Allegiant by Veronica Roth (Divergent series)

Notes from the reader: replace the concept of "factions" from the book with any label you may have put on yourself to help find like-minded people to fully understand what the author is saying. We all have our factions, even if they're chosen rather than forced upon us. (E.g.: nerd, jock... stoner?)

--13--

"From one tyrant to another. That is the world we know now."

--13--

'"I brought you the truth about our city and the reason we are in it. If you aren't thanking me for it, you should at least do something about it instead of sitting here on this mess you made, pretending it's a throne!"'

--67--

"I have never had parents who set good examples, parents whose expectations were worth living up to, but she did. I can see them within her, the courage and the beauty they pressed into her like a handprint."

--71--

"What do I need, to overcome my fears? 

I know the answer, of course I do: I need to deny them the power to control me. I need to know that I am stronger than they are."

--91--

"I wonder if that fear still creeps up on her now, though she worked so hard to face it--I wonder if fears ever really go away or if they just lose their power over us."

--95--

"Tobias can take care of himself, but in an attack, surviving is an accident. It doesn't take skill to stand in a place where no bullets find you, or to fire into the dark and hit a man you didn't see. It is all luck, or providence, depending on what you believe."

--125--

"They created us, they shaped our world, they told us what to believe.

If they told us what to believe and we didn't come to it on our own, is it still true?"

--134--

"I needed that word to tell me who I was when everything else was coming apart around me. But now I'm wondering if I need it anymore, if we ever really need these words, "Dauntless," "Erudite," "Divergent," "Allegiant," or if we can just be friends or lovers or siblings, defined instead by the choices we make and the love and loyalty that binds us."

--192--

"Or maybe we'll make a home somewhere inside ourselves, to carry with us wherever we go--which is the way I carry my mother now."

--219--

'"It's a little rudimentary, but this book helped to teach me what it is to be human. . . To be such a complicated, mysterious piece of biological machinery, and more amazing still, to have the capacity to analyze that machinery! That is a special thing, unprecedented in all of evolutionary history. Our ability to know about ourselves and the world is what makes us human."'

--262--

"I was so used to lying instead of telling difficult truths that I welcomed the chance to deceive her."

--271--

'"I never said this was all I was ever going to do. It's not always wise to strike as hard as you can at the first opportunity. This is a long race, not a sprint."'

--276--

'"I was beginning to feel that I had finally found a place to stay, a place that was not so unstable or corrupt or controlling that I could actually belong there. You would think that I would have learned by now--such a place does not exist."'

--278--

"I sit on top of the sweater and examine my knuckles. A few of them are split from punching Caleb, and dotted with faint bruises. It seems fitting that the blow would leave a mark on both of us. That's how the world works."

--315--

"My father has a way of persuading people without charm that has always confused me. He states his opinions as if they're facts, and somehow his complete lack of doubt makes you believe him."

--316--

"It seems like the rebellions never stop, in the city, in the compound, anywhere. There are just breaths between them, and foolishly, we call those breaths "peace."'

--345-6--

"Evelyn tried to control  people by controlling weapons, but Jeanine was more ambitious--she knew that when you control information, or manipulate it, you don't need force to keep people under your thumb. They stay there willingly."

--371--

'"If we stay together, I'll have to forgive you over and over again, and if you're still in this, you'll have to forgive me over and over again too. . . So forgiveness isn't the point. What I really should have been trying to figure out is whether we were still good for each other or not."'

--371-2--

"Then I thought of how strong I have become, how secure I feel with the person I now am, and how all along the way he has told me that I am brave, I am respected, I am loved and worth loving."

--372--

"I used to think that when people fell in love, they just landed where they landed, and they had no choice in the matter afterward. And maybe that's true of beginnings, but it's not true of this, now.

I fell in love with him. But I don't stay with him by default as if there's no one else available to me. I stay with him because I choose to, every day that I wake up, every day that we fight or lie to each other or disappoint each other. I choose him over and over again, and he chooses me."

Divergent by Veronica Roth

Notes from the reader: replace the concept of "factions" from the book with any label you may have put on yourself to help find like-minded people to fully understand what the author is saying. We all have our factions, even if they're chosen rather than forced upon us. (E.g.: nerd, jock... stoner?)

--43--

"In our factions, we find meaning, we find purpose, we find life. . . More than family, our factions are where we belong. . . Apart from them, we would not survive."

