Here is a compilation of the some of the best quotes from Cassandra Clare's Clockwork Princess. Some quotes may contain spoilers, so beware all the spoilerphobes.
Small note: I have the Walker Books paperback edition with 576 pages; pages may differ between copies although chapters are the same.
"I could use a partner-someone to spar with."
"So could I," said Will. "But I need someone who can keep up with me, not some sickly creature that looks as if he's doddering off to the grave. Although I suppose you might be useful for target practice."
- Will Herondale, Jem Carstairs, Prologue, Page 12-13
"You don't think I can fight," Tessa said, drawing back and matching his silvery gaze with her own. "Because I'm a girl."
"I don't think you can fight because you're wearing a wedding dress," said Jem. "For what it's worth, I don't think Will could fight in that dress either."
"Perhaps not," said Will, who had ears like a bat's. "But I would make a radiant bride."
- Tessa Gray, Jem Carstairs and Will Herondale, Chapter 2, Page 37
"Sometimes one must choose whether to be kind or honourable," he said. "Sometimes one cannot be both."
- Will Herondale, Chapter 3, Page 70
"You know that feeling," she said, "When you are reading a book, and you know that it is going to be a tragedy; you can feel the cold and darkness coming, see the net drawing close around the characters who live and breathe on the pages. But you are tied to the story as if being dragged behind a carriage, and you cannot let go or turn the course aside."
- Tessa Gray, Chapter 3, Page 70
"So you are dying for love, then," Will said finally, his voice sounding constricted to his own ears.
"Dying a little faster for love. And there are worse things to die for."
- Will Herondale and Jem Carstairs, Chapter 4, Page 82-83
"Nicely done, brother," said Gabriel from the bed, blinking sleepy green eyes at Gideon.
Gideon threw a scone at him.
- Gabriel Lightwood, Chapter 4, Page 93
Heroes endure because we need them. Not for their own sakes.
- Tessa Herondale, Chapter 4, Page 98
The good suffer, the evil flourish, and all this is mortal passes away.
- Magnus Bane, Chapter 5, Page 118
Men may be stronger, but it is women who endure.
- Tessa Gray, Chapter 5, Page 120
A house divided against itself cannot stand.
- Tessa Gray, Chapter 5, Page 121
Most people are lucky to have even one great love in their life. You have found two.
- Woolsey Scott, Chapter 5, Page 121
"Every heart has its own melody," he said. "You know mine."
- Jem Carstairs, Chapter 8, Page 189
Our hearts, they need a mirror, Tessa. We see our better selves in the eyes of those who love us. And there is beauty that brevity alone provides.
- Jem Carstairs, Chapter 8, Page 189
Magnus looked at him silently for a long moment. "Does he know you are in love with Tessa?"
- Magnus Bane, Chapter 10, Page 235
"Will. You asked me for my wisdom, as someone who has lived many lifetimes and buried many loves. I can tell you that the end of a life is the sum of the love that was lived in it, that whatever you think you have sworn, being here at the end of Jem's life is jot what is important. It was being there for every other moment. Since you met him, you have never left him and never not loved him. That is what matters.
- Magnus Bane, Chapter 10, Page 235
You endure what is unbearable, and you bear it. That is all.
- Magnus Bane, Chapter 10, Page 236
Forever and ever, my brother, hail and farewell.
Will began to straighten up, to turn away from the bed. And as he did, he felt something warp tightly around his wrist. He glanced down and saw Jem's hand bracketing his own. For a moment he was too shocked to do anything but stare.
"I am not dead yet, Sill," Jem said in a soft voice, thin but as strong as wire. "What did Magnus mean by asking you if I knew you were in love with Tessa?"
- Jem Carstairs, Chapter 10, Page 237
"If there is a life after this one," he said, let me meet you in it, James Carstairs."
- Will Herondale, Chapter 11, Page 244-245
"And you should be out and about in your nightgown. There are Lightwoods wandering these halls."
- Will Herondale, Chapter 11, Page 247
"A very magnanimous statement, Gideon," said Magnus.
"I'm Gabriel."
Magnus waved a hand. "All Lightwoods look the same to me."
