Holly Black Quotes

“I need you to be happy. I need one of us to be happy.”

— Holly Black

“I really love the idea of the poetically mad - the character that is imbued with the romantic madness. Like River from 'Firefly' or Drusilla from 'Buffy.' Someone dangerously unhinged, where you're really not sure they're going to be reliable minute-to-minute.”

— Holly Black

“I revise a lot while I'm drafting, often going back to the beginning again and again to revise because I've changed massive things about the story. By the time I get to the end of a first draft, I've been through the beginning lots of times.”

— Holly Black

In the older folklore, faeries were frightening beings. In fact, it was such a bad idea to get their attention that people would use flattering euphemisms for them, such as 'the people of peace,' 'the little people,' and 'the good neighbors.'

— Holly Black

One of the great things about writing middle-grade books is that it's really a nice break, when you're writing super intense stuff like 'Coldtown', to be able to write something a little lighter - calm down and do something different.

— Holly Black

“What I've always loved about faeries is the way that they, unlike so many other supernatural creatures, are not human and have never been human. They have different customs and different taboos, and woe to anyone who breaks them.”

— Holly Black

“They say that nameless things change constantly-that names fix them in place like pins.”

— Holly Black

“Librarians are hot. They have knowledge and power over their domain ... It is no coincidence how many librarians are portrayed as having a passionate interior, hidden by a cool layer of reserve. Aren't books like that? On the shelf, their calm covers belie the intense experience of reading one. Reading inflames the soul. Now, what sort of person would be the keeper of such books?”

— Holly Black

I like him, he thought in horror ... shit. I like him.

— Holly Black

One fine day, in the middle of the night, two dead boys got up to fight. Back to back they faced each other. They pulled out their swords and shot one another. One deaf cop, on the beat heard the noise, and came and shot the two dead boys.

— Holly Black

“Every plan is a house of cards.”

— Holly Black

Ruthless. That's my girl.

— Holly Black

“Gifts are very useful to con men. Gifts create a feeling of debt, an itchy anxiety that the recipient is eager to be rid of by repaying. So eager, in fact, that people will often overpay just to be relieved of it. A single spontaneously given cup of coffee can make a person feel obligated to sit through a lecture on a religion they don't care about. The gift of a tiny, wilted flower can make the recipient give to a charity they dislike. Gifts place such a heavy burden that even throwing away the gift doesn't remove the debt. Even if you hate coffee, even if you didn't want that flower, once you take it, you want to give something back. Most of all, you want to dismiss obligation.”

— Holly Black

“I thought you were her knight, but you have become only her woodsman
taking little girls into the forest to cut out their hearts.”

— Holly Black

“Nobody ever really sees me the way I am, underneath everything. But she did. She does.”

— Holly Black

“Sometimes," Sam says, "I can't tell when you're lying."
"I never lie," I lie.”

— Holly Black

Farewell, Father," she said. He fell back upon his chair, choking. She laughed, not with mirth or even mockery, but something that was closer to a sob. "You crafted me so sharp, I cut even myself.

— Holly Black

“Would you?" Mom smiles and touches my hair, pushing it back from my forehead. I let her, but I grit my teeth. Her bare fingers brush my skin. I am thankful when none of my amulets crack. "Do you know what the Turkish say about coffee? It should be black as hell, strong as death, and sweet as love. Isn't that beautiful? My grandfather told me that when I was a little girl, and I never forgot it. Unfortunately, I still like my milk.”

— Holly Black

“When we turn,is there something shoved inside of us or is it more that something inside of us has been released?”

— Holly Black

Nevermore," Lolli said. "That's what Luis calls it, because there are three rules: Never more than once a day, never more than a pinch at a time, and never more than two days in a row.

— Holly Black

“She was torn between the impulse to run and the urge to curl up like a pill bug, close her eyes, tuck her head beneath her arms, and play the game of since-I-can't-see-monsters-monsters-can't-see-me.”

— Holly Black

I thought of how proud he was when he took the marks- cutting the skin of his throat in a long slash and then packing it with ashes until keloid scars rose up.
He called it his second smile.

— Holly Black

“It's okay," he informs me. "Your grandfather is teaching me how to play poker." If I know Grandad, that means what he'll really be teaching Sam is how to cheat.”

— Holly Black

“God, I hate you," she says. "So much. Why do boys think that it will be better to lie and tell a girl how much they loved her and how they only dumped her for her own good? That they only tried to rearrange her brain for her own good? Does it make you feel better, Cassel? Does it? Because from my perspective, it really sucks.”

— Holly Black

She put a hit on her boyfriend, so it's not like she hasn't murdered someone."
"And you know that how?" Sam asks.
I'm trying really hard to be honest, but telling the whole thing to Sam seems beyond me. Still, the fragments sound ridiculous on their own. "She said so. In the park."
He rolls his eyes. "Because the two of you were so friendly."
"I guess she mistook me for someone else." I sound so much like Philip that it scares me. I can hear the menace in my tone.
"Who?" Sam asks, not flinching.
I force my voice back to normal. "Uh, the person who killed him.

