β
There is no pretending," Jace said with absolute clarity. "I love you, and I will love you until I die, and if there is life after that, I'll love you then.
β
β
Cassandra Clare (City of Glass (The Mortal Instruments, #3))
β
Have you fallen in love with the wrong person yet?'
Jace said, "Unfortunately, Lady of the Haven, my one true love remains myself."
..."At least," she said, "you don't have to worry about rejection, Jace Wayland."
"Not necessarily. I turn myself down occasionally, just to keep it interesting.
β
β
Cassandra Clare (City of Bones (The Mortal Instruments, #1))
β
Is this the part where you start tearing off strips of your shirt to bind my wounds?"
"If you wanted me to rip my clothes off, you should have just asked.
β
β
Cassandra Clare (City of Bones (The Mortal Instruments, #1))
β
We came to see Jace. Is he alright?"
"I don't know," Magnus said. "Does he normally just lie on the floor like that without moving?
β
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Cassandra Clare (City of Ashes (The Mortal Instruments, #2))
β
I don't want to be a man," said Jace. "I want to be an angst-ridden teenager who can't confront his own inner demons and takes it out verbally on other people instead."
"Well," said Luke, "you're doing a fantastic job.
β
β
Cassandra Clare (City of Ashes (The Mortal Instruments, #2))
β
It means 'Shadowhunters: Looking Better in Black Than the Widows of our Enemies Since 1234'.
β
β
Cassandra Clare (City of Bones (The Mortal Instruments, #1))
β
And I'm suppose to sit by while you date boys and fall in love with someone else, get married...?" His voice tightened. "And meanwhile, I'll die a little bit more every day, watching.
β
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Cassandra Clare (City of Glass (The Mortal Instruments, #3))
β
Don't touch any of my weapons without my permission."
"Well, there goes my plan for selling them all on eBay," Clary muttered.
"Selling them on what?"
Clary smiled blandly at him. "A mythical place of great magical power.
β
β
Cassandra Clare (City of Bones (The Mortal Instruments, #1))
β
Sarcasm is the last refuge of the imaginatively bankrupt.
β
β
Cassandra Clare (City of Bones (The Mortal Instruments, #1))
β
The boy never cried again, and he never forgot what he'd learned: that to love is to destroy, and that to be loved is to be the one destroyed.
β
β
Cassandra Clare (City of Bones (The Mortal Instruments, #1))
β
Not everything is about you," Clary said furiously.
"Possibly," Jace said, "but you do have to admit that the majority of things are.
β
β
Cassandra Clare (City of Glass (The Mortal Instruments, #3))
β
I am a man" he told her, "and men do not consume pink beverages. Get thee gone woman, and bring me something brown.
β
β
Cassandra Clare (City of Glass (The Mortal Instruments, #3))
β
Is this the part where you say if I hurt her, you'll kill me?"
"No" Simon said, "If you hurt Clary she's quite capable of killing you herself. Possibly with a variety of weapons.
β
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Cassandra Clare (City of Glass (The Mortal Instruments, #3))
β
You said you were going for a walk!? What kind of walk takes six hours?"
"A long one?
β
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Cassandra Clare (City of Glass (The Mortal Instruments, #3))
β
That does it," said Jace. "I'm going to get you a dictionary for Christmas this year."
"Why?" Isabelle said.
"So you can look up 'fun.' I'm not sure you know what it means.
β
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Cassandra Clare (City of Ashes (The Mortal Instruments, #2))
β
Well, Iβm not kissing the mundane," said Jace. "Iβd rather stay down here and rot."
"Forever?" said Simon. "Foreverβs an awfully long time."
Jace raised his eyebrows. "I knew it," he said. "You want to kiss me, donβt you?
β
β
Cassandra Clare (City of Ashes (The Mortal Instruments, #2))
β
You could have had anything else in the world, and you asked for me."
She smiled up at him. Filthy as he was, covered in blood and dirt, he was the most beautiful thing she'd ever seen.
"But I don't want anything else in the world.
β
β
Cassandra Clare (City of Glass (The Mortal Instruments, #3))
β
I've got a stele we can use. Who wants to do me?"
"A regrettable choice of words," muttered Magnus.
β
β
Cassandra Clare (City of Ashes (The Mortal Instruments, #2))
β
Do you remember back at the hotel when you promised that if we lived, youβd get dressed up in a nurseβs outfit and give me a sponge bath?" asked Jace.
"It was Simon who promised you the sponge bath."
"As soon as Iβm back on my feet, handsome," said Simon.
"I knew we should have left you a rat.
β
β
Cassandra Clare (City of Bones (The Mortal Instruments, #1))
β
People aren't born good or bad. Maybe they're born with tendencies either way, but its the way you live your life that matters.
β
β
Cassandra Clare (City of Glass (The Mortal Instruments, #3))
β
Declarations of love amuse me. Especially when unrequited.
β
β
Cassandra Clare (City of Bones (The Mortal Instruments, #1))
β
Investigation?" Isabelle laughed. "Now we're detectives? Maybe we should all have code names."
"Good idea," said Jace. "I shall be Baron Hotschaft Von Hugenstein.
β
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Cassandra Clare (City of Bones (The Mortal Instruments, #1))
β
Don't." Clary raised a warning hand. "I'm not really in the mood right now."
"That's got to be the first time a girl's ever said that to me," Jace mused.
β
β
Cassandra Clare (City of Bones (The Mortal Instruments, #1))
β
Usually I'm remarkably good natured. Try me on a day that doesn't end in y.
β
β
Cassandra Clare
β
Malachi scowled. "I don't remember the Clave inviting you into the Glass City, Magnus Bane."
"They didn't," Magnus said. "Your wards are down."
"Really?" the Consul's voice dripped sarcasm. "I hadn't noticed."
Magnus looked concerned. "That's terrible. Someone should have told you." He glanced at Luke. "Tell him the wards are down.
β
β
Cassandra Clare (City of Glass (The Mortal Instruments, #3))
β
Just because you call an electric eel a rubber duck doesn't make it a rubber duck, does it? And God help the poor bastard who decides they want to take a bath with the duckie. (Jace Wayland)
β
β
Cassandra Clare (City of Bones (The Mortal Instruments, #1))
β
No, I'm just a very naughty boy. I do all sorts of bad things. I kick kittens. I make rude gestures at nuns.
β
β
Cassandra Clare (City of Ashes (The Mortal Instruments, #2))
β
And now Iβm looking at you,β he said, βand youβre asking me if I still want you, as if I could stop loving you. As if I would want to give up the thing that makes me stronger than anything else ever has. I never dared give much of myself to anyone before β bits of myself to the Lightwoods, to Isabelle and Alec, but it took years to do it β but, Clary, since the first time I saw you, I have belonged to you completely. I still do. If you want me.
β
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Cassandra Clare (City of Glass (The Mortal Instruments, #3))
β
Is standing by the window muttering about blood something he does all the time?" asked Simon.
"No," Jace said. "Sometimes he sits on the couch and does it.
β
β
Cassandra Clare (City of Ashes (The Mortal Instruments, #2))
β
One of the Silent Brothers is here to see you. Hodge sent me to wake you up. Actually he offered to wake you himself, but since it's 5 a.m., I figured you'd be less cranky if you had something nice to look at."
"Meaning you?"
"What else?
β
β
Cassandra Clare (City of Bones (The Mortal Instruments, #1))
β
The meek may inherit the earth, but at the moment it belongs to the conceited. Like me.
β
β
Cassandra Clare (City of Bones (The Mortal Instruments, #1))
β
What's this?" he demanded, looking from Clary to his companions, as if they might know what she was doing there.
"It's a girl," Jace said,recovering his composure. "Surely you've seen girls before, Alec. Your sister Isabelle is one.
β
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Cassandra Clare (City of Bones (The Mortal Instruments, #1))
β
Can I help you with something?"
Clary turned instant traitor against her gender. "Those girls on the other side of the car are staring at you."
Jace assumed an air of mellow gratification. "Of course they are," he said, "I am stunningly attractive.
β
β
Cassandra Clare (City of Bones (The Mortal Instruments, #1))
β
Where there is love, there is often also hate. They can exist side by side.
β
β
Cassandra Clare (City of Bones (The Mortal Instruments, #1))
β
It wouldn't be my move," Jace agreed. "First the candy and flowers, then the apology letters, then the ravenous demon hordes. In that order.
