Quotes from United We Spy

“What is a Gallagher Girl?
She's a genius, a scientist, a heroine, a spy... a Gallagher Girl is whatever she wants to be.”
― Ally Carter, quote from United We Spy

“I never knew there were this many stars."

"I can't see them," he told me. "I just see you."

"That's one of your cheesier lines," I told him.

"It's the altitude," he told me. "I don't have enough oxygen in my brain."

"I see.”
― Ally Carter, quote from United We Spy

“You should have had the decency to die when you needed to."
“Sorry,” I admitted. “I’ve been going through a bit of a rebellious streak. I swear it’s almost over.”
― Ally Carter, quote from United We Spy

“Tell me, Cameron Ann Morgan, what do you want to be when you grow up?"

"Alive.”
― Ally Carter, quote from United We Spy

“Sometime years before, I had dragged an old bean bag chair to that place. I watched Zach sink onto it, and then he pulled me down to lean against him. I felt his arms go around me, holding me tight.
I was safe.
I was warm.
I was home.”
― Ally Carter, quote from United We Spy

“It was epic. It was awkward. It was epically awkward.”
― Ally Carter, quote from United We Spy

“I'm a spy, Cam. I was born to do this- to be this. It's in my blood. And I will do it until the day I die. It's who I am... The thing is I don't think you realise is... it's who you are too.”
― Ally Carter, quote from United We Spy

“She looked at him and shook her head, smiled a little as she told him, "You are so like your father."
Then she looked past me and Zach, past Bex and Abby, to where Agent Townsend stood by the door with his arms crossed.
"What do you think, Townsend, darling? Isn't he just like you?" She looked at Zach again. "I think he's just like you."
And then she closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep.”
― Ally Carter, quote from United We Spy

“We're seniors."
"I know," I said
"So aren't you... curious?"
"About what?"
"About life. Out there. Life!" she said again. "Tell me, Cameron Ann Morgan, what do you want to be when you grow up?"
We'd reached another door, and I stopped and looked up at the camera that monitored the entrance, just as I whispered, "Alive.”
― Ally Carter, quote from United We Spy

“I don’t understand hate. I’ve seen its power. I’ve known its wrath. I’ve even felt it coursing through my veins, pushing me on. But I don’t know where it comes from or why it lasts, how it can take hold in some people and grow.”
― Ally Carter, quote from United We Spy

“We're going to be okay."

Here's the thing about being a spy: sometimes all you have are your lies. They protect your cover and keep your secrets, and right then I needed to believe that it was true even when all the facts said otherwise.”
― Ally Carter, quote from United We Spy

“What is a Gallagher Girl?" Liz asked one final time. "She's a genius, a scientist, a heroine, a spy. And now we are at the end of our time at school, and the one thing I know for certain is this: a Gallagher Girl is whatever she wants to be.”
― Ally Carter, quote from United We Spy

“That’s the thing about spies. Most of the secrets we keep are from each other.”
― Ally Carter, quote from United We Spy

“I think you’re freaked about what happened at Cambridge. I think it scared you."
“I’ve been through worse, Bex,” I said, joining her on the lower stairs. “Way worse.”
“Oh, not the attack.” Bex raised her finger in contradiction. “What happened before the attack. I think you saw the future. Which is kind of freaky when - two months ago - you didn’t think you were going to have one.”
― Ally Carter, quote from United We Spy

“So I stepped away, reminding myself that when you're a spy, sometimes all you can do is go on. One foot in front of the other, wherever the narrow path might lead.”
― Ally Carter, quote from United We Spy

“Turns out, you can take the girl out of the spy school, but you can never take the spy school out of the girl.”
― Ally Carter, quote from United We Spy

“Give me everything you have," I told [Preston].
"Really, Cammie. I never knew you thought of me that way.”
― Ally Carter, quote from United We Spy

“You should stop and listen to yourselves sometimes. 'We're practically adults, let us run wild.' 'We're only kids, leave us alone.'... You can't have it both ways.”
― Ally Carter, quote from United We Spy

“Your test had cheese meteor questions?”
― Ally Carter, quote from United We Spy

“To who?" Bex asked.
"Rebecca!" her mother snapped.
"Sorry." Bex shrugged. "To whom," she corrected herself, even though I highly doubted that had been her mother's point.”
― Ally Carter, quote from United We Spy

“Zach, we have to stop her!"
But Zach just held me. He looked at me with shock and awe and just a little bit of wonder. In spite of everything, I thought that he might laugh.
"Gallagher Girl," he told me, "you are the school.”
― Ally Carter, quote from United We Spy

“Despite popular belief, hitting someone with a closed fist actually hurts the hitter almost as much as the hittee.”
― Ally Carter, quote from United We Spy

“I knew she was right. Of course she was right. Bex was always right. She knew me better than I knew myself. But then again, isn't that a best friend's job?”
― Ally Carter, quote from United We Spy

“And I remembered with a pang what had happened to me the previous summer - that even Gallagher Girls aren't always as strong as they need to be.”
― Ally Carter, quote from United We Spy

“I wonder what kinds of songs Preston's father sang to him." Zach raised his eyebrows. "I wonder if he's in a cell humming them to himself right now."

