Marie Lu Quotes

“Sometimes, the sun sets earlier. Days don’t last forever, you know. But I’ll fight as hard as I can. I can promise you that.”
― Marie Lu, Champion

“Forever and ever, kid, until you're sick and tired of seeing me.”
― Marie Lu, Legend

“Once upon a time, a girl had a father, a prince, a society of friends. Then they betrayed her, so she destroyed them all.”
― Marie Lu, The Rose Society

“Day just smiles at me, an expression so sad that it breaks through my numbness, and I begin to cry. Those bright blue eyes. Before me is the boy who has bandaged my wounds on the streets of Lake, who has guarded his family with every bone in his body, who has stayed by my side in spite of everything, the boy of light and laughter and life, of grief and fury and passion, the boy whose fate is intertwined with mine, forever and always.

"I love you," he whispers. "Can you stay awhile?”
― Marie Lu, Champion

“Everything's science fiction until someone makes it science fact.”
― Marie Lu, Warcross

“You cannot harden your heart to the future just because of your past. You cannot use cruelty against yourself to justify cruelty to others.”
― Marie Lu, The Midnight Star

“We are drawn to stories,” he says in a soft voice, “and every scar carries one.”
― Marie Lu, The Rose Society

“I’m going to follow her, of course,” Magiano says. “As the night sky turns. When she appears on the other side of the world, I will be there, and when she returns here, so will I.”
― Marie Lu, The Midnight Star

“Everyone has a different way of escaping the dark stillness of their mind.”
― Marie Lu, Warcross

“Now, as we stand three feet apart and stare at each other, I feel the full distance that comes with spending so much time apart, a moment filled with the electricity of a first meeting and the uncertainty of strangers.”
― Marie Lu, Champion

“It is better to have an enemy who will fight you in an open field then a lover who will kill you in your sleep.”
― Marie Lu, The Rose Society

“Without emotion, what’s the point of being human?”
― Marie Lu, Champion

“But sometimes, people kick you to the ground at recess because they think the shape of your eyes is funny. They lunge at you because they see a vulnerable body. Or a different skin color. Or a different name. Or a girl. They think that you won't hit back - that you'll just lower your eyes and hide. And sometimes, to protect yourself, to make it go away, you do.

But sometimes, you find yourself standing in exactly the right position, wielding exactly the right weapon to hit back.”
― Marie Lu, Warcross

“Some hate us, think us outlaws to hang at the gallows.
Some fear us, think demons to burn at the stake,
Some worship us, think us children of the gods.
But all know us.”
― Marie Lu, The Young Elites

“To those who, in spite of everything, still choose goodness”
― Marie Lu, The Midnight Star

“You are so full of light,” I say after a moment. “You align with joy, and I with fear and fury. If you could see into my thoughts, you would surely turn away. So why would you stay with me, even if return to Kenettra and resume our lives?”

“You paint me as a saint,” he murmurs. “But I aligned with greed solely to prevent that.”

Even now, he can make my lips twitch with a smile. “I’m serious, Magiano.”

“As am I. None of us are saints. I have seen your darkness, yes, and know your struggle. I won’t deny it.” He touches my chin with one hand. At this gesture, the whispers seem to settle, pushed away where I can’t hear them. “But you are also passionate and ambitious and loyal. You are a thousand things, mi Adelinetta, not just one. Do not reduce yourself to that.”
― Marie Lu, The Midnight Star

“Why feel guilty for something that isn't your fault?
Because I loved him. And now he is gone.”
― Marie Lu, The Rose Society

“I saw her, once.

“She passed through our village, through fields littered with dead soldiers after her forces overwhelmed the nation of Dumor. Her other Elites followed and then rows of white-robed Inquisitors, wielding the white-and-silver banners of the White Wolf. Where they went, the sky dimmed and the ground cracked—the clouds gathered behind the army as if a creature alive, black and churning in fury. As if the goddess of Death herself had come.

“She paused to look down at one of our dying soldiers. He trembled on the ground, but his eyes stayed on her. He spat something at her. She only stared back at him. I don’t know what he saw in her expression, but his muscles tightened, his legs pushing against the dirt as he tried in vain to get away from her. Then the man started to scream. It is a sound I shall never forget as long as I live. She nodded to her Rainmaker, and he descended from his horse to plunge a sword through the dying soldier. Her face did not change at all. She simply rode on.

“I never saw her again. But even now, as an old man, I remember her as clearly as if she were standing before me. She was ice personified. There was once a time when darkness shrouded the world, and the darkness had a queen.”

—A witness’s account of Queen Adelina’s siege on the nation of Dumor

The Village of Pon-de-Terre

28 Marzien, 1402”
― Marie Lu, The Midnight Star

“I feel the pulse of our bond and history and love through our hands, like a wave of magic, the return of a long-lost friend. Of something meant to be. The feeling brings tears to my eyes. Perhaps we can take a step forward together.
'Hi,' he says. 'I'm Daniel.'
'Hi,' I reply. 'I'm June.”
― Marie Lu, Champion

“They believe that objects have souls. The more love you put into one, the more beautiful it becomes.”
― Marie Lu, Warcross

“They were the best of friends as long as they did not know they were supposed to be enemies. The truth would do its damage soon enough.
- Brothers in Fire, by Jedtare”
― Marie Lu, The Young Elites

“None of it was your fault, the whispers in my head argue. You didn't kill him, after all -- it was not your blade that ended his life. So why are you the one cast out? You didn't have to return to the Daggers -- you didn't need to help them rescue Raffaele. And still they turned on you. Why does everyone forget your good intentions, Adelina?”
― Marie Lu, The Rose Society

“But sometimes, you find yourself standing in exactly the right position, wielding exactly the right weapon to hit back.”
― Marie Lu, Warcross

“My wandering has led me to the beginning of our journey together. I suppose it's only fitting for me to be here at that journey's end.”
― Marie Lu, Champion

“I laugh at him, and behind us, several Inquisitors stir in surprise at the sound. Only Magiano can coax joy out of me so easily.”
― Marie Lu, The Midnight Star

“And the book (#7) is for whenever the hunt involves a lot of waiting around. Entertainment that won't eat up my batteries is always worth bringing.”
― Marie Lu, Warcross

“He tells you to play, so you play. He tells you to curtsy, so you curtsy. He tells what you are meant to do and what you are meant not to do, so you do and you dono do. He tells you not to be angry, so you smile, you turn your eyes down, you are quiet and do exactly as he says in the hopes that this is what he wants, and then one night you realize that you have given him so much of yourself that you are nothing but the curtsy and the smile and the quiet. That you are nothing.”
― Marie Lu, The Kingdom of Back

“For a fleeting moment, I imagine that if I were queen, I could make the act of hurting malfettos a crime. I could execute this boy's pursuers with a single command.”
― Marie Lu, The Rose Society

“You rarely regret the things you do, but always the things you don't.”
― Marie Lu, Rebel

“I bet the Republic hasn't seen the last of you.”
― Marie Lu, Life Before Legend