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Cassandra Clare (City of Bones (The Mortal Instruments, #1))
β
I thought I'd lie on the floor and writhe in pain for a while," he grunted, "It relaxes me."
"It does? Oh - you're being sarcastic. That's a good sign probably.
β
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Cassandra Clare (City of Ashes (The Mortal Instruments, #2))
β
Did you ever think that in a past life Alec was an old woman with ninety cats who was always yelling at the neighborhood kids to get off her lawn? Because I do,
β
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Cassandra Clare (City of Glass (The Mortal Instruments, #3))
β
Don't order any of the faerie food," said Jace, looking at her over the top of his menu. "It tends to make humans a little crazy. One minute you're munching a faerie plum, the next minute you're running naked down Madison Avenue with antlers on your head. Not," he added hastily, "that this has ever happened to me.
β
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Cassandra Clare (City of Bones (The Mortal Instruments, #1))
β
It's not gray," Clary felt compelled to point out. "It's green."
"If there was such a thing as terminal literalism, you'd have died in childhood," said Jace.
β
β
Cassandra Clare (City of Bones (The Mortal Instruments, #1))
β
You're an idiot."
"I've never claimed to be otherwise.
β
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Cassandra Clare (City of Bones (The Mortal Instruments, #1))
β
I'll just have them change the entry in the demonology textbook from 'almost extinct' to 'not extinct enough for Alec. He prefers his monsters really, really extinct.' Will that make you happy?
β
β
Cassandra Clare (City of Ashes (The Mortal Instruments, #2))
β
A diary with no drawings of me in it? Where are the torrid fantasies? The romance covers?
β
β
Cassandra Clare (City of Bones (The Mortal Instruments, #1))
β
What do you want?"
"Just coffee. Black - like my soul.
β
β
Cassandra Clare (City of Bones (The Mortal Instruments, #1))
β
Your friend's poetry is terrible," he said.
Clary blinked, caught momentarily off guard. "What?"
"I said his poetry was terrible. It sounds like he ate a dictionary and started vomiting up words at random.
β
β
Cassandra Clare (City of Bones (The Mortal Instruments, #1))
β
Jace shook his blond head in exasperation.
"You had to make a crazy jail friend, didn't you? You couldn't just count ceiling tiles or tame a pet mouse like normal prisoners do?
β
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Cassandra Clare (City of Glass (The Mortal Instruments, #3))
β
My rapier wit hides my inner pain.
β
β
Cassandra Clare
β
Mom. I have something to tell you. Iβm undead. Now, I know you may have some preconceived notions about the undead. I know you may not be comfortable with the idea of me being undead. But Iβm here to tell you that undead are just like you and me β¦ well, okay. Possibly more like me than you.
β
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Cassandra Clare (City of Ashes (The Mortal Instruments, #2))
β
You're the first Shadowhunter I've ever met."
βThatβs too bad,β said Jace, βsince all the others you meet from now on will be a terrible letdown.
β
β
Cassandra Clare (City of Fallen Angels (The Mortal Instruments, #4))
β
Alec looked at her and shook his head. "How do you manage never to get mud on your clothes?"
Isabelle shrugged philosophically. "I'm pure at heart. It repels the dirt.
β
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Cassandra Clare (City of Ashes (The Mortal Instruments, #2))
β
You might want to lie down," Magnus advised. "I find that it helps when the crushing sense of horrible realization sets in.
β
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Cassandra Clare (City of Ashes (The Mortal Instruments, #2))
β
I know it's wrong - God, it's all kinds of wrong - but I just want to lie down with you and wake up with you, just once, just once ever in my life.
β
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Cassandra Clare (City of Glass (The Mortal Instruments, #3))
β
Have you tried talking to her?"
"No. We've been punching her in the face repeatedly. What? You don't think that will work?
β
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Cassandra Clare (City of Glass (The Mortal Instruments, #3))
β
Don't stop there. I suppose there are also, what, vampires and werewolves and zombies?"
"Of course there are. Although you mostly find zombies farther south, where the voudun priests are."
"What about mummies? Do they only hang around Egypt?"
"Don't be ridiculous. No one believes in mummies.
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Cassandra Clare (City of Bones (The Mortal Instruments, #1))
β
Patience, grasshopper," said Maia. "Good things come to those who wait."
"I always thought that was 'Good things come to those who do the wave,'" said Simon. "No wonder I've been so confused all my life.
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Cassandra Clare (City of Glass (The Mortal Instruments, #3))
β
I don't care," Clary said. "He'd do it for me. Tell me he wouldn't. If I were missing-"
"He'd burn the whole world down till he could dig you out of the ashes. I know," Alec said.
β
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Cassandra Clare (City of Lost Souls (The Mortal Instruments, #5))
β
In the end that was the choice you made, and it doesn't matter how hard it was to make it. It matters that you did.
β
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Cassandra Clare (City of Glass (The Mortal Instruments, #3))
β
We need to talk. All of us About what we're going to do now."
"I was going to watch Project Runway.
β
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Cassandra Clare (City of Ashes (The Mortal Instruments, #2))
β
I figured all your classes were stuff like Slaughter 101 and Beheading for Beginners."
Jace flipped a page. "Very funny, Fray.
β
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Cassandra Clare (City of Bones (The Mortal Instruments, #1))
β
You guessed? You must have been pretty sure, considering you could have killed me."
"I was ninety percent sure."
"I see," Clary said. There must have been something in her voice, because he turned to look at her. Her hand cracked across his face, a slap that rocked him back on his heels. He put his hands on his cheek, more in surprise than pain.
"What the hell was that for?"
"The other ten percent.
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Cassandra Clare (City of Bones (The Mortal Instruments, #1))
β
It's the mortal cup Jace, not the mortal toilet bowl.
β
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Cassandra Clare
β
There's no need to clarify my finger snap," said Magnus. "The implication was clear in the snap itself.
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Cassandra Clare (City of Ashes (The Mortal Instruments, #2))
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If you ever meet the man who could take advantage of Isabelle, youβll have to let me know. Iβd like to shake his hand. Or run away from him very fast, Iβm not sure which.
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Cassandra Clare (City of Glass (The Mortal Instruments, #3))
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As long as there was coffee in the world, how bad could things be?
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Cassandra Clare (City of Ashes (The Mortal Instruments, #2))
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I forgot that's what gets you all hot and bothered, Jace, girls killing things."
"I like anyone killing things, especially me." he said with a smile.
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Cassandra Clare (City of Bones (The Mortal Instruments, #1))
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Hearts are breakable," Isabelle said. "And I think even when you heal, you're never what you were before".
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Cassandra Clare (City of Fallen Angels (The Mortal Instruments, #4))
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I don't want tea," said Clary, with muffled force. "I want to find my mother. And then I want to find out who took her in the first place, and I want to kill them."
"Unfortunately," said Hodge, "we're all out of bitter revenge at the moment, so it's either tea or nothing.
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Cassandra Clare (City of Bones (The Mortal Instruments, #1))
β
You know, some people think Shadowhunters are just myths. Like mummies and genies." Kyle grinned at Jace. "Can you grant wishes?"
"That depends," he said. "Do you wish to be punched in the face?
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Cassandra Clare (City of Fallen Angels (The Mortal Instruments, #4))
β
I have a fetish for damsels in distress.β
βDonβt be sexist.β
βNot at all. My services are also available to gentlemen in distress. Itβs an equal opportunity fetish.
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Cassandra Clare (City of Glass (The Mortal Instruments, #3))
β
We are all the pieces of what we remember. We hold in ourselves the hopes and fears of those who love us. As long as there is love and memory, there is no true loss.
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Cassandra Clare (City of Heavenly Fire (The Mortal Instruments, #6))
β
That's why when major badasses greet each other in movies, they don't say anything, they just nod. The nod means, 'I' am a badass, and I recognize that you, too, are a badass,' but they don't say anything because they're Wolverine and Magneto and it would mess up their vibe to explain.
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Cassandra Clare (City of Bones (The Mortal Instruments, #1))
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I've heard the word 'fear'. I simply choose to believe it doesn't apply to me.
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Cassandra Clare (City of Ashes (The Mortal Instruments, #2))
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All knowledge hurts.
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Cassandra Clare (City of Bones (The Mortal Instruments, #1))
β
No. That's Clary; shes's my best friend." Simon pocketed his phone. "And she has a boyfriend. Like, really, really, really has a boyfriend. The nuclear bomb of boyfriends. Trust me on this one.
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Cassandra Clare (City of Fallen Angels (The Mortal Instruments, #4))
β
You see, cuckoos are parasites. They lay their eggs in other birds' nests. When the egg hatches, the baby cuckoo pushes the other baby birds out of the nest. The poor parent birds work themselves to death trying to find enough food to feed the enormous cuckoo child who has murdered their babies and taken their places."
"Enormous?" said Jace. "Did you just call me fat?"
"It was an analogy."
"I am not fat.
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Cassandra Clare (City of Ashes (The Mortal Instruments, #2))
β
Is there some particular reason that you're here?" ...
"Not this again."
"Not what again?" said Clary.
"Every time I annoy him, he retreats into his No Mundanes Allowed tree house." Simon pointed at Jace.
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Cassandra Clare (City of Ashes (The Mortal Instruments, #2))
β
So what was that all about?"
"I think," Jace said, "that she asked if she could touch my mango."
"She said that?"
Jace shrugged. "Yeah, then she gave me her number.
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Cassandra Clare (City of Fallen Angels (The Mortal Instruments, #4))
β
The way he looked at you. I got it then. He loved you, and it was killing him. He won't get over you, Clary, he can't.
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Cassandra Clare (City of Glass (The Mortal Instruments, #3))
β
Itβs fascinating. You know all these words, and theyβre all English, but when you string them together into sentences, they just donβt make any sense.
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Cassandra Clare (City of Fallen Angels (The Mortal Instruments, #4))
β
I have a high pain threshold. In fact, it's more of a large and tastfully decorated foyer than a threshold. But I do get easily bored
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Cassandra Clare (City of Bones (The Mortal Instruments, #1))
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We're not dating," Alec said again.
"Oh?" Magnus said. "So you're just that friendly with everybody, is that it?
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Cassandra Clare (City of Ashes (The Mortal Instruments, #2))
β
And next time you're planning to injure yourself to get me attention, just remember that a little sweet talk works wonders.
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Cassandra Clare (City of Bones (The Mortal Instruments, #1))
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Even in half demon hunter clothes, Clary thought, he looked like the kind of boy who'd come over your house to pick you up for a date and be polite to your parents and nice to your pets.
Jace on the other hand, looked like the kind of boy who'd come over your house and burn it down just for kicks.
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Cassandra Clare (City of Bones (The Mortal Instruments, #1))
β
I was alive when the Dead Sea was just a lake that was feeling a little poorly.
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Cassandra Clare (City of Ashes (The Mortal Instruments, #2))
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Come in. And try not to murder any of my guests."
Jace edged into the doorway, sizing up Magnus with his eyes. "Even if one of them spills a drink on my new shoes?"
"Even then.
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Cassandra Clare (City of Bones (The Mortal Instruments, #1))
β
aren't you, uh... reproducing?
"sure, we love reproducing it's one of our favorite things.
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Cassandra Clare (City of Bones (The Mortal Instruments, #1))
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How awfully convenient for you, regardless. And for him. He won't have to worry about you spilling his secrets."
"Yeah," Jace said. "He's terrified I'll tell everyone that he's always wanted to be a ballerina.
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Cassandra Clare (City of Ashes (The Mortal Instruments, #2))
β
I guess itβs true what they say," observed Jace. "There are no straight men in the trenches."
"Thatβs atheists, jackass," said Simon furiously. "There are no atheists in the trenches.
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Cassandra Clare
β
Just kissing? How quickly you dismiss our love.
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Cassandra Clare (City of Bones (The Mortal Instruments, #1))
β
Okayyyyy,β Isabelle said in a low voice, βWhen did Brother Zachariah get hot?
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Cassandra Clare (City of Heavenly Fire (The Mortal Instruments, #6))
β
What are all these?" Clary asked.
"Vials of holy water, blessed knives, steel and silver blades," Jace said, piling the weapons on the floor beside him, "electrum wire - not much use at the moment but it's always good to have spares - silver bullets, charms of protetion, crucifixes, stars of David-"
"Jesus," said Clary
"I doubt he'd fit."
"Jace." Clary was appalled.
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Cassandra Clare (City of Bones (The Mortal Instruments, #1))
β
But I watch my brothers give their hearts away and I think, Donβt you know better? Hearts are breakable. And I think even when you heal, youβre never what you were before.
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Cassandra Clare (City of Fallen Angels (The Mortal Instruments, #4))
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I don't do what I'm told, but I might do what you want if you ask me nicely.
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Cassandra Clare (City of Ashes (The Mortal Instruments, #2))
β
I suppose you've always been amazing at this stuff."- Clary
"I was born amazing." - Jace
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Cassandra Clare (City of Fallen Angels (The Mortal Instruments, #4))
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Or maybe it's just that beautiful things are so easily broken by the world.
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Cassandra Clare (City of Fallen Angels (The Mortal Instruments, #4))
β
Sorry, are you telling me that your demon-slaying buddies need to be driven to their next assignment with the forces of darkness by my mom?
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Cassandra Clare (City of Bones (The Mortal Instruments, #1))
β
Going round and around inside a dryer can be fatal, whereas pasta is rarely fatal. Unless Isabelle makes it.
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Cassandra Clare (City of Bones (The Mortal Instruments, #1))
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Jace slammed his hand down on the stele. βClary-β
βShe said she doesnβt want it,β said Simon. βHa-ha.β
βHa-ha?β Jace looked incredulous. βThatβs your comeback?
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Cassandra Clare (City of Ashes (The Mortal Instruments, #2))
β
Are you the one with the blue eyes?"
"Actually, my eyes are usually described as golden...and luminous.
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Cassandra Clare (City of Bones (The Mortal Instruments, #1))
β
You're not gay, are you?"
Simon's greenish color deepened. "If I were, I would dress better.
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Cassandra Clare (City of Bones (The Mortal Instruments, #1))
β
If you're texting Magnus to say 'I think u r kewl,' I'm going to kill you."
"Who's Magnus?" Max inquired.
"He's a warlock," said Alec.
"A sexy, sexy warlock," Isabelle told Max, ignoring Alec's look of total fury.
"But warlocks are bad," protested Max, looking baffled.
"Exactly," said Isabelle.
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Cassandra Clare (City of Glass (The Mortal Instruments, #3))
β
You could have fooled me. Everytime I called you, Luke said you were sick. I figured you were avoiding me. Again."
"I wasn't. I did want to talk to you. I've been thinking about you all the time."
"I've been thinking about you, too."
"I really was sick. I swear. I almost died back there on the ship, you know."
"I know. Everytime you almost die, I almost die myself.
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Cassandra Clare (City of Ashes (The Mortal Instruments, #2))
β
Since I've met you, everything I've done has been in part because of you. I can't untie myself from you, Clary- not my heart or my blood or my mind or any other part of me. And I don't want to."
~Jace Wayland
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Cassandra Clare (City of Glass (The Mortal Instruments, #3))
β
You're so easy to tease. And yes, your friend is just fine. Well, except that he keeps putting all my things away and trying to clean up. Now I can't find anything. He's compulsive.
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Cassandra Clare (City of Ashes (The Mortal Instruments, #2))
β
She turned and looked at him. "Ducks?" she said again.
A smile tugged the edge of his mouth. "I hate ducks. Don't know why. I just always have.
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Cassandra Clare (City of Lost Souls (The Mortal Instruments, #5))
β
Magnus, standing by the door, snapped his fingers impatiently. "Move it along, teenagers. The only person who gets to canoodle in my bedroom is my magnificent self."
"Canoodle?" repeated Clary, never having heard the word before.
"Magnificent?" repeated Jace, who was just being nasty. Magnus growled. The growl sounded like "Get out.
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Cassandra Clare (City of Bones (The Mortal Instruments, #1))
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Clary felt suddenly annoyed. "When the self-congratulatory part of the evening is over, maybe we could get back to saving my best friend from being exsanguinated to death?"
"Exsanguinated," said Jace, impressed. "That's a big word."
"And you're a big-"
"Tsk tsk," he interupted. "No swearing in church.
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Cassandra Clare (City of Bones (The Mortal Instruments, #1))
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Watching Jace hug Isabelle, she tried to school her features into a happy and loving expression.
"Are you all right?" Simon asked, with some concern. "Your eyes are crossing.
