House of Roots and Ruin Quotes

“This house has always felt full of ghosts to me—not of spirits in white sheets and chains, nothing as clichéd as all that—but of memories snatched away. Memories I’ll never be able to claim as mine.”
― Erin A. Craig, House of Roots and Ruin

“I was crying for all the things I'd thought I'd understood but didn't. Crying for all I'd hoped for that wouldn't be.”
― Erin A. Craig, House of Roots and Ruin

“Beauty exists everywhere in the world. Love resides in all of us. That’s the point. I only…I only want to deepen that. Show that there can be—that there should be—substance in it all. Of course a bride on her wedding day is beautiful, but that radiance doesn’t diminish in old age, when she’s too tired to keep up with whatever ridiculous fashions the shops and salons put out. I know Arina smiles upon an old couple walking down the road together, hand in hand, firm in their commitment to one another. There is love in caring for the sick, the weak, the ugly. A wilting flower holds just as much splendor as one on the cusp of opening. People are so quick to idolize the fresh and the new. They fetishize it.” He rubbed at his forehead, his eyes bright with fervor. “Why should we celebrate one without the other?”
― Erin A. Craig, House of Roots and Ruin

“You're the first thing I think of when I open my eyes and the only thing I spend my nights dreaming of.”
― Erin A. Craig, House of Roots and Ruin

“...when you know you've found your love, you act on it. Life is unpredictable, so you need to seize hold of what you love and cherish every moment together.”
― Erin A. Craig, House of Roots and Ruin

“When you want something badly enough, you make it happen.”
― Erin A. Craig, House of Roots and Ruin

“I closed my eyes, learning into his arms. In them I felt safe.”
― Erin A. Craig, House of Roots and Ruin

“Our families wanted to hide us away, pretending we don’t exist, but we do. We burn more fiercely than they could ever imagine.”
― Erin A. Craig, House of Roots and Ruin

“Beauty exists everywhere in the world. Love resides in all of us. That's the point. I only...I only want to deepen that. Show that there can be - that there should be - substance in it all. Of course a bride on her wedding day is beautiful, but that radiance doesn't diminish in old age, when she's too tired to keep up with whatever ridiculous fashions the shops and salons put out. I know Arina smiles upon an old couple walking down the road together, hand in hand, firm in their commitment to one another. A wilting flower holds just as much splendor as one on the cusp of opening. People are so quick to idolize the fresh and the new. They fetishize it." He rubbed at his forehead, his eyes bright with fervor. "Why should we celebrate one without the other?”
― Erin A. Craig, House of Roots and Ruin

“You're like a summer storm that came crashing into my life, soaking the ground and bringing me to life..." he said, stopping his ministrations. "I was a seed planted too far into the ground, waiting for my life to start. I had all these ideas of what I would do and be like when I grew up... But you...you made me realize I could be that man now. I don't have to wait. I don't have to wonder. You made me grow into the person I want to be.”
― Erin A. Craig, House of Roots and Ruin

“I swear to you, here and now, you are it. You are everything. No one else in the world could ever steal me from you." He cupped his hands over my cheeks. "I will never do anything to hurt you." He pressed his lips to my forehead, sealing his promise with a kiss. "I will never stray." Another kiss. "I would never want to.”
― Erin A. Craig, House of Roots and Ruin

“I feel as if I'm on the precipice of a cliff," he murmured, keeping a careful eye on them. "The ground is starting to give way and it's already too late to do anything. If I push myself back, it will just cause the plunge to happen sooner. But staying in place won't save me either.”
― Erin A. Craig, House of Roots and Ruin

“There is something deeply, painfully wrong with me. I feel as though a part of myself- some terribly important, vital part- is broken. And I don't know if it's possible to even fix it.
I wanted to show you I was strong and capable. I wanted to be like you- master of my own fate and destiny- But I can't see a way forward now, knowing what I know.”
― Erin A. Craig, House of Roots and Ruin

“A wilting flower holds just as much splendor as one on the cusp of opening. People are so quick to idolize the fresh and the new. They fetishize it.” He rubbed at his forehead, his eyes bright with fervor. “Why should we celebrate one without the other?”
― Erin A. Craig, House of Roots and Ruin

“The People of the Petals bury their loved ones full of seeds, stuffed into the bodies. It aids in the decomposition process, helps the dead return more quickly to the earth. Then from their death…new life.”
― Erin A. Craig, House of Roots and Ruin

“Besides, what else am I meant to be doing? I didn't laze around in life and I certainly wasn't going to start in death.”
― Erin A. Craig , House of Roots and Ruin

“I was still at Highmoor, running after my nieces and nephew, watching them grow, watching Camille’s life proceed on ahead of her while mine seemed to be withering away in the wings. She needed me. She needed me here. And so I tried to tuck away my dreams of travel and adventure, my ambitions and desires. They didn’t go down easily. They were always there, always a part of me, asking, begging, beseeching for more. More than this house, more than these islands.
Pontus help me, I wanted more.
“All right,” I agreed, forcing a smile to my lips.
For her.
For my sister.”
― Erin A. Craig, House of Roots and Ruin

“I can't imagine my life without you. Or...I could, but I don't want to. I don't want you to go. I don't want to be apart.”
― Erin A. Craig, House of Roots and Ruin

“A wilting flower holds just as much splendor as one on the cusp of opening. People are so quick to idolize the fresh and the new.”
― Erin A. Craig, House of Roots and Ruin

“He was so beautiful. So good and pure and completely not a part of this madness.”
― Erin A. Craig, House of Roots and Ruin

“He was the only one who mattered. The only one I trusted wholly and implicitly.
We'd be the ones writing our story.
Us, on our own.
Together.
"This is us," he promised, kissing my forehead with a tenderness so sweet I ached for another. "For the rest of our lives.”
― Erin A. Craig, House of Roots and Ruin

“I've no doubt our love will be stronger then it is today.”
― Erin A. Craig, House of Roots and Ruin

“My moments with [him] were the best parts of my day.”
― Erin A. Craig, House of Roots and Ruin

“He pressed his lips to the crown of my hair, his kiss impossibly tender and sweet.”
― Erin A. Craig, House of Roots and Ruin

“My hands felt so different now, with the weight of [his] ring. More important, more grown up. These were no longer the hands of a girl, but a young woman, loved and cherished.”
― Erin A. Craig, House of Roots and Ruin

“I could feel the weight of his anticipation, his hope, pressing against me with tangible heft. I did not want to let him down.”
― Erin A. Craig, House of Roots and Ruin

“More than a want.
There was an ache, a need.
A yearning.”
― Erin A. Craig, House of Roots and Ruin

“It's easier to feel bold and cavalier in darkness. Easier to play the role of a charming boy meeting a pretty girl for the first time. Daylight comes and strips away such audacity. It makes you wonder if you were too forward, too brash.”
― Erin A. Craig, House of Roots and Ruin

“His moral compass was fixed with unwavering focus. I'd never met someone so good, so kind.”
― Erin A. Craig, House of Roots and Ruin

“Us,” he repeated uncertainly. “That is…if you’d like there to be…an us?”
― Erin A. Craig, House of Roots and Ruin