Quotessence
Home / Authors / Holly Black
Holly Black

Holly Black Quotes

Writer

Filter quotes by topic

AllHolly BlackThe Folk Of The AirJude DuarteCardan GreenbriarJudeCardanThe Stolen HeirSurenWrenThe Cruel Prince

Famous Holly Black Quotes

“At the centre of the tent rests three thrones- two large and one small. They seem to be sculptures of ice, with flowers and leaves frozen inside them. The large thrones are unoccupied, but a blue-skinned girl sits on the small one, a crown of icicles on her head and a golden bridle around her mouth and throat. She looks to be only a year or two older than Oak and is dressed in a column of grey silk. Her gaze is on her fingers, which move restlessly against one another. Her nails are bitten short and crusted with a thin rime of blood.”

FantasyHolly BlackThronesThe Folk Of The AirFaerieSurenWrenThe Queen Of NothingCrownBridle
Book:The Queen of Nothing
Create image

“The stick creatures come into view, beasts of branches and twigs- some shaped like enormous wolves, others like spiders, and one with three snapping heads, like nothing I have seen before. A few in vaguely human shapes, armed with bows. All of them crawling with moss and vine, with stones tucked into packed earth at their centres. But the worst part is that among those pieces of wood and fen, I see what appears to be waxy mortal fingers, strips of skin, and empty mortal eyes. Terror breaks over me like a wave.”

FantasyTerrorMonstersHolly BlackThe Stolen HeirSurenWrenBeastsStick Creatures
Book:The Stolen Heir
Create image

“They were in love with him because he was a prince and a faerie and magical and you were supposed to love princes and faeries and magic people. They loved him the way they’d loved Beast the first time he swept Belle around the dance floor in her yellow dress. They loved him as they loved the Eleventh Doctor with his bow tie and his flippy hair and the Tenth Doctor with his mad laugh. They loved him as they loved lead singers of bands and actors in movies, loved him in such a way that their shared love brought them closer together.”

Doctor WhoBeauty And The BeastEleventh DoctorDavid TennantMatt SmithTenth Doctor
Book:The Darkest Part of the Forest
Create image

“Eldred cups his hands, and the branches of the throne shudder and begin to grow, sending up new green shoots to spiral into the air, leaves unfurling and flower buds bursting along the length of them. The roots of the ceiling begin to worm, lengthening like vines and crawling across the underside of the hill. There is a scent in the air, like a summer breeze, heavy with the promise of apples.”

FantasyHolly BlackThe Folk Of The AirMagicalThe Cruel PrinceThroneGreeneryEldred
Book:The Cruel Prince
Create image

“I squeeze his arm as Heather sticks the food in the oven. “Of course she will. Think of being here with Vivi as an apprenticeship. You learn what you need to know, and then you come home.” “How will I know when I’ve learned it, since I don’t know it now?” he asks. The question sounds like a riddle. “Come back when returning feels like a hard choice instead of an easy one,” I answer finally. Vivi looks over, as though she’s overheard. Her expression is thoughtful.”

JudeOakVivi
Book:The Cruel Prince
Create image

“Let me make you an offer, little goat. We spar. If you lose, my cap is returned to me, unburnt. I continue to hunt as I have. And you give me your littlest finger.' 'To eat?' I ask, taking the flame away from the hat. 'If I like,' she returns. 'Or to wear like a brooch. What do you care what I do with it? The point is that it will be mine.”

FunnyHolly BlackThe Folk Of The AirJude DuarteJudeThe Queen Of NothingOfferGrima MogSparLittle Finger
Book:The Queen of Nothing
Create image

“Furnished in elaborate velvets, silks, and brocades, it's a riot of scarlet and deep blues and greens, everything rich and dark, like overripe fruit. The patterns on the material are the sorts of things I have become accustomed to- intricate braids of briars, leaves that might also be spiders when you looked at them from another angle, and a depiction of a hunt where it is unclear which of the creatures is hunting the other.”

