Quotes from Juliet Marillier

The greatest tales, well told, awaken the fears and longings of the listeners. Each man hears a different story. Each is touched by it according to his inner self. The words go to the ear, but the true message travels straight to the spirit.

Wake the sleeper must, and confront his fears, or risk being lost in the dark places of the mind forever.

Come, dear heart. Lean on me and let us walk this path together.

We cannot know the future. All we can do is face it bravely. We should take heed of those we love and respect. But in the end, we make every decision alone.

For indeed you have a choice. You can flee and hide, and wait to be found. You can live out your days in terror, without meaning. Or you can take the harder choice, and you can save them.

Real life is not quite as it is in stories. In the old tales, bad things happen, and when the tale has unfolded and come to its triumphant conclusion, it is as if the bad things had never been. Life is not as simple as that, not quite.

You cannot poison what is between us with your foul words. She is my light in the darkness and Johnny is my pathway ahead.

You may be your own best helper, if you choose the right path.

She had sacrificed her childhood to save her brothers; she loved her family above all else, and her spirits yearned to return home once more, to the wild forest and the land of mystic tales and ancient spirits whence he had taken her. That was the place of her heart, and if he loved her, he must let her go.

Nobody expects you to exhibit godlike strength, excepting maybe yourself.

She went on because there was no going back.

He was sitting not far away, watching me, and I surprised a smile on his face, the first real smile I had ever seen him give, a smile that curved and softened the tight mouth, and warmed the ice-cool eyes; a smile that brought the blood to my face and made my heart turn over.

Good and bad; shade and sunlight, there's but a hair's breath between them. It's all one in the end.

His eyes reflected the open grey of the autumnal sky.

You are... you're like a beating heart. A glowing lamp. I've never met anyone like you before.

As for religious faith, a lack of it shouldn't stop us from doing good deeds for their own sake.

I have listened to many tales in my life, and told a few of my own. If this has taught me anything, it is that there are some occurrences that change the course of things, that make an alteration far beyond their own apparent magnitude. It is like the throwing of a tiny pebble into a pool, how it makes an ever-expanding circle of ripples, spreading right across the water's surface.

Water and stone Flesh and bone Night and morn Rose and thorn Tree and wind Heart and mind

More like some small, fierce bird of prey, something with a sharp bite. An owl perhaps, that speaks only when the rest of the world sleeps. Jenny will do well enough.

Nothing comes without a price.

Trust can be a hard lesson; hope still more difficult.

We draw our strength from the great oaks of the forest. As they take their nourishment from the soil, and from the rains that feed the soil, so we find our courage in the pattern of living things around us. They stand through storm and tempest. They grow and renew themselves. Like a grove of young oaks, we remain strong.

She was a creature of the deep, and there she must return, or perish. Toby understood that, but it hardly helped him. For all he had of her was his memory, where he held every moment, every single moment that she had been his. That was all he had, to keep out the loneliness.

Liadan, he said, staring intently at the ground. Yes, I whispered. Don't wed that man Eamonn. Tell him, if he takes you, he's a dead. --Bran