- Magnus Bane, Chapter 11, Page 260
"You say we are born again. I say that there is a river that divides the dead and the living. What I do know is that if we are born again, I will meet you in another life, and if there is a river, you will wait on the shores for me to come to you, so that we can cross together."
- Will Herondale, Chapter 15, Page 32
Life was an uncertain thing, and there were some moments one wished to remember, to imprint upon one's mind that the memory might be taken out later, like a flower pressed between the pages of a book, and admired and recollected anew.
- Sophie Collins, Chapter 17, Page 372-373
"You might want to get up," he said. "Everyone will be here quite soon to rescue you, and you may prefer to have your clothes on when they arrive."
- Magnus Bane, Chapter 20, Page 432
Choosing love or war: both are brave choices, in their own ways.
- Cecily Herondale, Chapter 22, Page 475
Do not seek revenge and call it justice.
- Tessa Gray, Chapter 18, Page 384
I am catastrophically in love with you.
- Will Herondale, Chapter 19, Page 412
"There are so many worse things than death," he said. "Not to be loved or not to be able to love: that is worse."
- Will Herondale, Chapter 19, Page 413
"How could I say farewell," he said, "to you?"
Will let the knife fall from his hand. It stuck, point-down, in the wood of the floor. "As Shadowhunters do? Ave atque vale. And forever, brother, hail and farewell.
But those are the words of death. Catullus spoke them over his brother's grave, did he not? Multas per gentes et multa per aequira vectus advenio has miseras, frater, ad inferias-"
Will knew the words. Through many waters borne, brother, I am come to thy sad grave, that I may give these last gifts to the dead. Forever and ever, brother, hail. Forever and ever, farewell.
- Jem Carstairs and Will Herondale, Chapter 23, Page 502
"Wo men shi sheng si ji jiao," said Will, and he saw Jem's eyes widen, fractionally, and the spark of amusement inside them. "Go in peace, James Carstairs."
- Will Herondale, Chapter 23, Page 506
Tess, Tess, Tessa.
Was there ever a more beautiful sound than your name? To speak it aloud makes my heart ring like a bell. Strange to imagine that, isn’t it – a heart ringing – but when you touch me that is what it is like: as if my heart is ringing in my chest and the sound shivers down my veins and splinters my bones with joy.
Why have I written these words in this book? Because of you. You taught me to love this book where I had scorned it. When I read it for the second time, with an open mind and heart, I felt the most complete despair and envy of Sydney Carton. Yes, Sydney, for even if he had no hope that the woman he loved would love him, at least he could tell her of his love. At least he could do something to prove his passion, even if that thing was to die.
I would have chosen death for a chance to tell you the truth, Tessa, if I could have been assured that death would be my own. And that is why I envied Sydney, for he was free.
And now at last I am free, and I can finally tell you, without fear of danger to you, all that I feel in my heart.
You are not the last dream of my soul.
You are the first dream, the only dream I ever was unable to stop myself from dreaming. You are the first dream of my soul, and from that dream I hope will come all other dreams, a lifetime’s worth.
With hope at last,
Will Herondale
- Will Herondale, Chapter 24, Page 522-523
"Bright star," Magnus said, and his eyes were thoughtful, as if he were remembering something, or someone. "Those of you who are mortal, you burn so fiercely. And you are fiercer than most, Will. I will not ever forget you."
- Magnus Bane, Chapter 24, Page 533
"Miss Cecily," she gasped, and then her eyes went to Will. She clapped her hand over her mouth, turned, and bolted back into the house.
"Oh, dear," said Tessa.
"I have that effect on women," Will said.
- Tessa Gray and Will Herondale, Chapter 24, Page 543
"And who is the gentleman?"
Will's grin widened. "Oh, him," he said. "This is Cecily's - friend, Mr.Gabriel Lightworm."
Gabriel, half in the act of stretching out his hand to greet Mr. herondale, froze in horror. "Lightwood," he sputtered. "Gabriel Lightwood-"
- Will Herondale and Mrs. Herondale, Chapter 24, Page 544
"The first one is the hardest," he said.
"The first?"
"The first one you love who dies," he said. "It gets easier after."
- Jem Carstairs and Tessa Gray, Epilogue, Page 553
_cover.jpg/220px-Hollow_City_(novel)_cover.jpg)
