Top 100 Marieke Nijkamp Quotes (2026 Update)
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51. “This is how I will remember her. And with every corner I turn, I will still expect to see her. With every constellation I observe, I’ll wonder about stories as well as science. I’ll build a bridge to her. I’ll look for falling stars.”

— Marieke Nijkamp

52. “The stars we see in the night sky are so far away that it takes years for us to see it when they die. I can’t help but wonder if Kyra had burned out long before I left – and if we simply hadn’t seen it.”

— Marieke Nijkamp

53. “I was Catholic. I can feel guilty about anything without so much as trying...”

— Marieke Nijkamp

54. “Grandfather always said that stories are the heartbeat of the world, especially in Alaska. Stories shape us. They give meaning to the harshest winters and the longest summers.”

— Marieke Nijkamp

55. “A stillness came from the forest that she could find nowhere else.”

— Marieke Nijkamp

56. “It’s easier to know who I’m not than to know who I am. When.”

— Marieke Nijkamp

57. “By the third day, everyone... had passed her at least half a dozen times, and they seemed to have forgotten about her entirely. “It gives me a chance to look... from a different perspective... “.”

— Marieke Nijkamp

58. “But together we held our darkness up to the light, and it became easier to carry because we were not alone.”

— Marieke Nijkamp

59. “Dad would call it my Sisyphus toll. Push a boulder up a hill, pretending it’s okay, and come nightfall it – and I – come crashing down. But he forgets the view each time I make it to the top.”

— Marieke Nijkamp

60. “None of my doctors told me about how pain wears you down until you sometimes don’t know where physical pain stops and mental pain begins. They didn’t tell me about the anger and the fear and the helplessness. Finn told me and then, when I finally let him, held me while I let it all sink in.”

— Marieke Nijkamp

61. “The only things that give us purpose are the stories that tie us together. We.”

— Marieke Nijkamp

62. “Whatever happens, I want her to know that. I want her to know I loved her, I love her, and I wish I would have told her a thousand times over. I wish I’d told her how I felt before today came crashing down around us.”

— Marieke Nijkamp

63. “But as much as the town believed in her, they still didn’t value her enough to save her. And I lost myself to the world outside the town’s borders. I forgot about her too.”

— Marieke Nijkamp

64. “Sometimes it felt as if he and I walked the same road, but each of us was going in a different direction.”

— Marieke Nijkamp

65. “Vex shook her head when the man picked up his bow and, whistling a jaunty tune, started making his way down.”

— Marieke Nijkamp

66. “Maybe it’s adrenaline, maybe it’s plain stupidity, but life makes the most sense to me if I do not have to take it seriously. And I want to make the most of every moment.”

— Marieke Nijkamp

67. “We also talked about the intensity of high school, because, let’s be honest, whether you have good experiences or bad or – for most of us – a combination thereof, high school is a lot. It’s like getting a bag full of puzzle pieces, but no one knows what the puzzle should look like or if the set is even complete.”

— Marieke Nijkamp

68. “If you’re afraid, think about tomorrow, because tomorrow will be a new day. Tomorrow, there’ll be new chances, I’ll be home.”

— Marieke Nijkamp

69. “Thorn’s glances were as sharp as his words.”

— Marieke Nijkamp

70. “To full-blood elves, they might appear too young to be this weathered and weary, but to any perceptive observer, it was clear they came by their caution honestly, and they moved with a grace brought on by years of traveling together.”

— Marieke Nijkamp

71. “Relief and sorrow follow each other rapidly, because with the names of those who live comes the void of those who have not. Death brings life; life brings death.”

— Marieke Nijkamp

72. “I want to be safe. And here isn’t safe anymore.”

— Marieke Nijkamp

73. “I’m not saying anyone did this. But people are capable of all kinds of things. And I can keep trusting people and getting hurt, or I can try to be more sensible about it.” I scowl and look away from them, but despite my determination, the words taste like bile in my mouth. It’s so much easier not to get attached to people, but I don’t think I can live like that.”

— Marieke Nijkamp

74. “You can do far more than you ever imagined. If you don’t believe that, at least believe me.”

— Marieke Nijkamp

75. “The bear grunted and nudged her with his head and she scratched his neck and breathed in the familiar scent of fur and mind and safety.”

— Marieke Nijkamp

76. “We must not deny our fear. We have to remember to be afraid. And we have to go on anyway.”

