Quotes from Neal Shusterman

The terror of the unknown was just as awful, and just as real, regardless of whether or not there was truly something to fear. -Scythe Goddard

What's the point of three foot pedals?" Citra complained. "People only have two feet.

One thing you learn when you've lived as long as I have —people aren't all good, and people aren't all bad. We move in and out of darkness and light all of our lives. Right now, I'm pleased to be in the light.

She assumed she would go to college, get a degree in something pleasant, then settle into a comfortable job, meet a comfortable guy, and have a nice, unremarkable life. It's not that she longed for such an existence, but it was expected. Not just of her, but of everyone. With nothing to really aspire to, life had become about maintenance.

when the doorbell rang, there was no sense of foreboding—no dimming of the sun, no foreshadowing of the arrival of death at their door.

It was not exactly circular logic. More like spiral. An accepted lie that spun in upon itself until truth and fiction disappeared into a singularity of who the hell cares, as long as I'm happy?

I often wonder if the bright benefit of belief outweighed the darkness it's abuse could bring.

a simple truth remains: People have to die.

By nine o'clock all signs of land were gone, and the bright morning sky was dotted with occasional puffs of meandering clouds.

Which was worse, Risa often wondered—to have tens of thousands of babies that no one wanted, or to silently make them go away before they were even born? On different days Risa had different answers.

Goddard is as corrosive as acid hurled in the eye.

Ours is a perfect world-but perfection does not linger in one place. It is a firefly, by its very nature elusive and unpredictable. We may have caught it in a jar, but that jar has broken, and we are in danger or shredding ourselves on its shards.

KNOWLEDGE IS POW

They were to be the start of a slave army—for when you're a collection of parts, you're not a person. You're property.

power comes infected with the only disease left to us: the virus called human nature

No one rages against the system anymore. At most, they just glare at it a bit.

Only idiots build walls.

Yes, but an almost all-powerful entity can figure out a way to give me what I ask without breaking its own laws, can't it? Just a moment. Just a moment. Just a moment. Why am I seeing a beach ball?

You seem to be very good at making enemies.

I can remove and raise every unwanted fetus in vitro, then place it with the perfect loving family—thereby ending the argument between right of choice and sanctity of life.

No one says a word. It's like a moment of silence for the many kids lost to that great unwinding machine. The industry, as Sonia had called it. A mill of commerce trafficking in flesh, working outside the realm of ethics yet within the law and within the complete consent of society.

It means I chose wisely," Scythe Faraday told her. "If you do not cry yourself to sleep on a regular basis, you are not compassionate enough to be a scythe.

It's him!" "He's so handsome!" "He's so scary!" "He's so well-groomed!" Goddard took a moment to turn to the crowd and sweep his hand in a royal wave.

And he knows it's not just a threat-he'll do it. Today, he'll hit a grand slam if he has to.