Sullivan Quotes

We've searched our database for all the quotes and captions related to Sullivan. Here they are! All 100 of them:

The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt with the heart
Helen Keller
If you do a good job for others, you heal yourself at the same time, because a dose of joy is a spiritual cure. It transcends all barriers.
Ed Sullivan
The problem isn't finding out where you are gonna go-its figuring out what you are gonna do once you get there that is! (Jamie Sullivan)
Nicholas Sparks (A Walk to Remember)
Saying good-bye is basically an invitation not to see a person again. It's making it okay for that to be the last conversation you have. So if you don't say it--if you leave the conversation open--it means you'll have to see them again." ~Roger Sullivan
Morgan Matson (Amy & Roger's Epic Detour)
It's not what the world holds for you. It's what you bring to it.
Kevin Sullivan
We can’t know what’s going to happen. We can just try to figure it out as we go along. - Roger Sullivan
Morgan Matson (Amy & Roger's Epic Detour)
The best discoveries always happened to the people who weren't looking for it. Columbus and America. Pinzon, who stumbled on Brazil while looking for the West Indies. Stanley happening on Victoria Falls. And you. Amy Curry, when I was least expecting her. -Roger Sullivan
Morgan Matson (Amy & Roger's Epic Detour)
Sometimes the price of dreams is achieving them.
Michael J. Sullivan (Percepliquis (The Riyria Revelations, #6))
Let’s just remember, Sullivan, that I want you for your smoked meats and your smoked meats only.” He barked out a laugh. “Touché, Sentinel.
Chloe Neill (Twice Bitten (Chicagoland Vampires, #3))
That’s the way these things work, kiddo,” he says. “Love isn't supposed to make sense. It's completely illogical.
Jennifer E. Smith (The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight)
See, that’s the difference,” Mauvin said. “I suffer a loss and people console me. Royce suffers a loss and whole towns evacuate.
Michael J. Sullivan (Heir of Novron (The Riyria Revelations, #5-6))
I mean, who does that? Who touches someone’s hair and pronounces they have magic?” “Darth Sullivan.” “Darth goddamned Sullivan.
Chloe Neill (Hard Bitten (Chicagoland Vampires, #4))
You have to call Darth Sullivan your 'Liege'?" I grinned. "Only if I expect him to answer.
Chloe Neill (Some Girls Bite (Chicagoland Vampires, #1))
Women leave their marriages when they can't take any more. Men leave when they find someone new.
J. Courtney Sullivan (Commencement)
You know what they say," Dad said. "If you love something set it free." "What if he doesn't come back?" "Something do, somethings don't," he said, reaching to tweak her nose. "I'll always come back to you anyway." "You don't light up," Hadley said, but Dad only smiled. "I do when I'm with you.
Jennifer E. Smith (The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight)
Happiness comes from moving toward something. When you run away, ofttimes you bring your misery with you.
Michael J. Sullivan (Heir of Novron (The Riyria Revelations, #5-6))
I had spent my whole life feeling homesick. The only difference between the two of us was that I didn't know what or where home was.
Marian Keyes (Lucy Sullivan Is Getting Married)
If you are different from the rest of the flock, they bite you
Vincent O'Sullivan (The next room)
Jamie: Please don't pretend like you know me, ok? Landon: But I do, I do. We've had all the same classes in the same school since kindergarten. Why you're Jamie Sullivan. You sit at lunch table 7. Which isn't exactly the reject table, but is definitely in self exile territory. You have exactly one sweater. You like to look at your feet when you walk. Oh, oh, and yeah, for fun, you like to tutor on weekends and hang out with the cool kids from "Stars and Planets." Now how does that sound? Jamie: Thoroughly predictable, nothing I haven't heard before. Landon: You don't care what people think about you? Jamie: No.
Nicholas Sparks (A Walk to Remember)
It was ironic, really - you want to die because you can't be bothered to go on living - but then you're expected to get all energetic and move furniture and stand on chairs and hoist ropes and do complicated knots and attach things to other things and kick stools from under you and mess around with hot baths and razor blades and extension cords and electrical appliances and weedkiller. Suicide was a complicated, demanding business, often involving visits to hardware shops. And if you've managed to drag yourself from the bed and go down the road to the garden center or the drug store, by then the worst is over. At that point you might as well just go to work.