— Holly Black

Maybe, Hazel decided, maybe they could both learn how. Not just making-up-stories-in-which-you're-happy happiness, but the real thing. She leaned across the bed and hugged him with all the strength in her limbs, hugged him until her bones ached. But no matter how hard she hugged him, she knew it would never be enough.
"I promise," she whispered. "I'll try.

— Holly Black

“His wax-white skin was cool to the touch when she brushed his neck to find the knot of cloth. She'd never been this close to a vampire,never realized what it would be like to be so near to someone who didn't breathe, who could be as still as any statue. His chest neither rose not fell. Her hands shook.”

— Holly Black

“She sits up. I can't read her expression, but her cheeks look a little pink. "I didn't think you were going to be here."
"I live here.”

— Holly Black

“Startled, he loosed his grasp and she pulled free. He clutched her arm, but she spun around and pressed her mouth to his.
His lips were rough, chapped. She felt the sting of fangs against her bottom lip. He made a sharp sound in the back of his throat and closed his eyes. Mouth opening under hers. The smell of him- of cold, damp stone- made her head swim. One kiss slid into another and it was perfect, was exactly right, was real.”

— Holly Black

“The more you love her, the crazier you get. My love was great. My crimes were greater.”

— Holly Black

“He reached into the bag and drew out an odd array of manga, ripped paperbacks of books both classic and modern, and a small stack of crumpled magazines. See, I even brought some things to read aloud. I wasn't sure what you'd like, so there's a bit of everything.”

— Holly Black

All boys lie," Ben said. "And all girls lie,too. I lie. You lie. Don't pretend you don't.

— Holly Black

“Philip Sharpe was a soldier in God's army," says the minister. "Now he marches with the angels.”

— Holly Black

So it's not as bad as it looks?" Call ventured. "Oh, no," she told him. "It's just as bad as it looks. But I'm very, very good at my job.

— Holly Black

“You're as cowardly as a g
weasel. You know that? A weasel. That's what you are."
"You don't know me," I say, spitting blood onto the dirt. I can't help it. I start to laugh. "And you obviously don't know much about weasels, either.”

— Holly Black

“What is it? For what do you scheme? Ethine's death would weigh on you and the stain of her blood would seep into your skin"
"Do you know what they wish for when they give you the Unseelie crown?" Roiben's tone was soft, like he was telling a secret. Kaye could barely catch his words. "That you be made of ice. What makes you think it matters what I feel? What makes you think I feel anything at all?”

— Holly Black

“You can't!" Aaron said. "Didn't you hear anything I just told you? You could die!
" Well, don't kill me," Call said. "How about our goal is not to die. Both of us. Not dying. Together.”

— Holly Black

“Your mother doesn't make mistakes." I hear her blow out the smoke. "Baby, I know what I'm doing.”

— Holly Black

She thought of the grainy video of him she had seen, head tipped back, so covered in blood that she hadn't remembered his features, hadn't remembered him as looking like anything but a monster, laughing, endlessly laughing.
Mad as a dog. Mad as a god.

— Holly Black

“I don't have the words. I want to touch her, but I don't deserve it.”

— Holly Black

“Lt's an honor and a delight to meet you and a tragedy you're here”

— Holly Black

“Her tragedy, if she had one, was to be as normal and average as any child ever born.”

— Holly Black

“This house feels unfamiliar and disturbingly full of possibilities.”

— Holly Black

“They scattered. THE NEXT DAY was more sand and more tiredness. That”

— Holly Black

“Corny nodded, but when he moved to put the key in the ignition, Luis's hand stopped him. When he turned, their mouths met.
"I'm sorry ... that I've been," Luis said in between kisses,"distracted ... by everything. Is it morbid ... that I'm talking ... ?"
Corny murmured something that he hoped sounded like agreement as Luis's fingers dug into his hips, pushing him up so they could crush their bodies closer together.”

— Holly Black

“Everything's better when you say it in Latin.”

— Holly Black

“Simple lies are always better than a complicated truth.”

— Holly Black

It was a kitchen to be useful in.

— Holly Black

“Space is so dark that looking out at it confounds the brain. The more you stare at the vastness of it, at the hanging stars and the swirling galaxies, the more you start to notice how imprecise words like 'dark' and 'black' and 'endless' are. There are so many gradients of shadow, all of them terrifying to me. That's why I keep the lights on.”

— Holly Black

“Mirroring behavior. When a mark takes a drink from his water glass, so should you. When he smiles, so should you. Keep it subtle, rather than creepy, and it's a good technique.”

— Holly Black