1
I have something I need to tell you, " he says. I run my fingers along the tendons in his hands and look back at him. "I might be in love with you." He smiles a little. "I'm waiting until I'm sure to tell you, though."" That's sensible of you, " I say, smiling too. "We should find some paper so you can make a list or a chart or something." I feel his laughter against my side, his nose sliding along my jaw, his lips pressing my ear." Maybe I'm already sure, " he says, "and I just don't want to frighten you." I laugh a little. "Then you should know better."" Fine, " he says. "Then I love you. .Veronica Roth
2
Then I realize what it is. It's him. Something about him makes me feel like I am about to fall. Or turn to liquid. Or burst into flames.Veronica Roth
3
I fell in love with him. But I don't just stay with him by default as if there's no one else available to me. I stay with him because I choose to, every day that I wake up, every day that we fight or lie to each other or disappoint each other. I choose him over and over again, and he chooses me.Veronica Roth
4
I wonder if fears ever really go away, or if they just lose their power over us.Veronica Roth
5
I belong to the people I love, and they belong to me--they, and the love and loyaty I give them, form my identity far more than any word or group ever could.Veronica Roth
6
Okay. Then...I can talk. Ask me something."" Okay." He laughs shakily in my ear. "Why is your heart racing Tris?"I cringe and say, "Well, I...I barely know you. I barely know you and I'm crammed up against you in a box, Four, what do you think?"..." Maybe you were cut out for Candor, " he says, "because you're a terrible liar.Veronica Roth
7
Yeah, well, " I say, "I left Abnegation because I wasn't selfless enough, no matter how hard I tried to be."" That's not entirely true." He smiles at me. "That girl who let someone throw knives at her to spare a friend, who hit my dad with a belt to protect me-that selfless girl, that's not you?".." You've been paying close attention, haven't you?"" I like to observe people/"" Maybe you were cut out for Candor, Four, because you're a terrible liar.Veronica Roth
8
But when I do feel all the strength go out of me, and I fall to my knees beside the table and I think I cry, then, or at least I want to, and everything inside me screams for just one more kiss, one more word, one more glance, one more.Veronica Roth
9
Fear doesn't shut you down; it wakes you up. I've seen it. It's fascinating." He releases me but doesn't pull away, his hand grazing my jaw, my neck. "Sometimes I just...want to see it again. Want to see you awake.Veronica Roth
10
I love you" I say." I love you, too" he says. "I'll see you soon.Veronica Roth
11
Wait a second, " Four says. I turn toward him, wondering which version of Four I'll see now-the one who scolds me, or the one who climbs Ferris wheels with me. He smiles a little, but the smile doesn't spread to his eyes, which look less tense and worried." You belong here, you know that?" he says. "You belong with us. It'll be over soon, so just hold on, okay?" He scratches behind his ear and looks away, like he's embarrassed by what he said. I stare at him. I feel my heartbeat everywhere, even in my toes. I feel like doing something bold, but I could just as easily walk away. I am not sure which option is smarter, or better. I am not sure that I care. I reach out and take his hand. His fingers slide between mine. I can't breathe. I stare up at him, and he stares down at me. For a long moment, we stay that way. Then I pull my hand away and run after Uriah and Lynn and Marlene. Maybe now he thinks I'm stupid, or strange. Maybe it was worth it.Veronica Roth
12
I think you're still the only person sharp enough to sharpen someone like me.Veronica Roth
13
We are not people who touch each other carelessly; every point of contact between us feels important, a rush of energy and relief.Veronica Roth
14
I'll be your family now, " he says. "I love you, " I say. (....)He stares at me. I wait with my hands clutching his arms for stability as he considers his response. He frowns at me. "Say it again."" Tobias, " I say, "I love you.Veronica Roth
15
You will be the first test subject, Tobias. Beatrice, however.." She smiles. "You are too injured to be of much use to me, so your execution will occur at the conclusion of this meeting." I try to hide the shudder that goes through me at the word "execution, " my shoulder screaming with pain, and look up at Tobias. It's hard to blink tears back when I see the terror in Tobias's wide, dark eyes." No, " says Tobias. His voice trembles, but his look stern as he shakes his head. "I would rather die."" I'm afraid you don't have much of a choice in that matter, " replies Jeanine lightly. Tobias takes my face in this hands roughly and kisses me, the pressure of his lips pushing mine apart. I forget my pain and the terror of approaching death and for a moment, I am grateful that the memory of that kiss will be fresh in my mind as I meet my end.Veronica Roth
16
I regret..." Tobias tilts his head, and sighs. "I regret my choice."" What Choice?", and... I felt like maybe I could make something more of my decision."Veronica Roth
17
Eric called Al's suicide brave, and he was wrong. My mother's death was brave. I remember how calm she was, how determined. It isn't just brave that she died for me; it is brave that she did it without announcing it, without hesitation, and without appearing to consider another option.Veronica Roth