Marian Keyes (Lucy Sullivan Is Getting Married)
As these images were going through my head, my breathing suddenly went still. I looked at Jamie, then up to the ceiling and around the room, doing my best to keep my composure, then back to Jamie again. She smiled at me and I smiled at her and all I could do was wonder how I’d ever fallen in love with a girl like Jamie Sullivan.
Nicholas Sparks
When you expect nothing from the world - not the light of the sun, the wet of water, nor the air to breathe - everything is a wonder and every moment a gift.
Michael J. Sullivan (Percepliquis (The Riyria Revelations, #6))
You don’t win battles with hate. Anger and hate can make you brave, make you strong, but they also make you stupid. You end up tripping over your own two feet.” (Hadrian)
Michael J. Sullivan (Theft of Swords (The Riyria Revelations, #1-2))
She has a point, Liege.” Ethan clucked his tongue. “Captain of my Guards and he carries the standard of my Sentinel. Oh, how quickly they turn.” “You’re first in my heart, Liege.
Chloe Neill (Twice Bitten (Chicagoland Vampires, #3))
She thought about him all the time - not so much about Doug the individual, but rather about the nature of love, and the shock of learning how quickly it could disappear.
J. Courtney Sullivan (Commencement)
Somentimes you're in the wrong place at the wrong time and what happens is nobody's fault.You just want to feel bad so you'll feel better.
Rick Yancey (The Infinite Sea (The 5th Wave, #2))
It was a trap after all,” Alric said. He turned to Royce. “My apologies for doubting your sound paranoia.
Michael J. Sullivan (Theft of Swords (The Riyria Revelations, #1-2))
Some things down to the smallest of things, are worth the sum of all things
Rick Yancey (The Last Star (The 5th Wave, #3))
Looking for the good in people is never stupid.
Bella Andre (The Look of Love (San Francisco Sullivans, #1; The Sullivans, #1))
If this hast been done to language, I fear to know the fate of all else.
Michael J. Sullivan (Theft of Swords (The Riyria Revelations, #1-2))
Sullivan had her Crucifix Soldier and now I have mine. No. I am the soldier. Teacup is the cross.
Rick Yancey (The Infinite Sea (The 5th Wave, #2))
Your friends are at the house.' I sit up, straight. 'Who'? 'I don't know. Weird people. The Sullivan girl, whose father got the Gosford police to pick you up.' 'Siobhan?' 'And another one who's making cups of tea for everyone, and keeping the boy who's telling Luca fart jokes away from the girl who says he's "the last bastion of patriarchal poor taste".' 'Justine, Thomas and Tara.' And the drug fiend, Jimmy, is keeping Mia calm and the Trombal boy's rung about ten times. I don't like his manner on the phone.' 'You won't like any guy's manner on the phone.
Melina Marchetta (Saving Francesca)
Aren’t you going to say, I told you so?” Hadrian whispered. “What would be the point in that?” “Oh, so you’re saying that you’re going to hang on to this and throw it at me at some future, more personally beneficial moment?” “I don’t see the point in wasting it now, do you?
Michael J. Sullivan (Theft of Swords (The Riyria Revelations, #1-2))
One day soon, you’ll hear a car pull up to your curb, an engine cut out. You’ll hear footsteps coming up your front walk. Like they did for Edward Wayne Edwards, twenty-nine years after he killed Timothy Hack and Kelly Drew, in Sullivan, Wisconsin. Like they did for Kenneth Lee Hicks, thirty years after he killed Lori Billingsley, in Aloha, Oregon. The doorbell rings. No side gates are left open. You’re long past leaping over a fence. Take one of your hyper, gulping breaths. Clench your teeth. Inch timidly toward the insistent bell. This is how it ends for you. “You’ll be silent forever, and I’ll be gone in the dark,” you threatened a victim once. Open the door. Show us your face. Walk into the light.