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Cassandra Clare (City of Ashes (The Mortal Instruments, #2))
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Some guys look at you like they only want sex. Jace looks at you like you've had sex - it was great and now you're just friends. Drives girls crazy. Know what I mean?" Yes. Clary thought. "No." Clary said.
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Cassandra Clare (City of Ashes (The Mortal Instruments, #2))
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What's the point in wasting a perfectly good brick wall when you have someone to throw against it, that's what I always say.
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Cassandra Clare (City of Fallen Angels (The Mortal Instruments, #4))
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Waiting for a special occasion to kill me? Christmas is coming.
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Cassandra Clare (City of Glass (The Mortal Instruments, #3))
β
Sebastian just smiled. βI could hear your heart beating,β he said softly. βWhen you were watching me with Valentine. Did it bother you?β
βThat you seem to be dating my dad?β Jace shrugged. "Youβre a little young for him, to be honest.β
βWhat?β For the first time since Jace had met him, Sebastian seemed flabbergasted.
β
β
Cassandra Clare (City of Glass (The Mortal Instruments, #3))
β
Basia coquum," Simon said. "Or whatever their motto is."
"It's 'Descensus Averno facilis est.' 'The descent into hell is easy," said Alec. "You just said "Kiss the cook."
"Dammit," said Simon. "I knew Jace was screwing with me.
β
β
Cassandra Clare (City of Lost Souls (The Mortal Instruments, #5))
β
I get the feeling," Alec said, and smiled, "she hasn't forgiven me for betraying you, as she sees it."
"Good girl," said Jace with appreciation.
"I didn't betray you, idiot."
"It's the thought that counts.
β
β
Cassandra Clare (City of Ashes (The Mortal Instruments, #2))
β
Out of the corner of her eye she thought she saw Jace shoot her a look of white rage - but when she glanced at him, he looked as he always did: easy, confident, slightly bored.
"In future, Clarissa," he said, "it might be wise to mention that you already have a man in your bed, to avoid such tedious situations."
"You invited him into bed?" Simon demanded, looking shaken.
"Ridiculous, isn't it?" said Jace. "We would never have all fit."
"I didn't invite him into bed," Clary snapped. "We were just kissing."
"Just kissing?" Jace's tone mocked her with its false hurt. "How swiftly you dismiss our love.
β
β
Cassandra Clare (City of Bones (The Mortal Instruments, #1))
β
Look," Luke went on, "In all the years I've known him, there's always been exactly one place Simon wanted to be, and he's always fought like hell to make sure he got there and stayed there."
"Where's that?"
"Wherever you were.
β
β
Cassandra Clare (City of Ashes (The Mortal Instruments, #2))
β
You can only push the truth down for so long, and then it bubbles back up.
β
β
Cassandra Clare (City of Glass (The Mortal Instruments, #3))
β
Pretty soon the only people left without a girlfriend will be me and Wendell the school janitor, and he smells like windex."
"At least you know he's still available.
β
β
Cassandra Clare (City of Bones (The Mortal Instruments, #1))
β
You're just worried they'll hire a male instructor and he'll be hotter than you."
Jace's eyebrows went up. "Hotter than me?"
"It could happen," Clary said, "You know, theoretically."
"Theoretically the planet could suddenly crack in half, leaving me on one side and you on the other, forever and tragically parted, but I'm not worried about that either. Some things," Jace said, with his customary crooked smile, "are just too unlikely to dwell upon.
β
β
Cassandra Clare (City of Fallen Angels (The Mortal Instruments, #4))
β
Lawful good to lawful evil!" said Simon, pleased.
"He's quoting Dungeons and Dragons," said Clary. "Ignore him.
β
β
Cassandra Clare (City of Ashes (The Mortal Instruments, #2))
β
Circumstances are the rulers of the weak; they are but the instruments of the wise.
β
β
Samuel Lover (Rory O'More)
β
I stabbed you. With a massive sword. You caught on fire."
His lips twitched, almost imperceptibly. "Okay, so maybe our problems aren't like other couples.
β
β
Cassandra Clare (City of Lost Souls (The Mortal Instruments, #5))
β
L'amor che move il sole e l'altre stelle.
"It means that love is the most powerful force in the world. That love can do anything.
β
β
Cassandra Clare (City of Fallen Angels (The Mortal Instruments, #4))
β
There are memories that time does not erase... Forever does not make loss forgettable, only bearable.
β
β
Cassandra Clare (City of Heavenly Fire (The Mortal Instruments, #6))
β
Actually," said Jace, "I prefer to think that I'm a liar in a way that's uniquely my own.
β
β
Cassandra Clare (City of Ashes (The Mortal Instruments, #2))
β
If you really love something, you never try to keep it the way it is forever. You have to let it be free to change.
β
β
Cassandra Clare (City of Ashes (The Mortal Instruments, #2))
β
As far as Iβm concerned, this is the worst thing thatβs happened since I found out why Magnus was banned from Peru.
β
β
Cassandra Clare (City of Lost Souls (The Mortal Instruments, #5))
β
Heroes aren't always the ones who win," she said. "They're the ones who lose, sometimes. But they keep fighting, they keep coming back. They don't give up. That's what makes them heroes.
β
β
Cassandra Clare (City of Heavenly Fire (The Mortal Instruments, #6))
β
You're not going," he said as soon as she'd finished. "If I have to tie you up and sit on you until this insane whim of yours passes, you are not going to Idris." - Jace
β
β
Cassandra Clare (City of Glass (The Mortal Instruments, #3))
β
Did Brother Zachariah just steal our cat?
β
β
Cassandra Clare (City of Heavenly Fire (The Mortal Instruments, #6))
β
Also, I'm sleeping with your mom. Just thought you should know.
β
β
Cassandra Clare (City of Bones (The Mortal Instruments, #1))
β
So it's true. You can walk in sunlight. I thought perhaps it might have worn off."
"If I feel the urge to burst into flames, I'll let you know.
β
β
Cassandra Clare (City of Glass (The Mortal Instruments, #3))
β
Look, you can date whoever you want and I will totally support you. I am all about support. Support is my middle name.β
βSo thatβs why you never told me your middle name. I figured it was something embarrassing.
β
β
Cassandra Clare (City of Glass (The Mortal Instruments, #3))
β
Missing, one stunningly attractive teenage boy. Answers to 'Jace' or 'Hot Stuff
β
β
Cassandra Clare (City of Lost Souls (The Mortal Instruments, #5))
β
The thing about the Mirror is that no one knows where it is. In fact, no one knows what it is.β
"Itβs a mirror,β Simon said. βYou know β reflective, glass. Iβm just assuming.
β
β
Cassandra Clare (City of Glass (The Mortal Instruments, #3))
β
I suppose it is tempting, if the only tool you have is a hammer, to treat everything as if it were a nail.
β
β
Abraham H. Maslow (Toward a Psychology of Being)
β
It's a coffee cup."
She could hear the irritation in her own voice. "I know it's a coffee cup."
"I can't wait till you draw something really complicated, like the Brooklyn Bridge or a lobster. You'll probably send me a singing telegram.
β
β
Cassandra Clare (City of Bones (The Mortal Instruments, #1))
β
I keep thinking about blood, I dream about it. Wake up thinking about it. Pretty soon I'll be writing morbid emo poetry about it.
β
β
Cassandra Clare (City of Ashes (The Mortal Instruments, #2))
β
It's not funny, Jace," Alec interrupted, starting to his feet. "Are you just going to let her stand there and call me names?"
"Yes," Jace said kindly. "It'll do you good-- try to think of it as endurance training.
β
β
Cassandra Clare
β
Hey," said Jace. who was sitting on an overturned speaker, looking at his cellphone, "do you want to see a photo of Alec and Magnus in Berlin?"
"Not really," said Simon.
"Magnus is wearing lederhosen."
"And yet, still no.
β
β
Cassandra Clare (City of Fallen Angels (The Mortal Instruments, #4))
β
Clary- "How to Come Out to Your Parents," she read out loud. "LUKE. Don't be ridiculous. Simon's not gay, he's a vampire.
β
β
Cassandra Clare (City of Ashes (The Mortal Instruments, #2))
β
Still I pictured having you for fifty, sixty more years. I thought I might be ready then to let you go. But it's you, and I realize now that I won't be anymore ready to lose you then than I am right now. Which is not at all.
