Smoke and Mirrors

Memory is the great deceiver. Perhaps there are some individuals whose memories act like tape recordings, daily records of their lives complete in every detail, but I am not one of them. My memory is a patchwork of occurrences, of discontinuous events roughly sewn together: The parts I remember, I remember precisely, whilst other sections seemed to have vanished completely.

Only His

Involuntary reactions were a bitch.

"I love the festivals, but all those children." She shuddered.
Heidi laughed. "Not a kid person?"
"Individually they are fine, but as a group? I don't think so. Did you read Lord of the Flies?"

"I have a cat," she told him.
"Everyone has a flaw."

"You are right. I am running all the time. Running to find inspiration. Running because if I stop I don't know what I'll find. Running because the going, the back and forth, keeps me from admitting that I am alone."

"Oh, I'm the poster girl for picking the wrong guy. Trust me, if there is a selfish bastard within a fifty mile radius, I'm all over him.

Second Epilogues for the Bridgerton Series

Eloise, whose mouth was as sharp as Hyacinth's (though thankfully tempered by some discretion), had remarked that they had best get Hyacinth married off quickly or their mother was going to become an alcoholic. Lady Bridgerton had not appreciated the comment, although she privately thought it might be true. - An Offer From A Gentleman: The Epilogue II (Bridgertons, #3.5)

"Eloise," Penelope said, somewhat breathless from trying to shake off Hyacinth.
"Penelope." But Eloise's voice sounded curious. Which did not surprise Penelope; Eloise was no fool, and she was well aware that her brother's normal modes of behavior did not include beatific smiles in her direction.
"Eloise," Hyacinth said, for no reason Penelope could deduce.
"Hyacinth."
Penelope turned to her husband. "Colin."
He looked amused. "Penelope. Hyacinth."
Hyacinth grinned. "Colin." And then: "Sir Phillip."
"Ladies." Sir Phillip, it seemed, favored brevity.
"Stop!" Eloise burst out. "What is going on?"
"A recitation of our Christian names, apparently," Hyacinth said.

"I've already instructed the others to keep their mouths shut."
"Even Hyacinth?" Penelope asked doubtfully.
"Especially Hyacinth."
"Did you bribe her?" Violet asked. "Because it won't work unless you bribe her."
"Good Lord," Colin muttered. "One would think I'd joined this family yesterday. Of course I bribed her." He turned to Penelope. "No offense to recent additions."
"Oh, none taken." - Romancing Mister Bridgerton: The Epilogue II (Bridgertons, #4.5)

Francesca couldn't say anything, because that would just make her mother feel even worse, and so instead they stood there as they always did, thinking the same thing but never speaking of it, wondering which of them hurt more.- When He Was Wicked: The Epilogue II (Bridgertons, #6.5)


Compiler's Note: These quotes are from the second epilogues written for the Bridgerton Series! I just put them altogether!

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

We've all got both light and dark inside us. What matters is the part we choose to act on. That's who we really are.

"I DON'T CARE!" Harry yelled at them, snatching up a lunascope and throwing it into the fireplace. "I'VE HAD ENOUGH, I'VE SEEN ENOUGH, I WANT OUT, I WANT IT TO END, I DON'T CARE ANYMORE!"
"You do care," said Dumbledore. He had not flinched or made a single move to stop Harry demolishing his office. His expression was calm, almost detached. "You care so much you feel as though you will bleed to death with the pain of it."

"You're a prefect? Oh Ronnie! That's everyone in the family!"
"What are Fred and I? Next door neighbors?"

According to Madam Pomfrey, thoughts could leave deeper scars than almost anything else.

"Is it true that you shouted at Professor Umbridge?"
"Yes."
"You called her a liar?"
"Yes."
"You told her He Who Must Not Be Named is back?"
"Yes."
"Have a biscuit, Potter."

The Return of the King

But I have been too deeply hurt, Sam.  I tried to save the Shire, and it has been saved, but not for me. 

It must often be so, Sam, when things are in danger: some one has to give them up, lose them, so that others may keep them.

How do you pick up the threads of an old life? How do you go on, when in your heart, you begin to understand, there is no going back? There are some things that time cannot mend. Some hurts that go too deep...that have taken hold.

I know. It's all wrong. By rights we shouldn't even be here. But we are. It's like in the great stories, Mr. Frodo. The ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger they were. And sometimes you didn't want to know the end. Because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened? But in the end, it's only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer. Those were the stories that stayed with you. That meant something, even if you were too small to understand why. But I think, Mr. Frodo, I do understand. I know now. Folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back, only they didn't. They kept going, because they were holding on to something.

Second Glance

Did you ever walk through a room that's packed with people, and feel so lonely you can hardly take the next step?

Love is not a because, it's a no matter what.

People work too hard to figure out the meaning of their lives. Why me, why now. The truth is, sometimes things don't happen to you for a reason. Sometimes it's just about being in the right place at the right time for someone else.

Heroes didn't leap tall buildings or stop bullets with an outstretched hand; they didn't wear boots and capes. They bled, and they bruised, and their superpowers were as simple as listening, or loving. Heroes were ordinary people who knew that even if their own lives were impossibly knotted, they could untangle someone else's. And maybe that one act could lead someone to rescue you right back.

Love meant jumping off a cliff and trusting that a certain person would be there to catch you at the bottom.

The Godfather

     You cannot say 'no' to the people you love, not often. That's the secret. And then when you do, it has to sound like a 'yes'. Or you have to make them say 'no.' You have to take time and trouble.
     Revenge is a dish that tastes best when served cold.