Michelle McNamara (I'll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman's Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer)
Well, I suppose I could follow his advice. Are you hungry?” “Surprisingly enough, not at the moment.” “Will miracles never cease?” “Ha,” I said
Chloe Neill (Twice Bitten (Chicagoland Vampires, #3))
We don't always do the things our parents want us to do, but it is their mistake if they can't find a way to love us anyway.
J. Courtney Sullivan (Commencement)
I didn't know until then that rage had a taste and it tasted like your own blood.
Rick Yancey (The Infinite Sea (The 5th Wave, #2))
How do you find happiness?” Anna paused, then said, “You start by looking right around you for the blessings you have.
Mark T. Sullivan (Beneath a Scarlet Sky)
Gods can screw anything and anybody. For reference, see history. Atticus O'Sullivan
Kevin Hearne (Clan Rathskeller (The Iron Druid Chronicles, #0.5))
I’ve always wondered why love has to be so full of conflict and strife. Why can’t love be simple? Why can’t it just be as pure as two people who realize that they can’t live as well, or as happily, apart as they can together?
Bella Andre (Come A Little Bit Closer (San Francisco Sullivans, #7; The Sullivans, #7))
I'll have you in my bed again, Sentinel. And at my side. That is a promise.
Chloe Neill (Hard Bitten (Chicagoland Vampires, #4))
Some things are just perfect, even when they don't make any sense
Bella Andre (Come A Little Bit Closer (San Francisco Sullivans, #7; The Sullivans, #7))
Sullivan, just pick it up." "My way is more genteel." "Your way is more tight ass." "Your respect for me, Sentinel, is astounding." "I'd respect you more if you took a bite of that dog." "You don't respect me any." "Like I said, I'd respect you more. More than none.
Chloe Neill (Some Girls Bite (Chicagoland Vampires, #1))
As they climbed into their saddles, Myron bowed his head and muttered a soft prayer. “There,” Hadrian told Royce, “we’ve got Maribor on our side. Now you can relax.” “Actually,” Myron said sheepishly, “I was praying for the horses. But I will pray for you as well,” he added hastily.
Michael J. Sullivan (Theft of Swords (The Riyria Revelations, #1-2))
I remember saying things, but I have no idea what was said. It was generally a friendly conversation.” —Associated Press reporter Jack Sullivan, attempting to recount a 3 A.M. exchange we had at a dinner party and inadvertently describing the past ten years of my life.
Chuck Klosterman (Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs: A Low Culture Manifesto)
A beautiful day might bring disaster, while a day that begins trapped inside an ancient toom, might be the best one of your life. If you don´t abandon hope on pleasent days, why do so on those that begin poorly?
Michael J. Sullivan (Heir of Novron (The Riyria Revelations, #5-6))
Alric looked up at the thief with a scowl. “I just want to say for the record that as far as royal protectors go, you’re not very good.” “It’s my first day,” Royce replied dryly. “And already I’m trapped in a timeless prison. I shudder to think what might have happened if you had a whole week.
Michael J. Sullivan (Theft of Swords (The Riyria Revelations, #1-2))
Hadrian shook his head and sighed. “Why do you have to make everything so difficult? They’re probably not bad people—just poor. You know, taking what they need to buy a loaf of bread to feed their family. Can you begrudge them that? Winter is coming and times are hard.” He nodded his head in the direction of the thieves. “Right?” “I ain’t got no family,” flat-nose replied. “I spend most of my coin on drink.” “You’re not helping,” Hadrian said.
Michael J. Sullivan (Theft of Swords (The Riyria Revelations, #1-2))
Fools believe silence is a void needing to be filled; the wise understand there's no such thing as silence.
Michael J. Sullivan (Age of Myth (The Legends of the First Empire, #1))
Come for your revenge at last, elf?" Royce stepped forward. He looked down at Thranic and then around the room. "How could I top possibly top this? Sealed alive in a tomb of rock. My only regret is that I had nothing to do with it
Michael J. Sullivan (Heir of Novron (The Riyria Revelations, #5-6))
Great poetry needs no interpreter other than a responsive heart.
