He had read lots of stories where heroes succeeded in spite of long odds, where they accomplished a task that everyone else had failed at. He wondered for the first time about all the people who'd gone before those heroes, about whether they'd been at each other's throats, before everything had gone wrong. Furthermore, he wondered if there was a point where they realized they weren't going to make it, weren't going to beat those long odds--that in the legend that would follow, they were going to be the nameless people that failed.

— Holly Black

He let out a hiss of pain, then smiled that crooked, sheepish smile he always fell back on when he was caught doing something bad. "Sorry. I-I didn't mean to. I just- I've been lying here for hours, thinking about blood.

— Holly Black

He must have been handsome when he was alive and was handsome still, although made monstrous by his pallor and her awareness of what he was. His mouth looked soft, his cheekbones as sharp as blades, and his jaw curved, giving him an off-kilter beauty. His black hair a mad forest of dirty curls.

— Holly Black

Her screams spiraled up into the night air

— Holly Black

Her tragedy, if she had one, was to be as normal and average as any child ever born.

— Holly Black

His voice had a faint trace of an accent she couldn't place - one that made her pretty sure he was no local kid infected the night before.

— Holly Black

His wax-white skin was cool to the touch when she brushed his neck to find the knot of cloth. She'd never been this close to a vampire, never realized what it would be like to be so near to someone who didn't breathe, who could be as still as any statue. His chest neither rose not fell. Her hands shook.

— Holly Black

I can learn to live with guilt. I don't care about being good.

— Holly Black

I don't want to be a vampire' she told herself. But in her dreams, she kind of did.

— Holly Black

If curiosity killed the cat, it was satisfaction that brought it back.

— Holly Black