Favorite Book Quotes

Some of my favorite quotes from novels I have read and why:

“A lot of those stars actually died millions of years ago. It’s just they’re so far away, the light hasn’t finished reaching us yet. You’re looking at a sky full of ghosts.”
-Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff in Aurora Rising

This quote is from a book I read a couple of years ago titled Aurora Rising, which is a sci-fi/fantasy novel about a girl who was cryogenically frozen and wakes up 100 years in the future. I love this phrase because it has such a poetic ring to it and makes me think of how small humanity and its problems are in the span of the universe.

“Do moons choose the planets they orbit? Do planets choose their stars? Who am I to deny gravity when you shine brighter than any constellation in the sky?”
-Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff in Aurora Burning

Like the one above, this quote is also from the Aurora Cycle series, which is comprised of three books, Aurora Burning is the second novel. I have always considered myself to be a romantic, and when I first read this line, I was taken aback by how beautiful it was. Within the context of the novel, this quote is said between two lovers fighting to stay together in the middle of a war. They go through so much individually, yet are always drawn back to each other, determined to make it work. It is characters like that that thoroughly ruin my expectation of finding a partner.

“Just… isn't giving up allowed sometimes? Isn’t it okay to say ‘This really hurts, so I’m going to stop trying?” 
“It sets a dangerous precedent.” 
“For avoiding pain?”
“For avoiding life.”
- Rainbow Rowell in Fangirl

I love this quote because it is said to a character who is very similar to me. The MC of this novel is a freshman English major who struggles with meeting new people and getting outside of her comfort zone. However, this line reminds me that without risks, life is pretty boring and you end up missing out on a lot of what the world has to offer.