Mortal Quotes

“He that has eyes to see and ears to hear may convince himself that no mortal can keep a secret. If his lips are silent, he chatters with his fingertips; betrayal oozes out of him at every pore.”
― Sigmund Freud, Introductory Lectures on Psychoanalysis

“Life is only precious because it ends, kid. Take it from a god. You mortals don't know how lucky you are”
― Rick Riordan, The Son of Neptune

“A tattoo is a true poetic creation, and is always more than meets the eye. As a tattoo is grounded on living skin, so its essence emotes a poignancy unique to the mortal human condition.”
― V. Vale, Re/Search #12: Modern Primitives

“The only problem with her is that she is too perfect. She is bad in a way that entices, and good in a way that comforts. She is mischief but then she is the warmth of home. The dreams of the wild and dangerous but the memories of childhood and gladness. She is perfection. And when given something perfect, it is the nature of man to dedicate his mind to finding something wrong with it and then when he is able to find something wrong with it, he rejoices in his find, and sees only the flaw, becoming blind to everything else! And this is why man is never given anything that is perfect, because when given the imperfect and the ugly, man will dedicate his mind to finding what is good with the imperfect and upon finding one thing good with the extremely flawed, he will only see the one thing good, and no longer see everything that is ugly. And so....man complains to God for having less than what he wants... but this is the only thing that man can handle. Man cannot handle what is perfect. It is the nature of the mortal to rejoice over the one thing that he can proudly say that he found on his own, with no help from another, whether it be a shadow in a perfect diamond, or a faint beautiful reflection in an extremely dull mirror.”
― C. JoyBell C.

“If getting drunk was how people forgot they were mortal, then hangovers were how they remembered.”
― Matt Haig, The Humans

“He remembered Tessa weeping in his arms in Paris, and thinking that he had never known the loss she felt, because he had never loved like she had, and that he was afraid that someday he would, and like Tessa he would lose his mortal love. And that it was better to be the one who died than the one who lived on. He had dismissed that, later, as a morbid fantasy, and had not remembered it again until Alec.”
― Cassandra Clare, City of Heavenly Fire

“Nicasia said that as mortal power grows, land and sea ought to be united. And that they would be, either in the way she hoped or the way I should fear.”

“Ominous,” I say.

“It seems I have a singular taste for women who threaten me.”
― Holly Black, The Wicked King

“To them, as to Magnus, time was like rain, glittering as it fell, changing the world, but something that could also be taken for granted.
Until you loved a mortal. Then time became gold in a miser's hands, every bright year counted out carefully, infinitely precious, and each one slipping through your fingers.”
― Cassandra Clare, The Bane Chronicles

“A premature death does not only rob one of the countless instances where one would have experienced pleasure, it also saves one from the innumerable instances where one would have experienced pain.”
― Mokokoma Mokhonoana

“Life is a process during which one initially gets less and less dependent, independent, and then more and more dependent.”
― Mokokoma Mokhonoana

“Man is mortal. This is his fate. Man pretends not to be mortal. That is his sin. Man is a creature of time and place, whose perspectives and insights are invariably conditioned by his immediate circumstances.”
― Sylvan Barnet

“This vessel requires sustenance."
"You want... breakfast?" Lore guessed.”
― Alexandra Bracken, Lore

“Were not the gods forms created like me and you, mortal, transient?”
― Hermann Hesse

“Your mortal lover has a mind like crystals," she said. "Sharp and cold. I would like her for my own."
"That's very thoughtful of you," was all he said in reply to this statement, which was appalling on a great many levels.
"Truly," the woman pressed. "Would you trade her? Your power is of the summerlands, but I will gift you with the hand of winter."
"Thank you," Wendell said; he seemed to be struggling to hold back laughter. "But I am satisfied with my hands as they are. And unless you have a key to my forest kingdom across the sea, I will not be trading my mortal lover today."
I was going to kill him.”
― Heather Fawcett, Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries

“Humans elect leaders on the basis of the promises they make. We [vampires] try to elect ours based solely on the strength of their character.”
― Darren Shan, Palace of the Damned

“You need to be greedy or ignorant to truly want to live forever.”
― Mokokoma Mokhonoana

“Attending a funeral would leave the average person insane, if they truly believed that sooner or later they are also going to die.”
― Mokokoma Mokhonoana

“When mortals discuss about the eternity,
conclusively it will be a lifetime discussion.”
― Toba Beta, My Ancestor Was an Ancient Astronaut

“The next time I took notice of you, you were sobbing all over the snow. Well, I thought, finally she's being sensible. Then I realized that you were sobbing because you'd stabbed yourself in the arm, and not out of concern for my imminent demise. I noticed that your tears were freezing as they hit the icy ground and collecting into the shape of a sword.
Well, that almost killed me. I mean that---I froze for a full second, during which our yeti friend nearly skewered me through. I dodged, barely, my head whirling. One day I would like for you to explain to me how you heard of the story of Deirdre and her faerie husband, a long-ago king, which is one of the oldest tales in my realm. Do mortals tell it as we do? When the king's murderous sons schemed to steal his kingdom by starving it into torpor with endless winter, Deirdre collected the tears of his dying people and froze them into a sword, with which he was finally able to slay his children. It is a tale many of my own people have forgotten---I know it only because that poor, witless king is my ancestor.
I felt the story in my blood and let my magic flow into the sword you were fashioning.”
― Heather Fawcett, Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries

“Robert Ingersoll's character was as nearly perfect as it is possible for the character of mortal man to be... none sweeter or nobler had ever blessed the world. The example of his life was of more value to posterity than all the sermons that were ever written on the doctrine of original sin... The genius for humor and wit and satire of a Voltaire, a wide amplitude of imagination, and a greatness of heart and brain that placed him upon an equal footing with the greatest thinkers of antiquity. He stands, at the close of his career, the first great reformer of the age.

{Thomas' words at the funeral of the great Robert Ingersoll}”
― Charles Spalding Thomas

“You're mortal,' he informs me. In his other hand, he's carrying an empty goblet, tipped over absently, as though he's forgotten he still carries it. 'It's not safe for you here. Especially if you go around stabbing everyone.”
― Holly Black, The Cruel Prince

“You are mortal. You will not last long.'
...
'That's what mortal means,' I say with a sigh that I don't have to fake. 'We die. Think of us like shooting stars, brief but bright.”
― Holly Black, The Queen of Nothing

“Wait," I said.
He tilted his head in exasperation, clearly anticipating some sort of lecture. He went completely still when I strode up to him and kissed him.
For one strange moment, I felt like laughing, because it was so clear that I had shocked him. I soon forgot about that, though, as well as everything else. I had not kissed him since Ljosland, and that barely counted; the first time, I had been so nervous that I barely touched him, while the second he had been in his other, oiche sidhe form. Perhaps it was the leaves rustling invisibly or the breeze that plucked at my hair, but I had the sense that I had left the mortal realm somehow, and that when I opened my eyes, I would find myself in some enchanted grove surrounded by faerie lights. This impression was so strong that I pulled away, dizzy.”
― Heather Fawcett, Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherlands

“I picked up his hands and examined them, then gripped his chin in a carefully businesslike way and looked into his eyes. I saw nothing peculiar--- no additional peculiarity, that is; his eyes have always been too green, a blackened green like leaves layered until no light can get through. I don't like to hold his gaze for long; not because I find it intimidating, but because a part of me worries that if I do, I will never wish to look away.”
― Heather Fawcett, Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherlands

“I brushed the hair from his face. It is very soft--- ludicrously so, in fact, more like rabbit down or dandelion seed than human hair--- and I found I could not stop stroking it. He murmured something, and the crease between his eyes faded.”
― Heather Fawcett, Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherlands

“Mortal feelings are so volatile that it's impossible to help toying with them a little.”
― Holly Black, The Cruel Prince

“And I roam the rainy alleys of your voice
get lost in the forests of your eyes
I yield to the city of your mouth
and dream in the valley of your breast
Oh to be this empty and this drunk
to be this mortal and eternal at once
Oh to forget and keep forgetting oneself
—this is the only living”
― Kamand Kojouri

“I've had enough of things being complicated between us," I replied. "I will never stop being terrified of the prospect of marrying you. How could I? It would make me queen of a land of nightmares. But I would like to settle this side of things, at least."
"This side of--?"
I kissed him matter-of-factly. He drew back, and at last he seemed to understand the significance of my interest in spending the night in a tent, as well as my joke about the wine.
"You know," he said, beginning to smile, "the cottage would be rather more comfortable."
"The cottage is too crowded for my liking," I replied. "And I don't wish to give Rose another reason to scowl forebodingly at me. Would you prefer to wait?”
In answer, he kissed me--- much more slowly than the kiss I had given him, and more skillfully too, I'm afraid. Afterwards he didn't lean back as I'd expected, but trailed his lips down my neck, sending a shiver skittering through me.
"You can begin by removing your clothes," I said. "If you would like to. To clarify, this is a suggestion, not a demand."
"Oh, Em," he said, laughing softly against my neck. I had my hands in his hair, which was now quite mussed, something that made me absurdly happy.
"I'm sorry," I said, self-conscious now. "Perhaps I shouldn't talk."
"Whoever not?" He drew back, examining me with a perplexed smile. "I like the way you talk. And everything else about you, in fact. Is that not clear by now?"
I felt laughter bubble up inside me, but I hid it behind a mock-serious impression. "I'm not sure."
His smile changed, and he trailed his hand down the side of my neck. "Let me show you.”
― Heather Fawcett, Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherlands

“Before my heart stops beating all I can do is admire the beauty of the seemly endless mortal stars that are decorating the night sky above me, illuminating my path to my next destination.”
― Ryan Gelpke, Peruvian Nights

“Would you accept time stopping just for you? If you do, you will be making a big ethical mistake because you will live forever, but your loved ones will disappear as time progresses!”
― Mehmet Murat ildan