Quotes from Veronica Roth

I feel bare. I didn't realize I wore my secrets as armor until they were gone and now everyone sees me as I really am.

No matter how long you train someone to be brave, you never know if they are or not until something real happens.

We believe in ordinary acts of bravery, in the courage that drives one person to stand up for another.

I fell in love with him. But I don't just stay with him by default as if there's no one else available to me. I stay with him because I choose to, every day that I wake up, every day that we fight or lie to each other or disappoint each other. I choose him over and over again, and he chooses me.

His fingers slide into my hair, and I hold on to his arms to stay steady as we press together like two blades at a stalemate. He is stronger than anyone I know, and warmer than anyone else realizes; he is a secret that I have kept, and will keep for the rest of my life.

Scrubbing the floor when no one else wanted to was something that my mother would have done. If I can't be with her, the least I can do is act like her sometimes.

I suppose a fire that burns that bright is not meant to last.

If you are really one of us, it won't matter to you that you might fail. And if it does, you are a coward.

What did you do, memorize a map of the city for fun?" says Christina. Yes," says Will, looking puzzled. Didn't you?

I think romance is friendship and attraction sort of meeting together and that does influence what I'm writing a lot. I try to establish the attraction, obviously, but I also think it's important to show the characters having actual conversations about things other than their feelings for each other - and to develop their friendship on the page.

...there is power in self-sacrifice.

Who cares about pretty? I'm going for noticeable.

Becoming fearless isn't the point. That's impossible. It's learning how to control your fear, and how to be free from it.

Looks like someone had a mood swing." She rolls her eyes. Like you don't want to know what his fears are. He acts so tough that he's probably afraid of marshmallows and really bright sunrises or something.

I belong to the people I love, and they belong to me--they, and the love and loyaty I give them, form my identity far more than any word or group ever could.

I wonder if fears ever really go away, or if they just lose their power over us.

I like to think I'm helping them by hating them. I'm reminding them that they aren't God's gift to humankind.

You don't believe things because they make your life better, you believe them because they're true.

What is it with you today?" says Christina on the way to breakfast. Her eyes are still swollen from sleep and her tangled hair forms a fuzzy halo around her face. Oh, you know," I say. Sun shining. Birds chirping." She raises an eyebrow at me, as if reminding me that we are in an underground tunnel.

It's not often real that you encounter the real person behind a good-natured mask, the darkest part of someone. It's not comfortable what you do.

You chose us. Now we have to choose you.

I wish I could say I felt guilty for what I did. I don't.

Sometimes, the best way to help someone is just to be near them.

He slides his hand over my cheek, one finger anchored behind my ear. Then he tilts his head down and kisses me, sending a warm ache through my body. I wrap my hands around his arm, holding him there as long as I can. When he touches me, the hollowed-out feeling in my chest and stomach is not as noticeable.