— Marieke Nijkamp

77. “Here, everything is possible. And that is the biggest lie of all. I don’t just want to make the game good for them; I want to stay here and never go back.”

— Marieke Nijkamp

78. “The word pain does too much work, you know? It’s like sorry, which really shouldn’t have to carry both “I sympathize” and “this is all my fault.”

— Marieke Nijkamp

79. “This morning, I wished I could escape to anywhere, be anything. Now all my dreams are out of reach, and.”

— Marieke Nijkamp

80. “Cities always got under her skin when she came in from the wild. But where she raised her hackles, Vax thrived. His shoulders dropped and his awareness sharpened. He walked with the gait of someone who expected trouble and would in fact welcome it.”

— Marieke Nijkamp

81. “We’ll build a bridge. A bridge between us.”

— Marieke Nijkamp

82. “Finn never told me how reassuring physical pain can be. It sends a thrill through me. A restless trembling that leaves me breathless – a hunger.”

— Marieke Nijkamp

83. “She understood the wilds, while he thrived in city streets and their accompanying shadows.”

— Marieke Nijkamp

84. “After she hung up, the cabin was quiet. The birdsong felt more distant, and the creaking of the doors in the wind sounded like nails on chalkboard. And I knew home was this, too: laughter, company. Home was the opposite of loneliness.”

— Marieke Nijkamp

85. “The fact that the dwarf didn’t have weapons visible on him didn’t make him any less dangerous. He was all sharp edges. Sharp words, sharp smiles, sharp knives. He exuded power.”

— Marieke Nijkamp

86. “This is how I shape our future.”

— Marieke Nijkamp

87. “This is where we leave Opportunity behind.”

— Marieke Nijkamp

88. “I would give up every single star in the night sky to have another day with her.”

— Marieke Nijkamp

89. “Opportunity High will be rough for him, at least the first couple of months. But tell him it’s okay to be scared. We all are. It’s part of growing up.”

— Marieke Nijkamp

90. “Trouble is, that’s exactly what scares me. I don’t feel safe with many people. I have literally never asked someone out on a date before. I don’t have a clue how to go about it. I never did crushes before. I didn’t feel comfortable enough in my own skin. I didn’t know how much of a hang-up gender would be for other people – or disability, for that matter. If you’re constantly told people like you don’t have meaningful relationships, you eventually believe it.”

— Marieke Nijkamp

91. “Intent only takes us so far. It’s a shield people hide behind, but not a weapon.”

— Marieke Nijkamp

92. “Turyn looked at Vax as though he spoke a different language and with something that almost resembled pity.”

— Marieke Nijkamp

93. “The woods could provide for almost anything. Food, protection, a place where they didn’t have to be wary about anything or anyone else. It was simple and peaceful-most of the time.”

— Marieke Nijkamp

94. “We fly to an otherworldly place, one that does not play by the same rules. The evergreens wear an armor of snow. The air shimmers with cold.”

— Marieke Nijkamp

95. “I steel myself before I allow them to pull me up. I don’t like when people touch me. I don’t like it when I’m observing a conversation and it suddenly turns to me. And I don’t like the sharp stab of pain when I rest my weight on my leg again.”

— Marieke Nijkamp

96. “A current passes through the crowd with the news of each survivor. Relief and sorrow follow each other rapidly, because with the names of those who live comes the void of those who have not. Death brings life; life brings death. There are no words in that fleeting moment between hope and the knowledge. There is no way to express how a heart can burst and break at the same time, how the sun can cut through the darkness but will cast shadows everywhere.”

— Marieke Nijkamp

97. “There is no way to express how a heart can burst and break at the same time, how the sun can cut through the darkness but will cast shadows everywhere.”

— Marieke Nijkamp

98. “Losing is only permanent if you stop trying.”

— Marieke Nijkamp

99. “The relazed atmosphere and the pleasant buzz of voices wrapped around Vax as he followed Gideor, as if to remind him that perhaps the Clasp wasn’t so bad an ally to have. That perhaps there was something to the spireling’s words after all. Vax regarded it all warily, recognizing how the tavern functioned as both a lure and a mask for the dangers that lay underneath.”

— Marieke Nijkamp

100. “You have to ask yourself how you can become the best you can be.”

— Marieke Nijkamp