“I wasn't going to play by her rules. I was going to change them myself." -Avalin Marsh"Sometimes you have to look through someone else's eyes to see the best things about yourself." -Albert Huntington"It's worth a shot, it's always worth a shot. Even if it's your very last bullet." -Lyle McCormick"I was always the invisible one, Avalin. It was you who made sure I was seen." -Prajna Sarasvati"Let's hope we can subdue her before it comes to methods that involve injecting people with pointy things, yes?" -Madeline Gray”
“I just wanted things to be simple. I didn't understand why things had to be so complicated for all the grown ups. And I decided that if growing up meant things got confusing, then I would stay little forever. I would stay simple. But unfortunately everything around me did its best not to be. The world liked to be complex. It liked to twist, to distort. To bleed you dry of whatever feeling you could muster while still letting you hold on to your sanity so that you could experience heartache at its prime. I didn't know how cold the world could be when I was eleven. If I would have known...maybe I would have packed a sweater.”
“My words hang in the air. I look to the screen, hoping to see them recording some wave of reconciliation going through the crowd. Instead I watch myself get shot on television.”
“Agreed," I say. "It's going to be a long hour.""Maybe not that long," says Peeta." what was that you were saying just before the food arrived? Something about me ... no competition ... best thing that ever happened to you ... "" I don't remember that last part," I say, hoping it's too dim in here for the cameras to pick up my blush." Oh, that's right. That's what I was thinking," he says " Scoot over, I'm freezing.”
“You may scold your carpenter, when he has made a bad table, though you can't make a table yourself.' I say to you - 'Mr. Finch, you may point out a defect in a baby's petticoats, though you haven't got a baby yourself!' Doesn't that satisfy you? All right! Take another illustration. Look at your room here. I can see in the twinkling of an eye, that it's badly lit. You have only got one window - you ought to have two. Is it necessary to be a practical builder to discover that? Absurd! Are you satisfied now? No! Take another illustration. What's this printed paper, here, on the chimney-piece? Assessed Taxes. Ha! Assessed Taxes will do. You're not in the House of Commons; you're not a Chancellor of the Exchequer - but haven't you an opinion of your own about taxation, in spite of that? Must you and I be in Parliament before we can presume to see that the feeble old British Constitution is at its last gasp?”
“I brought you this." Gale holds up a sheath. When I take it, I notice it holds a single, ordinary arrow. "It'ssupposed to be symbolic. You firing the last shot of the war.""What if I miss?" I say. "Does Coin retrieve it and bring it back to me? Or just shoot Snow through the head herself?""You won't miss." Gale adjusts the sheath on my shoulder.We stand there, face-to-face, not meeting each other's eyes. "You didn't come see me in the hospital." He doesn't answer, so finally I just say it. "Was it your bomb?""I don't know. Neither does Beetee," he says. "Does it matter? You'll always be thinking about it."He waits for me to deny it; I want to deny it, but it's true. Even now I can see the flash that ignites her, feelthe heat of the flames. And I will never be able to separate that moment from Gale. My silence is my answer."That was the one thing I had going for me. Taking care of your family," he says. "Shoot straight, okay?" He touches my cheek and leaves. I want to call him back and tell him that I was wrong. That I'll figure out a way tomake peace with this. To remember the circumstances under which he created the bomb. Take into account my own inexcusable crimes. Dig up the truth about who dropped the parachutes. Prove it wasn't the rebels. Forgive him. But since I can't, I'll just have to deal with the pain.”
“If you fall down seven times, stand up eight.”