“You are keeping the possibility [of peace] open. No wise leader would do anything less”

“Being a leader is making the people you love hate you a little more each day.”

“Even when peaceful cooperation is the obvious thing, the only thing that will keep any of us alive- There are still people who won't make that choice.”

“Viola? Keep calling for me–And I’ll keep searching for you–And I’ll find you–You bet yer life on it–I’ll find you–Keep calling for me, Viola–Cuz here I come.”

“But I'm still thinking about being born on a spaceship, an honest to badness spaceship. Growing up while flying along the stars, able to go wherever you wanted, not stuck on some hateful planet which clearly don't want you. You could go anywhere. If one place didn't suit, you'd find another. Full freedom in all direkshuns. Could there possibly be anything cooler in the whole world than that?”

“I'll do it, Todd," I whisper. "I'll come with you."And he doesn't say anything, just squeezes my hand harder and brings it up to his face like he wants to breathe me in.”

“Conor wasn’t stupid. When they’d had the “little talk” the next day, he knew what his mum had done and why she had done it. But that didn’t take away from how much fun that night had been. How hard they’d laughed. How anything had seemed possible. How anything good could have happened to them right then and there and they wouldn’t have been surprised.”