Helen Keller (The Story of My Life: With Her Letters (1887 1901) and a Supplementary Account of Her Education Including Passages from the Reports and Letters of Her Teacher Anne Mansfield Sullivan by John Albert Macy)
The best thing is to grieve for the people you loved and lost, and then welcome and love the new people life puts in front of you.
Mark T. Sullivan (Beneath a Scarlet Sky)
That’s what a good wife does, keeps your dreams alive even when you don’t believe anymore
Michael J. Sullivan (Age of Myth (The Legends of the First Empire, #1))
You are my heart now. Whatever happens to you happens to me.
Faith Sullivan (Hold Me Tight (Take Me Now, #3))
How she felt when he kissed her- like a tub of roses swimming in honey, cologne, nutmeg and blackberries.
Samuel Sullivan Cox
By opening our hearts, revealing our scars, we are made human and flawed and whole.
Mark T. Sullivan (Beneath a Scarlet Sky)
Royce nodded. “Invest in crossbows. Next time stay hidden and just put a couple bolts into each of your target’s chests. All this talking is just stupid.” “Royce!” Hadrian admonished. “What? You’re always saying I should be nicer to people. I’m trying to be helpful.
Michael J. Sullivan (Theft of Swords (The Riyria Revelations, #1-2))
That’s why you shouldn’t make vows. The moment you do, fate starts conspiring to shove them down your throat.
Michael J. Sullivan (Rise of Empire (The Riyria Revelations, #3-4))
Nothing in life worth doing is easy,
Mark T. Sullivan (Beneath a Scarlet Sky)
Will nodded toward Hadrian. “Look at the swords he’s carrying. A man wearing one—maybe he knows how to use it, maybe not. A man carries two—he probably don’t know nothing about swords, but he wants you to think he does. But a man carrying three swords—that’s a lot of weight. No one’s gonna haul that much steel around unless he makes a living using them.
Michael J. Sullivan (Theft of Swords (The Riyria Revelations, #1-2))
NEVER INTERFERE WITH MELENGAR AGAIN BY ORDER OF THE KING … AND US
Michael J. Sullivan (Theft of Swords (The Riyria Revelations, #1-2))
Thinking about the bacon - the potential of bacon - gives me hope. Not all is lost if bacon isn't.
Rick Yancey (The Last Star (The 5th Wave, #3))
And I wish to thank you as well, Royce." He was puzzled. "For what?" "For reminding me that anyone, no matter what they've done, can find redemption if they seek it.
Michael J. Sullivan (Heir of Novron (The Riyria Revelations, #5-6))
His Majesty is in a state meeting. He's requested that he not be disturbed." "The man is already disturbed. I'm just here to beat some sense into his feeble little brain.
Michael J. Sullivan (Theft of Swords (The Riyria Revelations, #1-2))
So,” Royce said, “you want us to escape from this prison, kidnap the king, cross the countryside with him in tow while dodging soldiers who I assume might not accept our side of the story, and go to another secret prison so that he can visit an inmate?” Arista did not appear amused. “Either that, or you can be tortured to death in four hours.” “Sounds like a really good plan to me,” Hadrian declared.“Royce?” “I like any plan where I don’t die a horrible death.
Michael J. Sullivan (Theft of Swords (The Riyria Revelations, #1-2))
The girls said she was too cynical about love, but how could you not be? On the surface, relations between men and women were all soft kisses and white gowns and hand-holding. But underneath they were a scary, complicated, ugly mess, just waiting to rise to the surface.
J. Courtney Sullivan (Commencement)
Life is full of little ironies, but it's also pockmarked with some the size of that big rock in Australia.
Rick Yancey (The Infinite Sea (The 5th Wave, #2))
I gave Paul a withering look but the truth was I was curious as hell. First of all, to find out what Sullivan wanted. And second, to see what a teacher's room looked like. I'd always sort of figured they came out during the day to teach classes and then got stored in shoe boxes under someone's bed until they were needed again. (James)
Maggie Stiefvater (Ballad: A Gathering of Faerie (Books of Faerie, #2))
Hadley grabs the laminated safety instructions from the seat pocket in front of her and frowns at the cartoon men and women who seem weirdly delighted to be bailing out of a series of cartoon planes. Beside her, Oliver stifles a laugh, and she glances up again. “What?” “I’ve just never seen anyone actually read one of those things before,” “Well,” she says, “then you’re very lucky to be sitting next to me.” “Just in general?” She grins. “Well, particularly in case of an emergency.” “Right,” he says. “I feel incredibly safe. When I’m knocked unconscious by my tray table during some sort of emergency landing, I can’t wait to see all five-foot-nothing of you carry me out of here.
