On the other hand, wasn’t that the very definition of life? Constant adaptations brought about by a series of never-ending mistakes?

Because while stupid people may not know they’re stupid because they’re stupid, surely unattractive people must know they’re unattractive because of mirrors.

Like most stupid people, Mr. Sloane wasn’t smart enough to know just how stupid he was.

« ‘isn’t that what anyone wants, though?’ The girl with the cat-eye glasses asks in response. ‘To be able to make your own choices and decisions but to have it be part of a story? You want that narrative there to trust in, even if you want to maintain your free will.’ »

« She still had Val’s flute in her pocket, alongside the key, the ball of wax, and now three blueberry scones. All important items to carry on a death mission below. »

“This all hinged on him, Robin realized. The choice was his. Only he could determine the truth, because only he could communicate it to all parties.”

“Une journée vaut-elle moins d’être vécue pour la seule raison qu’on ne pourra se la rappeler ?”

“But even if we are fairly miserable now’, he says, ‘to be honest I’d rather have to more miserable days with you than two okay days without.”

“She was relaxed, in her element, only when in a state of evasion. And our cramped flat, hanging laundry, keeping budgets, was escapism inverted. It was peak realism.”

“It was strange to her - how close she could be to people and yet how far away and lonely she felt. How the night made things feel more poignant and desperate.”

« I realise that people are just people, and they carry their own set of fears, dreams, desires, pains, and mistakes. I can’t expect someone else to make me feel complete; I must find it on my own. »

« I love the words I write until I soon realise how much I hate them, as if I am destined to always be at war within myself. »

« Perhaps it begins with one person. Someone you trust. You remove a piece of armour for them; you let the light stream in, even if it makes you wince. Perhaps that is how you learn to be soft yet strong, even in fear and uncertainty. One person, one piece of steel. »

« He was as much a bully in death as he was in life, a giant who left behind not an empty space so much as a black hole, a huge crushing void that swallowed up all of our comforts, sooner or later. »

« There is no comfort like complicity »

« When rulers stop trusting their citizens, freedom is always the cost. »

“Actors are by nature volatile - alchemical creatures composed of incendiary elements, emotions and ego and envy. Heat them up, stir them together, and sometimes you get gold. Sometimes disaster.”

“Seul un être exceptionnel peut voir les ténèbres en son prochain et ne pas le condamner.”

“My throat tightens. I’m the menace everyone thinks Xaden is.
He might be a weapon, but I’m a natural disaster.
And I’m done letting everyone around me suffer because I can’t get my shit together. »

“She thought of all those studious young men from well-to-do families debating morality and immortality, arguing semantics, while a monster enjoyed their hospitality. Because we’re all a bunch of amateurs. Lethe pretended they knew the score when they didn’t even know the game.”

“Me? Argue with you about books?” He shakes his head, sliding his hand to my cheek. “I only pick fights I can win.”

“There’s something different about you, Stern.”
“I cut my hair.”
“No, you didn’t. But something’s off about you.”
[…]
“I’ve got it,” he said. “You always looked like you had trouble chasing you.”
Alex jabbed the door-close button. “So?”
“Now you look like it caught up.”

« It makes you feel alive, right? » Jane shouts, and before August can yank them both back into the car, Jane steps across the gap to the platform of the next car.
« It makes me feel like I’m gonna die! » August yells back.
« That’s the same thing! »

“You know the problem with heroes and saints, Nikolai?” I asked as I closed the book’s cover and headed for the door. “They always end up dead.”

“I want to kiss you,” Nikolai said. “But I won’t. Not until you’re thinking of me instead of trying to forget him.”

“It was worth it,” I replied. Besides, no one’s going to shoot the Sun Summoner.”
“You just punched a prince, Alina. I guess we can add one more act of treason to our list.”
I shook out my sore hand. My knuckles smarted. “First of all, are we so sure he really is the prince? And second, you’re just jealous.”
“Of course I’m jealous. I thought I was going to get to punch him. That isn’t the point.”