Jem Carstairs Quotes

“But you hate poetry!
Yes, but you make me want to write it.”
― Cassandra Clare

“Jem’s knees gave out, and he sank to the trunk at the foot of his bed, still playing. He played Will breathing the name Cecily, and he played himself watching the glint of his own ring on Tessa’s hand on the train from York, knowing it was all a charade, knowing, too, that he wished that it wasn’t. He played the sorrow in Tessa’s eyes when she had come into the music room after Will had told her she would never have children. Unforgivable, that, what a thing to do, and yet Jem had forgiven him. Love was forgiveness, he had always believed that, and the things that Will did, he did out of some bottomless well of pain. Jem did not know the source of that pain, but he knew it existed and was real, knew it as he knew of the inevitability of his own death, knew it as he knew that he had fallen in love with Tessa Gray and that there was nothing he or anyone else could do about it.”
― Cassandra Clare, Clockwork Prince

“No more.

The yin fen has taken so much from me: my family, the years of my life, the strength in my body, the breath in my lungs. It will not take from me this too: the most precious thing we are given by the Angel. The ability to love. I love Tessa Gray.

And I will make sure that she knows it.”
― Cassandra Clare, Clockwork Prince

“He wanted to run to her, wrap her in his arms. Protect her. But it was Jem’s place to do those things, not his. Not his.” -Will Herondale”
― Cassandra Clare, Clockwork Princess

“I told you before, Jem, that you would not leave me. And you are still with me. When I breathe, I will think of you, for without you I would have been dead years ago. When I wake up and when I sleep, when I lift up my hands to defend myself or when I lie down to die, you will be with me. You say we are born and born again. I say there is a river that divides the dead and the living. What I do know is that if we are born again, I will meet you in another life, and if there is a river, you will wait on the shores for me to come to you, so that we can cross together.”
― Cassandra Clare, Clockwork Princess

“Will began to straighten up, to turn away from the bed. And as he did, he felt something wrap tightly around his wrist. He glanced down and saw Jem’s hand braceleting his own. For a moment he was too shocked to do anything but stare.

“I am not dead yet, Will,” Jem said in a soft voice, thin but as strong as wire. “What did Magnus mean by asking you if I knew you were in love with Tessa?”
― Cassandra Clare, Clockwork Princess

“Being a vampire is not a curse. It’s a disease,” Tessa filled in. “But they still can’t enter hallowed ground, then? Does that mean they’re damned?”
“That depends on what you believe,” said Jem. “And whether you believe in damnation at all.”
“But you hunt demons. You must believe in damnation!”
“I believe in good and evil,” said Jem. “And I believe the soul is eternal. I don’t believe in the fiery pit, the pitchforks, or the endless torment. I do not believe you can threaten people into goodness.”
― Cassandra Clare, Clockwork Angel

“When I am in the darkness, I want to think of it in the light, with you," he said, and straightened, and turned to walk toward the door. The parchment robes of the Silent Brothers moved around him as he moved, and Tessa watched him, paralyzed, every pulse of her heart beating out the words she could not say: Good-bye. Good-bye. Good-bye.”
― Cassandra Clare, Clockwork Princess

“Kit’s jaw was still set. Jem knew that look. Herondales were always flames, he thought. They loved and suffered as if they would burn away with the sheer force of their own fire.”
― Cassandra Clare, Ghosts of the Shadow Market

“You are home for me now." --Jem to Tessa”
― Cassandra Clare, Clockwork Prince

“It was books that kept me from taking my own life after I thought I could never love anyone, never be loved by anyone again.”
― Cassandra Clare

“Your place is with me. It always will be. -Jem Carstairs”
― Cassandra Clare, Clockwork Prince

“I shall do what I can to make some provision that I might see you again, and Tessa again. For you are half my heart, and she is the other. As long as I have one of you to be my north star, my heart shall not die, and I shall remain your James Carstairs.”
― Cassandra Clare, Clockwork Princess

“I love you. And I don't want to lose you.”
― Cassandra Clare, Clockwork Prince

“I carved his initials here because I always fought best with him.”
― Cassandra Clare, Son of the Dawn

