Quotes from Neal Shusterman

He's a conundrum- and there's still a piece missing from the puzzle. Whatever that piece was, there was a part of me telling me not to get involved- that it was too much to handle. That you shouldn't go out on a limb unless you're absolutely sure the limb can support your weight.

Our conversation with the supermarket manager had been about as helpful as a New Jersey road sign, and if you've ever been there, you know the signs don't tell you the exit you're coming up to, they only point out the exits you've just missed. It puts parents in very foul moods--and since you're probably there to visit relatives, their mood was pretty touch and go to begin with.

I turn to our father, searching for an ally. So Dad, is it legal for Bronte to date out of her species? Dad looks up from his various layers of pepperoni and breadless cheese. Date? he says. Apparently the idea of Bronte dating is like an electromagnet sucking away all other words in the sentence, so that's the only word he hears. You're not funny, Bronte says to me. No, I'm serious, I tell her. Isn't he like... a Sasquatch or something? Date? says Dad.

I am what you made me

All I'm saying is that, unless you're immortal, nothing can really belong to you. The best you can hope for is to hold something for a while, but in the end you've got to give it back.

Ooh, I like this one! Connor says. 'Diminished prospects for future.' Sounds like a stock report!

You look spectacluar, Cam.' She smoothes out his shirt and straightens his tie. 'You look like the shining star you are!' 'Let's hope I don't give birth to complex elements.' She looks at him quizzically. 'Supernova,' he says. 'If I'm a shining star, let's hope I don't blow up.

Did you ever get the feeling that everything was too perfect? Like the moment was so good that something had to be wrong? Kind of like the way a fish sees that bright, shiny lure just before it chomps down and gets hauled out of water to become someone's lunch.

I don't forgive him-I merely understand him.

Beautiful machines from 1920s and '30s, when automobiles were both monstrous and sexy at the same time.

Guilt is easy, innocence is hard.

You're not eating, Cam," Roberta says as she comes out to join him across the table. Roberta—his creator, or builder—whatever term one gives to the individual who conceived of you. Perhaps, then, it should be "mother," though he's loath to use the word.

truth and conviction are not comfortable bedfellows, and what one believes will often cast out that which is true.

My friend, life can often be most brutal and unfair. Death is the same.

It's not about stupidity, or even rebellion-it's about feeling life.

Of course, the politicians, dictators, and warmongers weren't happy, but their voices, which had always seemed so loud and intimidating, were suddenly insignificant. The emperor not only had no clothes, turns out he had no testicles either. The

That which comes can't be avoided.

The Fatigues all talk like that. Big-Picture-speak, Risa calls it. Seeing the whole, and none of the parts. It's not just in their speech but in their eyes as well. When they look at Risa, she can tell they don't really see her. They seem to see the mob of Unwinds more as a concept rather than a collection of anxious kids, and so they miss all the subtle social tremors that shake things just as powerfully as the jets shake the roof.

Don't hide from it. Experience it. Experiencing your lives is the most important thing you can do.

Flames are strange things, Jeri said. Enticing, comforting, and yet the most dangerous force there is.

Things pass. Even big things. And when they're far behind us, they don't look as big anymore.

We can't create what we don't understand, so until we understand what life is, how can we ever create it?

Just because the law says it, that doesn't make it true. Yeah, well, just because the law says it, it doesn't make it false, either. It's only the law because a whole lot of people thought abou it, and decided it made sense. (...) But if it weren't for the law, would you still believe it?

She wanted to tell him how much she admired him for what he had done. Choosing compassion over obligation. There was a lesson to be learned in every gleaning, and today`s was one she would not soon forget. The sanctity of the law... and the wisdom to know when it must be broken.