--45--

"His absence will haunt their hallways, and he will be a space they can't fill. And then time will pass, and the hole will be gone, like when an organ is removed and the body's fluids flow into the space it leaves. Humans can't tolerate emptiness for long."

--57--

"I am proud. It will get me into trouble someday, but today it makes me brave."

--60--

"A new place, a new name. I can be remade here."

--69--

"He stares at me, and I don't look away. He isn't a dog, but the same rules apply. Looking away is submissive. Looking him in the eye is a challenge. It's my choice."

--75--

"Maybe my problem isn't that I can't go home. I will miss my mother and father and Caleb and evening firelight and he clack of my mother's knitting needles, but that is not the onlu reason for this hollow feeling in my stomach.

My problem might be that even if I did go home, I wouldn't belong there."

--79--

"I lower the gun. There is power in controlling something that can do so much damage--in controlling something, period."

--81--

"Those who seek peace above all else, they say, will always deceive to keep the water calm."

--87--

"It will be difficult to break the habits of thinking Abnegation instilled in me, like tugging a single thread from a complex work of embroidery. But I will find new habits, new thoughts, new rules. I will become something else."

--94--

"I like to think I'm helping them by hating them. . . I'm reminding them that they aren't God's gift to humankind."

--97--

"Leaving us with Eric is like hiring a babysitter who spends his free time sharpening his knives."

--117--

"I clench my teeth as the tears come. I am fed up. I am fed up with tears and weakness. But there isn't much I can do to stop them."

--128--

"Besides, Robert. The goal of my life isn't just. . . to be happy."

"Wouldn't it be easier if it was though?"

--176--

"If Eric thinks I did something right, I must have done it wrong."

--205--

"Sometimes crying or laughing are the only options left, and laughing just feels better right now."

--219--

"Still, there is a part of me that groans, I have to wait for seven people? It is a strange blend of terror and eageress, unfamiliar until now."

--221--

"My heart beats so hard it hurts, and I can't scream and I can't breathe, but I also feel everything, every vein and every fiber, every bone and every nerve, all awake and buzzing in my body as if chared with electricity. I am pure adrenaline."

--239--

'"So they don't go away?"

"Sometimes they do. And sometimes new fears replace them. . . But becoming fearless isn't the point. That's impossible. It's learning how to be free from it, that's the point."

I nod. I used to think the Dauntless were fearless. That is how they seemed, anyway. But maybe what I saw as fearless was actually fear under control.'

--294--

"But my mother would tell me that people are flawed and I should be lenient with them."

--299-300--

"Somewhere inside me is a merciful, forgiving person. Somewhere there is a girl who tries to understand what people are going through, who accepts that pepole do evil things and that desperation leads them to darker places than they ever imagined. I swear she exists, and she hurts for the repentant boy I see in front of me.

But if I saw her, I wouldn't recognize her."

--311--

"I fear his shifting moods. They show me somehing unstable inside of him, and instability is dangerous."

--312--

"Intentions are the only thing they care about. They try to make you think they care about what you do, but they don't. They don't want you to act a certain way. They want you to think a certain way. So you're easy to understand. So you won't pose a threat to them."

--313-4--

"Fear doesn't shut you down; it wakes you up. I've seen it. It's fascinating. . . Sometimes I just. . . want to see it again. Want to see you awake."

--336--

"I have a theory that selflessness and bravery aren't all that different. All your life you've been training to forget yourself, so when you're in danger, it becomes your first instinct."

--441-2--

"Every faction conditions its members to think and act a certain way. And most people do it. For most people, it's not hard to learn, to find a pattern of thought that works and stay that way. . . But our minds move in a dozen different directions. We can't be confined to one way of thinking and that terrifies our leaders. It means we can't be controlled. And it means that no matter what they do, we will always cause trouble for them."

--484--

"The cruelty of fate is that I must travel with the people I hate when the people I love are dead behind me."

Reign (TV)

Minor content warning: Reign deals with a tough and very real issue (rape) that many people may relate to. It is, however, the best way I've seen it dealt with on any TV show or movie. (Because being honest it's extremely shitty how media represents and deals with rape, usually like a plot device with no empathy for the victim). Many people were outraged about it, but I find that contempt absolutely ridiculous. Rape is featured in movies and television constantly, and it's treated as a gimick. For the first time a show intentionally captured the fall out. And yeah, it wasn't pretty. But that's because it was geniune, realistic. I read articles of rape victims applauding its treatment of the issue, so I wonder how many furious about it have actually experienced it themselves? Note: Other issues that people have with it shows complete ignorance to the culture of the time period the show is based around.