β
β
Cassandra Clare (City of Fallen Angels (The Mortal Instruments, #4))
β
Alec keeps sending me annoying photos. Lots of captions like Wish you were here, except not really.
β
β
Cassandra Clare (City of Fallen Angels (The Mortal Instruments, #4))
β
You left me. You made a pet out of me, and then you left me. If love were food, I would have starved on the bones you gave me.
β
β
Cassandra Clare (City of Fallen Angels (The Mortal Instruments, #4))
β
Something inside Clary cracked and broke, and words came pouring out. 'What do you want me to tell you? The truth? The truth is that I love Simon like I should love you, and I wish he was my brother and you weren't, but I can't do anything about that and neither can you!
β
β
Cassandra Clare (City of Ashes (The Mortal Instruments, #2))
β
Growing up happens when you start having things you look back on and wish you could change -Clary Fray
β
β
Cassandra Clare (City of Ashes (The Mortal Instruments, #2))
β
I can only assume," said Jace, "that mortal emotions amuse you because you have none of your own.
β
β
Cassandra Clare (City of Ashes (The Mortal Instruments, #2))
β
Enough, both of you,' Clary said. 'You can't be complete jerks to each other forever, you know.'
Technically,' said Simon, 'I can.'
Jace made an inelegant noise; after a moment Clary realized that he was trying not to laugh, and only semi-succeeding.
β
β
Cassandra Clare (City of Glass (The Mortal Instruments, #3))
β
Don't tell me," Jace said, "Simon's turned himself into an ocelot and you want me to do something about it before Isabelle makes him into a stole. Well, you'll have have to wait till tomorrow. I'm out of commission." He pointed at himself - he was wearing blue pajamas with a hole in the sleeve. "Look. Jammies."
"Jace," Clary said, "this is important."
"Don't tell me," he said. "You've got a drawing emergency. You need a nude model. Well, I'm not in the mood. You could always ask Hodge," he said as an afterthought. "I hear he'll do anything for a -"
"JACE!" she interrupted him, her voice rising to a scream. "JUST SHUT UP FOR A SECOND AND LISTEN, WILL YOU?
β
β
Cassandra Clare (City of Bones (The Mortal Instruments, #1))
β
Look, did you ask me to come all the way uptown just so you could stare at me like I was something in a petri dish? Next time I'll send you a photo."
"And I'll frame it and put it on my nightstand," said Jace.
β
β
Cassandra Clare (City of Glass (The Mortal Instruments, #3))
β
I was thinking about the first time I ever saw you," he said, "and how after that I couldn't forget you. I wanted to, but I couldn't stop myself. I forced Hodge to let me be the one who came to find you and bring you back to the Institue. And even back then, in that stupid coffee shop, when I saw you sitting on that couch with Simon, even then that felt wrong to me-- I should have been the one sitting with you. The one who made you laugh like that. I couldn't get rid of that feeling. That it should have been me. And the more I knew you, the more I felt it--it had never been like that for me before. I'd always wanted a girl and then gotten to know her and not wanted her anymore, but with you the feeling just got stronger and stronger until that night when you showed up at Renwick's and I knew.
β
β
Cassandra Clare (City of Glass (The Mortal Instruments, #3))
β
If you knew how to cook, maybe I would eat," Jace muttered.
Isabelle froze, her spoon poised dangerously. "What did you say?"
Jace edged toward the fridge. "I said I'm going to look for a snack to eat."
That's what I thought you said." Isabelle turned her attention to the soup.
β
β
Cassandra Clare (City of Bones (The Mortal Instruments, #1))
β
There is no pretending",Jace said with absolute clarity."I love you,and I will love you until I die,and if there's a life after that,I'll love you then."
She caught her breath.He had said it-the words there was no going back from.
β
β
Cassandra Clare (City of Glass (The Mortal Instruments, #3))
β
Isabelle drifted over, Jace a pace behind her. She was wearing a long black dress with boots and an even longer cutaway coat of soft green velvet, the color of moss. "I can't believe you did it!" she exclaimed. "How did you get Magnus to let Jace leave?"
"Traded him for Alec," Clary said.
Isabelle looked mildly alarmed. "Not permanently?"
"No," said Jace. "Just for a few hours. Unless I don't come back," he added thoughtfully. "In which case, maybe he does get to keep Alec. Think of it as a lease with an option to buy."
Isabelle looked dubious. "Mom and Dad won't be pleased if they find out."
"That you freed a possible criminal by trading away your brother to a warlock who looks like a gay Sonic the Hedgehog and dresses like the Child Catcher from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang?" Simon inquired. "No, probably not.
β
β
Cassandra Clare (City of Ashes (The Mortal Instruments, #2))
β
Maybe that was why she couldn't cry, she realized, staring dry-eyed at the ceiling. Because what was the point in crying when there was no one there to comfort you? And what was worse, when you couldn't even comfort yourself?
β
β
Cassandra Clare (City of Glass (The Mortal Instruments, #3))
β
White for Shadowhunters is the color of funerals," Luke explained. β But for mundanes, Jace, itβ s the color of weddings. Brides wear white to symbolize their purity.β
βI thought Jocelyn said her dress wasnβt white,β Simon said.
βWell,β said Jace, βI suppose that ship has sailed.β
Luke choked on his coffee.
β
β
Cassandra Clare (City of Fallen Angels (The Mortal Instruments, #4))
β
Clary screamed out loud as he fell like a stone-
And landed lightly on his feet just in front of her. Clary stared with her mouth open as he rose up out of a shallow crouch and grinned at her. "If I made a joke about just dropping in," he said, "would you write me off as a clichΓ©?
β
β
Cassandra Clare (City of Ashes (The Mortal Instruments, #2))
β
I did not make a pie,β Alec repeated, gesturing expressively with one hand, βfor three reasons. One, because I do not have any pie ingredients. Two, because I donβt actually
know how to make a pie.β
He paused, clearly waiting.
Removing his sword and leaning it against the cave wall, Jace said warily, βAnd three?β
βBecause I am not your bitch,β Alec said, clearly pleased with himself.
β
β
Cassandra Clare (City of Heavenly Fire (The Mortal Instruments, #6))
β
So you're trying to make her happy despite the fact that the reason she's unhappy in the first place is you," said Simon, not very kindly. "That seems contradictory, doesn't it?"
"Love is a contradiction," said Jace.
β
β
Cassandra Clare (City of Fallen Angels (The Mortal Instruments, #4))
β
I wouldn't change it," Simon said. "I wouldn't give up loving you. Not for anything. You know what Raphael told me? That I didn't know how to be a good vampire, that vampires accept that they're dead. But as long as I remember what it was like to love you, I'll always feel like I'm alive.
β
β
Cassandra Clare (City of Glass (The Mortal Instruments, #3))
β
I've got the Mark of Cain," said Simon. "That means nothing can kill me, right?"
"You can kill yourself," Magnus said, somewhat unhelpfully. "As far as I know, inanimate objects can accidentally kill you. So if you were planning on teaching yourself the lambada on a greased platform over a pit full of knives, I wouldn't."
"There goes my Saturday.
β
β
Cassandra Clare (City of Lost Souls (The Mortal Instruments, #5))
β
That sounds terrific, thought Cary, just you, your comatose wife your shell-shocked son, and your daughter who hates your guts. Not to mention that your two kids may be in love with each other. Yeah, that sounds like a perfect family reunion.
β
β
Cassandra Clare (City of Bones (The Mortal Instruments, #1))
β
Gentle reader, may you never feel what I then felt! May your eyes never shed such stormy, scalding, heart-wrung tears as poured from mine. May you never appeal to Heaven in prayers so hopeless and so agised as in that hour left my lips: for never may you, like me, dread to be the instrument of evil to what you wholly love.
β
β
Charlotte BrontΓ« (Jane Eyre)
β
But-" Maia, still looking at Alec and Magnus, broke off and rasied her eyebrows. Simon turned to see what she was looking at - and stared.
Alec had his arms around Magnus and was kissing him full on the mouth. Magnus, who appeared to be in a state of shock, stood frozen. Several groups of people - Shadowhunters and Downworlders alike - were staring and whispering. Glancing to the side, Simon saw the Lightwoods, their eyes widen, gaping at the display. Maryse had her hand over her mouth.
Maia looked perplexed. "Wait a second," she said. "Do we all have to do that, too?
