People tend to overestimate my character, I say quietly. They think that because I'm small, or a girl, or a Stiff, I can't possibly be cruel. But they're wrong.
Looks like someone had a mood swing. She rolls her eyes. Like you don’t want toknow what his fears are. He acts so tough that he’s probably afraid of marshmallowsand really bright sunrises or somethin...
I ignore my fear. When I make decisions, I pretend it doesn't exist.
I hear my heartbeat. I have been looking at him too long, but then, he has been looking back, and I feel like we are both trying to say something the other can't hear, though I could be imagining it....
I have never been carried around by a large boy, or laughed until my stomach hurt at the dinner table, or listened to the clamor of a hundred people all talking at once. Peace is restrained; this is f...
I breathe in. The water will wash my wounds clean. I breathe out. My mother submerged me in water when I was a baby, to give me to God. It has been a long time since I thought about God, but I think a...
He told me once to be brave, and though I have stood still while knives spun toward my face and jumped off a roof, I never thought I would need bravery in the small moments of my life. I do.
For a few minutes we kiss, deep in the chasm, with the roar of water all around us. And we rise, hand in hand, I realize that if we had both chosen differently, we might have ended up doing the same t...
Be brave
Psyche you out?" I repeat. "I'm your FRIEND. I wouldn't do that." He doesn't say anything. I can tell he doesn't believe me-not quite.
Yeah, sometimes life really sucks, she says. But you know what I'm holding on for?I raise my eyebrows.She raises hers, too, mimicking me.The moments that don't suck, she says. The trick is to notice t...
Why do people want to pretend that death is sleep? It isn't. It isn't.
What's worse: to be idle while someone dies, or to be exiled and empty-handed?
What do we do? Fernando asks.I step toward the Candor. Maybe they aren’t programmed to shoot. I stare into the glazed eyes of a woman in a white blouse and black slacks. She looks like she just came f...
What did you do, memorize a map of the city for fun? says Christina.Yes, says Will, looking puzzled. Didn’t you?
This is what I wanted most to avoid: for my rises and falls to become Tobias's rises and falls. That's why I can't let him step in to defend me now.
There is a difference between admitting and confessing. Admitting involves softening, making excuses for things that cannot be excused; confessing just names the crimes at its full severity.
The floor is solid metal in some places and metal grating in others. Everything smells like rotting garbage and fire.Don't say I never took you anywhere nice, Peter says.Wouldn't dream of it, I say.
The Candor sing the praises of the truth, but they never tell you how much it costs.
Sometimes, the best way to help someone is just to be near them.