Beth Revis

“I can get closer.”

“For a moment, he looks back at me, and his farewell is in his smile. Then he turns to the stars. And he is gone.”

“This is the secret of the stars. In the end, we are alone no matter how close you seem, no one else can touch you. Maybe the secret of the stars has nothing to do with being alone.”

“...So, I do what any reasonable person would do when faced with a crying girl.I get the frex out of there.”

“I can't be the kind of leader you want me to," he says. "I will never, ever be the kind of leader you want me to be. And I will be better because of it.”

“God, did they know? A year made the world of difference! This was one more year I could be with Jason, one more year I could live! I signed up for three hundred years. . . not three hundred and one!”

“And I know without being told that she killed herself. And I totally understand why.”

“I'm going to find a way to fix you""I'm not broken", Amy says in a voice as empty as her eyes.I lead her down the hall, deposit her in her chamber, and tell her not lo leave. I have no doubt she will follow my order.”

“And I look at Harley, and the billions of stars are in his eyes, and he's drinking them up, pouring them into his soul.”

“Amy pulls away and looks into my face. Her pale skin is blotchy red, her eyes are veined and shadowed, and a shiny line of snot trickles from her nose to the top of her lip.She wipes her face and with her arm, smearing tears and mucus. She never looked more BEAUTIFUL to me.”

“Eldest thinks power is control, that the best way to be a leader is to force everyone into obedience. Holding Amy against me, I realize the simple truth is that power isn't control at all-power is strength, and giving that strength to others. A leader isn't someone who forces others to make him stronger; a leader is someone willing to give his strength to other so that they may have the strength to stand on their own.This is what I've been looking for since the first day I was told that I was born to lead this ship. Leading Godspeed has nothing to do with being better than everyone else, with commanding and forcing and manipulating. Eldest isn't a leader. He's a tyrant.A leader doesn't make pawns-he makes people.”

“We're the ones who arent normal. People are supposed to be like that: obedient, calm, working together. It's us-who can't focus, who can't work together, who can't do the Feeder or Shipper jobs-we're the ones who aren't normal. We're the ones who have to take the mental meds just so we don't go loons.”

“Maybe the secret of the stars has nothing to do with being alone.”

“Sorry? Sorry? Sorry isn't enough. Every. Single. Thing. I ever loved is beyond my reach now. Everything I ever wanted. Everything I ever was.”

“This is the secret of the stars, I tell myself. In the end, we are alone. No matter how close you seem, no one else can touch you. ~ Amy”

“This ship is built on secrets; it runs on secrets", he says, tiny droplets of spittle flying from his mouth to my face. "And if you keep asking about them, you'll see how far I'm willing to go to keep mine." ~ Eldest”

“I want to take her into my arms and hold her tight. But at the same time, I know that is the exact opposite of what she wants. She wants to be free, and all I want is to hold her tight against me. ~ Elder”

“It's always in the rain...”

“He sounds like a regular Hitler to me", Amy mutters. I wonder what she means by that. Eldest has always taught me that Hitler was a wise, cultured leader for his people. Maybe that's what she means: Eldest is a strong leader, like Hitler was. ~ Elder”

“I could tell them about the different kinds of rain, pouring rain that's perfect for when you want to stay inside and watch a movie or read, or piercing rain that feels like needles on your skin, or soft summer rain that makes your first kiss with your first love all the sweeter. ~ Amy”

“I never thought about how important the sky was until I didn't have one.”

“That's all you need to know about Godspeed," he says. "Although you should also know this. I am Eldest." Good for you, I think. Congrats on being old.”

“Should we wait?""Yes! YES. Wait - I'm coming. Just give me some time to thaw, and I will rise from the ice and live again. I will be your frozen phoenix. Just give me a chance!”

“When I look at the fields, all I can see is how fake they are, how poor an imitation they are of the pictures of Sol-Earth fields. [...]And that's why I'll never be as good an Eldest as he is.Because I like a little chaos.”

“I am as silent as death.Do this: Go to your bedroom. Your nice, safe, warm bedroom that is not a glass coffin behind a morgue door. Lie down on your bed not made of ice. Stick your fingers in your ears. Do you hear that? The pulse of life from your heart, the slow in-and-out from your lungs? Even when you are silent, even when you block out all noise, your body is still a cacophony of life. Mine is not. It is the silence that drives me mad. The silence that drives the nightmares to me.Because what if I am dead?”

“This journey... it's long". He says this as if he's felt all 250 years of travel.”

“You must dedicate your whole life to this idea: you are the caretaker of every single person on this ship. They are your responsibility. You can never show weakness in front of them: you are their strength.You can never let them see you in despair: you are their hope.You must always be everything to everyone on board.”

“(D)reams are like that: they go in and out of memories and scenes, but they're never real. They're never real, and I hate them because they aren't.”

“More than the sound of my own beating heart, I miss the sound of a ticking clock. Time passes. It must pass....”

“I wrote a book. It sucked. I wrote nine more books. They sucked, too. Meanwhile, I read every single thing I could find on publishing and writing, went to conferences, joined professional organizations, hooked up with fellow writers in critique groups, and didn’t give up. Then I wrote one more book.”

“It is like a piece of my soul had been lost, empty, and it is now filled with the light of a million stars.”