Jennifer E. Smith (The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight)
Stealing swords,” Royce muttered mostly to himself. “Okay, let’s take a look at this tower. The sooner I see it, the sooner I can start cursing.
Michael J. Sullivan (Theft of Swords (The Riyria Revelations, #1-2))
You know, my young friend, I will be ninety years old next year, and life is still a constant surprise to me. We never know what will happen next, what we will see, and what important person will come into our life, or what important person we will lose. Life is change, constant change, and unless we are lucky enough to find comedy in it, change is nearly always a drama, if not a tragedy. But after everything, and even when the skies turn scarlet and threatening, I still believe that if we are lucky enough to be alive, we must give thanks for the miracle of every moment of every day, no matter how flawed.
Mark T. Sullivan (Beneath a Scarlet Sky)
The Rev "Seized the Day" to conquer the "City of Evil" in "Bat Country", and forced the "Beast and the Harlot" to "Scream" their "Unholy Confessions". He left them "Trashed and Scattered" and "Blinded In Chains" with the "Strength of the World". He found it "Almost Easy" and became a "Sidewinder" and slithered to "A Little Piece of Heaven" in his "Afterlife", now he is "M.I.A." and his "Nightmare" has come to pass.RIP Jimmy "The Rev" Sullivan, you're gone but NEVER forgotten!
Avenged Sevenfold
That’s the cost. That’s the price. Get ready, because when you crush the humanity out of humans, you’re left with humans with no humanity. In other words, you get what you pay for, motherfucker.
Rick Yancey (The Infinite Sea (The 5th Wave, #2))
Royce looked back down at the stream below. "She doesn't even know me. What if she doesn't like me? Few people do." "She might not at first. Maribor knows I didn't. But you have a way of growing on a person." He smiled. "You know, like lichen or mold.
Michael J. Sullivan (Percepliquis (The Riyria Revelations, #6))
Slaying dragons, melting witches, and banishing demons is all fun and games until someone loses a sidekick—then it’s personal. The bad guy isn’t just the “bad guy” anymore, he’s the BAD GUY!
Michael J. Sullivan
When you are so ashamed of your actions, thoughts, or intentions, you lie rather than accepting yourself for who you really are—or, in this case, pretend something happened when it didn’t. The idea of how others see you becomes more important than the reality of you.
Michael J. Sullivan
That's it," he said bitterly. "Cry, Cassie. Cry for her. Cry for all the children. They can't hear you and they can't see you and can't feel how really bad you feel, but cry for them. A tear for each of them, fill up the fucking ocean, cry.
Rick Yancey (The Infinite Sea (The 5th Wave, #2))
You didn’t really hold back on Braga so Pickering could kill him, did you?” Royce asked after the two were left alone in the hallway. “Of course not. I held off because it’s death for a commoner to kill a noble.” “That’s what I thought.” Royce sounded relieved. “For a minute, I wondered if you’d gone from jumping on the good-deed wagon to leading the whole wagon train.
Michael J. Sullivan (Theft of Swords (The Riyria Revelations, #1-2))
I am conscious of a soul-sense that lifts me above the narrow, cramping circumstances of my life. My physical limitations are forgotten- my world lies upward, the length and the breadth and the sweep of the heavens are mine!
Helen Keller (The Story of My Life: With Her Letters (1887 1901) and a Supplementary Account of Her Education Including Passages from the Reports and Letters of Her Teacher Anne Mansfield Sullivan by John Albert Macy)
Franny has the measles, for one thing. Incidentally, did you hear her last week? She went on at beautiful length about how she used to fly all around the apartment when she was four and no one was home. The new announcer is worse than Grant - if possible, even worse than Sullivan in the old days. He said she surely dreamt that she was able to fly. The baby stood her ground like an angel. She said she knew she was able to fly because when she came down she always had dust on her fingers from touching the light bulbs.
