The Night Circus Quotes
"The towering tents are striped in white and black, no golds and crimsons to be seen."
"Word of mouth is a more effective method of advertisement than typeset words and exclamation points."
"You stand in the fading light, the scarf around your neck pulled up against the chilly evening breeze."
"The sun disappears completely beyond the horizon, and the remaining luminosity shifts from dusk to twilight."
"The ticket booth clearly visible behind the gates is closed and barred."
"The people around you are growing restless from waiting, a sea of shuffling feet."
"The only movement within the circus is the clock that ticks by the passing minutes."
"A soft noise like a kettle about to boil for tea."
"All over the tents, small lights begin to flicker, as though the entirety of the circus is covered in particularly bright fireflies."
"Chandresh understands the power of atmosphere."
"Everything is lit with glowing chandeliers and copious candles, so that the light is not bright but deep and warm and bubbling."
"One rumor supposes that he has culinary geniuses from around the world kidnapped and imprisoned in his kitchens."
"The decor in the dining room is as extraordinary as it is in the rest of the house, in sumptuous reds and golds."
"The more intimate gatherings are typically accompanied by Chandresh’s personal pianist, a beautiful young woman who plays continuously throughout the entire evening and never speaks a word to anyone."
"This rumor often results in debates on methods of keeping hot food hot and cold food cold, which never come to any satisfying conclusions."
"They are dinner parties like any other, though the ambiance and the late hour makes them something else, something unusual and curious."
"The Burgess sisters find resolving other people’s issues via suggestion more satisfying than doing all the work themselves."
"Her sense of style is the primary reason she is invited this evening."
"She is a magician with clothing, the papers say. A miracle worker."
"You keep insisting that I have to do more than just my performances, but I need to create opportunities in order to manage that."
"The identity of your opponent does not matter."
"How can I excel at a game when you refuse to tell me the rules?"
"You are not taking this as seriously as you should."
"How is anything better than anything else here? How is one tent comparable to another? How can any of this possibly be judged?"
"I have told you all the rules you need to know. You push the bounds of what your skills can do using this circus as a showplace."
"The distance of the circus feels more pronounced despite the tenuous contact through paper and ink."
"I can't believe you ventured out in the weather, I only just missed the start of it earlier and I thought I'd wait it out."
"You are part of a chain of events, though you may not see how your actions will affect the outcome at the time."
"Secrets have power. And that power diminishes when they are shared, so they are best kept and kept well."
"Magic is secret and secrets are magic, after all, and years upon years of teaching and sharing magic and worse. Writing it down in fancy books that get all dusty with age has lessened it, removed its power bit by bit."
"The greatest wizard in history made the mistake of sharing his secrets."
"Sharing secrets, real secrets, important ones, with even one other person, will change them."
"The smallest charms can be the most effective."
"The past stays on you the way powdered sugar stays on your fingers."
"I had to come up with some way of staying connected since I am not able to travel with the circus."
"I am very good at manipulating fabric, but it seems so unnecessary given what Madame Padva can do."
"I was made to read a great deal, I traveled and studied and was generally groomed to play some sort of clandestine game."
"I prefer to remain unenlightened, to better appreciate the dark."
"It is difficult to see a situation for what it is when you are in the midst of it."
"I suppose calling it a challenge or a game is not entirely accurate. I’ve come to think of it more as a dual exhibition."
"I was hoping I could trouble you for that drink we did not have in Prague."
"You have so many people in love with you. Isobel. Chandresh. And there must be others."
"It was clever of you to use the bonfire as a stimulus."
"Some dishes are served on small mirrors rather than proper plates."
"The content of said tales may not be entirely appropriate for a pair of just barely thirteen-year-olds."
"After dessert has been cleared, Chandresh makes a lengthy speech thanking all the guests for thirteen spectacular years."
"I take it you wore that color on purpose? Merely a fortunate coincidence."
"You are beautiful, Thank you, You are too handsome."
"I am sorry to hear that, It will make the challenge a great deal more difficult for you."
"You are going to return to your drinking and your parties and you will not even remember that we had this conversation."
"I am tired of everyone keeping their secrets so well that they get other people killed."
"I don’t think she looks complete without it."
"October slips into November, a change that goes largely unnoticed other than by those standing closest to the clock."
"Then there is a pause. For just a moment, time slows like something falling while fighting with gravity."
"The kitten that leaps through the air from Poppet’s hands to her brother’s suddenly twists in the air, landing on its back."
"Marco crumples as though punched in the stomach by an invisible assailant."
"As he passes by a baffled, still-unsteady Marco, he hands him the blood-covered knife without so much as a word or a glance."
"Bailey climbs the oak tree to retrieve his hidden box before sunset, gazing down at the circus that sits bathed in deep orange light."
"‘What are you doing?’ a voice behind him asks."
"‘That is precisely what I’m doing,’ Bailey says. ‘I don’t care if you don’t understand that.’"
"The man in the grey suit slips easily through the crowd of circus patrons."
"The truest tales require time and familiarity to become what they are."
"Magic is the way the world is, only very few people take the time to stop and note it."
"The heart of the tale and the ideas behind it are simple."
"You may tell a tale that takes up residence in someone’s soul, becomes their blood and self and purpose."
"The quests lack clarity of goal or path. The beasts take different forms and are difficult to recognize for what they are."
"They want to believe that magic is nothing but clever deception, because to think it real would keep them up at night, afraid of their own existence."
"Everything fades with time. I am no exception to that rule."
"I am content to accept inevitabilities, even if I have ways of putting them off."
"That is your role, your gift. Your sister may be able to see the future, but you yourself can shape it, boy."
"You are the greater loss, but too selfish to admit it. You believe you could not live with the pain."