Opal Quotes

“She’d been so afraid of the absolute worst that she’d forgotten how she missed the absolute best.”
― Maggie Stiefvater, Opal

“Sometimes bad ideas were so bad they looped right around until they became good ideas.”
― Maggie Stiefvater, Opal

“It’s not going to be what you imagined, but it’ll be just as good.”
― Maggie Stiefvater, Opal

“Yes,” Adam had whispered, and Opal had felt a rush of love for him. She loved him the best when he was very sad or very serious or very happy. Something about his voice breaking filled her with feeling, and something about the vacancy of his expression when he was thinking hard felt like she was looking at a dream with nothing bad in it, and something about when Ronan made him laugh so hard that he couldn’t stop made her love him so hard that she felt sad because one day he would get old and die because that was what things with animalness did.”
― Maggie Stiefvater, Opal

“They were always coming together in surprising moments, going from easygoing to urgent in the space of a few breaths. She watched them kiss messily in the car in the driveway and she watched them tangle around each other in the laundry room and she watched Adam unbuckle Ronan’s belt and slide his hand against skin. With intellectual curiosity, she watched ribs and hips and arms and legs and spines.”
― Maggie Stiefvater, Opal

“She had no lust, because Ronan hadn’t dreamt any for her, but she also had no shame, because Ronan hadn’t dreamt any of that for her, either.”
― Maggie Stiefvater, Opal

“Opal came to understand that Adam’s car was supposed to be more like Ronan’s, but there was something wrong with it called shitbox.”
― Maggie Stiefvater, Opal

“He was very concerned with the concept of having an area in the new Cabeswater where it would always have that sort of rain that makes you feel happy and sad at the same time and also he was interested in having an area that did not suck.”
― Maggie Stiefvater, Opal

“Sometimes they sat in their cars and cried softly. She liked this best of all, because it was rare, and she found she liked rare things the most.”
― Maggie Stiefvater, Opal

“Opal was glad to see he was slowly turning his ship toward the shore of solutions.”
― Maggie Stiefvater, Opal

“I might not get into any of them,” Adam said. “It might have been for nothing.”
“Whatever. Then you make a new list.”
“You don’t understand. I’d miss a semester unless I went for rolling admissions and that completely screws up the financial aid. Look, I don’t expect you to care about this.” Right after saying this, Adam said, in a different voice, “I’m being a shithead.”
“You are. And a shitfoot. Where are your shoes?”
“Still under the table.”
“Opal, could you get them for him?”
Opal could not, because it was too boring to go back to the house when they were out here being exciting in the dark. What she could get them was that jar of twenty fireflies, which she released in Adam’s face as she scampered by him. He reared back while Ronan enjoyed the scenery.
“She’s so useful,” Adam said. Opal preened.”
― Maggie Stiefvater, Opal

“Ronan: I don't want to go, but I do - does that make sense? It's just that it's finally starting. You know. Life.”
― Maggie Stiefvater, Opal

“she watched Adam unbuckle Ronan’s belt and slide his hand against skin. With intellectual curiosity, she watched ribs and hips and arms and legs and spines.”
― Maggie Stiefvater, Opal

“Damn you.” That was a swear that Opal was also not supposed to say (but sometimes did, over and over again, to the sleeping cows, at a whisper, to see if the shock would wake them).”
― Maggie Stiefvater, Opal

“Adam had taken the cassette from Ronan's hand, working Ronan's fingers loose and putting his own fingers between them. For a moment, Opal hidden, had thought they were going to kiss. But instead, Ronan pressed his face against Adam's neck and Adam quietly put his head on top of Ronan's head and they did not move for a long time.”
― Maggie Stiefvater, Opal

“Her love him so hard that she felt sad because one day he would get old and die because that was what things with animalness did”
― Maggie Stiefvater, Opal

