˗ˏˋ folk of air (book series) ´ˎ˗

• "i do not yearn to be their equal. in my heart, i yearn to best them." ✧ jude duarte, the cruel prince, page 31
• "but i am done with being weak. i am done with being good. i think i am going to be something else." jude duarte, the cruel prince, page 43
• "instead of being afraid, i could become something to fear." jude duarte, the cruel prince, page 197
• "if i cannot be better than them, i will become so much worse." jude duarte, the cruel prince, page 210
• "children can laugh all day and still cry themselves to sleep at night." jude duarte, the cruel prince, page 286
• "i have heard that for mortals, the feeling of falling in love is very like the feeling of fear. your hearts beats fast. your senses are heightened. you grow light-headed, maybe even dizzy." balekin, the wicked king, page 25
• "if you're the sickness, i suppose you can't also be the cure." cardan, the wicked king, page 57
• "it occurs to me that maybe desire isn't something overindulging helps. maybe it is not unlike mithridatism; maybe i took a killing dose when i should have been poisoning myself slowly, one kiss at a time." jude duarte, the wicked king, page181
• "fear is terrible, but the combination of hope and fear is worse." jude duarte, the wicked king, page 244
• "by you, i am forever undone." cardan, queen of nothing, page 203
• "we have lived in our armor for so long, you and i. And now i am not sure if either of us knows how to remove it." cardan, queen of nothing, page 203
• "my sweet nemesis, how glad i am that you returned." cardan, queen of nothing, page 204
• "i spent much of my life guarding my heart. i guarded it so well that i could behave as though i didn’t have one at all. even now, it is a shabby, worm-eaten, and scabrous thing. but it is yours." cardan, queen of nothing, page 209
• "because stories tell a truth, if not precisely the truth." how the king of elfhame learned to hate stories, page 159
• "you don't think monster girls and wicked boys deserve love?" how the king of elfhame learned to hate stories, page 162
• "having a heart is terrible, but you need one anyway." how the king of elfhame learned to hate stories, page 165

˗ˏˋ the last unicorn ´ˎ˗

• "real magic can never be made by offering someone else's liver. you must tear out your own, and not expect to get it back."
• "we are not always what we seem, and hardly ever what we dream."
• "i have been mortal, and some part of me is mortal yet. i am full of tears and hunger and the fear of death, although i cannot weep, and i want nothing, and i cannot die. i am not like the others now, for no unicorn was ever born who could regret, but i do. i regret."
• "i would enter your sleep if i could, and guard you there, and slay the thing that hounds you, as i would if it had the courage to face me in fair daylight. but i cannot come in unless you dream of me."

˗ˏˋ the magnus archives ´ˎ˗

• "i have done my duty, and none may ask more of me. i am proud of the work we have done, and it has been an honor to do it alongside you. goodbye, gertrude. __may you find your rest where no shadows are cast, and no eyes may see you slumber.__"
• "i saw the sun. so much - power and fire and rage inside of her, enough to burn the world and leave it nothing but desert. but to look at her, oh - it was too much for most. but it seemed so still, so stable. but it wasn’t calm. it was just - distant."
• "look at the sky martin. look at the sky... it's looking back."
• "it sings that i am beautiful, that i am a home, that i can be fully consumed by what loves me."
• "and if she ceased, not in culmination of fire, but a cold and quiet death, perhaps her spirit would return to the lightless flame and try again."
• "if the words of my parents hold any truth, then god is the real monster, and “let there be light” the most evil words ever spoken."
• “without light, there is darkness. Without darkness, there is nothing.”
• "the wooden man in the seat next to me tried to seize my hand, but i no longer possessed any, so i curled my legs into a fist and struck it again and again until my eyes were full of sweet sherry, and the part of me that sang no hymns bit down and choked upon the soft wood."
• "nothing was anything, and nobody was what they did not pretend to be."
• " maybe we both die — probably — but maybe not. maybe...maybe everything works out. and we end up somewhere else." / "...together?" / "one way or another."
• "they were completely still, but there was something about them that made my mouth dry up and my mind scream to run. it didn’t feel like they were statues. it felt like they were choosing not to move."
• "...another futile warning of a future that is already here."
• "the audience is only safe when the story isn't about them."
• "taken on a cosmic scale, we’ve never even been alive – not in any way that might register. i mean, if this dreadful little planet had a fractionally different orbit, and life had never even started here, then ultimately nothing of any real importance would have changed."
• "it's quiet here. even the fear's gentle."
• "i don't want to die." / "neither did they."
• "bring all that is fear and all that is terror and all that is the awful dread that crawls and chokes and blinds and falls and twists and leaves and hides and weaves and burns and hunts and rips and bleeds and dies."
• "am i evil, archivist? is a thing evil when it simply obeys its own nature? when it embodies its nature? when that nature is created by those which revile it?"
• "the lonely is possibly the most insidious of the powers, i believe. certainly it is the one that most delights in having you do its work for it, even the spiders seem to have a hard time matching it for sheer seductiveness. time to yourself. self-care. putting yourself first. not being a burden on those you care about. doesn't even need to tell you any lies — just waits for the lies you tell yourself."
• "ceaseless watcher, turn your gaze upon this wretched thing!"

˗ˏˋ skip & loafer ´ˎ˗

• “i tell myself that the things i’m undecided on were never that important anyway. there are only so many important things you can’t compromise on, right?” shima sousuke
• well, it’s not like everyone with similar tastes gets along, either. it’s probably the little things that matter. like how food tastes better when you eat with that person." shima sousuke
• "i think memories of places are memories of the people you went there with. which is why… i’m sure I’ll come to love this place!" iwakura mitsumi
• "but putting your goal out there means dealing with hopes and expectations, right? i couldn’t handle it, pathetic as it may sound." shima sousuke
• “you never find out whether you made the best use of your time until much later in life. so ultimately, i think what matters is to decide how you spend it yourself.” takamine tokiko
• “like, i don’t really see the point of “clearing the air” kinda talks. if things are fine, they’ll stay fine either way. and if they’re not, no amount of talking will make them fine.” shima sousuke
• “just because you haven’t talked for a while, you get afraid that they might not like you anymore. but when you’re really happy, you want to share it. it’s so strange.” iwakura mitsumi
• “i get frozen in place because i don’t deserve anything. but you guys keep pushing on, full steam ahead. you’re so dazzling… and so far away.” shima sousuke
• “but if you’re more concerned about breaking character than your own feelings, you’re gonna snap at some point. it’ll take a toll on you, and they’ll notice that you’re not being honest. and that you’re distancing yourself.” chris
• “i’m the kind of person who falls flat on her face a lot. but that makes me a pro at dusting myself off and getting back up!” iwakura mitsumi
• “heck, if you asked me to list my favorite foods, i wouldn’t know right away. but i know exactly what people expect from me. everyone’s happier when i give them what they want. it’s easier for me, too.” shima sousuke
• “are we really that different? is having a goal really that great? does it never feel like a curse? no, that doesn’t really matter. what matters is what i want. is it because I’m so anxious that i feel so attacked when i see people who are passionate about something?” shima sousuke

˗ˏˋ song lyrics ´ˎ˗

• to be added