I should have said something-done something. He was in a dark place, there in the moonlight. But before I could say a word, Zach took a deep breath and looked up at the fortress. "I wonder if I should join him.”
― Ally Carter, quote from United We Spy

“Like Cammie is fine," Macey said, then glanced at me. "No offense."

"None taken," I said. "I think.”
― Ally Carter, quote from United We Spy

“But I should have known that it doesn't take that long for change to happen - it takes a second.”
― Ally Carter, quote from United We Spy

“What is a Gallagher Girl?” Liz asked.

She looked nervously down at the papers in her hand even though I knew for a fact she had memorized every word.

“When I was eleven I thought I knew the answer to that question. That was when the recruiters came to see me. They showed me brochures and told me they were impressed by my test scores and asked if I was ready to be challenged. And I said yes. Because that was what a Gallagher Girl was to me then, a student at the toughest school in the world.”

She took a deep breath and talked on.

“What is a Gallagher Girl?” Liz asked again. “When I was thirteen I thought I knew the answer to that question. That was when Dr. Fibs allowed me to start doing my own experiments in the lab. I could go anywhere—make anything. Do anything my mind could dream up. Because I was a Gallagher Girl. And, to me, that meant I was the future.”

Liz took another deep breath.

“What is a Gallagher Girl?” This time, when Liz asked it, her voice cracked. “When I was seventeen I stood on a dark street in Washington, D.C., and watched one Gallagher Girl literally jump in front of a bullet to save the life of another. I saw a group of women gather around a girl whom they had never met, telling the world that if any harm was to come to their sister, it had to go through them first.”

Liz straightened. She no longer had to look down at her paper as she said, “What is a Gallagher Girl? I’m eighteen now, and if I’ve learned anything, it’s that I don’t really know the answer to that question. Maybe she is destined to be our first international graduate and take her rightful place among Her Majesty’s Secret Service with MI6.”

I glanced to my right and, call me crazy, but I could have sworn Rebecca Baxter was crying.

“Maybe she is someone who chooses to give back, to serve her life protecting others just as someone once protected her.”

Macey smirked but didn’t cry. I got the feeling that Macey McHenry might never cry again.

“Who knows?” Liz asked. “Maybe she’s an undercover journalist.” I glanced at Tina Walters. “An FBI agent.” Eva Alvarez beamed. “A code breaker.” Kim Lee smiled. “A queen.” I thought of little Amirah and knew somehow that she’d be okay.

“Maybe she’s even a college student.” Liz looked right at me. “Or maybe she’s so much more.”

Then Liz went quiet for a moment. She too looked up at the place where the mansion used to stand.

“You know, there was a time when I thought that the Gallagher Academy was made of stone and wood, Grand Halls and high-tech labs. When I thought it was bulletproof, hack-proof, and…yes…fireproof. And I stand before you today happy for the reminder that none of those things are true. Yes, I really am. Because I know now that a Gallagher Girl is not someone who draws her power from that building. I know now with scientific certainty that it is the other way around.”

A hushed awe descended over the already quiet crowd as she said this. Maybe it was the gravity of her words and what they meant, but for me personally, I like to think it was Gilly looking down, smiling at us all.

“What is a Gallagher Girl?” Liz asked one final time. “She’s a genius, a scientist, a heroine, a spy. And now we are at the end of our time at school, and the one thing I know for certain is this: A Gallagher Girl is whatever she wants to be.”

Thunderous, raucous applause filled the student section.

Liz smiled and wiped her eyes. She leaned close to the microphone.

“And, most of all, she is my sister.”
― Ally Carter, quote from United We Spy

“I thought the morning would bring change. But I should have known that it doesn't take that long for change to happen - it takes a second. A moment. In a single breath, reality as you know it can simply fall away.”
― Ally Carter, quote from United We Spy

“No," Preston snapped. But he didn't protest long because, if I'm going to be honest-which is kind of the point of these reports-I was already unzipping his pants.”
― Ally Carter, quote from United We Spy

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