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T.J. Klune Quotes

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Famous T.J. Klune Quotes

“The rusty, broken sound crawled up from his throat, and he was huffing out his nose, but he was smiling, and I understood then what Joe had seen in Ox, why Gordo and Mark were always going to find their way back to each other, why Kelly never stopped searching for Robbie. It was warm like a summer day. It was candy canes and pinecones, it was epic and awesome, it was dirt and leaves and rain, it was grass and lake water and sunshine. It was a forest so alive, so untouched.”

LaughterSmileRealization Of Love
Book:Brothersong
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“[...] But sometimes love is poison, and it drips in our ears until our blood runs with it.” “Bring pain,”he said again, suddenly insistent. “You. Pack. Everyone. I go, he stays away.” “Do you want to go?” [...] He said, “Thump, thump, thump.” “What’s that?” “Heart,” he said. “Carter’s heart.” “You hear it.” “Yes.” “It speaks to you.” “Yes.” “What does it say?” He looked stricken. “Gavin, Gavin, Gavin. Not poison.” And then he went to her, his head bowed. He pressed it against her chest, his arms hanging at his sides. He breathed heavily and shuddered when my mother reached up and put her hands in his hair. “There you are,” she whispered to him. “Hello, hello. You’re home. So, no. No, Gavin. You aren’t to go away again. We are stronger together than we ever are apart, and this is where you belong.”

LoveHeartHomeMother
Book:Brothersong
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“You told me it was like the fight for me is all you’ve ever known. I think about that a lot and someplace inside me, some secret place that I can only look at for a little bit at a time, I know you’re right. I know this because I’ve been fighting for you to come home. I’ve been screaming and dying and praying for you to come home, and it’s taken so long, but now it’s like you never left, and I can’t seem to fit that together in my mind.”

HomeFightingReturnScream
Book:Bear, Otter, and the Kid
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“Change starts with us. It starts now. And I challenge all of you to make a difference. Do it before it’s too late. Do it before it won’t matter anymore. Do it, so that one day, we can look back and say our generation was the one that cared for all others with open arms, that we discovered the key to no more hate was not a matter of politics or war, but a matter of acceptance.”

WorldLifeChangeAcceptanceSpeechChallenge
Book:The Art of Breathing
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“There are moments in your life, moments when chances have to be taken. It's scary because there is always the possibility of failure. I know that. I KNOW that. Because once upon a time, I took a chance on a man that I had failed before. I was SCARED. I was TERRIFIED. I thought I might lose everything. But I wasn't living, then. The life I had before wasn't LIVING. It was getting by. And I will never regret the chances I took. Because it brought me to them. To all of them. I made my choice. And you're making yours. Don't you wish things could be different?”

LoveTruthFamilyProgress
Book:The House in the Cerulean Sea
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“I look over at him and he smiles quietly at me, shaking his head just once. So much is said in that one look, like he knows every fear I have, how it’s killing me to see the Kid nervous, because he’s never nervous. Worried, yeah. But nervous? No fucking way. And if he’s nervous now, it means he’s scared, and it means that I have to go to him. I have to protect him. I have to make it better. It’s my job. It’s who I am. It’s what I’m supposed to fucking do.”

LoveCareFamilyBrothersProtectiveness
Book:Who We Are
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“I told myself a while ago that I was going to do whatever I could to make this man happy, to make this man know every day just how I felt about him, that the fight for him was all I’ve ever known. It doesn’t matter what happens in there. If he needs me, I’ve got his back. And I swear to Christ if anyone so much as looks at him funny, I’ll make sure it’s the last thing they do. Claws out, bitches, it whispers. Indeed.”

LoveCareProtectiveness
Book:Who We Are
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“Because,” Ryan said, eyes flicking to me, “my mother told me that I had to follow my heart in all things. I thought I was. I thought I’d done what was right. But then I looked upon the stars and I wished for the one thing I wanted more than anything else. I didn’t believe it could ever come true or ever be mine, but then I held his lightning-struck heart, given freely and without reservation. And I would gladly treasure it for the rest of my days.”

HeartLove Confession
Book:The Lightning-Struck Heart
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“If one were to ask if Linus Baker was lonely, he would have scrunched up his face in surprise. The thought would be foreign, almost shocking. And though the smallest of lies hurt his head and made his stomach twist, there was a chance he would still say no, even though he was, and almost desperately so. And maybe some part of him would believe it. He'd accepted long ago that some people, no matter how good their heart was or how much love they had to give, would always be alone. It was their lot in life, and Linus had figured out, at the age of twenty-seven, that it seemed to be that way for him. Oh, there was no specific event that brought along this line of thinking. It was just that he felt... dimmer than others. Like he was faded in a crystal-clear world. He wasn't meant to be seen.”

