"'Magic doesn't require beauty,' she said.  'Easy magic is pretty.  Great magic asks that you trouble the waters.  It requires a disruption, something new."
-Language of Thorns by Leigh Bardugo

"Witches are just women who are naturally attuned to magic in our world," Nell said.  "They can manipulate it, when others can't even sense its presence." 
-The Dreadful Tale of Prosper Redding by Alexandra Bracken

"Because magic wasn't in the elements.  Magic lived in the spaces, in the emptiness between all things, connecting them.  It waited there for those who knew how to find it, for those who had the born ability to grasp those connections - the Mageus." 
-The Last Magician by Lisa Maxwell

"'That is your role, your gift.  Your sister may be able to see the future, but you yourself can shape it, boy.  Do not forget that.'  He takes another sip of his wine.  'There are many kinds of magic, after all.'"
-The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern