Veronica Roth

“Human reason can excuse any evil.”

“Sometimes it isn't fighting that's brave, its facing the death you know is coming.”

“May the peace of God be with you,” she says, her voice low, “even in the midst of trouble.”“Why would it?” I say softly, so no one else can hear. “After all I’ve done...”“It isn’t about you,” she says. “It is a gift. You cannot earn it, or it ceases to be a gift.”

“I can’t leave now. I like her too much. There, I said it. But I won’t say it again.”

“She tips her chin up and looks at me with that Abnegation stubbornness I know so well. She may have left them, but they are what’s making her strong.”

“This was the first place I everfelt strong. Every time I breathe this air I feel it again.”

“Looking at her is like waking up.”

“I read somewhere, one, that 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.I think we cry to release the animal parts of us without losing our humanity. Because inside of me is a beast that snarls, and growls, and strains toward freedom, toward Tobias, and, above all, towards life. And as hard as I try, I cannot kill it.”

“I feel like someone is pressing me into a mold that does not fit my body, forcing me intothe wrong shape.”

“I have to admit that Christina is good—though I don’t like giving credit to Candor smart-mouths—and so is Peter—though I don’t like giving credit to future psychopaths.”

“Eric walks toward me, and I back away by instinct. I try not to be afraid of him, but I know how smart he is and that if I’m not careful he’ll notice that I keep staring at her, and that will be my undoing.”

“Becoming fearless isn't the point. That's impossible. It's learning how to control your fear, and how to be free from it.”

“We believe that preparation eradicates cowardice, which we define as the failure to act in the midst of fear.”

“You chose us. Now we have to choose you.”

“If you are really one of us, it won't matter to you that you might fail. And if it does, you are a coward.”

“A chasm reminds us that there is a fine line between bravery and idiocy.”

“The theory is that if you spill all your secrets, you'll have no desire to lie about anything, ever again. Like the worst about you is already in the open, so why not just be honest?”

“Suicide to them is an act of selfishness. Someone who is truly selfless does not think of himself often enough to desire death.”

“Faction before blood.”

“In our factions, we find meaning, we find purpose, we find life.”

“Decades ago, our ancestors realized that it is not just political ideology, religious belief, race, or nationalism that is to blame for a warring world. Rather, they determined that it was the fault of human personality - of humankind's inclination towards evil, in whatever form that is. They divided into factions that sought to eradicate those qualities they believed responsible for the world's disarray.”

“Moths? You're afraid of MOTHS?" Will asked incredulously. "Yeah, so what? They're all papery and their wings are all gross! They're just..Uckkk!" Christina defended with a shudder. "Terrifying," Will agreed with mock seriousness."That's my girl, tough as cotton balls!""Oh shut up!" Christina shrieked, slapping Will on the arm.”

“Creemos en los actos cotidianos de valentía, en el coraje que impulsa a una persona a defender a otra.”

“I have done bad things. I can't take them back, and they are part of who I am. Most of the time, they seem like the only thing I am.”

“You look older.”“Yes, well. The passage of time tends to do that to a person.”

“My dear girl. I am his family. I am permanent. You are only temporary.”

“Caleb runs up to me and folds me carefully in his arms. I breathe a sigh of relief. I thought I had gotten to the point where I didn’t need my brother anymore, but I don’t think such a point actually exists.”

“The gun goes off. I fall.”

“Politeness is deception in pretty packaging.”

“I think we've made a mistake," he says softly. "We've all started to put down virtues of the other faction 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.”

“Ser sincero en todo momento debe requerir valor. Yo no sabría hacerlo.”

“You want him to walk?" Caleb demands. "Are you insane?""Did I shoot him in the leg?" I say. "No. He walks. Where do we go, Peter?”

“A breeze blows through the alley, pushing me to one side, and I think of scaling the Ferris wheel with Tobias. He kept me steady then. There is no one left to keep me steady now.”

“Before I chose Dauntless...I felt assured of my long lifespan, if nothing else. Now there are no reassurances except that where I go, I go because I choose to.”

“Sleep,' he says. 'I'll fight the bad dreams off if they come to get you.”

“Can I ask why you’re throwing knives at cheese?’‘Caleb came by to discuss something,’ Tobias says, leaning his head against the wall as he looks at me. ‘And knife-throwing just came up somehow.’‘As it so often does,’ I say, a small smile inching across my face.”

“He touches my face, covering my cheeks with his hands, sliding his fingertips down my neck, fitting his fingers to the slight curve of my hips. I can't stop.”

“He doesn’t scowl, but his mouth is so tense that I know he’s angry with me. 'Don’t be an idiot,' he says.'An idiot?' Is he talking about the blanket?'You were lying.”

“The Candor sing the praises of the truth, but they never tell you how much it costs.”

“I point at a window to my left, and it explodes. Particles of glass rain over us. ‘You’ll have to do better than that,' I say.”

“Welcome to the Amity compound,' says Johanna. Her eyes fix on my face, and she smiles crookedly. 'Let us take care of you.”

“We're all right, you know,' he says quietly. 'You and me. Okay?' My chest aches, and I nod. 'Nothing else is all right.' His whisper tickles my cheek. 'But we are.”

“You think giving you a hug would give away too much?" he says."You know," I say. "I really don't care."I stand on my tiptoes and press my lips to his.It is the best moment of my life.”

“It is more important for you to be safe than right, for the time being. Understand? (...) But please, when you see an opportunity...ruin them”

“Who cares about pretty? I'm going for noticeable.”

“Half of bravery is perspective.”

“It's easy to be brave when they're not my fears.”

“I need the protection of seeming weak.”

“But maybe what I saw as fearless was actually fear under control.”

“To me there's a difference between not being afraid and acting in spite of fear, as he does.”