LonelinessThe House In The Cerulean Sea
Author:T.J. Klune
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“If one were to ask if Linus Baker was lonely, he would have scrunched up his face in surprise. The thought would be foreign, almost shocking. And though the smallest of lies hurt his head and made his stomach twist, there was a chance he would still say no, even though he was, and almost desperately so. And maybe part of him would believe it. He'd accepted long ago that some people, no matter how good their heart was or how much love they had to give, would always be alone. It was their lot in life, and Linus had figured out, at the age of twenty-seven, that it seemed to be that way for him. Oh, there was no specific event that brought along this line of thinking. It was just that he felt. . . dimmer than others. Like he was faded in a crystal-clear world. He wasn't meant to be seen.”

LonelinessUnloved
Author:T.J. Klune
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“And then our life unfolds. Picture by picture. Frame by frame. It tells a story. Me and him. Every year since I was nine. Every holiday. Every birthday. Every celebration. The good days and the bad ones. It tells our story and it’s sequential, starting from the beginning, from that very day when he told me our friendship was inevitable, to just a few weeks ago, when I fell asleep and he carried me up the stairs to my bed before going home. It’s there. All of it is there. It’s a love letter, though I didn’t know it when I made it. Anyone can see it’s a love letter. It’s so obvious. It’s so trite. It’s so awkward. It’s nothing. It can’t be anything. He can’t know. I don’t want him to know. I can’t let him know.”

GiftFirst LoveFriends To Lovers
Book:The Art of Breathing
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“The world likes to see things in black and white, in moral and immoral. But there is gray in between. And just because a person is capable of wickedness, doesn't mean they will act upon it. And then there is the notion of perceived immorality. I highly doubt Chauncey would even consider laying a tentacle on another person in violence, even if it meant protecting himself. And yet people see him and decide based upon his appearance that he is something monstrous." "That's not fair," Linus admitted. "Even if he does hide under my bed one morning out of every three." "Only because he's still wrestling with what he was told he was supposed to be versus who he actually is.”

InspirationalGrowthMoralityPerceptionMonsters
Book:The House in the Cerulean Sea
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“You thought I was what… young? Stupid? Naïve, I think you said.” I took a step toward her. She stood her ground. “I have seen things in this life that defy logic. I have stretched the boundaries of my magic more than you can possibly imagine. I have done things in the name of the people I love and would do so again without regret. And even if the dark man comes for me, even if he tries to take from me, I will have my family at my side fighting with me, for me, every step of the way. And there is nothing you or Ruv or your people can say that would change my mind. Ryan Foxheart is my godsdamned cornerstone. I won’t let anything happen to him. You say you’ve seen the paths I will walk? Fuck you. Because I’m about to blaze my own fucking path, and you won’t even see me coming. “Insolence,” she breathed as the throne room began to crack around us. The runes on my skin began to itch and burn, but I didn’t look away from her. “You would risk everything?” “For them? For him?” I didn’t even have to think about it. “Yes. Because they would do the same for me. We are better together than we ever will be apart. We are bound to each other. And nothing, nothing, will change that. Not you. Not the Dark. Not anything.” The roof cracked overhead as she said, “It would seem I have underestimated you.” I snorted. “No shit. Maybe next time, don’t come in here pimping a half-naked guy when I already have someone’s junk to play with. Not cool, Grandma. Not fucking cool.”

DestinyProtectivenessBadassery
Book:A Destiny of Dragons
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“She said, "Today, today, today. Today feels green. There's still some blue, but that's life, I think. Sometimes it can be a forest. Other times it's an ocean. But we float, don't we? Along the surface. I always thought so, even when I was drowning. There's a song I like. An old one." And remarkably, she started singing. "Sometimes I float along the river, for to its surface I am bound. And there are times stones done fill my pockets, oh Lord, and it's into this river I drown.”

HopeEmotionalSorrowSad
Book:Brothersong
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“But it was my own mother I turned to. She was smiling quietly. She said, “Gavin. To me, if you please.” He stiffened, but it didn’t last. He squared his shoulders. He dropped my hand and walked slowly to her. She stood on the steps above him, looking down. She said, “Did you make your choice?” He said, “Yes.” “What did you choose?” And Gavin said, “Carter.” She started to nod, but then he spoke again. “And family. I chose family. Pack. Pack. Pack.” She took his face in her hands. She leaned forward and kissed his forehead. He shuddered at the press of her lips. She pulled away, but only just. She whispered, “This is where you belong. This is where you’re supposed to be. No one else can have you. No one else can take you. I love you, I love you, I love you.”

LoveMotherFamilyBelongingBond
Book:Brothersong
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