PatternsHolly BlackThe Folk Of The AirJude DuarteJudeThe Cruel PrinceDescriptiveChairFurnishingsElaborate
Book:The Cruel Prince
Create image

“Hollow Hall is a stone manor with a tall, crooked tower, the whole thing half-covered in vines and ivy. There's a balcony on the second floor that seems to have a rail of thick roots in place of iron. A curtain of thinner tendrils hangs down from it, like a scraggly beard clotted with dirt. There is something misshapen about the estate that ought to make it charming but instead makes it ominous.”

Holly BlackThe Folk Of The AirJude DuarteJudeThe Cruel PrinceOminousManorHollow HallMisshapen
Book:The Cruel Prince
Create image

“Vivi picks stalks of ragwort that grow near the water troughs. After finding three that meet her specifications, she lifts the first and blows on it, saying, 'Steed, rise and bear us where I command.' With those words, she tosses the stalk to the ground, and it becomes a raw-boned yellow pony with emerald eyes and a mane that resembles lacy foliage. It makes an odd keening neigh. She throws down two more stalks, and moments later three ragwort ponies snort the air and snuffle at the ground. They look a little like sea horses and will ride over land and sky, according to Vivi's command, keeping their seeming for hours before collapsing back into weeds.”

FantasyMagicSpellsHolly BlackThe Folk Of The AirMagicalHorsesThe Cruel PrinceVivirSea Horses
Book:The Cruel Prince
Create image

“Faeries are twilight creatures, and I have become one, too. We rise when the shadows grow long and head to our beds before the sun rises. It is well after midnight when we arrive at the great hill at the palace of Elfhame. To go inside, we must ride between two trees, an oak and a thorn, and then straight in to what appears to be the stone wall of an abandoned folly. I've done it hundreds of times, but I flinch anyway. My whole body braces, I grip the reins hard, and my eyes mash shut. When I open them, I am inside the hill. We ride on through a cavern, between pillars of roots, over packed earth. Then are dozens of the Folk here, crowding around the entrance to the vast throne room, where Court is being held- long-nosed pixies with tattered wings; elegant, green-skinned ladies in long gowns with goblins holding up their trains; tricksy boggans; laughing foxkin; a boy in an owl mask and a golden headdress; an elderly woman with crowns crowding her shoulders; a gaggle of girls with wild roses in their hair; a bark-skinned boy with feathers around his neck; a group of knights all in scarab-green armour. Many I've seen before; a few I have spoken with. Too many for my eyes to drink them all in, yet I cannot look away. I never get tired of this- of the spectacle, of the pageantry. Maybe Oriana isn't entirely wrong to worry that we might one day get caught up in it, be carried away by it, and forget to take care. I can see why humans succumb to the beautiful nightmare of the Court, why they willingly drown in it. I know I shouldn't love it as I do, stolen as I am from the mortal world, my parents murdered. But I love it all the same.”

Holly BlackThe Folk Of The AirJude DuarteJudeThe Cruel PrinceFaeriesSpectacleGoblinsOrianaThe Folk
Book:The Cruel Prince
Create image

“He gave her a smile that wasn’t really a smile at all. “Eh, it wouldn’t be so bad. I wouldn’t have to study for the SATs or get a summer job or figure out my major. I can drink Elderflower wine all day, dance all through the night, and sleep on a bower of roses.” Hazel made a face. “I’m pretty sure there are some colleges where you can do that. I bet there are some colleges where you can major in that.”

CollegeSatJackHazel
Book:The Darkest Part of the Forest
Create image

“And if the serpent grows in monstrousness and corruption, if it poisons the land of Elfhame itself, then let me be the queen of monsters. Let me rule over the blackened land with my redcap father as a puppet by my side. Let me be feared and never again afraid. Only out of his spilled blood can a great ruler rise. Let me have everything I ever wanted, everything I ever dreamed, and eternal misery along with it. Let me live on with an ice shard through my heart.”

MiseryHolly BlackThe Folk Of The AirJude DuarteJudeQueenThe Queen Of NothingRulerFearedSerpent King
Book:The Queen of Nothing
Create image