S2E7

Condé- "You are daring. And fierce."
Mary- "I feel I have to be, until others find it within themselves to be the same."

S2E9

Catherine- "I know you don't want to be touched. That's alright. But you're safe.
I don't know how you managed to escape, but you did. You are alive. You will survive this.
I know this because I survived. You know that too. They tried to destroy you by taking
your pride and your strength, but those things cannot be taken. Not from you. Not ever.
We're going to change your clothes, fix your hair. We are going to erase any 
mark of their hands on you." Fav

Catherine- "Do not let them win. Trust me. Trust me and let me help you.
Trust that I can get you through this because I swear to you that I can."


S2E10

Mary- "I thought that by killing those men I could find by way back to my old life, with Francis. But how can I? It's done, and it can't be undone- what they did to me and the events that led us here, so far from where we began."


S2E11

Greer- "If your heart wants to sleep, let it. Many things can be forced out of duty, but not the heart."

Mary- "No. Enough distance. I've been so deep in a well of my own pain, I couldn't see anything else. I forgot I'm not the only one who's hurt." 

S2E17

Mary- "I thought I needed you, needed us together in Scotland, to find the person I was. I convinced myself that in order to heal I needed you by my side. But now I know. Before you dare to trust anyone else, you must first trust yourself, your own power, that strength I'd thought I'd lost. I hadn't. It's in me still."

S2E22

Mary- "Your mother would say we are stained by such choices. Such brutal and difficult choices we've made, but we can only do our best. Can we not make another choice? One equally hard but so important? To commit our hearts to each other no matter what?"

 Francis- "If only it were that easy."

Mary- “It isn't. It's terrifying and nearly impossible. Especially if we think we can save each other. We can't. We can only love each other.”

S3E14

Mary- "Those memories are a part of me, Greer. But I am stronger than they are. My life is once again the sum of my choices NOT someone else's crimes." 

Supernatural (TV) Seasons 10+

S10E3

Castiel- "Dean, you two have been through so much. Look, you're brothers. 

It'd take a lot more than trying to kill Sam with a hammer 

to make him want to walk away."

S10E9

Castiel- "Before I was very self-assured. I was convinced I was on this righteous path. 

Now I realize that there is no righteous path, there's just people trying to do 

their best in a world where it's far too easy to do your worst."

S10E11

Charlie- "You hit like a girl who never learned how to hit."

S10E16

Ghost-Nun Isabella- "There is not much difference between madness and devotion."

S10E17

Dean- "A wise man once told me 'Family don't end in blood.' 

But it doesn't start there either. Family cares about you, not what you can do for them.

Family's there, through the good, bad, all of it. They got your back. Even when it hurts.

That's family."

S11E2

Jenna- "Don't worry. She won't care. I slit her throat."

S11E5

Len- "I remember what it was like to do the right thing. 

So I'm going through the motions. For as long as I can."

Essentials of Sociology 9th ed. by James M. Henslin

"As surprising as it may sound, to have love as the main reason for marrying weakens marriage. In some depth of our being, we expect 'true love' to deliver constant emotional highs. This expectation sets people up for crushed hopes, as dissatisfactions in marriage are inevitable. When they come, spouses then to blame one another for failing to deliver the expected satisfaction." - Ch 1

"Efficiency brings dependability. You can expect your burger and fries to taste the same (referring to McDonalds) whether you buy them in Los Angeles or Beijing. Although efficiency also lowers princes, it does come at a cost. Predictability washes away spontaneity, changing the quality of our lives. It produces a sameness, a bland version of what used to be unique experiences. In my own travels, for example, has I taken packaged tours I never would have had the eye-opening experiences that have added so much to my appreciation of human diversity."  - Ch 5

"How can a legal system that proudly boasts "justice for all" be so inconsistent? . . With their large numbers, the working class and those below them pose a special threat to the power elite. Receiving the least of society's material rewards, they hold the potential to rebel and overthrow the current social order. To prevent this, the law comes down hard on its members who get out of line." - Ch 6  

"Poverty wears the same tired face wherever you are, I realized." - Ch 8
  
"Income inequality decreased from 1935 to 1970. Since 1970, the richest 20 percent of U.S. families have grown richer, while the poorest 20 percent have grown poorer." - Ch 8
   
"The average U.S. worker would have to work 2,800 years to earn the amount received by the highest-paid executive (Sanjay Jha, $104 million a year)." - Ch 8
 

Night World Series (pt 1) by L.J. Smith

***Secret Vampire***

“Poppy was brave, but facing constant pain would crush anyone.”
  