β
β
Cassandra Clare (City of Glass (The Mortal Instruments, #3))
β
She turned back to Jace. "Do you have to be so-," she began, but stopped when she saw his face. It looked stripped down, oddly vulnerable.
"Unpleasant?" he finishes for her. "Only at days when my adoptive mother tosses me out of the house with instructions never to darken her door again. Usually I'm remarkably good-natured. Try me on any day that doesn't end in y.
β
β
Cassandra Clare (City of Ashes (The Mortal Instruments, #2))
β
Does she still love you?"
"I don't think so," Magnus said dryly. "She wasn't very pleasant the last time I saw her. Of course, that could be because I've got an eighteen year-old boyfriend with a stamina rune and she doesn't."
Alec sputtered. "As the person being objectified, I ... object to that description of me.
β
β
Cassandra Clare (City of Lost Souls (The Mortal Instruments, #5))
β
Well, when I was five, I wanted my mother to let me go around and around inside a dryer with the clothes,β Clary said. βThe difference is, she didnβt let me.β
βProbably because going around and around in a dryer can be fatal,β Jace pointed out, βwhereas pasta is rarely fatal. Unless Isabelle makes it.
β
β
Cassandra Clare (City of Bones (The Mortal Instruments, #1))
β
He made a sound like a choked laughed before he reached out and pulled her into her arms. She was aware of Luke watching them from the window, but she shut her eyes resolutely and buried her face against Jace's shoulder. He smelled of salt and blood, and only when his mouth came close to her ear did she understand what he was saying, and it was the simplest litany of all: her name, just her name.
β
β
Cassandra Clare (City of Bones (The Mortal Instruments, #1))
β
Medium clever,β Simon acknowledged. βLike a cross between George Clooney in Oceanβs Eleven and those MythBusters guys, but, you know, better-looking.β
βIβm always so glad I have no idea what youβre vacantly chattering about,β said Jace. βIt fills me with a sense of peace and well-being.
β
β
Cassandra Clare (City of Fallen Angels (The Mortal Instruments, #4))
β
I should have guessed you were Jace's sister," he said. "You both have the same artistic talent."
Clary paused, her foot on the lowest stair. She was taken aback. "Jace can draw?"
Nah." When Alec smiled, his eyes lit like blue lamps and Clary could see what Magnus had found so captivating about him. "I was just kidding. He can't draw a straight line.
β
β
Cassandra Clare (City of Bones (The Mortal Instruments, #1))
β
You're my sister," he said finally. "My sister, my blood, my family. I should want to protect you" - he laughed soundlessly and without any humor - "to protect you from the sort of boys who want to do with you exactly what I want to do."
Clary's breath caught. "You said you just wanted to be my brother from now on."
"I lied," he said.
β
β
Cassandra Clare (City of Glass (The Mortal Instruments, #3))
β
Every reader, as he reads, is actually the reader of himself. The writer's work is only a kind of optical instrument he provides the reader so he can discern what he might never have seen in himself without this book. The reader's recognition in himself of what the book says is the proof of the book's truth.
β
β
Marcel Proust (Time Regained)
β
Arenβt they supposed to be hiring someone else to train me full-time anyway?β
βYes,β he said, getting up and pulling her to her feet along with him,β and Iβm worried that if you get into the habit of making out with your instructors, youβll wind up making out with him, too.β
β Donβt be sexist. They could find me a female instructor.β
βIn that case you have my permission to make out with her, as long as I can watch.
β
β
Cassandra Clare (City of Fallen Angels (The Mortal Instruments, #4))
β
Jace's eyes sparkled, but he said calmly, "Not at all. the Silent Brothers can help her retrieve her memories."
"You hate the Silent Brothers," protested Isabelle.
"I don't hate them," said Jace candidly."I'm afraid of them. It's not the same thing."
"I thought you said they were libarians," said Clary.
"They are librarians."
Simon whistled. "Those must be some killer late fees.
β
β
Cassandra Clare (City of Bones (The Mortal Instruments, #1))
β
Just because you said dragon demons were extinctβ"
"I said mostly extinct."
Alec jabbed a finger toward him.
"Mostly extinct," he said, his voice trembling with rage, "is NOT
EXTINCT ENOUGH."
"I see," said Jace. "I'll just have them change the entry in the demonology textbook from 'almost extinct' to 'not extinct enough for Alec. He prefers his monsters really, really extinct.' Will that make you happy?
β
β
Cassandra Clare (City of Ashes (The Mortal Instruments, #2))
β
By the Angel," Jace said, looking the demon up and down. "I knew Greater Demons were meant to be ugly, but no one ever warned me about the smell."
Abbadon opened its mouth and hissed. Inside its mouth were two rows of jagged glass-sharp teeth.
"I'm not sure about this wind and howling darkness business," Jace went on, "smells more like landfill to me. You sure you're not from Staten Island?
β
β
Cassandra Clare (City of Bones (The Mortal Instruments, #1))
β
Alec looked down at the shattered pieces in disbelief. βYou BROKE my PHONE.β
Jace shrugged. βGuys donβt let other guys keep calling other guys. Okay, that came out wrong. Friends donβt let friends keep calling their exes and hanging up. Seriously. You have to stop.β
Alec looked furious. βSo you broke my brand new phone? Thanks a lot.β
Jace smiled serenely and lay back on the grass. βYouβre welcome.
β
β
Cassandra Clare (City of Heavenly Fire (The Mortal Instruments, #6))
β
The rat, huddled in the hollow of her palms, squeaked glumly. Delighted, she hugged him to her chest. "Oh poor baby," she crooned, almost as if he really were a pet. "Poor Simon, it'll be fine, I promise-"
"I wouldn't feel too sorry for him," Jace said. "That's probably the closest he's ever gotten to second base."
"Shut up!" Clary glared at Jace furiously, but she did loosen her grip on the rat.
β
β
Cassandra Clare (City of Bones (The Mortal Instruments, #1))
β
A pair of werewolves occupied another booth. They were eating raw shanks of lamb and arguing about who would win in a fight: Dumbledore from Harry Potter books or Magnus Bane.
"Dumbledore would totally win," said the first one. "He has the badass Killing Curse."
The second lycanthrope made a trenchant point. "But Dumbledore isn't real."
"I don't think Magnus Bane is real either," scoffed the first. "Have you ever met him?"
"This is so weird," said Clary, slinking down in her seat. "Are you listening to them?"
"No. It's rude to eavesdrop," said Jace.
β
β
Cassandra Clare (City of Ashes (The Mortal Instruments, #2))
β
Jace perched on the windowsill and looked down at him. "You really don't get this bodyguard thing, do you?"
"I didn't even think you liked me all that much," said Simon. "Is this one of those keep-your-friends-close-and-your-enemies-closer things?"
"I thought it was keep your friends close so you have someone to drive the car when you sneak over to your enemy's house a night and throw up in his mailbox."
"I'm pretty sure that's not it
β
β
Cassandra Clare (City of Fallen Angels (The Mortal Instruments, #4))
β
Is this Clarissa Fray?" The voice on the other end of the phone sounded familiar, though not immediately identifiable.
Clary twirled the phone cord nervously around her finger. "Yeees?"
"Hi, I'm one of the knife-carrying hooligans you met last night in Pandemonium? I"m afraid I made a bad impression and was hoping you'd give me a chance to make it up to-"
"SIMON!" Clary held the phone away from her ear as he cracked up laughing. "That is so not funny!"
"Sure it is. You just don't see the humor."
"Jerk." Clary sighed, leaning up against the wall.
β
β
Cassandra Clare (City of Bones (The Mortal Instruments, #1))
β
We shouldnβt,β protested Isabelle. βThe Clave has a plan.β
βThe Clave has the collective intelligence of a pineapple,β said Jace.
Alec blinked up at them. βJace is right.β
Isabelle turned on her brother. βWhat do you know? You werenβt even paying attention.β
βI was,β Alec said, injured. βI said Jace was right.β
βYeah, but thereβs like a 90% chance of me being right most of the time, so thatβs not proof you were listening,β said Jace. βThatβs just a good guess.
β
β
Cassandra Clare (City of Heavenly Fire (The Mortal Instruments, #6))
β
Jordan doesn't really care about the blood," Simon said now. "His whole thing is about me being comfortable with what I am. Get in touch with your inner vampire, blah, blah."