J.D. Salinger (Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters and Seymour: An Introduction)
What’s going on?” Royce asked as throngs of people suddenly moved toward him from the field and the castle interior. “I mentioned that you saw the thing and now they want to know what it looks like,” Hadrian explained. “What did you think? They were coming to lynch you?” He shrugged. “What can I say? I’m a glass-half-empty kinda guy.” “Half empty?” Hadrian chuckled. “Was there ever any drink in that glass?
Michael J. Sullivan (Theft of Swords (The Riyria Revelations, #1-2))
Live the life you wish to, date the man you wish to date, and stop looking to your family for affirmation for the choices that you make. Life is full of risks. You can't live your life in fear of how people will judge you for following your dreams.
David Sullivan (The Sound of Your Voice)
They made a major mistake," he blurted out, "the dumb bastards, when they didn't start by killing you first." "Benjamin Thomas Parish, that was the sweetest and most bizarre compliment anyone's ever given me." I kissed him on the cheek. He kissed me on the mouth. "You know," I whispered, "a year ago, I would have sold my soul for that." He shook his head. "Not worth it." And, for one-ten thousandth of a second, all of it fell away, the despair and grief and anger and pain and hunger, and the old Ben Parish rose from the dead. The eyes that impaled. The smile that slayed. In another moment, he would fade, slide back into the new Ben, the one called Zombie, and I understood something I hadn't before: He was dead, the object of my schoolgirl desires, just as the schoolgirl who desired him was dead.
Rick Yancey (The Infinite Sea (The 5th Wave, #2))
You can go back to blacksmithing in Hintindar and live a quiet happy life. Do me a favor and marry some pretty farm girl and train your son to beat the crap out of imperial knights." "Sure," Hadrian told him. "And with any luck he'll make friends with a cynical burglar who'll do nothing but torment him.
Michael J. Sullivan (Percepliquis (The Riyria Revelations, #6))
I've hoped for this for so many years, waited for someone to come along whom you could finally love more than your family, someone who would turn you inside-out and toss you off your path,' His mother looked positively gleeful in the face of his misery. 'Someone just like Nicola for you to blow it with.
Bella Andre (From This Moment On (San Francisco Sullivans, #2; The Sullivans, #2))
You think you’re a very clever fellow, don’t you?” Saldur challenged. “No, Your Grace,” Merrick replied. “Clever is the man who makes a fortune selling dried-up cows, explaining how it saves the farmers the trouble of getting up every morning to milk them. I’m not clever—I’m a genius.
Michael J. Sullivan (Rise of Empire (The Riyria Revelations, #3-4))
You think he’s still alive?” Royce asked, nodding his head toward Alric. “Sure,” Hadrian replied without bothering to look. “He’s probably sleeping. Why do you ask?” “I was just pondering something. Do you think a person could smother in a wet potato bag?” Hadrian lifted his head and looked over at the motionless prince. “I really hadn’t thought about it until now.
Michael J. Sullivan (Theft of Swords (The Riyria Revelations, #1-2))
Have you ever been in love, Hadrian?” “I’m not sure. How do you tell?” “Love? Why, it’s like coming home.” Hadrian considered the comment. “What are you thinking?” Bulard asked. Hadrian shook his head. “Nothing.” “Yes, you were. What? You can tell me. I’m an excellent repository for secrets. I’ll likely forget, but if I don’t, well, I’m an old man in a remote jungle. I’m sure to die before I can repeat anything.” Hadrian smiled, then shrugged. “I was just thinking about the rain.
Michael J. Sullivan (Rise of Empire (The Riyria Revelations, #3-4))
I need your help.” Royce looked up as if his head weighed a hundred pounds, his eyes red, his face ashen. He waited. “One last job,” Hadrian told him, then added, “I promise.” “Is it dangerous?” “Very.” “Is there a good chance I’ll get killed?” “Odds are definitely in favor of that.” Royce nodded, looked down at the scarf in his lap, and replied, “Okay.
