Quotes from Malorie Blackman

The single yellow diamond stud he wore in his left ear twinkled like a giggle in the morning sunlight.

Sod off and die, Dante,

Except that the teachers had totally ignored us, and the Crosses had used any excuse to bump into us and knock our books on the floor, and even the noughts serving in the food hall had made sure they served everyone else in the queue before

I called her Minnie all the time. She loved our house as much as I hated it.

Political terrorism which results in the death or serious injury of even one Cross always has been and always will be a capital crime. Those found guilty will suffer the death sentence, no two ways about it …

talentless airheads who are famous for absolutely nothing except being famous?

Don't you call my best friend that … Say that again and I'll knock you flat

It seemed to me we'd practised segregation for centuries now and that hadn't worked either. What would satisfy all the noughts and the Crosses who felt the same as Mum? Separate countries? Separate planets? How far away was far enough? What was it about the differences in others that scared some people so much?

like a game of musical chairs, where the chairs are rooms in this house and the music is hatred and it's a game no one's enjoying, but none of us can stop playing.

Is this about politics or money?' 'What's the difference?

Life was too precious to be so fragile

Thoughts can creep up on you, or they can hit harder than a wrecking ball.

Contrary to what you obviously believe, I don't spend my hours thinking up ways to annoy you,' Troy snaps. 'Actually, I don't think of you at all, so could you miss me with your bullshit, please?

I'm a Cross – closer to God

STOP IT! YOU'RE ALL BEHAVING LIKE ANIMALS!' I shouted so hard my throat immediately began to hurt. 'WORSE THAN ANIMALS – LIKE BLANKERS!

A word Dad had used. But it was a word that had hurt my best friend. A word that was now hurting me so very, very much. I hadn't fully realized just how powerful words could be before this.

Sometimes I wish there was just you and me and no one else in the whole world" - Callum

Life was so simple for them. Their biggest worry was what they'd get for their birthdays. Their biggest grumble was the time they had to go to bed. Maybe things would be different for them … Better. Meggie forced herself to believe that things would be better for the children, otherwise what was the point of it all?

Silence sits like a voyeur with popcorn, watching both of us.

regret is an underestimated emotion that can eat away at you just as much as jealousy or anger.

you experience the one thing that drunks and druggies and all the miserable, lonely, unhappy people in this world share.' 'And what's that?

was hard to speak the truth in a world where lies were currency.

That's just the way it is. Some things will never change. That's just the way it is. But you don't believe them.

I used to comfort myself with the belief that it was only certain individuals and their peculiar notions that spoiled things for the rest of us. But how many individuals does it take before it's not the individuals who are prejudiced but society itself?