Quotes from Vicious

V.E. Schwab ·  368 pages

Rating: (35.3K votes)


“Plenty of humans were monstrous, and plenty of monsters knew how to play at being human.”
― V.E. Schwab, quote from Vicious


“When no one understands, that's usually a good sign that you're wrong.”
― V.E. Schwab, quote from Vicious


“But these words people threw around - humans, monsters, heroes, villains - to Victor it was all just a matter of semantics. Someone could call themselves a hero and still walk around killing dozens. Someone else could be labeled a villain for trying to stop them. Plenty of humans were monstrous, and plenty of monsters knew how to play at being human.”
― V.E. Schwab, quote from Vicious


“He wanted to care, he wanted to care so badly, but there was this gap between what he felt and what he wanted to feel, a space where something important had been carved out.”
― V.E. Schwab, quote from Vicious


“The absence of pain led to an absence of fear, and the absence of fear led to a disregard for consequence.”
― V.E. Schwab, quote from Vicious



“All Eli had to do was smile. All Victor had to do was lie. Both proved frighteningly effective.”
― V.E. Schwab, quote from Vicious


“There are no good men in this game.”
― V.E. Schwab, quote from Vicious


“The moments that define lives aren't always obvious. They don't scream LEDGE, and nine times out of ten there's no rope to duck under, no line to cross, no blood pact, no official letter on fancy paper. They aren't always protracted, heavy with meaning. Between one sip and the next, Victor made the biggest mistake of his life, and it was made of nothing more than one line. Three small words.

"I'll go first.”
― V.E. Schwab, quote from Vicious


“If Eli really was a hero, and Victor meant to stop him, did that make him a villain?

He took a long sip of his drink, tipped his head back against the couch, and decided he could live with that.”
― V.E. Schwab, quote from Vicious


“Because you don't think I'm a bad person," he said. "And I don't want to prove you wrong.”
― V.E. Schwab, quote from Vicious



“I want to believe that there's more. That we could be more. Hell, we could be heroes.”
― V.E. Schwab, quote from Vicious


“Be lost. Give up. Give In. in the end It would be better to surrender before you begin. be lost. Be lost And then you will not care if you are ever found.”
― V.E. Schwab, quote from Vicious


“Plenty of humans were monstrous, and plenty of monsters knew how to play at being human.”
― V.E. Schwab, quote from Vicious


“The world resists, when you break its rules.”
― V.E. Schwab, quote from Vicious


“Picking the best solution really depended on your definition of best.”
― V.E. Schwab, quote from Vicious



“Victor didn't want to run while Eli was busy trying to fly.”
― V.E. Schwab, quote from Vicious


“―We could be dead- said Eli.
―That‘s a risk everyone takes by living.”
― V.E. Schwab, quote from Vicious


“You must make time for that which matters, for that which defines you: your passion, your progress, your pen. Take it up, and write your own story.”
― V.E. Schwab, quote from Vicious


“I watch you, and it's like watching two people.”
― V.E. Schwab, quote from Vicious


“Did you know that when you take away a person's fear of pain, you take away their fear of death? You make them, in their own eyes, immortal. Which of course they're not, but what's the saying? We are all immortal until proven otherwise?”
― V.E. Schwab, quote from Vicious



“The absence of pain led to an absence of fear, and the absence of fear led to a disregard for consequences.”
― V.E. Schwab, quote from Vicious


“You don't understand," gasped Eli. "No one understands."
"When no one understands, that's usually a good sign that you're wrong.”
― V.E. Schwab, quote from Vicious


“There were some people you had to stay away from, people who poisoned everything in reach. Then there were people you wanted to stick with, the ones with silver tongues and golden touched. And then, there were people you stood beside, because it meant you weren't in their way. And whoever Victor Vale was, whatever he was, and whatever he was up to, the only thing Mitch knew was that he did not want to be in his way.”
― V.E. Schwab, quote from Vicious


“He was like one of those pictures full of small errors, the kind you could only pick out by searching the image from every angle, and even then, a few always slipped by. On the surface, Eli seemed perfectly normal, but now and then Victor would catch a crack, a sideways glance, a moment when his roommate's face and his words, his look and his meaning, would not line up. Those fleeting slices fascinated Victor. It was like watching two people, one hiding in the other's skin. And their skin was always too dry, on the verge of cracking and showing the color of the thing beneath.”
― V.E. Schwab, quote from Vicious