“You don’t love a girl because of beauty. You love her because she sings a song only you can understand…” 
  
“It’s a lonely world, full of secrets.” 

“It didn’t matter that she wasn’t really dying. When a caterpillar changes into a butterfly it loses its caterpillar life. No more shimmying up twigs, no more eating leaves.”

“You don’t love somebody because of their looks or their clothes or their car. You love them because they sing a song that nobody but you can understand.”

***Dark Angel***

“Reality was just one desperate, choking attempt to get enough air for the next breath.”

“Not necessarily bad. Just so powerful and so different that it was scary. Good can be scary too.” 

“All her realizations about life being important were nonsense. Life was a giant hoax. She couldn’t change herself and live in a completely new direction. There was no new start. No hope.”

Night World Series (pt 2) by L.J. Smith

***The Chosen***

“The night has a thousand eyes and the day only one.”

“They had to do something to deaden the pain…even if that meant embracing the pain. They escaped one darkness by going into another.”

***Soulmate***

“The world was changing around her, and it was the most disorienting thing she’d ever experienced. It was as if the fabric of her universe was actually moving—pulsing and shifting to accommodate the new truths.”

“At least I know I’m not crazy. . . That’s some consolation. It’s the universe that’s insane, not me.” 

“Love spilled from her and into [him] and back again. The more she gave, the more she got back. It was a cycle, taking them higher and higher.” 

Night World (pt 3) by L.J. Smith

***Huntress***

“Their legend says the first world was destroyed by fire. The second world was destroyed by ice. The third world ended in water—a universal flood. And the fourth world—well, that’s ours. It’s supposed to end in blood and darkness—and end soon.” Fav

***Black Dawn***

“Maggie took in the whole scene in a glance. It was one of those moments when everything changes forever.”

“Love is for weak people. It’s a delusion. And it can be deadly.”

Night World (pt 4) by L.J. Smith

***Witchlight***

“It felt good. It always did. Painful in a nice way, like the feeling of having a tight bandage removed. A release.”

“For a moment, she didn’t feel like anything—she almost had no body. She was fluid, a being of pure energy, with no more fixed form than a candle flame. She was utterly….free.” 

“Keller couldn’t understand what was happening at first. In panic, all she could think was that she was losing herself. Losing her armor, her hardness, everything she needed to keep alive.”

“This was the problem with having walls so hard and high and unscalable, she supposed. When they came down, they crumbled completely, shattering into nothingness. She felt utterly defenseless right now.”


“People die… Beauty fades… Love changes… And you will always be alone.”

“People die…so love them every day.

Beauty fades…so look before it’s gone.

Love changes…but not the love you give.

And if you love, you’ll never be alone.”

Maximum Ride Series (pt 3) by James Patterson

***Max***

“Do you want to know what’s the closest thing to feeling the most powerful you can feel? Flying alone at night. Risky. Nothing but you and the wind. Soaring way above everything, slicing through the air like a sword. Up and up until you feel like you could grab a star and hold it to your chest like a burning, spikey thing…”

“Pain fades. But being a nutcase seems to stick around. Guess who got the better deal here?”

“You have to want to be with someone, or it doesn’t work. You have to choose.”

“Your mind creates your reality. If you expect nothing, you open up the universe to give you options. If you expect the worst, you usually get it.”

***Fang's Blog***

“Maybe I’m missing something I never really had to begin with.” –11/17/05

“Pride is a hard thing to swallow.” –7/13/06

“Learning the weaknesses of your foes makes you stronger.” –10/19/06

“Be a freak! Oh, and be yourself.” –3/25/07

Trickster Series by Tamora Pierce

***Trickster's Choice***

“It’s hard living in the shadow of a respected woman.”

***Trickster's Queen***

“All life is a risk.”

“They’ve got the taste of hope in their mouths. That taste is dangerous.”

“It’s hard to ignore talk that’s just talk. It’s funny, though, how gossip can burrow under the skin. You can’t make it go away, and you can’t answer it. The target goes frantic trying to find out where it comes from.”

“He’s one of the few people who can keep up with me, and I with him. It’s a pleasant change from having to slow down to deal with most people.”

“Where everyone else sees a straight line, you see a maze, and when I’m done talking to you, the maze starts to make more sense.”

