Son of the Shadows Quotes

“Don't you long for something different to happen, something so exciting and new it carries you along with it like a great tide, something that lets your life blaze and burn so the whole world can see it?”
― Juliet Marillier, Son of the Shadows

“This is a long goodbye, yet not time enough. I have no aptitude for this. I cannot learn this. I would hold on, and hold on, until my hands clutch at emptiness.”
― Juliet Marillier, Son of the Shadows

“I wish- I wish I could dry these tears, I wish I could make this better for you. But I don't know how.”
― Juliet Marillier, Son of the Shadows

“And as I watched him, I knew that in every dark night there was, somewhere, a small light burning that could never be quenched.”
― Juliet Marillier, Son of the Shadows

“Your actions are your own. Your choices are your own. Each of us carries a burden of guilt for decisions made or not made. You can let that rule your whole life or you can put it behind you and move on. Only a madman lets jealousy determine the course of his existence. Only a weak man blames others for his own errors.”
― Juliet Marillier, Son of the Shadows

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

“Come, dear heart. Lean on me and let us walk this path together.”
― Juliet Marillier, Son of the Shadows

“You cannot poison what is between us with your foul words. She is my light in the darkness and Johnny is my pathway ahead.”
― Juliet Marillier, Son of the Shadows

“Nobody expects you to exhibit godlike strength, excepting maybe yourself.”
― Juliet Marillier, Son of the Shadows

“This was a face such as I had never seen before, even in the most fanciful of dreams, a face that was, in its way, a work of art. For it was light and dark, night and day, this world and the Otherworld. On the left side, the face of a youngish man, the skin weathered but fair, the eye gray and clear, the mouth well formed if unyielding in character. On all the right side, extending from an undrawn mark down the exact center, an etching of line and curve and feathery pattern, like the mask of some fierce bird of prey. An eagle? A goshawk? No, it was, I thought, a raven, even as far as the circles about the eye and the suggestion of predatory beak around the nostril. The mark of the raven. If I had not been so frightened, I might have laughed at the irony of it. The pattern extended down his neck and under the border of his leather jerkin and the linen shirt he wore beneath it. His head was completely shaven, and the skull, too, was colored the same, half-man, half-wild creature; some great artist of the inks and needle had wrought this over many days, and I imagined the pain must have been considerable.”
― Juliet Marillier, Son of the Shadows

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

“I cannot say what it was that made me take that one step forward. Maybe it was the hesitation in his voice. I knew what it cost him to let himself speak thus. Maybe it was the memory of how he had looked as he slept. I just knew, overwhelmingly, that if I did not touch him I would shatter in pieces. Jump, cried the wind. Jump over. I shut my eyes and moved toward him, and my arms went around his waist, and I rested my head against his chest and let my tears flow. There, said the voice deep inside me. See how easy it was? Bran went very still; and then his arms came around me, quite cautiously, as if he had never done this before and was not at all sure how one went about it. We stood there awhile, and the feeling was good, so good, like a homecoming after long troubles. Until I held him, I did not realize how much I had longed for it. Until I held him, I did not realize he was just the right height to put his arms comfortably around my shoulders, for me to rest my brow in the hollow of his neck, where the blood pulsed under the skin—a perfect fit.”
― Juliet Marillier, Son of the Shadows

“He and I…we share a bond. Not love, exactly. It goes beyond that. He is mine as surely as sun follows moon across the sky. Mine before ever I knew he existed. Mine until death and beyond.”
― Juliet Marillier, Son of the Shadows

“Liadan," he said, staring intently at the ground.

"Yes," I whispered.

"Don't wed that man Eamonn. Tell him, if he takes you, he's a dead." --Bran”
― Juliet Marillier, Son of the Shadows

“The world is simple, I think, in its essence. Life, death, love, hate. Desire, fulfillment. Magic.”
― Juliet Marillier, Son of the Shadows

“You bound him to you with your courage and your tales. You hold him to you now. You captured a wild creature when you had no place you could keep him.”
― Juliet Marillier, Son of the Shadows