18
I feel like myself, strong and weak at once - allowed, at least for a little while, to be both.Veronica Roth
19
No matter how long you train someone to be brave, you never know if they are or not until something real happens.Veronica Roth
20
One ChoiceOne Choice, decided your friends. One Choice, defines your beliefs. One Choice, determines your loyalties - Forever.ONCE CHOICE CAN TRANSFORM YOUVeronica Roth
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The person you became with her is worth being.Veronica Roth
22
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 them when they come around.Veronica Roth
23
Dead people can be our heroes because they cant disappoint us later; they only improve over time, as we forget more and more about them.Veronica Roth
24
I pull my foot back again, but Four's hands clamp around my arms, and he pulls me away from her with irresistible force. I breathe through gritted teeth, staring at Molly's blood-covered face, the color deep and rich and beautiful, in a way. She groans, and I hear a gurgling in her throat, watch blood trickle from her lips. "You won, " Four mutters. "Stop." I wipe the sweat from my forehead. He stares at me. His eyes too wide; they look alarmed. "I think you should leave, " he says. "Take a walk." I'm fine, " I say. "I'm fine now, " I say again, this time for myself. I wish I could say I felt guilty for what I did. I don't.Veronica Roth
25
Because inside me is a beast that snarls, and growls, and strains toward freedom.. and as hard as I try, I cannot kill it.Veronica Roth
26
Since I was young, I have always known this: Life damages us, every one. We can’t escape that damage. But now, I am also learning this: We can be mended. We mend each otherVeronica Roth
27
We've all started to put down the virtues of the other factions in the process of bolstering our own. I don't want to do that. I want to be brave, and selfless, and smart, and kind, and honest." He clears his throat. "I continually struggle with kindness.Veronica Roth
28
What did you do?” I mumble. He is just a few feet away from me now, but not close enough to hear me. As he passes me he stretches out his hand. He wraps it around my palm and squeezes. Squeezes, then lets go. His eyes are bloodshot; he is pale. “What did you do?” This time the question tears from my throat like a growl. I throw myself toward him, struggling against Peter’s grip, though his hands chafe. “What did you do?” I scream. “You die, I die too” Tobias looks over his shoulder at me. “I asked you not to do this. You made your decision. These are the repercussions. .Veronica Roth
29
To me, when someone wrongs you, you both share the burden of that wrongdoing - the pain of it weighs on both of you. Forgiveness, then, means choosing to bear the full weight all by yourself. Caleb's betrayal is something we both carry, and since he did it, all I've wanted is for him to take its weight away from me. I am not sure that I'm capable of shouldering it all myself - not sure that I am strong enough, or good enough. .Veronica Roth
30
Writing means not just staring ugliness in the face, but finding a way to embrace it.Veronica Roth
31
Moths, " repeats Will. "You're afraid of moths?" "Not just a cloud of moths, " she says, "like...a swarm of them. Everywhere. All those wings and legs and..." She shudders and shakes her head." Terrifying, " Will says with mock seriousness. "That's my girl. Tough as cotton balls."" Oh, Shut up.Veronica Roth
32
Can you be a girl for a few seconds?"" I'm always a girl" I frown." You know what I mean. Like a silly, annoying girl" I twirl my hair around my finger. "Kay.Veronica Roth
33
Four flips the gun in this hand, presses the barrel to Peter's forehead, and clicks a bullet into place. Peter freezes with his lips parted, the yawn dead in his mouth. "Wake. Up, " Four snaps. "You are holding a loaded gun, you idiot. Act like it.Veronica Roth
34
What is it with you today?” says Christina on the way to breakfast. Her eyes are stillswollen from sleep and her tangled hair forms a fuzzy halo around her face.“ Oh, you know, ” I say. “Sun shining. Birds chirping.” She raises an eyebrow at me, as if reminding me that we are in an undergroundtunnel.Veronica Roth
35
We could visit him, " suggests Will. "But what would we say? 'I didn't know you that well, but I'm sorry you got stabbed in the eye'?Veronica Roth
36
I didn't know that idiocy caused people to just start spontaneously bleeding from the nose.Veronica Roth
37
Leaving us with Eric is like hiring a babysitter who spends his time sharpening knives.Veronica Roth
38
What do you think they're going to do to us when they find us guilty?" she says after a few minutes of silence have passed." Honestly?"" Does now seem like the time for honesty?" I look at her from the corner of my eye. "I think they're going to force us to eat lots of cake and then take an unreasonably long nap.Veronica Roth
39
You don’t believe things because they make your life better, you believe them because they’re true.Veronica Roth
40
She has been to the compound before. She remembered this hallway. She knows about the initiation process. My mother was Dauntless.Veronica Roth
41