Clary slid in next to him onto the bed and hugged a pillow. "Is your inner vampire different from your...outer vampire?"
"Definitely. He wants me to wear midriff-baring shirts and a fedora. I'm fighting it."
Clary smiled faintly. "So your inner vampire is Magnus?
β
β
Cassandra Clare (City of Lost Souls (The Mortal Instruments, #5))
β
Even the Inquisitor's eyebrows shot up when Magnus strode through the gate. The High Warlock was wearing black leather pants, a belt with a buckle in the shape of a jeweled M, and a cobalt-blue Prussian military jacket open over a white lace shirt. He shimmered with layers of glitter. His gaze rested for a moment on Alec's face with amusement and a hint of something else before moving on to Jace, prone on the ground.
"Is he dead?" he inquired. "He looks dead."
"No," snapped Maryse. "He's not dead."
"Have you checked? I could kick him if you want." Magnus moved toward Jace.
"Stop that!" the Inquisitor snapped, sounding like Clary's third-grade teacher demanding that she stop doodling on her desk with a marker.
β
β
Cassandra Clare (City of Ashes (The Mortal Instruments, #2))
β
Lord, make me an instrument of thy peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love,
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
And where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console,
to be understood as to understand,
to be loved, as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive,
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
β
β
Anglican clergyman
β
Simon rolled his eyes. βItβs a good thing we know the person whoβs dating Magnus Bane,β he said. βOtherwise, I get the feeling weβd all just lie around all the time wondering what the hell to do next. Or trying to raise the money to hire him by selling lemonade or something.β
Alec looked merely irritated by this comment. βThe only way you could raise enough money to hire Magnus by selling lemonade is if you put meth in it.
β
β
Cassandra Clare (City of Lost Souls (The Mortal Instruments, #5))
β
You look lousy,' he said.
Jace blinked. 'Seems an odd time to start an insult contest, but if you insist, I could probably think up something good.'
'No I mean it. You don't look good.'
'This is from a guy ho has all the sex appeal of a penguin. Look, I realize you may be jealous that the good Lord didn't deal you the same chiseled hand he dealt me, but that's no reason to-'
'I am not trying to insult you.' Simon snapped.
β
β
Cassandra Clare (City of Fallen Angels (The Mortal Instruments, #4))
β
Jace?"
"Yeah?"
"How did you know I had Shadowhunter blood? Was there some way you could tell?"
The elevator arrived with a final groan. Jace unlatched the gate and slid it open. The inside reminded Clary of a birdcage, all black metal and decorative bits of gilt. "I guessed," he said, latching the door behind them. "It seemed like the most likely explanation."
"You guessed? You must have been pretty sure, considering you could have killed me."
He pressed a button in the wall, and the elevator lurched into action with a vibrating groan that she felt all through the bones in her feet. "I was ninety percent sure."
"I see," Clary said.
There must have been something in her voice, because he turned to look at her. Her hand cracked across his face, a slap that rocked him back on his heels. He put a hand to his cheek, more in surprise than pain. "What the hell was that for?"
The other ten percent," she said, and they rode the rest of the way down to the street in silence.
β
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Cassandra Clare (City of Bones (The Mortal Instruments, #1))
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Magnus rolled onto his back and put his feet up on the arm of the sofa. βWhat do you care if Alecβs miserable?β
βWhat do I care?β Jace said, so loudly that Chairman Meow rolled off the couch and landed on the floor. βOf course I care about Alec; heβs my best friend, my parabatai. And heβs unhappy. And so are you, by the look of things. Takeout containers everywhere, you havenβt done anything to fix up the place, your cat looks dead ββ
βHeβs not dead.
β
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Cassandra Clare (City of Heavenly Fire (The Mortal Instruments, #6))
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What's this?"
"That's a mango." Simon stared at Jace. Sometimes it really is like Shadowhunters were from an alien planet.
"I don't think I've seen one of those that wasn't already cut up," Jace mused. "I like mangoes."
Simon grabbed the mango and tossed it into the cart. "Great. What else do you like?"
Jace pondered for a moment. "Tomato soup," he said finally.
"Tomato soup? You want tomato soup and a mango for dinner?"
Jace shrugged. "I don't really care about food.
β
β
Cassandra Clare (City of Fallen Angels (The Mortal Instruments, #4))
β
Black for hunting through the night
For death and mourning the color's white
Gold for a bride in her wedding gown
And red to call the enchantment down
White silk when our bodies burn
Blue banners when the lost return
Flame for the birth of a Nephilim
And to wash away our sins.
Gray for the knowledge best untold
Bone for those who don't grow old
Saffron lights the victory march
Green to mend our broken hearts
Silver for the demon towers
And bronze to summon wicked powers
-Shadowhunter children's rhyme
β
β
Cassandra Clare (City of Heavenly Fire (The Mortal Instruments, #6))
β
Now very much against her will, she thought of the way Jace had looked at her then, the blaze of faith in his eyes, his belief in her. He had always thought she was strong. He had showed it in everything he did, in every look and every touch. Simon had faith in her too, yet when he'd held her, it had been as if she were something fragile, something made of delicate glass. But Jace had held her with all the strength he had, never wondering if she could take it--he'd known she was as strong has he was.
β
β
Cassandra Clare (City of Glass (The Mortal Instruments, #3))
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Just take the weapon you hold in your hand and drive it through his heart," Valentine's voice was soft. "One simple motion. Nothing you haven't done before."
Jace met his father's stare with a level gaze. "I saw Agramon," he said. "It had your face."
"You saw Agramon?" The Soul-Sword glittered as Valentine moved toward his son. "And you lived?"
"I killed it."
"You killed the Demon of Fear, but you won't kill a single vampire, not even at my order?"
Jace stood watching Valentine without expression. "He's a vampire, that's true," he said. "But his name is Simon.
β
β
Cassandra Clare (City of Ashes (The Mortal Instruments, #2))
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What have you done to my cat?" Magnus demanded... "You drank his blood, didn't you? You said you weren't hungry!"
Simon was indignant. "I did not drink his blood. He's fine!" He poked the Chairman in the stomach. The cat yawned. "Second, you asked me if I was hungry when you were ordering pizza, so I said no, because I can't eat pizza. I was being polite."
"That doesn't get you the right to eat my cat."
"Your cat is fine!" Simon reached to pick up the tabby, who jumped indignantly to his feet and stalked off the table. "See?"
"Whatever.
β
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Cassandra Clare (City of Lost Souls (The Mortal Instruments, #5))
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Thank you,β Simon said. βItβs a joke, Isabelle. Heβs the Count. He likes counting. You know. βWhat did the Count eat today, children? One chocolate chip cookie, two chocolate chip cookies, three chocolate chip cookies . . .ββ
There was a rush of cold air as the door of the restaurant opened, letting in another customer. Isabelle shivered and reached for her black silk scarf. βItβs not realistic.β
βWhat would you prefer? βWhat did the Count eat today, children? One helpless villager, two helpless villagers, three helpless villagers . . .
β
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Cassandra Clare (City of Fallen Angels (The Mortal Instruments, #4))
β
In friendship...we think we have chosen our peers. In reality a few years' difference in the dates of our births, a few more miles between certain houses, the choice of one university instead of another...the accident of a topic being raised or not raised at a first meeting--any of these chances might have kept us apart. But, for a Christian, there are, strictly speaking no chances. A secret master of ceremonies has been at work. Christ, who said to the disciples, "Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you," can truly say to every group of Christian friends, "Ye have not chosen one another but I have chosen you for one another." The friendship is not a reward for our discriminating and good taste in finding one another out. It is the instrument by which God reveals to each of us the beauties of others.
β
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C.S. Lewis (The Four Loves)
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You never called me back," he said. "I called you so many times and you never called me back."
Magnus looked at Alec as if he'd lost his mind. "Your city is under attack," he said. "The wards have been broken, and the streets are full of demons. And you want to know why I haven't called you?"
Alec set his jaw in a stubborn line. "I want to know why you haven't called me back."
Magnus threw his hands up in the air in a gesture of utter exasperation. Alec noted with interest that when he did it, a few sparks escaped from his fingertips, like fireflies escaping from a jar. "You're an idiot."
"Is that why you haven't called me? Because I'm an idiot?"
"No." Magnus strode toward him. "I didn't call you because I'm tired of you only wanting me around when you need something. I'm tired of watching you be in love with someone else - someone, incidentally, who will never love you back. Not the way I do."
