Quotes from Suzanne Collins

I think it's very uncomfortable for people to talk to children about war, and so they don't because it's easier not to. But then you have young people at eighteen who are enlisting in the army, and they really don't have the slightest idea what they're getting into.

If I have to pick one story that most influenced 'The Hunger Games,' it would be the Greek myth of Theseus, which I read when I was about 8 years old. In punishment for past deeds, Athens periodically had to send seven youths and seven maidens to a labyrinth. In the maze was this Minotaur, and it would eat them.

Okay, listen to me, you're stronger than they are. You are. They just want a good show, that's all they want. You know how to hunt. Show them how good you are.

But there was only one kiss that made me feel something stir deep inside. Only one that made me want more. But my head wound started bleeding and he made me lie down.

Not only does he hate me, and want to kill me, he no longer believes I'm human. It was less painful being strangled.

If the careers want me, let them find me.

Do i really want him dead? What i want... what i want is to have him back.

You don't destroy what you want to acquire in the future.

Never was I supposed to hear the words 'He says he wants to see you.' But now that I have, there's no way to refuse.

Let me go!" I snarl at him, trying to wrest my arm from his grasp. "I can't, " he says.

My mother tried really hard to protect us, but occasionally, after afternoon cartoons of whatever was on... the nightly news would come on, and I'd see footage from the war zone, and I would hear the word 'Vietnam,' and I would know my dad was over there, and it was a very frightening experience for me.

I've just had the opportunity to see the finished film of 'The Hunger Games.' I'm really happy with how it turned out. I feel like the book and the film are individual yet complementary pieces that enhance one another.

Both the 'Gregor' series and 'The Hunger Games' are what I call lightning-bolt ideas. There was a moment where the idea came to me. With 'The Hunger Games,' the lightning bolt sort of hit at a moment when I was channel surfing between reality TV and the coverage of the Iraq war.

I will never have a life with Gale even if I want to.

If he wants me broken, then I will have to be whole.

And she's my fiancee. So if you want to get to him, expect to go through both of us.

What happens when we get back? I don't know. I guess we try and forget. I don't want to forget.

It's amazing to see things that are suggested in the book fully developed and so brilliantly realized through the artistry of the designers.

You don't forget the face of the person who was your last hope.

Remember, we're madly in love, so it's all right to kiss me anytime you feel like it.

I am not pretty. I am not beautiful. I am as radiant as the sun.

It takes ten times as long to put yourself back together as it does to fall apart.

Happy Hunger Games! And may the odds be ever in your favor.

Destroying things is much easier than making them.