“I don’t want to be forgotten.”
― V.E. Schwab, quote from Vicious



“Like everything was real, but nothing mattered.”
― V.E. Schwab, quote from Vicious


“Victor was naturally quiet, but even more so under pressure, which gave his peers the distinct impression he knew what he was doing, even when he didn't.”
― V.E. Schwab, quote from Vicious


“The paper called Eli a hero. The word made Victor laugh. Not just because it was absurd, but because it posed a question. If Eli was really a hero, and Victor meant to stop him, did that make him a villain? He took a long sip of his drink, tipped his head back against the couch, and decided he could live with that.”
― V.E. Schwab, quote from Vicious


“Victor wondered about lots of things. He wondered about himself (whether he was broken, or special, or better, or worse) and about other people (whether they were all really as stupid as they seemed). He wondered about Angie - what would happen if he told her how he felt, what it would be like if she chose him. He wondered about life, and people, and science, and magic, and God, and whether he believed in any of them.”
― V.E. Schwab, quote from Vicious


“The moments that define lives aren't always obvious. They don't always scream LEDGE, and nine times out of ten there's no rope to duck under, no line to cross, no blood pact, no official letter on fancy paper. They aren't always protracted, heavy with meaning.”
― V.E. Schwab, quote from Vicious



Video

About the author

V.E. Schwab
Born place: in The United States
Born date July 7, 1987
See more on GoodReads

Popular quotes

“What is written beneath this heavy handsome book cover will count, so sayeth this cover…”
― Anne Rice, quote from Pandora


“To crave and to have are as like as a thing and its shadow. For when does a berry break upon the tongue as sweetly as when one longs to taste it, and when is the taste refracted into so many hues and savors of ripeness and earth, and when do our senses know any thing so utterly as when we lack it? And here again is a foreshadowing -- the world will be made whole. For to wish for a hand on one's hair is all but to feel it. So whatever we may lose, very craving gives it back to us again.”
― Marilynne Robinson, quote from Housekeeping


“The way to be gay is to make other people gay," Miss Lonelyhearts said. "Sleep with me and I'll be one gay dog.”
― Nathanael West, quote from Miss Lonelyhearts / The Day of the Locust


“I was modest--they accused me of being crafty: I became secretive. I felt deeply good and evil--nobody caressed me, everybody offended me: I became rancorous. I was gloomy--other children were merry and talkative. I felt myself superior to them--but was considered inferior: I became envious. I was ready to love the whole world--none understood me: and I learned to hate.”
― Mikhail Lermontov, quote from A Hero of Our Time


“...But that is not my scene and I'm outta here."
His hand shot out and grabbed me above the elbow. "Indeed, but you'll accompany me, I think." The stone face cracked and he almost smiled. "I insist on the pleasure of your company. We have much to talk about."
"My ass!”
― MaryJanice Davidson, quote from Undead and Unwed


Interesting books

The Winter King
(29.6K)
The Winter King
by Bernard Cornwell
The Body Farm
(56.4K)
The Body Farm
by Patricia Cornwell
Rabbit, Run
(44.9K)
Rabbit, Run
by John Updike
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies
(115.4K)
Pride and Prejudice...
by Seth Grahame-Smith
Slated
(21.3K)
Slated
by Teri Terry
The Bane Chronicles
(47.8K)
The Bane Chronicles
by Cassandra Clare

About BookQuoters

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.

We thoughtfully gather quotes from our favorite books, both classic and current, and choose the ones that are most thought-provoking. Each quote represents a book that is interesting, well written and has potential to enhance the reader’s life. We also accept submissions from our visitors and will select the quotes we feel are most appealing to the BookQuoters community.

Founded in 2023, BookQuoters has quickly become a large and vibrant community of people who share an affinity for books. Books are seen by some as a throwback to a previous world; conversely, gleaning the main ideas of a book via a quote or a quick summary is typical of the Information Age but is a habit disdained by some diehard readers. We feel that we have the best of both worlds at BookQuoters; we read books cover-to-cover but offer you some of the highlights. We hope you’ll join us.