Michael J. Sullivan (Heir of Novron (The Riyria Revelations, #5-6))
I am officially turning him over to you. He's your problem now. You'll have to watch out for him and that won't be easy. He's naive, gullible, immature, horribly unsophisticated, ignorant about anything worth knowing, and idealistic to a fault." He paused to make a show of thinking harder. "He's also indecisive, pathetically honest, a horrible liar, and too virtuous for words. He gets up twice each night to relieve himself, wads his clothes rather than folds them, chews with his mouth open, and talks with his mouth full. He has a nasty habit of cracking his knuckles every morning at breakfast, and, of course, he snores. To remedy that, just put a rock under his blanket.
Michael J. Sullivan (Heir of Novron (The Riyria Revelations, #5-6))
When we fall in love at a glance, the question we should ask ourselves (and this would apply to both men and women) is, What is it that we long for? Or perhaps, What are we lacking so that we can turn life in the direction we want? Creativity? Confidence? Authority? Recklessness? Irresponsibility? Or even darkness? Perhaps the lover is the outlaw in ourselves we don't quite have the nerve to claim. (p. 34)
Rosemary Sullivan (Labyrinth of Desire: Women, Passion, and Romantic Obsession)
Bah!” Magnus scoffed. “Humans always blame dwarves. A baby goes missing and it was a dwarf that stole it. A princess runs off with a second son of a king and it was a dwarf who lured her to a deep prison. And when they find her with the prince—lo, she was rescued! “A king is stabbed in the back in his own chapel, and a princess’s tower is turned into a death trap,” Royce called back to them. “Friends are betrayed and trapped in a prison—yes, I can see your surprise. Where do they get such ideas?” “Damn his elven ears,” Magnus said.
Michael J. Sullivan (Heir of Novron (The Riyria Revelations, #5-6))
Monsters remain human beings. In fact, to reduce them to a subhuman level is to exonerate them of their acts of terrorism and mass murder — just as animals are not deemed morally responsible for killing. Insisting on the humanity of terrorists is, in fact, critical to maintaining their profound responsibility for the evil they commit. And, if they are human, then they must necessarily not be treated in an inhuman fashion. You cannot lower the moral baseline of a terrorist to the subhuman without betraying a fundamental value.
Andrew Sullivan
How can you regret never having found true love? That's like saying you regret not being born a genius. People don't have control over such things. It either happens or it doesn't. It's a gift - a present that most never get. It's more like a miracle, really, when you think of it. I mean, first you have to find that person, and then you have to get to know them to realize just what they mean to you - that right there is ridiculously difficult. Then... then that person has to feel the same way about you. It's like searching for a specific snowflake, and even if you manage to find it, that's not good enough. You still have to find its matching pair. What are the odds?
Michael J. Sullivan (Heir of Novron (The Riyria Revelations, #5-6))
The claw slipped again. It came off the edge of the stone and Hadrian felt his stomach rise as he fell. He dropped less than two stories and landed in a thick pile of straw, but it still hurt. With the wind knocked from him, he lay staring up at the sky and the wall. Royce’s shadow crossed his face. “That was pathetic.” “You’re enjoying this a little too much for me to think you’re honestly trying to help.” “Trust me. I want you to improve. I want you to fall from much higher up.
Michael J. Sullivan (The Crown Tower (The Riyria Chronicles, #1))
Royce turned to Hadrian. “It’s supposed to make them look tough, but all it really does is make it easy to identify them as thieves for the rest of their lives. Painting a red hand on everyone is pretty stupid when you think about it.” “That tattoo is supposed to be a hand?” Hadrian asked. “I thought it was a little red chicken. But now that you mention it, a hand does make more sense.” Royce looked back at Will and tilted his head to one side. “Does kinda look like a chicken.