“I wanted to have something good to remember about today, something that isn’t petty or mean. Sometimes you have to provide such moments yourself.”

'“Duani, remind me to stay on your good side. You really know how to hold a grudge.”
“And she makes it painful.”'

“You know, my mother always told me you had to seize the bright moments, because you never know when they’ll come again. The older I get the smarter she seems.”

Shiver Series By Maggie Stiefvater

***Forever***

“People don’t change who they are. They only change what they do with it.”

“The thing that I was beginning to figure out. . . was that that sort of love only worked when you were sure both people would always be around for each other. If one half of the equation left, or died, or was slightly less perfect in their love, it became the most tragic, pathetic story invented, laughable in its absurdity. Without Grace, Sam was a joke without a punch line.”

“Life was a cake that looked good on the bakery shelf but turned to sawdust and salt when I ate it.”

“It was possible that I’d thrown one too many Molotov cocktails over God’s fence. It would be, after all, a divinely ironic punishment to watch me learn to care and then destroy the things I cared about.”

Such a Pretty Girl By Laura Wiess

“I forgive him for not being what I want and am thankful for his being what I need.” – 40

.

“In my family, you can rot to hell on the inside as long as you’re flawless on the outside, which is really sick, but hard to unlearn.” – 73

.

“The ache starts in my chest and spreads through my veins. The abuse I can handle; it’s the happiness that cripples me.” – 128

.

“These are my vows. The rest depends on the nature of the beast.” – 186

.

“The obscene waits outside my door, counting the minutes until dawn when it will come at me again.” – 189

The Host by Stephenie Meyer

“But humans are much more individualized than we are. There’s quite a range, and some of them are much stronger than others…Maybe it’s an accident, maybe it’s fate, but it appears to me that the strongest of our kind is being hosted by the strongest of theirs.”

“It’s just like pain, this pleasure.”

 “Humans were impossible to please.”

“Inspiration in desperation.”

“Just got to weather it. Storms pass.”

“I am who I am. I can’t change that, though everything else may change. You hold onto yourself; allow me to do the same.” Fav

“You don’t belong until you decide you do.” Fav

“Humans were good liars.”

“Humans lives were so impossibly tangled. What a mess.”

“This love was tricky; it had no hard-and-fast rules—it might be given for free, or earned through time and hard work, or completely and heart breakingly unattainable.”

“It was funny now to think how I’d gone out of my way to annoy her.”

Bones (TV)

***Bones***

"I've noticed that very few people are scary, after they've been poked in the eye." –Dr. Brennan 1.19

“We make our lives out of chaos and hope….and love.” –Angela 2.2

 “Don’t use your brain so much, Sweetie. You have organs that can give you far more pleasure.” –Angela 2.15

"I can see how much pain you're in.... Is it worth it? To have your own happiness so contingent on another human being?" –Dr. Brennan
"If I was willing to give my life for Saschi.. why would I not be willing to risk my happiness for her?" –Ken Nakamura 4.22

"...We're all just interpreting signals from the universe and trying to make sense of them... Dim, shaky, weak, static-y little signals that only hint at the complexity of a universe that we cannot begin to comprehend." –Micah Leggat 6.9  Fav

“Who the hell ever got anything worth getting by being safe?” –Brittany Stephenson (DNR) 6.19

“There is an infinite, thrumming, unseen web that joins everything. Everything is connected to everything else. And this fact is nearly impossible for us to grasp because we are just mollusks shot up tight at the bottom of a dark, cold ocean, trying to make sense of stars that we cannot even see.” –Walter the Finder 6.19  Fav

"But what if we can bring it back to life?" -Daisy
"You're a scientist, Ms. Wick, a very good scientist. . . and as a scientist have you ever seen anything come back to life and be as good as it was?" - Cam
"No" -Daisy  8.13 (referring to relationships)

Twilight Series by Stephenie Meyer

***Twilight***

“When life offers you a dream so far beyond any of your expectations, it’s not reasonable to grieve when it comes to an end.”

***New Moon***
  
“You try very hard to make up for something that was never your fault”     

“I don’t know that I’m making up for anything. Life everything in life, I just had to decide what to do with what I was given.”

“Time passes. Even when it seems impossible. Even when each tick of the second hand aches like the pulse of blood behind a bruise. It passes unevenly, in strange lurches and dragging lulls, but pass it does. Even for me.”

“Love is irrational. The more you love someone the less anything makes sense.”