Quotes from Anne Ursu

This was not [him]. It was a thing, with all the [him]-ness gone from it. Death takes the person and leaves his shell behind, like a hollowed-out tree.

She did not know how to react, for when your heart has been poisoned and someone picks a dandelion for you - because it is bright and yellow and you seem like you could use something like that - all you can do is contemplate the funny ways of weeds.

At each step there is a small moment of transformation that cannot be overlooked or rushed. And these moments should not be, because they are beautiful.

He could still escape—the fear was in front of him, and all he had to do was wrench free and run in the other direction. But he kept walking forward, straight into its embrace.

the water was holding [him] close and telling him beautiful lies, and since it was the end, he chose to believe them.

Something stirred inside her, some urge to plunge into the new white world and see what it had to offer. It was like she'd walked out of a dusty old wardrobe and found Narnia.

The apprentice's name was Wolf, because sometimes the universe is an unsubtle place.

They said words they did not mean, and their conversations seemed to follow all kinds of rules—rules that no one has ever explained to Oscar.

His words sounded foolish to his own ears. He was not impressive. He was small like the world.

Charlotte sighed inwardly. She knew her mother was serious when she started referring to shellfish. What did that mean, anyway? What's so great about the world being your oyster? Does that mean it's really hard to open, and when you do, you have something slimy and gross on the inside?

The ground beneath our feet is home to more untapped wonder than the skies above our head

How she hated the weakness of her human heart.

She did not like seeing her loved ones like this, bent over with sorrow; everything in her wanted to cry out, to thrash and scream at the sight of it. But she knew that great grief came from great love, and that their grief was an honor to her. And she did love them so very much.

Nature can destroy us in a blink. We live on only at its pleasure.

CHAPTER 1 Charlotte

Everything felt better when you knew what time it was. Sixty seconds in a minute, sixty minutes in an hour. There was always order, if you knew where to look.

Oscar grabbed on to the words and held them.

But you do not need to believe in something to be afraid of it.

I identify with all the Grimm fairy-tale girls, every single one. I always have. Those were the only stories I understood and the only stories I kneew how to tell. I did not know there were other possibilitiees.

Sometimes the monsters come harder when you dare stomp. Sometimes you need to bring the whole house down.

Were Here, another story for you: Once upon a time there were two sisters, twins, who came into the world looking just the same. Some said it

The trees were not Aletheia's gift to the wizards for their service, not living monuments to great men and women. They were monuments of a desperate act, necessitated because of foolishness and greed. The trees were not the wizards' respite. They were their sacrifice.

School was very easy, it turned out, if you just disconnected your heart.

It occurred to her that Mikaela was being nice to her. She did not know how to react, for when your heart has been poisoned and someone picks a dandelion for you -- because it is bright and yellow and you seem like you could use something like that -- all you can do is contemplate the funny ways of weeds.