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Libba Bray

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Famous Libba Bray Quotes

“There is no greater power on this earth than story.” Will paced the length of the room. “People think boundaries and borders build nations. Nonsense—words do. Beliefs, declarations, constitutions—words. Stories. Myths. Lies. Promises. History.” Will grabbed the sheaf of newspaper clippings he kept in a stack on his desk. “This, and these”—he gestured to the library’s teeming shelves—“they’re a testament to the country’s rich supernatural history.”

PeopleThinkingCountryStoriesEarthLyingBeliefNationsRoomsRichGreaterPromiseConstitutionLibraryMythNewspapersBoundariesBordersNonsenseLengthDesksShelvesTestamentDeclarationGreater Power
Author:Libba Bray
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“He told me that once, in the war, he’d come upon a German soldier in the grass with his insides falling out; he was just lying there in agony. The soldier had looked up at Sergeant Leonard, and even though they didn’t speak the same language, they understood each other with just a look. The German lying on the ground; the American standing over him. He put a bullet in the soldier’s head. He didn’t do it with anger, as an enemy, but as a fellow man, one soldier helping another.”

MenLooksWarHelpingLyingFallSpeakLanguageEnemyUnderstoodStandingFellowsSoldierGrassAgonyBulletsFellow ManSergeantsGerman Soldiers
Author:Libba Bray
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“She was tired of being told how it was by this generation, who’d botched things so badly. They’d sold their children a pack of lies: God and country. Love your parents. All is fair. And then they’d sent those boys, her brother, off to fight a great monster of a war that maimed and killed and destroyed whatever was inside them. Still they lied, expecting her to mouth the words and play along. Well, she wouldn’t. She knew now that the world was a long way from fair. She knew the monsters were real.”

WorldWayLifeWellsChildrenLongStillsWarRealCountryPlayLyingFightingParentBoysGenerationsBrotherMouthsFairsTiredMonstersDestroyedExpectingPacksLong WayLiedThis GenerationCountry LoveGod And Country
Author:Libba Bray
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“On the Bowery, in the ornate carcass of a formerly grand vaudeville theater, a dance marathon limps along. The contestants, young girls and their fellas, hold one another up, determined to make their mark, to bite back at the dreams sold to them in newspaper advertisements and on the radio. They have sores on their feet but stars in their eyes.”

DreamEyeYoungGirlStarsFeetMarkTheaterRadioDeterminedNewspapersBitesMarathonAdvertisementsFellasContestantsVaudeville
Author:Libba Bray
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“There's no time to be modest. Reason will not work here. Without warning, I kiss Kartik. His lips, pressed firmly against mine, are a surprise. They are warm, light as breath, firm as the give of a peach against my mouth. A scent like scorched cinnamon hangs in the air, but I'm not falling into any vision. It's his smell in me. A smell that makes my stomach drop through my feet. A smell that pushes all thought out of my head and replaces it with an overpowering hunger for more.”

GivingReasonLightFallVisionAirFeetMinesKissingMouthsBreathsSurpriseLipsHungerWarmSmellFirmStomachWarningModestScentPeachesOverpoweringCinnamon
Book:A Great and Terrible Beauty
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“Why does anyone do anything? Belief. A belief that they are right and just in their actions. Abraham was willing to sacrifice his son, Isaac, because he believed that God had commanded it. To kill your son is unthinkable. A crime. But if you are acting in the belief that your God, your supreme deity whom you must obey, has demanded it of you, is it still a crime?”

IfsDoeStillsActionBeliefActingSacrificeCrimeWillingSonSupremeDeitiesAbrahamUnthinkableYour SonIsaac
Author:Libba Bray
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“The library card is a passport to wonders and miracles, glimpses into other lives, religions, experiences, the hopes and dreams and strivings of ALL human beings, and it is this passport that opens our eyes and hearts to the world beyond our front doors, that is one of our best hopes against tyranny, xenophobia, hopelessness, despair, anarchy, and ignorance.”

WorldHumansHeartBookDreamEyeReadingHuman BeingsWonderDoorsFrontsIgnoranceDespairMiracleStriveLibraryTyrannyCardsThought ProvokingAnarchyGlimpseHopelessnessLibrarianXenophobiaPassportsHopes And DreamsHoping For The BestFront DoorsLibraries And LibrariansLibrary Cards
Author:Libba Bray
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“I stare at the pile of discarded remnants and think of my mother. Did she touch that pillar there? Does her scent still linger in a fragment of glass or a splinter of wood? A terrible emptiness settles into my chest. No matter how much I go about living, there are always small reminders that make the loss fresh again.”

ThinkingDoeStillsMatterMotherLossTerribleGlassesWoodsSettlingStaringEmptinessChestsScentFragmentsRemindersBereavementPillarsDiscardedRemnantsSplinters
Book:The Sweet Far Thing
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