Words

“There is something about words. In expert hands, deftly manipulated, they take you prisoner. Wind themselves around your limbs like spider silk, and when you are so enthralled you cannot move, they pierce your skin, enter your blood, numb your thoughts. Inside you they work their magic.”

–Margaret Lea
(Diane Setterfield, The Thirteenth Tale)

Stories

“My gripe is not with lovers of the truth but with truth herself. What succor, what consolation is there in truth, compared to a story? What good is truth, at midnight, in the dark, when the wind is roaring like a bear in the chimney? What you need are the plump comforts of a story. The soothing, rocking safety of a lie.”

–Vida Winter
(Diane Setterfield, The Thirteenth Tale)