It's hard to know what's right in this life, ' she said. 'We do what we can, but what we really need is mercy. Do you know who taught me that?' A grin. 'You.'"P459Veronica Roth
42
We believe in ordinary acts of bravery, in the courage that drives one person to stand up for another.Veronica Roth
43
I keep finding myself stifled by the company of others and then crippled by loneliness when I leave them. I am terrified and I don't even know of what, because I have lost everything already.Veronica Roth
44
That is death - shifting from "is" to "was.Veronica Roth
45
Il dolore aveva un suo modo di scomporre il tempo. Pensavo al minuto successivo, all'ora successiva. Non c'era abbastanza spazio nella mia mente per mettere insieme tutti quei pezzi, per trovare le parole per riassumerla nella sua interezza. Ma la parte dell'"andare avanti", per quella le parole le avevo.' Trova un modo per andare avanti' dissi. 'Non deve necessariamente essere buono, o nobile. Basta che sia un motivo.' Conoscevo il mio: c'era una fame dentro di me e c'era sempre stata. Una fame più forte del dolore, più forte dell'orrore. Continuava a mordere anche dopo che ogni altra cosa dentro di me si era arresa. E quando finalmente le diedi un nome, scoprii che era qualcosa di molto semplice: desiderio di vivere.Veronica Roth
46
Want something else more than success. Success is a lovely thing, but your desire to say something, your worth, and your identity shouldn’t rely on it, because it’s not guaranteed and it’s not permanent and it’s not sufficient. So work hard, fall in love with the writing–the characters, the story, the words, the themes–and make sure that you are who you are regardless of your life circumstances. That way, when the good things come, they don’t warp you, and when the bad things hit you, you don’t fall apart. .Veronica Roth
47
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 about him now. It is only natural. I am glad, suddenly, that I shot Eric in the foot instead of the head.Veronica Roth
48
Knowledge is power. Power to do evil...or power to do good. Power itself is not evil. So knowledge itself is not evil.Veronica Roth
49
Valuing knowledge above all else results in a lust for power, and that leads men into dark and empty places.Veronica Roth
50
It's hard to know what's right in this life, ' she said. 'We do what we can, but what we really need is mercy. Do you know who taught me that?' A grin. 'You.Veronica Roth
51
...we have something they want. Valuing knowledge above all else results in a lust for power, and that leads men into dark and empty places. We should be thankful that we know better.Veronica Roth
52
It's strange how time can make a place shrink, make its strangeness ordinary.Veronica Roth
53
Tris, " he says. "What did they do to you? You're acting like a lunatic."" That's not very nice of you to say, " I say. "They put me in a good mood, that's all. And now I really want to kiss you, so if you could just relax-Veronica Roth
54
Be careful, though."" Aren't I always?"" No, I think the word for how you usually are is 'reckless.Veronica Roth
55
People are supossed to aspire to become their fathers, not shudder at the thought.Veronica Roth
56
I have to face the fear. I have to take control of the situation and find a way to make it less frightening.Veronica Roth
57
I clench my teeth as tears come. I am fed up. I am fed up with tears and weakness. But there isn't much I can do to stop them. ~ 'TrisVeronica Roth
58
Yeah, well, we're all afraid." I sighed. "The angry more than most, I think.Veronica Roth
59
I miss the fears of the past few weeks, rendered small by my fears now.Veronica Roth
60
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.Veronica Roth
61
Sometimes, all it takes to save people from a terrible faith is one person willing to do something about it. Even if that "something" is a fake bathroom break.Veronica Roth
62
Now she looks pale and small, but her eyes make me think of wide- open skies that I have never actually seen, only dreamed of.Veronica Roth
63
Freedom. He offered it like someone who didn't know what it meant, someone who had never had it taken away."pg 185Veronica Roth
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You're not very nice, " I say, grinning." You're one to talk."" Hey, I could be nice if I tried."" Hmm." He taps his chin. "Say something nice, then."" You're very good-looking." He smiles, his teeth a flash in this dark. "I like this 'nice' thing.Veronica Roth
65
It will be difficult to break the habits of thinking Abnegation instilled in me, like tugging a single thread from a complex work of embroidery. But I will find new habits, new thoughts, new rules. I will become something else.Veronica Roth
66
Instead I take the lead, Tobias silent at my side, and though he does not touch me, he steadies me.Veronica Roth
67
Human reason can excuse any evil.Veronica Roth
68
The battle we are fighting is not against a particular group. It is against human nature - or at least what it has become.Veronica Roth
69
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 free.Veronica Roth
70
I could never hurt him enough to make his betrayal stop hurting. And it hurts, in every part of my body.Veronica Roth
71
It isn’t right to wish pain on other people just because they hurt me first.Veronica Roth
72
Hearing him talk about his mother, about his intact family, makes my chest hurt for a second, like someone pierced it with a needle.Veronica Roth