“She was not to eat anything that was inside the house unless it was given to her, even if it was something that sounded good while she chewed it, like cardboard boxes or plastic serving utensils, and in particular she was not to eat anything of Adam’s or from Aurora’s bedroom and if she did, she would be punished. She was not supposed to call Ronan Kerah because he had a name and she was perfectly capable of forming any word she liked, unlike Chainsaw, who only had a beak. She was allowed to climb on nearly anything except for the cars because hooves were not good for metal and also her hands were always very grubby. She did not have to take a bath or otherwise wash herself unless she wanted to come in the house, and she could not lie about having washed herself if she wanted to be allowed on a couch because God, Opal, your legs smell like wet dog. She was not allowed to steal. Hiding objects from other people counted as stealing, unless the objects were presents, which you hid but then laughed about later. Dead things were not to be eaten on the porch, which was a hard rule, because living things were also not to be eaten on the porch. She was not to run in the road or try to return to the ley line without someone with her, which was a silly rule, because the ley line felt like a dream and under no circumstance would she willingly return to one of those. She was to only tell the truth because Ronan always told the truth, but she felt this was the most unfair rule of all because Ronan could dream himself a new truth if he liked and she had to stick with the one she was currently living. She was to remember that she was a secret.”
― Maggie Stiefvater, Opal

“She sulked about this. She tore up a stack of vintage car magazines in the sitting room and sat in the ruins of them and when Ronan came home and demanded what the hell is wrong with you like seriously, she told him that she was bored of being secret.
He said, “Aren’t we all!” Then he made her clean up all the damp, gummed paper, and then he made her wipe down the floor because some of the printing had transferred to the wood because of her spit, and then he made her take out the trash plus the kitchen trash without even letting her dig through it first.”
― Maggie Stiefvater, Opal

“Since the weather warmed, Adam’s car sat in the driveway. Unlike Ronan’s car, it rested on blocks instead of wheels, and he spent a lot of time underneath it or folded under its hood. Opal came to understand that Adam’s car was supposed to be more like Ronan’s, but there was something wrong with it called shitbox. Ronan kept offering to dream a cure for shitbox, but Adam was intent on fixing it “the right way.” This seemed to be a long process, so Ronan’s car was often missing, as Adam used it in his mysterious comings and goings.”
― Maggie Stiefvater, Opal

“The lady tried the doorknob and the doorknob shook its head no,”
― Maggie Stiefvater, Opal

“The books were never the same book. They were fat and brick-shaped and the fronts always bore images of men who didn’t seem to have any shirts or other possessions. Sometimes all they seemed to have was another man or sometimes a lady or sometimes both, who they held tightly.”
― Maggie Stiefvater, Opal

“that Adam liked it when Ronan talked like this. Sometimes they would stop talking and instead begin kissing, and Opal would eavesdrop on this as well. Her capacity for voyeurism was boundless and incorrigible. They were always coming together in surprising moments, going from easygoing to urgent in the space of a few breaths. She watched them kiss messily in the car in the driveway and she watched them tangle around each other in the laundry room and she watched Adam unbuckle Ronan’s belt and slide his hand against skin.”
― Maggie Stiefvater, Opal

“It won't be what you imagined, but it'll be just as good.”
― Maggie Stiefvater, Opal

“She was to only tell the truth because Ronan always told the truth, but she felt this was the most unfair rule of all because Ronan could dream himself a new truth if he liked and she had to stick with the one she was currently living. She was to remember that she was a secret.”
― Maggie Stiefvater, Opal

“She loved him the best when we was very sad or very serious or very happy. Something about his voice breaking filled her with feeling, and something about the vacancy of his expression when he was thinking hard felt like she was looking at a dream with nothing bad in it, and something about when Ronan made him laugh so hard that he couldn't stop made her love him so hard that she felt sad because one day he would get old and die because that was what things with animalness did.”
― Maggie Stiefvater, Opal

“She liked to watch what people did when they did not think they were being watched.”
― Maggie Stiefvater, Opal

“It was funny how a dream really just contained the absolute best and absolute worst parts of the animal world. She’d been so afraid of the absolute worst that she’d forgotten how she missed the absolute best.”
― Maggie Stiefvater, Opal