30+ of the best quotes from "The Awakening"

Released in 2020, The Awakening is the first book in the Dragon Heart Legacy, a captivating trilogy by New York Times bestselling author Nora Roberts. A saga of self-discovery and a contemporary romance graced with elements of fantasy, the novel transports listeners from Philadelphia to the mystical land of Talamh and The Valley of Fey. It revolves around Breen Kelly, a young woman burdened by student loans and a mundane job, who discovers that her mother has been hiding a significant inheritance from her. Liberated by her newfound wealth, Breen travels to Ireland with her best friend, Marco. There, she stumbles on a portal to a magical world. In Talamh, she meets Keegan, the leader of the realm, and learns of her own extraordinary lineage and powers.

In this novel and the next two installments, The Becoming and The Choice, we follow Breen's transformation from a timid woman into a powerful being who embraces her destiny. These 30+ quotes from The Awakening just might inspire you to follow your dreams and unleash your own potential.

The best quotes from The Awakening on self-discovery and identity

1. "A certain light was beginning to dawn dimly within her—the light which, showing the way, forbids it."

2. "Whatever came, she had resolved never again to belong to another than herself."

3. "Even as a child she had lived her own small life within herself. At a very early period she had apprehended instinctively the dual life–that outward existence which conforms, the inward life which questions."

4. "For the first time, she recognized the symptoms of infatuation which she had felt incipiently as a child, as a girl in her early teens, and later as a young woman."

5. "He could see plainly that she was not herself. That is, he could not see that she was becoming herself and daily casting aside that fictitious self which we assume like a garment with which to appear before the world."

6. "She's got some sort of notion in her head concerning the eternal rights of women."

7. "There are some people who leave impressions not so lasting as the imprint of an oar upon the water."

8. "You have a chance and a choice to be what you are. To build on all that came before, reach for what comes next. To fail, well, greatness rises from first failures."

9. “Girl, take it from an old queen: be who you are and the hell with the rest.”

The best quotes from The Awakening on life's promises and realities

1. "It was not despair, but it seemed to her as if life were passing by, leaving its promises broken and unfulfilled."

2. "She had all her life long been accustomed to harbor thoughts and emotions which never voiced themselves."

3. "She was moved by a kind of commiseration... a pity for that colorless existence which never uplifted its possessor beyond the region of blind contentment, in which no moment of anguish ever visited her soul, in which she would never have the taste of life's delirium."

4. "Perhaps it is better to wake up after all, even to suffer, rather than to remain a dupe to illusions all one's life."

5. “You have to look to find. You have to ask to have the answers. You have to awaken to become.”

The best quotes from The Awakening on love and relationships

1. "No, I only think you cruel, as I said the other day. Maybe not intentionally cruel; but you seem to be forcing me into disclosures which can result in nothing; as if you would have me bare a wound for the pleasure of looking at it, without the intention or power of healing it."

2. "She was still under the spell of her infatuation. She had tried to forget him, realizing the inutility of remembering."

3. "'Why?' asked her companion. 'Why do you love him when you ought not to?'"

4. “Friendship’s the bread of life, isn’t it now?”

5. "I love you, only you; no one but you. It was you who awoke me last summer out of a life-long, stupid dream."

The best quotes from The Awakening on nature and escape

1. "But the beginning of things, of a world especially, is necessarily vague, chaotic, and exceedingly disturbing. How few of us ever emerge from such beginning! How many souls perish in its tumult!"

2. "She turned her face seaward to gather in an impression of space and solitude, which the vast expanse of water, meeting and melting with the moonlit sky, conveyed to her excited fancy."

3. "The voice of the sea is seductive, never ceasing, whispering, clamoring, murmuring, inviting the soul to wander in abysses of solitude."

4. "The voice of the sea speaks to the soul. The touch of the sea is sensuous, enfolding the body in its soft, close embrace."

5. "The morning was full of sunlight and hope."

6. "She reminded him of some beautiful, sleek animal waking up in the sun."

7. "Sometimes I feel this summer as if I were walking through the green meadow again, idly, aimlessly, unthinking and unguided."

8. "The flowers were like new acquaintances; she approached them in a familiar spirit, and made herself at home among them."

9. "It takes a bit of time, but why hurry through the day just to get to the next?"

The best quotes from The Awakening on human emotions

1. "There was a dull pang of regret because it was not the kiss of love which had inflamed her, because it was not love which had held this cup of life to her lips."

2. "There were days when she was very happy without knowing why." 

3. “Nerves aren’t shameful. Not acting because of them is.”

4. "She was happy to be alive and breathing, when her whole being seemed to be one with the sunlight, the color, the odors, the luxuriant warmth of some perfect Southern day."