someone's hero. — Jay Kristoff

I don't know my limit, but I'm scared to reach it. I don't know what will happen if I do. And I still can't sleep. — Jay Kristoff

As for Kristoff, well, maybe Olaf was right. Maybe Kristoff does truly love me. I think I truly love him. At least, I think I could truly love him. We only met a couple of days ago. I don't want to think about true love yet. — Elise Allen

On Salem's Lot: " My favorite vampire story ever. I first read this 20 years ago, and I can still quote lines from it.
"You have been ill-used, Mr Bryant."
"I will see you sleep like the dead, teacher."
"The boy makes ten of you, false priest."
Fuck twilight. Seriously ... — Jay Kristoff

You give people hope, Yukiko. The strength at the heart of all strength. The steps you take now, the first steps- they are always the hardest. But the footprints you leave in the earth behind you will be followed by thousands. — Jay Kristoff

A split second. An eternity. Into the breach. Across the brink. A micron wide. Deep as forever. Of all our infinite possibilities, these are but two. — Jay Kristoff

Mia looked over the new bruises on Tric's face, shook her head. 'My brave centurion. Riding in on his charger to save his poor damsel? Hold me, brave sir, I fear I shall swoon. — Jay Kristoff

I think it's time to recruit the most dangerous man in these halls,' she said.
Tric looked back up to the Hall of Songs, the Shahiid they'd just fled from. 'I thought we just ran away from the most dangerous man in these halls?'
Mia tried to smile.
Settled for shaking her head.
'You've obviously not spent enough time with librarians, Don Tric. — Jay Kristoff

To be a servant can be a noble thing, but only as noble as the master served. — Jay Kristoff

And she said the most powerful and dangerous things were locked up behind doors of death with keys of pain in the hopes that people would realize life was far too precious and the power was not worth the price. — Megan Derr

In its brief 14-episode run, 'Firefly' gave viewers as much chance of witnessing a horseback chase or train robbery as a laser gun and spacefight in any given episode. Snappy one-liners and silly hats were a constant, of course. — Jay Kristoff

My gift to you, Yukiko-chan.' He nodded. 'Use it to cut away your fear, and leave nothing in its wake. Cherish it. And cherish this truth I speak to you now, if no other before or after: The greatest tempest Shima has even known waits in the wings for you to call its name. Your anger can topple mountains. Crush empires. Change the very shape of the world.'
He pressed the blade into her hand, watched her with cool eyes the colour of steel.
'Your anger is a gift. — Jay Kristoff

Wait," he whispered.

But she didn't. — Jay Kristoff

Oh aye. He's as dangerous as a sack of blackmark vipers. A right cunt and no mistake.'
The boy raised his eyebrows, mouth slightly agape.
Mia met his tare, scowling. 'What?'
'My mother said that's a filthy word,' Tric Frowned.
'The filthiest. She told me never to say it. Especially in front of dona.'
'O, really.' The girl took another pull on her cigarillo, eyes narrowed. 'And whys that?'
'I don't know.' Tric found himself mumbling. 'It's just what she said. — Jay Kristoff

There is power in words.
There are words that bid us laugh and make us weep. Words to begin with and words to end by. Words that seize the hearts in our chests and squeeze them tight, that set the skin on our bones to tingling. Words so beautiful they shape us, forever change us, live inside us for as long as we have breath to speak them. There are forgotten words. Killing words. Great and frightening and terrible words. There are True words.
And then there are pictures. — Jay Kristoff

He's probably out there in the hallway right now, composing bad poetry in his head." Michi cleared her throat, her voice taking on a breathless lilt:
"Pale Fox's Daughter,
Her cherry lips haunt my dreams.
Something, something, breasts ... — Jay Kristoff

Tiger proudly roars.
Dragon dives and Phoenix soars.
Fox gets the chicken. — Jay Kristoff

You walked into this village with a thunder tiger beside you. You have slain demons with your own hands. Are the old myths really that hard to believe?
'They wouldn't be myths otherwise, would they?'
'Then have a care, Yukiko-chan,' Daichi smiled. 'Keeping the company of the last arashitora in Shima sounds like an excellent way to become a myth yourself. — Jay Kristoff

DO NOT UNDERSTAND YOU MONKEYS. — Jay Kristoff

It's easy to lose yourself in the idea of a person and be blinded to their reality. — Jay Kristoff

...bravo...' Mister Kindly said,'..if only I had hands to applaud..'
Mia smacked her backside. 'I'd settle for lips to kiss my sweet behind.
'...I would have to find it first...'
Arses are like fine wine, Mister Kindly. Better too little than too much.
' ...a beauty and a philosopher. be still my beating heart...' The not-cat looked down at its translucent chest '...O,wait... — Jay Kristoff

