“They were the screams of riders torn apart by the twisted reflections of their own inner selves.”
― Neal Shusterman, quote from Full Tilt
“Who am I? The sum of your dreams, the thrill you refuse to grasp, the unknown you fear.”
― Neal Shusterman, quote from Full Tilt
“They say you never know who's the real hero and who's the real coward until you're looking death in the face. I've always been afraid of plenty of things, but fear isn't what makes you a coward. It's how depraved your heart becomes when fear gets pumped through it.”
― Neal Shusterman, quote from Full Tilt
“The rides are different for everyone. I'm convinced of that now. I mean, sure, there are some we ride together. Either we find ourselves drawn to some common experience, or maybe we're pulled in by the people we care about. Our friends, our families can drag us onto coasters and Tilt-A-Whirls that are really meant for them. But in the end, no matter whose rides we find ourselves on, the experience is all our own.”
― Neal Shusterman, quote from Full Tilt
“Like everything else in his life, he crashed forward, caution the first casualty.”
― Neal Shusterman, quote from Full Tilt
“So much of my life had been under tight control. So much of Quinn's life had been wild insanity. What we needed now was both: a directed burst of controlled insanity.”
― Neal Shusterman, quote from Full Tilt
“Here, it seemed muscle wasn't made of flesh and blood, it was made of will and anger.”
― Neal Shusterman, quote from Full Tilt
“It wasn't just that he didn't see the big picture, sometimes he saw a different picture entirely.”
― Neal Shusterman, quote from Full Tilt
“His life was a festival of excess that could not be contained. Deafening music, eye-popping bright colors, sugar added to almost everything he ate. Quinn's life was a bullet in a barrel ready to explode.”
― Neal Shusterman, quote from Full Tilt
“To be completely helpless in the face of life―powerless to do a single thing―that's what I'd always feared more than anything. It was like I'd been keeping all the edges of my life neat and clean, pretending the neatness was all that mattered, pretending life could somehow be controlled.”
― Neal Shusterman, quote from Full Tilt
“I guess we all can't help peeking at our own imperfections, just like we can't help scratching a scab that keeps itching. When those imperfections are pasted across your face like that, exaggerated and magnified, it's hard to find all those good thoughts you have about yourself. If you believe those distorted reflections too deeply, you'll never get out of the maze.”
― Neal Shusterman, quote from Full Tilt
“I don't want to be empty on the inside.”
― Neal Shusterman, quote from Full Tilt
“Then his eyes glazed over for a second. 'I go places sometimes,' he told me, his voice as thready as his eyes. 'Don't know why I go places... I just do.”
― Neal Shusterman, quote from Full Tilt
“Beautiful machines from 1920s and '30s, when automobiles were both monstrous and sexy at the same time.”
― Neal Shusterman, quote from Full Tilt
“No mirrors in the real world had the ability to reach inside you the way these did. You could tell yourself that the mirrors were simply telling lies, but you'd be wrong. They took tiny truths, swelling them out of proportion―and the fact that there was a kernel of truth in what they reflected made the effect devastating.”
― Neal Shusterman, quote from Full Tilt
“Carl was just saying good-bye," Mom said.
"Really," I said. "He must speak in tongues.”
― Neal Shusterman, quote from Full Tilt
“Apparently Quinn had woken up a short time ago and immediately asked for ice cream, knowing that kids in hospitals got whatever they wanted.”
― Neal Shusterman, quote from Full Tilt
“I hadn't lived a real life―I'd had just a model of a life. Everything I did, everything I thought, was suspended safely by strings, too high up for anyone to damage. Zero contact, zero risk. Now those strings had been cut and I was going to die, never having had a chance to live without them.”
― Neal Shusterman, quote from Full Tilt
“Carl was just saying goodbye, Mom said.
Really, I said. He must speak in tongues.”
― Neal Shusterman, quote from Full Tilt
“My slogan?
PUT A BLACK FINGER ON THE NUCLEAR TRIGGER.
400 years of docility, of being calm, cool and collected under stress and strain would go to prove that I was the man for the job, that I would not panic in a crisis and push the button.”
― Eldridge Cleaver, quote from Soul on Ice
“Why do I always have so many fucking questions in my head?”
― Jessica Sorensen, quote from Breaking Nova
“What?” Ann asked.
“I didn’t say anything.”
“I know. You’re just standing there staring. What are you thinking?”
“I was wondering if you loved me.”
She smiled at the mirror, the magical world between the two swans. Amrath imagined it was a beautiful place, a pretty country where troubles never found entry.
“I bore you two wonderful children.” She kissed the crown of Arista’s head.
“That was your duty as queen, but do—”
“Really?” She paused with the brush still holding on to a few strands of Arista’s hair to look at him. “A duty? Is that how you found it?”
“Not for my part—of course not.”
She returned to the mirror and the brushing. “Then why would you think I saw it that way? Did I appear to be suffering? Do I now? It’s such a hardship being your wife. Perhaps you should summon the guard to whip me, lest I stop brushing my daughter’s hair.”
Arista laughed and covered her face with her hands.
Amrath scowled at her. “I could have sworn we had a dozen servants whose job it is to see to Arista’s grooming.”
“There, you see? What more proof do you need? I do this because I want to.”
“That just proves you love your children.”
“Actually it just proves you love me,” Arista whispered.
Ann gave her a gentle slap on the head that caused her to giggle again. “Quiet, you.”
― Michael J. Sullivan, quote from The Rose and the Thorn
“I wouldn’t so much as stick my head in a pool hall. Oh, look, this is as far as I go explaining what I am and am not like. I will not explain myself one more time. I will not make an inventory of my attributes for people or mention my goddamn sense of duty. I will not take one more round of his ridiculous, nonsensical crap!” Whereupon,”
― Philip Roth, quote from Indignation
“Look at them leaving in droves despite knowing they will be welcomed with restraint in those strange lands because they do not belong, knowing they will have to sit on one buttock because they must not sit comfortable lest they be asked to rise and leave, knowing they will speak in dampened whispers because they must not let their voices drown those of the owners of the land, knowing they will have to walk on their toes because they must not leave footprints on the new earth lest they be mistaken for those who want to claim the land as theirs. Look at them leaving in droves, arm in arm with loss and lost, look at them leaving in droves.”
― NoViolet Bulawayo, quote from We Need New Names
BookQuoters is a community of passionate readers who enjoy sharing the most meaningful, memorable and interesting quotes from great books. As the world communicates more and more via texts, memes and sound bytes, short but profound quotes from books have become more relevant and important. For some of us a quote becomes a mantra, a goal or a philosophy by which we live. For all of us, quotes are a great way to remember a book and to carry with us the author’s best ideas.
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