73
Crying defies scientific explanation. Tears are only meant to lubricate the eyes. There is no real reason for tear glands to overproduce tears at the behest of emotion.Veronica Roth
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I know what it is to become something you hate, I know how it hurts. But life is full of hurt. And your capacity for baring it is much greater than you believe."pg 287Veronica Roth
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What a person did when they were in pain said a lot about them.pg 459Veronica Roth
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I may be in pain, but I am not weak.Veronica Roth
77
I don't want to die anymore. I am up to the challenge of bearing the guilt and the grief up to facing the difficulties that life has put in my path. Some days are harder than others, but I am ready to live each one of them. I can't sacrifice myself this time.Veronica Roth
78
Fear, ” she says, “is more powerful than pain.Veronica Roth
79
I wish I could tell him that we’re going through the same thing. I wish I could speak to him like I want to instead of like I’m supposed to. But the idea of admitting that I need help is too much to bear, so I turn away.Veronica Roth
80
A harsh crack followed the rumble of thunder, a lightning strike. With that, the other musicians began to play, bringing in the tinkling sounds of light rain, the deeper thrum of thicker droplets. The others played the crashing waves, the lapping of water against a nonexistent shore. All around us were the sounds of water, dripping from faucets, gushing from waterfalls.Veronica Roth
81
Soft hearts make the universe worth living in.Veronica Roth
82
Scrubbing the floor when no one else wanted to was something that my mother would have done. If I can't be with her, the least I can do is act like her sometimes.Veronica Roth
83
I think we cry to release the animal parts of us without losing our humanity. Becauseinside me is a beast that snarls, and growls, and strains toward freedom, toward Tobias, and, aboveall, toward life. And as hard as I try, I cannot kill it.Veronica Roth
84
There is power in controlling something that can do so much damage-in controlling something, period.Veronica Roth
85
Sorry, am I being rude?" she asks." I'm used to saying whatever is on my mind. Mom used to say that politeness is deception in pretty packagingVeronica Roth
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There is an art to Noavek bullshit, " Cyra said as she muted the feed. "We're taught it from birth.Veronica Roth
87
The knife will only hurt for a moment. Then your choice will be made, and it will all be over.Veronica Roth
88
She's a sailboat and I'm an anchor, pulling us both down.Veronica Roth
89
But you should know that about Dauntless- girl, guy, whatever, it doesn't matter here. What matters is what you've got in your gut.Veronica Roth
90
You know, there's a word for big, strong men who attack women, and it's coward.Veronica Roth
91
We don't know what's happened out there since they put us in here, or how many generations have lived and died since they did. We could be the last people left.Veronica Roth
92
There are so many ways to be brave in this world. Sometimes bravery involves laying down your life for something bigger than yourself, or for someone else. Sometimes it involves giving up everything you have ever known, or everyone you have ever loved, for the sake of something greater. But sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes it is nothing more than gritting your teeth through pain, and the work of every day, the slow walk toward a better life. That is the sort of bravery I must have now.Veronica Roth
93
But there's so much that was a lie, it's hard to figure out what was true, what was real, what matters.Veronica Roth
94
She said that everyone has some evil inside them, and the first step to loving anyone is to recognize the same evil inside ourselves, so we're able to forgive them.Veronica Roth
95
You won’t shoot me."" 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.Veronica Roth
96
But I know that for every good thing that comes along, there is always a cost.Veronica Roth
97
If she's in pain now she doesn't show it; she just closes her eyes and surrenders, and that is worse than her screaming for help, somehow.Veronica Roth
98
I have a scar-a faint gouge in my knee from when I fell down on the sidewalk as a child. It's always seemed stupid to me that none of the pain I've experienced has left a visible mark; sometimes, without a way to prove it to myself. I began to doubt that I had lied through it at all, with the memories becoming hazy over time. I want to have some kind of reminder that while wounds heal, they don't disappear forever- I carry them everywhere, always, and that is the way of things, the way of scars. That is what this tattoo will be, for me: a scar. And it seems fitting that it should document the worst memory of pain I have.Veronica Roth
99
Intentions are the only thing they care about. They try to make you think they care about what you do, but they don't. They don't want you to act a certain way, they want you to think a certain way. So you're easy to understand. So you wont pose a threat to them.Veronica Roth
100
A brave man acknowledges the strength of others.Veronica Roth