"You love me?"
"You stupid Nephilim," Magnus said patiently. "Why else am I here? Why else would I have spent the past few weeks patching up all your moronic friends every time they got hurt? And getting you out of every ridiculous situation you found yourself in? Not to mention helping you win a battle against Valentine. And all completely free of charge!
β
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Cassandra Clare (City of Glass (The Mortal Instruments, #3))
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Clary,
Despite everything, I can't bear the thought of this ring being lost forever, any more then I can bear the thought of leaving you forever. And though I have no choice about the one, at least I can choose about the other. I'm leaving you our family ring because you have as much right to it as I do.
I'm writing this watching the sun come up. You're asleep, dreams moving behind your restless eyelids. I wish I knew what you were thinking. I wish I could slip into your head and see the world the way you do. I wish I could see myself the way you do. But maybe I dont want to see that. Maybe it would make me feel even more than I already do that I'm perpetuating some kind of Great Lie on you, and I couldn't stand that.
I belong to you. You could do anything you wanted with me and I would let you. You could ask anything of me and I'd break myself trying to make you happy. My heart tells me this is the best and greatest feeling I have ever had. But my mind knows the difference between wanting what you can't have and wanting what you shouldn't want. And I shouldn't want you.
All night I've watched you sleeping, watched the moonlight come and go, casting its shadows across your face in black and white. I've never seen anything more beautiful. I think of the life we could have had if things were different, a life where this night is not a singular event, separate from everything else that's real, but every night. But things aren't different, and I can't look at you without feeling like I've tricked you into loving me.
The truth no one is willing to say out loud is that no one has a shot against Valentine but me. I can get close to him like no one else can. I can pretend I want to join him and he'll believe me, up until that last moment where I end it all, one way or another. I have something of Sebastian's; I can track him to where my father's hiding, and that's what I'm going to do. So I lied to you last night. I said I just wanted one night with you. But I want every night with you. And that's why I have to slip out of your window now, like a coward. Because if I had to tell you this to your face, I couldn't make myself go.
I don't blame you if you hate me, I wish you would. As long as I can still dream, I will dream of you.
_Jace
β
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Cassandra Clare (City of Glass (The Mortal Instruments, #3))
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I walked past Malison, up Lower Main to Main and across the road. I didnβt need to look to know he was behind me. I entered Royal Wood, went a short way along a path and waited. It was cool and dim beneath the trees. When Malison entered the Wood, I continued eastward.Β
I wanted to place his body in hallowed ground. He was born a Mearan. The least I could do was send him to Loric. The distance between us closed until he was on my heels. He chose to come, I told myself, as if that lessened the crime I planned. He chose what I have to offer.
We were almost to the cemetery before he asked where we were going. I answered with another question. βDo you like living in the High Lordβs kitchens?β
He, of course, replied, βNo.β
βWell, weβre going to a better place.β
When we reached the edge of the Wood, I pushed aside a branch to see the Temple of Loric and Calecβs cottage. No smoke was coming from the chimney, and I assumed the old man was yet abed. His pony was grazing in the field of graves. The sun hid behind a bank of clouds.
Malison moved beside me. βItβs a graveyard.β
βAre you afraid of ghosts?β I asked.
βMy fatherβs a ghost,β he whispered.
I asked if he wanted to learn how to throw a knife. He said, βYes,β as I knew he would.Β He untucked his shirt, withdrew the knife he had stolen and gave it to me. It was a thick-bladed, single-edged knife, better suited for dicing celery than slitting a young throat. But it would serve my purpose. That I also knew. Iβd spent all night projecting how the morning would unfold and, except for indulging in the tea, it had happened as I had imagined.Β
Damut kissed her son farewell. Malison followed me of his own free will. Without fear, he placed the instrument of his death into my hand. We were at the appointed place, at the appointed time. The stolen knife was warm from the heat of his body. I had only to use it. Yet I hesitated, and again prayed for Sythene to show me a different path.
βArenβt you going to show me?β Malison prompted, as if to echo my prayer.
β
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K. Ritz (Sheever's Journal, Diary of a Poison Master)
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Isabelle snorted. 'All the boys are gay. In this truck, anyway. Well, not you, Simon.'
'You noticed' said Simon.
'I think of myself as a freewheeling bisexual,' added Magnus.
'Please never say those words in front of my parents,' said Alec. 'Especially my father.'
'I thought your parents were okay with you, you know, coming out,' Simon said, leaning around Isabelle to look at Alec, who was β as he often was β scowling, and pushing his floppy dark hair out of his eyes. Aside from the occasional exchange, Simon had never talked to Alec much. He wasnβt an easy person to get to know. But, Simon admitted to himself, his own recent estrangement from his mother made him more curious about Alecβs answer than he would have been otherwise.
'My mother seems to have accepted it,' Alec said. 'But my father β no, not really. Once he asked me what I thought had turned me gay.'
Simon felt Isabelle tense next to him. 'Turned you gay?' She sounded incredulous. 'Alec, you didnβt tell me that.'
'I hope you told him you were bitten by a gay spider,' said Simon.
Magnus snorted; Isabelle looked confused. 'Iβve read Magnusβs stash of comics,' said Alec, 'so I actually know what youβre talking about' A small smile played around his mouth. 'So would that give me the proportional gayness of a spider?'
'Only if it was a really gay spider,' said Magnus, and he yelled as Alec punched him in the arm. 'Ow, okay, never mind.
β
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Cassandra Clare (City of Lost Souls (The Mortal Instruments, #5))
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Ladies and gentlemen of the class of '97:
Wear sunscreen.
If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be it. The long-term benefits of sunscreen have been proved by scientists, whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable than my own meandering experience. I will dispense this advice now.
Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth. Oh, never mind. You will not understand the power and beauty of your youth until they've faded. But trust me, in 20 years, you'll look back at photos of yourself and recall in a way you can't grasp now how much possibility lay before you and how fabulous you really looked. You are not as fat as you imagine.
Don't worry about the future. Or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubble gum. The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind, the kind that blindside you at 4 pm on some idle Tuesday.
Do one thing everyday that scares you.
Sing.
Don't be reckless with other people's hearts. Don't put up with people who are reckless with yours.
Floss.
Don't waste your time on jealousy. Sometimes you're ahead, sometimes you're behind. The race is long and, in the end, it's only with yourself.
Remember compliments you receive. Forget the insults. If you succeed in doing this, tell me how.
Keep your old love letters. Throw away your old bank statements.
Stretch.
Don't feel guilty if you don't know what you want to do with your life. The most interesting people I know didn't know at 22 what they wanted to do with their lives. Some of the most interesting 40-year-olds I know still don't.
Get plenty of calcium. Be kind to your knees. You'll miss them when they're gone.
Maybe you'll marry, maybe you won't. Maybe you'll have children, maybe you won't. Maybe you'll divorce at 40, maybe you'll dance the funky chicken on your 75th wedding anniversary. Whatever you do, don't congratulate yourself too much, or berate yourself either. Your choices are half chance. So are everybody else's.
Enjoy your body. Use it every way you can. Don't be afraid of it or of what other people think of it. It's the greatest instrument you'll ever own.
Dance, even if you have nowhere to do it but your living room.
Read the directions, even if you don't follow them.
Do not read beauty magazines. They will only make you feel ugly.
Get to know your parents. You never know when they'll be gone for good. Be nice to your siblings. They're your best link to your past and the people most likely to stick with you in the future.
Understand that friends come and go, but with a precious few you should hold on. Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography and lifestyle, because the older you get, the more you need the people who knew you when you were young.
Live in New York City once, but leave before it makes you hard. Live in Northern California once, but leave before it makes you soft. Travel.
Accept certain inalienable truths: Prices will rise. Politicians will philander. You, too, will get old. And when you do, you'll fantasize that when you were young, prices were reasonable, politicians were noble, and children respected their elders.
Respect your elders.
Don't expect anyone else to support you. Maybe you have a trust fund. Maybe you'll have a wealthy spouse. But you never know when either one might run out.
Don't mess too much with your hair or by the time you're 40 it will look 85.
Be careful whose advice you buy, but be patient with those who supply it. Advice is a form of nostalgia. Dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than it's worth.
But trust me on the sunscreen.
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β
Mary Schmich (Wear Sunscreen: A Primer for Real Life)