Quotes from Patrick Ness

Ah, well, then you've never stood on a beach as the waves came crashing in, the water stretching out from you until it's beyond sight, moving and blue and alive and so much bigger than even the black beyond seems because the ocean hides what it contains.

It was solitude, but it was solitude that wasn't lonely. Solitude that could sort things out. And he hadn't had that in ages.

And yeah, I know most people would think it weird that two guy friends touch as much as we do, but when you choose your family, you get to choose how it is between you, too. This is how we work. I hope you get to choose your family and I hope it means as much to you as mine does to me.

You notice that he does not ask, Where am I?" says the Mayor's voice, moving out there, somewhere. "His first words are, Where is she? And his Noise says the same. Interesting.

You must speak the truth and you must speak it now , Conor O'Malley. Say it. You must. Conor shook his head again, his mouth clamped shut tight, but he could feel a burning in his chest, like a fire someone had lit there, a miniature sun, blazing away and burning him from the inside. "It'll kill me if I do," he gasped. It will kill you if you do not, the monster said. You must say it.

It felt like waiting for something to happen. Which has to be the worst part of being young. So many of your decisions aren't yours; they're made by other people. Sometimes they're made badly by other people. Sometimes they're made by other people who have no idea what the consequences of those decisions might be. The bastards.

Who will remember Todd? Who will remember what he did? Todd - Todd - And my heart breaks even more - Breaks forever - And I fall to my knees in the snow and sand - And I yell out, wordless and empty - And I drop the weapon.

Except I didn't say eff

Things change, but they stay the same.

But imagine there's this thing that always sits there in the room with you. And everyone knows it's there and no one will ever say a single goddamn word about it until it becomes like an extra person living in your house that you have to make room for. And if you bring it up, they pretend they don't know what you're talking about.

Here is the boy, drowning.

He's a woman. He's a grown woman He's a old woman.

After he killed the farmer's daughter, said the monster, the prince lay down next to her and returned to sleep. When he awoke, he acted out a pantomime should anyone be watching. But also, it may surprise you to learn, for himself. The monster's branches creaked. Sometimes people need to lie to themselves most of all.

Too much talking," I say. "Not enough running.

He was greedy and rude and bitter, but he was still a healer. The parson, though, what was he? He was nothing . Belief is half of all healing. Belief in the cure, belief in the future that awaits. And here was a man who lived on belief, but who sacrificed it at the first challenge, right when he needed it most. He believed selfishly and fearfully. And it took the lives of his daughters.

He was still alive. Which was the worst thing that could have happened.

You love him," he says. Not an asking, just a fact. "I do," I say. Also a fact.

You went up a girl and came down a woman.

And you," he says, "you need to talk to your boy." He lifts my chin. "And if he needs saving, then you save him. Isn't that what you told me you did for each other?" I let go a few more tears but then I nod. "Over and over again.

And a part of you wished it would just end, said the monster, even if it meant losing her.

To see the ocean once is to learn how to miss it. ~Mistress Coyle

HERE It's- Can I say? It's like the song of a family where everything's always all right, it's a song of belonging that makes you belong just by hearing it, it's a song that'll always take care of you and never leave you. If you have a heart, it breaks, if you have a heart that's broken, it fixes.

Cuz that's it - That's the nasty, nasty secret of war - When yer winning - When yer winning, it's effing thrilling -

She tried to kill you, Viola. She tried to blow you up... You don't owe her nothing,' he says. But I feel his arms on me and I'm realizing things don't seem so impossible anymore. I feel Todd touching me and there's anger rising in my gut but it's not at him and I grunt and I pull myself up again, leaning on him to keep me there as I stand. 'I do owe her,' I say. 'I owe her the look on her face when she sees me alive.