Michael J. Sullivan (Theft of Swords (The Riyria Revelations, #1-2))
I began my studies with eagerness. Before me I saw a new world opening in beauty and light, and I felt within me the capacity to know all things. In the wonderland of Mind I should be as free as another [with sight and hearing]. Its people, scenery, manners, joys, and tragedies should be living tangible interpreters of the real world. The lecture halls seemed filled with the spirit of the great and wise, and I thought the professors were the embodiment of wisdom... But I soon discovered that college was not quite the romantic lyceum I had imagined. Many of the dreams that had delighted my young inexperience became beautifully less and "faded into the light of common day." Gradually I began to find that there were disadvantages in going to college. The one I felt and still feel most is lack of time. I used to have time to think, to reflect, my mind and I. We would sit together of an evening and listen to the inner melodies of the spirit, which one hears only in leisure moments when the words of some loved poet touch a deep, sweet chord in the soul that until then had been silent. But in college there is no time to commune with one's thoughts. One goes to college to learn, it seems, not to think. When one enters the portals of learning, one leaves the dearest pleasures – solitude, books and imagination – outside with the whispering pines. I suppose I ought to find some comfort in the thought that I am laying up treasures for future enjoyment, but I am improvident enough to prefer present joy to hoarding riches against a rainy day.
Helen Keller (The Story of My Life: With Her Letters (1887 1901) and a Supplementary Account of Her Education Including Passages from the Reports and Letters of Her Teacher Anne Mansfield Sullivan by John Albert Macy)
The abbot told me once that lying was a betrayal to one's self. It's evidence of self-loathing. You see, when you are so ashamed of your actions, thoughts, or intentions, you lie to hide it rather than accept yourself for who you really are. The idea of how others see you becomes more important than the reality of you. It's like when a man would rather die than be thought of as a coward. His life is not as important to him as his reputation. In the end, who is the braver? The man who dies rather than be thought of as a coward or the man who lives willing to face who he really is?
Michael J. Sullivan (The Crown Conspiracy (The Riyria Revelations, #1))
There are times when I long to sweep away half the things I am expected to learn; for the overtaxed mind cannot enjoy the treasure it has secured at the greatest cost. ... When one reads hurriedly and nervously, having in mind written tests and examinations, one's brain becomes encumbered with a lot of bric-a-brac for which there seems to be little use. At the present time my mind is so full of heterogeneous matter that I almost despair of ever being able to put it in order. Whenever I enter the region of my mind I feel like the proverbial bull in the china shop. A thousand odds and ends of knowledge come crashing about my head like hailstones, and when I try to escape them, theme goblins and college nixies of all sorts pursue me, until I wish – oh, may I be forgiven the wicked wish! – that I might smash the idols I came to worship.
Helen Keller (The Story of My Life: With Her Letters (1887 1901) and a Supplementary Account of Her Education Including Passages from the Reports and Letters of Her Teacher Anne Mansfield Sullivan by John Albert Macy)
It was my teacher's genius, her quick sympathy, her loving tact which made the first years of my education so beautiful. It was because she seized the right moment to impart knowledge that made it so pleasant and acceptable to me. She realized that a child's mind is like a shallow brook which ripples and dances merrily over the stony course of its education and reflects here a flower, there a bush, yonder a fleecy cloud; and she attempted to guide my mind on its way, knowing that like a brook it should be fed by mountain streams and hidden springs, until it broadened out into a deep river, capable of reflecting in its placid surface, billowy hills, the luminous shadows of trees and the blue heavens, as well as the sweet face of a little flower. Any teacher can take a child to the classroom, but not every teacher can make him learn. He will not work joyously unless he feels that liberty is his, whether he is busy or at rest; he must feel the flush of victory and the heart-sinking of disappointment before he takes with a will the tasks distasteful to him and resolves to dance his way bravely through a dull routine of textbooks. My teacher is so near to me that I scarcely think of myself apart from her. How much of my delight in all beautiful things is innate, and how much is due to her influence, I can never tell. I feel that her being is inseparable from my own, and that the footsteps of my life are in hers. All the best of me belongs to her--there is not a talent, or an aspiration or a joy in me that has not been awakened by her loving touch.
Helen Keller (The Story of My Life: With Her Letters (1887 1901) and a Supplementary Account of Her Education Including Passages from the Reports and Letters of Her Teacher Anne Mansfield Sullivan by John Albert Macy)