Book detail: The Infernal Devices: Clockwork Angel; Clockwork Prince; Clockwork Princess is presented as a focused source page for quotations connected with this book, collection, transcript, or source record.
The Infernal Devices series is set in an alternate Victorian era where magic and steam-powered technology coexist. Tessa Gray, a young woman with a mysterious past, becomes entangled in a web of intrigue and danger as she navigates the complex social hierarchy of the magical world. The series follows her journey as she uncovers her own magical abilities and the secrets of her family's past.
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“It was odd, (Tessa thought), what brought out tenderness in people.”
Source: The Infernal Devices: Clockwork Angel; Clockwork Prince; Clockwork Princess
“Someday, Will, I will go where none can follow me, and I think it will be sooner rather than later. Have you ever asked yourself why I agreed to be your parabatai?”
Source: The Infernal Devices: Clockwork Angel; Clockwork Prince; Clockwork Princess
“He was wearing a look that she found odd and compelling - that amusement that didn’t seem to pass beyond the surface of his features, as he found everything in the world both infinitely funny and infinitely tragic all at the same time.”
Source: The Infernal Devices: Clockwork Angel; Clockwork Prince; Clockwork Princess
“she was glad she had been scarred. She said that whoever loved her now would love her true self, and not her pretty face.”
Source: The Infernal Devices: Clockwork Angel; Clockwork Prince; Clockwork Princess
“They’re not hideous,” said Tessa. Will blinked at her. “What?” “Gideon and Gabriel,” said Tessa. “They’re really quite good-looking, not hideous at all.” “I spoke,” said Will, in sepulchral tones, “of the pitch-black inner depths of their souls.” Tessa snorted. “And what color do you suppose the inner depths of your soul are, Will Herondale?” “Mauve,” said Will.”
Source: The Infernal Devices: Clockwork Angel; Clockwork Prince; Clockwork Princess
“Of course, the guests were also staring because they know of my relationship with Camille, and are wondering what we might be doing here in the library... alone." He wiggled his eyebrows at Tessa.”
Source: The Infernal Devices: Clockwork Angel; Clockwork Prince; Clockwork Princess
“Henry," said Charlotte, who appeared to have recovered from her shock, "if you set yourself on fire deliberately, I will institute divorce proceedings. Now sit down and eat your supper. And say hello to our guest.”
Source: The Infernal Devices: Clockwork Angel; Clockwork Prince; Clockwork Princess
“There was something peculiarly gratifying about shouting in a blind rage until your words ran out. Of course, the aftermath was less pleasant. Once you'd told everyone you hated them and not to come after you, where exactly did you go?”
Source: The Infernal Devices: Clockwork Angel; Clockwork Prince; Clockwork Princess
“Perhaps he's in love with Agatha," she said. "I hope not. I intend to marry Agatha myself. She may be a thousand years old, but she makes an incomparable jam tart. Beauty fades, but cooking is eternal.”
Source: The Infernal Devices: Clockwork Angel; Clockwork Prince; Clockwork Princess
“She smiled at him. “How did you know just what I’d want to see?” “How could I not?” he said. “When I think of you, and you are not there, I see you in my mind’s eye always with a book in your hand.” He looked away from her as he said it, but not before she caught the slight flush on his cheekbones. He was so pale, he could never hide even the least blush, she thought — and was surprised how affectionate the thought was.”
Source: The Infernal Devices: Clockwork Angel; Clockwork Prince; Clockwork Princess
“Perhaps," he said, "we should discuss our arrangements, then.”
Source: The Infernal Devices: Clockwork Angel; Clockwork Prince; Clockwork Princess
“Our souls are knit. We are one person, James.”
Source: The Infernal Devices: Clockwork Angel; Clockwork Prince; Clockwork Princess
“When Will truly wants something,” said Jem, quietly, “when he feels something — he can break your heart.”
Source: The Infernal Devices: Clockwork Angel; Clockwork Prince; Clockwork Princess
“Will has always been the brighter burning star, the one to catch attention — but Jem is a steady flame, unwavering and honest. He could make you happy.”
Source: The Infernal Devices: Clockwork Angel; Clockwork Prince; Clockwork Princess
“You must behave as if return is certain, not a matter of chance", Jem said.”
Source: The Infernal Devices: Clockwork Angel; Clockwork Prince; Clockwork Princess
“It can be... difficult to to learn how the world truly is, to see it in its true shape and form... most human beings never do. Most could not bear it.”
Source: The Infernal Devices: Clockwork Angel; Clockwork Prince; Clockwork Princess
“I've never seen anyone get so excited over books before. You'd think they were diamonds.”