“Jem said, “we want you to stay, and to know that the choice is entirely yours, and we wanted to show you something. We want you to know there is nothing in this house more precious to us than you.”
― Cassandra Clare, Ghosts of the Shadow Market

“I sometimes think there is nothing more painful than love denied. To love someone you cannot have, to stand beside your heart's desire and be unable to take them in your arms. A love that cannot be requited. I can think of nothing more painful than that.”
― Cassandra Clare, Ghosts of the Shadow Market

“You’re the shape-changer, aren’t you?” Ragnor said. “Magnus Bane told me about you. No mark on you at all, they say.”"No. No mark."He grinned around his fork. “I do suppose they’ve looked everywhere?”“I’m sure Will’s tried,” said Jessamine.”
― Cassandra Clare, Clockwork Prince

“Whoever you have loved, and however you loved them,” said Jem, “anyone you loved would be lucky.”
― Cassandra Clare, Para Sempre Caídos

“No, said Jem, because he was always James Carstairs when he spoke of what was dearest to him. Not mine. My parabatai’s. W and H. William Herondale. Will”
― Cassandra Clare, Son of the Dawn

“Let’s go see who can eat the most dumplings in the shortest amount of time. And duck! You really ought to try pressed duck! It’s a great delicacy.” Jem looked at Will, suppressing a smile. His friend glared back, but at last neither of them could hold back their laughter. Will said, “There is nothing so sweet as feasting upon the bones of my enemies. Especially with you at my side.”
― Cassandra Clare, Learn About Loss

“Tessa Herondale Carstairs,” he whispered. “You should never worry about borrowing my name when you know that you can have it to keep.”
― Cassandra Clare, After the Bridge

“They are Will and Tessa, and you were Ke Jian Ming. You were James Carstairs. You were Jem.”
― Cassandra Clare, Son of the Dawn

“She glanced at Jem expecting to see him blinking in surprise or hurt, but he was only smiling a little as if Will were a kitten that had tried to bite him.”
― Cassandra Clare

“I don't think you can fight because you're wearing a wedding dress" said Jem. "And for what it's worth, I don't think Will could fight in that dress either."
"Perhaps not," said Will, who had ears like a bat's. "But I would make a radiant bride.”
― Cassandra Clare, Clockwork Princess

“Simon had only had a few encounters with Jem Carstairs, who was apparently as old as his wife, Tessa Gray. They both looked amazingly fit for 150 years. Tessa even looked pretty hot. (Maybe Jem looked hot too? As Simon had thought once before, he probably wasn’t the greatest judge of male attractiveness.) Was it weird to think people who were twice as old as your grandparents were good-looking?”
― Cassandra Clare, The Fiery Trial

“Why would Shinyun be after Tessa?” Magnus said.

Jem looked at him in surprise. “Well—because she’s an eldest curse, of course. Like you.”

Magnus blinked. “You mean, because she’s the daughter of a Prince of Hell? Like me?”

“No. It’s more than that. Tessa went to the Labyrinth not just to hide but to research. Eldest curses are not just children of Princes of Hell. They’re the oldest living children of those princes. There can only be nine of them alive at any one time, and I know of only two. And I’m talking to one of them and married to the other.”
― Cassandra Clare, The Lost Book of the White

“Brother Zachariah had no reason to support the Lightwoods, but everyone deserved a second chance if they wanted that chance enough.
And one of Robert Lightwood’s ancestors had been a woman called Cecily Herondale.”
― Cassandra Clare, Son of the Dawn

“You are worth everything, Will.”
― Cassandra Clare, Clockwork Prince

“Seas lo que seas físicamente, hombre o mujer, fuerte o débil, enfermo o sano, todo eso no importa tanto como lo que tengas en el corazón. Si posees el alma de un guerrero, eres un guerrero. Todas esas otras cosas son tan sólo el cristal de la lámpara, pero tú eres la luz que brilla en su interior.”
― Cassandra Clare, Clockwork Angel