Top 100 Marieke Nijkamp Quotes (2025 Update)
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51. “You can do far more than you ever imagined. If you don’t believe that, at least believe me.”

— Marieke Nijkamp

52. “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

53. “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

54. “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

55. “Before the accident – BTA – I didn’t know anger and pain could feel the same. I didn’t think physical pain and emotional pain could simply be extensions of each other. Now, I could hardly separate the two. And I wanted to crash my fist into a kitchen cabinet or my knee into a chair. Find a more harmful way to stim. Either make the pain worse or make it go away.”

— Marieke Nijkamp

56. “And at some point, you discover if you’re going to be afraid anyway, you may as well do the things that scare you.”

— Marieke Nijkamp

57. “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

58. “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

59. “Here’s the thing. I never quite know if I’m responding the “right” way to anything happening around me. Should I be more scared? Should I be angrier? Should fear immobilize me? What happens around me and how my brain responds to it are two entirely different things, and I can’t tell all the time how they’re connecting.”

— Marieke Nijkamp

60. “She refuses to share her grief with me – or anyone. Even when she smiles, she isn’t the girl she used to be.”

— Marieke Nijkamp

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

— Marieke Nijkamp

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

— Marieke Nijkamp

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

— Marieke Nijkamp

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

— Marieke Nijkamp

65. “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

66. “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

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

— Marieke Nijkamp

68. “If she dies, I will never be able to tell her that she is the one who keeps me standing. That her lips taste like a promise. That she makes me want to be a better version of myself. If she dies, I will believe every ugly word Dad ever said about me.”

— Marieke Nijkamp

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

— Marieke Nijkamp

70. “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

71. “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

72. “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

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

— Marieke Nijkamp

74. “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

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

— Marieke Nijkamp

76. “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

77. “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

78. “To find magic in the mending.”

— Marieke Nijkamp

79. “It’s hard to fight a monster beloved by all.”

— Marieke Nijkamp

80. “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

81. “We might not be able to beat this together, but we definitely can’t face it alone.”

— Marieke Nijkamp

82. “He didn’t care for the books their tutors gave them, but he did care for the shadowed alleyways, the exquisitely carved arched passageways, the dancing lights in the trees. He wanted to know and taste the parts of the city that never make it into a history book.”

— Marieke Nijkamp

83. “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

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

— Marieke Nijkamp

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

— Marieke Nijkamp

86. “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

87. “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

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

— Marieke Nijkamp

89. “We’re at exactly the right place, at exactly the right time.”

— Marieke Nijkamp

90. “Kindness isn’t a luxury, Vex.”

— Marieke Nijkamp

91. “At least history suits me. You already know if those stories will end happily.”

— Marieke Nijkamp

92. “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

93. “This is how I shape our future.”

— Marieke Nijkamp

94. “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

95. “You’re brave.” Lorna said. “I’m not,” I assured her, trying not to bristle. I hate being called brave. It’s almost as bad as inspiring.”

— Marieke Nijkamp

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

— Marieke Nijkamp

97. “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

98. “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

99. “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

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

— Marieke Nijkamp