Source: The Infernal Devices: Clockwork Angel; Clockwork Prince; Clockwork Princess
“The Sisters vanished entirely then, and Aunt Harriet was standing over Tessa, her face flushed with fever as it had been during the terrible illness that had killed her. She looked at Tessa with great sadness. "I tried," she said. "I tried to love you. But it isn't easy to love a child that isn't human in the least...." "Not human?" said an unfamiliar female voice. "Well, if she isn't human, Enoch, what is she?" The voice sharpened in impatience. "What do you mean, you don't know? Everyone's something. This girl can't be nothing at all.”
Source: The Infernal Devices: Clockwork Angel; Clockwork Prince; Clockwork Princess
“Will's face turned grave. "Be careful with it, though. It's six hundred years old and the only copy of its kind. Losing or damaging it is punishable by death under the Law." Tessa thrust the book away from her as if it were on fire. "You can't be serious." "You're right. I'm not." Will leapt down from the ladder and landed lightly in front of her. "You do believe everything I say, though, don't you? Do I seem unusually trustworthy to you, or are you just a naive sort?”
Source: The Infernal Devices: Clockwork Angel; Clockwork Prince; Clockwork Princess
“Pulvis et umbra sumus. It's a line from Horace. 'We are dust and shadows'. Appropriate, don't you think?" Will said. "It's not a long life, killing demons; one tends to die young, and then they burn your body - dust to dust, in the literal sense. And then we vanish into the shadows of history, nary a mark on the page of a mundane book to remind the world that once we existed at all.”
Source: The Infernal Devices: Clockwork Angel; Clockwork Prince; Clockwork Princess
“Is there a particular reason you keep biting vampires?" Will touched the dried blood on his wrists, and smiled. "They don't expect it." "Of course they don't. They know what happens when one of us consumes vampire blood. They probably expect you to have more sense." "That expectation never seems to serve them very well, does it?”
Source: The Infernal Devices: Clockwork Angel; Clockwork Prince; Clockwork Princess
“Would you like to meet him? I could summon him up in a trice of you like. Being a warlock, and all.”
Source: The Infernal Devices: Clockwork Angel; Clockwork Prince; Clockwork Princess
“Am I blind?" Will's voice floated out of the darkness, tinged with annoyance. "I'm not going to be at all pleased if you've blinded me, Henry.”
Source: The Infernal Devices: Clockwork Angel; Clockwork Prince; Clockwork Princess
“You point your feet out too much when you walk,” Will went on. He was busy polishing an apple on his shirtfront, and appeared not to notice Tessa glaring at him. “Camille walks delicately. Like a faun in the woods. Not like a duck” “I do not walk like a duck.” “I like ducks,” Jem observed diplomatically. “Especially the ones in Hyde Park.”
Source: The Infernal Devices: Clockwork Angel; Clockwork Prince; Clockwork Princess
“She's alive," Thomas said, not opening his eyes. "What?" Will was caught off guard. "The one you come back for. Her. Tessa. She's with Sophie.”
Source: The Infernal Devices: Clockwork Angel; Clockwork Prince; Clockwork Princess
“He bent down to her; their mouths met again, and the shock of sensation was so strong, so overpowering, that she shut her eyes against it as if she could hide in the darkness. He murmured and gathered her against him.”
Source: The Infernal Devices: Clockwork Angel; Clockwork Prince; Clockwork Princess
“Then forget Gabriel. Is there a particular reason you keep biting vampires?" Will touched the dried blood on his wrists, and smiled. "They don't expect it.”
Source: The Infernal Devices: Clockwork Angel; Clockwork Prince; Clockwork Princess
“Being Jem, Tessa reflected, must be a great deal like being the owner of a thouroughbred dog that liked to bite your guests. You had to have a hand on his collar constantly.”
Source: The Infernal Devices: Clockwork Angel; Clockwork Prince; Clockwork Princess
“Lord, you're Irish," said Will. "Can you make things that don't have potatoes in them? We had an Irish cook once when I was a boy. Potato pie, potato custard, potatoes with potato sauce.”
Source: The Infernal Devices: Clockwork Angel; Clockwork Prince; Clockwork Princess
“Mortality, behold, and fear, What a change of flesh is here! Think how many royal bones Sleep within this heap of stones.”
Source: The Infernal Devices: Clockwork Angel; Clockwork Prince; Clockwork Princess
“He bent to put his cheek against hers. His breath against her ear made her shudder with each deliberately spoken word. "I have wanted to do this," he said, "every moment of every hour of every day that I have been with you since the day I met you.”
Source: The Infernal Devices: Clockwork Angel; Clockwork Prince; Clockwork Princess
“One does silly things when one is twelve.”
Source: The Infernal Devices: Clockwork Angel; Clockwork Prince; Clockwork Princess
“Unrequited love is a ridiculous state, and it makes those in it behave ridiculously.”
