Words that Speak to Your Soul

The Most Powerful Quotes From the Fever Series

 Recently we did a piece on some of the most powerful books we've ever read (which you can read here). That piece, combined with the news that Karen Marie Moning has finished Burned and it WILL be released in January, made me think about all of the powerful ideas in her amazing Fever series. 

I have an unbelievable amount of highlights in my Fever books, some of them funny, some of them amazing moments that show our two favorite idiots loving each other, and many of them powerful life lessons. This is one of the things that awes me every single time I read the Fever series--KMM's depth and the power of her words. Having studied philosophy, it's no wonder that her writing has such depth and a plethora of compelling ideas. I always walk away from a reading of the Fever series (or even a skimming of my highlights!) feeling like anything is possible. 

Now, there are so many pearls of wisdom, that I could not include them all in one post, so look for a Part Two soon. For now, follow me through the jump as I share some of the quotes from the first three Fever books that speak to me on a soul-deep level.

Darkfever

"Sometimes, Ms. Lane," he said, "one must break with one's past to embrace one's future. It is never an easy thing to do. It is one of the distinguishing characteristics between survivors and victims. Letting go of what was, to survive what is."

"And there, my dear Fio, you make one of Womankind's greatest mistakes: falling in love with a man's potential. We so rarely share the same view of it, and even more rarely care to achieve it. Stop pining for the man you think I could be--and take a good, long hard look at the one I am."

There are really only two positions one can take toward anything in life: hope or fear. Hope strengthens, fear kills.

I've learned that you can discover just as much from what people don't say to you, as what they do. It's not enough to listen to their words. You have to mine their silences for buried ore. It's often only in the lies we refuse to speak that any truth can be heard at all.

You want to believe in black and white, good and evil, heroes that are truly heroic, and villains that are just plain bad, but I've learned in the past year that things are rarely so simple. The good guys can do some truly awful things, and the bad guys can sometimes surprise the heck out of you. 

Bloodfever

It's our actions that define us. What we choose. What we resist. What we're willing to die for.

People treat you as badly as you let them treat you. Key word there: let.

When everything else is gone, balls are all any of us really have left. The question is: Are yours made of flesh and blood, or steel?

"One day you may kiss a man you can't breathe without, and find breath is of little consequence."

"I'm sorry your pretty little world got all screwed up, but everybody's does, and you go on. It's how you go on that defines you.

There are some lines you just can't let another person cross. They don't always make sense, they might not always seem like the most important things, but only you can know what they are, and when you butt up against one, you have to defend it.

I see God in a sunrise, not in repetitious ritual.

Khalil Gibran says Your joy can fill you only as deeply as your sorrow has carved you. If you've never tasted bitterness, sweet is just another pleasant flavor on your tongue. One day I'm going to hold a lot of joy.

Hope is a critical thing. Without it, we are nothing. Hope shapes the will. The will shapes the world.

"Anyone worth knowing breaks once. Once. No shame, no foul, if you survive it."

There are only shades of gray. Black and white are nothing more than lofty ideals in our minds, the standards by which we try to judge things, and map out our place in the world in relevance to them. Good and evil, in their purest form, are as intangible and forever beyond our ability to hold in our hand as any Fae illusion. We can only aim at them, aspire to them, and hope not to get so lost in the shadows that we can no longer aim for the light. 
Power is. If you don't use it, someone else will. You can either create with it or destroy. Creation is good. Destruction is evil. That's my bottom line.

Life is not black and white. The closest we ever get to either of those colors is wearing them.

"Words can be twisted into any shape. Promises can be made to lull the heart and seduce the soul. In the final analysis words mean nothing. They are labels we give things in an effort to wrap our puny little brains around their underlying natures, when ninety-nine percent of the time the totality of the reality is an entirely different beast. The wisest man is the silent one. Examine his actions. Judge him by them."

Faefever

Nobody looks good in their darkest hour. But it's in those hours that make us what we are. We stand strong, or we cower. We emerge victorious, tempered by our trials, or fractured by a permanent, damning fault line.

Irony, perfect definition: That for which I want to possess it, I would no longer want, once I possessed it. I would lose everything to gain nothing.

When did grief end? Did it ever? Or did you just get numb from hurting yourself on it so many times?

You can't change an unpleasant reality if you won't acknowledge it...You can only control what you're willing to face. Truth hurts. But lies can kill.

The most confused we ever get is when we're trying to convince our heads of something our heart knows is a lie.

There you have it, Saucy Reader. My favorite inspirational, life-lesson quotes from the first half of Karen Marie Moning's Fever series. Did I hit your favorite? What would you add to my list? Share your thoughts in the comments below.