LOOK AROUND. GAME DEAD, RIVERS BLACK, LAND CHOKED WITH WEED. SKIES BLEEDING, RED AS BLOOD. FOR WHAT?
YOUR KIND ARE BLIND. YOU SEE ONLY THE NOW. NEVER THE WILL BE.
BUT SOON YOU WILL. WHEN ALL IS GONE, WHEN THERE ARE SO MANY MONKEY-CHILDREN THAT YOU MURDER FOR A SCRAP OF LAND, A DROP OF CLEAN WATER, THEN YOU WILL SEE. — Jay Kristoff

Never Flinch.' A cold whisper in her ear. 'Never fear. And never, ever forget.'
The girl nodded slowly.
Exhaled the hope inside.
And she'd watched her father die. — Jay Kristoff

If you can't hurt the ones who hurt you, sometimes hurting anyone will do. All — Jay Kristoff

He wants a thunder tiger, Akihito."
"Well, I want a woman who can touch her ears with her ankles, cook a decent meal and keep her opinions to herself. But they don't fucking exist either! — Jay Kristoff

We choose this. This place. This life. What it will be, and how we live it. We are not slaves to gods, or fate, or destinies woven in veils of smoke. We choose the people we want to be, and we choose the shape of the world in which we live. Nothing worthwhile comes without sacrifice. There is nothing so easy as swimming with the current, nothing so difficult as being the first to stand up. To say no. To point at a thing wrong and name it so. There are none so brave as those who choose to stand, when all others are content to kneel. None so worthy of the title 'hero' as those who fight when there are none to see it. Who choose a life bereft of accolade or fanfare, a life of struggle for the idea that we are all the same. Every one of us. And every one of us has the right to be happy. To know peace. To know love. — Jay Kristoff

You might get only one shot. So shoot. You know who said that?"
The rifle clatters to the bloody floor.
"Hanna FUCKING Donnelly. That's who. — Jay Kristoff

Though she knew she should probably be frightened at the sight, instead Mia took a deep breath, combed her fingers through her air, and stepped out of the alley, right into a slop pile of what she hoped was mud.*

* It was not mud. Alas. — Jay Kristoff

Then know this. Between and beneath and beyond anything else i may be, i am yours. I will never leave you. never forsake you. You may rely upon sun to rise and moon to fall. For you are the heart of me. — Jay Kristoff

It's quite a thing, to watch a person slip from the potential of life into the finality of death. It's another thing entirely to be the one who pushed. And for all Mercurio's teachings, she was still a sixteen-year-old girl who'd just committed her first act of murder. Her — Jay Kristoff

Your mind will serve you better than any trinket under the suns ... It is a weapon ... and like any weapon, you need practice to be any good at wielding it. — Jay Kristoff

Our troubles are but mayflies, rising and falling between the turn of dawn and dusk. And then they are gone to the houses of memory, you and I will remain, Yukiko. — Jay Kristoff

Just because you're standing in a crowd doesn't mean you belong there. — Jay Kristoff

A conscience is easier to swallow on an empty belly, simpler to swing with a broken wrist. — Jay Kristoff

It takes courage to say goodbye. To stare at a thing lost and know it is gone forever. Some tears are iron forged. — Jay Kristoff

I do," Olaf says. "Love is putting someone else's needs before yours, like, you know, how Kristoff brought you back here to Hans and left you forever. — Elise Allen

When all is bood, blood is all. — Jay Kristoff

The books we love, they love us back. And just as we mark our places in the pages, those pages leave their marks on us. I can see it in you, sure as I see it in me. You're a daughter of the words. A girl with a story to tell. — Jay Kristoff

QUIET NOW, MONKEY-CHILD. DREAM. — Jay Kristoff

Yukiko stared back at him. Slurred words and a soft stare, that stupefied, slack-jawed look slinking over his face and turning his skin to gray. An anesthetic, numbing the pain of well deserved loss. — Jay Kristoff

Just a tiny moment of illumination, a heartbeat long ... page 348. — Jay Kristoff

The Light is full of lies, Acolyte. The Suns serve only to blind us. — Jay Kristoff

This is a sensationally bad idea, Ash." "So you said. About twenty times now." "You remember what Marielle did to Hush?" "Maw's teeth, Corvere. When my da got tortured in the Thorn Towers of Elai, they chopped his bollocks off and fed them to the scabdogs. What's your excuse? — Jay Kristoff

Each of you must decide where you stand. All we ask is that you refuse to kneel. You are the people. You have the power. Open your eyes. Open your minds. Then close the fingers on your hand. — Jay Kristoff

All power comes with a tithe. — Jay Kristoff

You've got the look of a girl who's no stranger to the page. I can tell. You've got words in your soul. — Jay Kristoff