Source: The Infernal Devices: Clockwork Angel; Clockwork Prince; Clockwork Princess
“It would hardly benefit me to hold anything back unnecessarily, when I know what I'm asking. For you to find a needle in--God, not even a haystack. A needle in a tower full of other needles.”
Source: The Infernal Devices: Clockwork Angel; Clockwork Prince; Clockwork Princess
“Her name rang in Will's mind like the chime of a bell; he wondered if any other name on earth had such an inescapable resonance to it. She couldn't have been named something awful, could she, like Mildred. He couldn't imagine lying awake at night, staring up at the ceiling while invisible voices whispered 'Mildred' in his ears. But Tessa--”
Source: The Infernal Devices: Clockwork Angel; Clockwork Prince; Clockwork Princess
“Look well on this, my son," said the green-skinned man, "for one day I shall rule a clockwork kingdom of such beings, and you shall be its prince.”
Source: The Infernal Devices: Clockwork Angel; Clockwork Prince; Clockwork Princess
“Oh, leave it,” said Jem, kicking Will, not without affection, lightly on the ankle. “She’s annexed my plan!” “Will,” Tessa said firmly. “Do you care more about the plan being enacted or about getting credit for it?” Will pointed a finger at her. “That,” he said. “The second one.”
Source: The Infernal Devices: Clockwork Angel; Clockwork Prince; Clockwork Princess
“Charlotte slammed the paper down onto her desk with an exclamation of rage. “Aloysius Starkweather is the most stubborn, hypocritical, obstinate, degenerate—” She broke off, clearly fighting for control of her temper. Tessa had never seen Charlotte’s mouth so firmly set into a hard line. “Would you like a thesaurus?” Will inquired. “You seem to be running out of words.”
Source: The Infernal Devices: Clockwork Angel; Clockwork Prince; Clockwork Princess
“He cocked his head to the side. "Did he die well?" "He died screaming." Charlotte's bluntness startled Tessa. "What a beautiful thing to hear.”
Source: The Infernal Devices: Clockwork Angel; Clockwork Prince; Clockwork Princess
“I think I may be in love with you, Sophie," said Will. "Marriage could be in the cards.”
Source: The Infernal Devices: Clockwork Angel; Clockwork Prince; Clockwork Princess
“He closed his eyes. “I’m so tired, Tess,” he said. “I only wanted pleasant dreams for once.” “That is not the way to get them, Will,” she said softly. “You cannot buy or drug or dream your way out of pain.”
Source: The Infernal Devices: Clockwork Angel; Clockwork Prince; Clockwork Princess
“Well,” Tessa said, sighting along the line of the knife, “you behave as if you dislike me. In fact, you behave as if you dislike us all.” “I don’t,” Gabriel said. “I just dislike him.” He pointed at Will. “Dear me,” said Will, and he took another bite of his apple. “Is it because I’m better-looking than you?”
Source: The Infernal Devices: Clockwork Angel; Clockwork Prince; Clockwork Princess
“Well, there aren’t any graves in mundane wedding ceremonies,” said Tessa. “Though your ability to quote the Bible is impressive. Better than my aunt Harriet’s.” “Did you hear that, James? She just compared us to her aunt Harriet.”
Source: The Infernal Devices: Clockwork Angel; Clockwork Prince; Clockwork Princess
“You may choose your friends, but not your unlikely saviors,” Magnus said cheerfully.”
Source: The Infernal Devices: Clockwork Angel; Clockwork Prince; Clockwork Princess
“I swear that woman had a previous career as a death-hunter selling tragic ballads down around the Seven Dials," said Will. "And I do wish she wouldn't sing about poisoning just after we've eaten.”
Source: The Infernal Devices: Clockwork Angel; Clockwork Prince; Clockwork Princess
“Women do not think with logic and discretion but with emotions of the heart”
Source: The Infernal Devices: Clockwork Angel; Clockwork Prince; Clockwork Princess
“Dear God, woman,"said Will. "Are there any questions you don't want to know the answer to?”
Source: The Infernal Devices: Clockwork Angel; Clockwork Prince; Clockwork Princess
“I feel myself dissolving, vanishing into nothingness, for if there is no one in the world who cares for you, do you really exist at all?”
Source: The Infernal Devices: Clockwork Angel; Clockwork Prince; Clockwork Princess
“If no one cares for you at all, do you even really exist?”
Source: The Infernal Devices: Clockwork Angel; Clockwork Prince; Clockwork Princess
“Her eyes met his, but she looked quickly away; entangling gazes with Will was confusing at best, dizzying at worst.”
Source: The Infernal Devices: Clockwork Angel; Clockwork Prince; Clockwork Princess