Hope is such a tenuous quality. To feel it and then to be denied what one most longs for ... Better, surely, not to hope at all, than to open the heart to a hope that is impossible.

— Juliet Marillier

I do not view suicide as wicked, just terribly sad. There is only one death, but it is like a stone cast into a pond - the ripples stretch far. Such an act must leave a burden of sorrow, guilt, shame and confusion on an entire family. A natural death, such as my father suffered, is hard enough to deal with. A decision to end one's life must be still more devastating for those left behind. I cannot imagine the degree of hopelessness someone must feel to contemplate such an act.

— Juliet Marillier

If a man truly loves, he gives no heed to what others may think. His heart has no room for that, for it is filled to the brim with the unutterable truth of his feelings.

— Juliet Marillier

If she were here I wouldn't be able to keep my hands off her. I would hold her so close she'd beg me to let her breath. I'd kiss her so hard she'd plead for mercy. Furthermore, I'd unfasten her clothing and lie with her on that hard bed, and what was between us would be as far above the ordinary congress between man and woman as the stars are above their pale reflections in the lake below.

— Juliet Marillier

...if you give respect, yet get respect back. If you offend, you get...retribution.

— Juliet Marillier

I had learned how it felt to want more than the sweet touch of hand to cheek or lips to palm, more than a kiss, more than an embrace. I was starting to discover that it is not only the mind that understands love, but also the body.

— Juliet Marillier

I like the truth, even when it does trouble me.

— Juliet Marillier

I like your anger,' the Hag said mildly. 'I like your resistance. It makes you less than courteous, but altogether more interesting.

— Juliet Marillier

I should have realized, when Cathay kissed me in the hallway, that my response was the first raindrop heralding a storm.

— Juliet Marillier

I wonder how it takes you, that moment when everything turns to shadows.

— Juliet Marillier