“.... So Cu Chulainn asked and he asked, and at length he learned that the best teacher of the arts of war was a woman, Scathach, a strange creature who lived on a tiny island off the coast of Alba."
"A woman?" someone echoed scornfully. "How could that be?"
"Ah, well, this was no ordinary woman, as our hero soon found out for himself. When he came to the wild shore of Alba and looked across the raging waters to the island where she lived with her warrior women, he saw that there could be a difficulty before he even set foot there. For the only way across was by means of a high, narrow bridge, just wide enough for one man to walk on. And the instant he set his foot upon its span, the bridge began to shake and flex and bounce up and down, all along its considerable length, so that anyone foolish enough to venture farther along it would straightaway be tossed down onto the knife-sharp rocks or into the boiling surf."
"Why didn't he use a boat?" asked Spider with a perplexed frown.
"Didn't you hear what Liadan said?" Gull responded with derision. "Raging waters? Boiling surf? No boat could have crossed that sea, I'd wager.”
― Juliet Marillier, Son of the Shadows

“Don't you long for something different to happen, something so exciting and new it carries you along with it like a great tide, something that lets your life blaze and burn so the whole world can see it? Something that touches you with joy or with terror, that lifts you out of your safe, little path and onto a great, wild road whose ending nobody knows? Don't you ever long for that?”
― Juliet Marillier, Son of the Shadows

“Ask us for any help you need...Let us be strong for you.”
― Juliet Marillier, Son of the Shadows

“Bran held his voice level. "In time, you will regret these words. You may hold me captive now, and believe me helpless. But each foulword you speak of her brings your death a little closer."
--Bran to Eamonn”
― Juliet Marillier, Son of the Shadows

“I wanted so much to keep you safe. I did my best. I'm sorry things didn't come out different for the two of us. I wish I could have been good enough for you.”
― Juliet Marillier, Son of the Shadows

“I could not imagine living away from Sevenwaters, away from all that was so much a part of me. Maybe, if you cared enough about someone, you could do it and not feel your spirit torn in two. But the forest keeps her hold on all those who are born there, and they cannot travel far without the yearning in them to return.”
― Juliet Marillier, Son of the Shadows

“This is a—a proposal of marriage?” he asked me, and there was the very smallest trace of a smile at the corner of his mouth, something I had never seen before.
“I suppose so,” I said, blushing again. “And, as you see, I’m doing it properly, on my knees.”
“This would, however, be a partnership of equals you’re offering, I imagine?”
“Undoubtedly.” (448-49)”
― Juliet Marillier, Son of the Shadows

“Johnny was sobbing in shuddering gasps, telling me his small tale of woe, that the world was suddently different, and that he wanted me to make it better, right now please." --Liadan's interpretation of her baby's cries.”
― Juliet Marillier, Son of the Shadows

“She said, a child born at midwinter comes into the world on the shortest day of the year. From that point on, the days stretch out. And so a child born at midwinter walks always toward the light, all his life.”
― Juliet Marillier, Son of the Shadows

“What sort of man would you choose for yourself, Liadan?, he asked me.

One who is trustworthy, and true to himself, I answered straightaway. One who speaks his mind without fear. One who can be a friend as well as a husband. I would be contented with that.”
― Juliet Marillier, Son of the Shadows

“Bran dissera, uma vez, que a confiança era um conceito sem qualquer significado. Mas, se não podíamos confiar, ficávamos sós, porque nem a amizade, nem a sociedade, nem a família, nem a aliança, podiam existir sem confiança. Sem ela ficávamos dispersos, à mercê dos quatro ventos, sem nada a que nos agarrarmos.”
― Juliet Marillier, Son of the Shadows

“I would hold on, and hold on, until my hands clutch at emptiness.”
― Juliet Marillier, Son of the Shadows

“How could you live without human touch? Wasn't that the first thing you knew, when you came into the world and they laid you on your mother's belly? Her hand would come across and stroke your back, and cup your head, and she would smile through tears of exhaustion and wonderment. That touch of love would be the very first thing for you.”
― Juliet Marillier, Son of the Shadows

“If you will count, count the stars, dear one. How many stars in the sky, looking down on us as we lie in each other's arms and taste joy? How many gleaming fish in the lake where I splash our son in the water and hear his streaks of glee ring out in the clear air? A fine little salmon you made, that night in the rain. How many times does the heart beat, how fast does the blood run when at last we touch, and touch again, and breathe the same desperate, longing breath? Count those things, for they are the stuff of life and hope.”
― Juliet Marillier, Son of the Shadows