Neal Shusterman

Stupid dreams. Even the good ones are bad, because they remind you how poorly reality measures up.

Their lives will be lived in an undivided state. Their bodies and their futures are their own.

You can't change laws without first changing human nature."
— NURSE GRETA
"You can't change human nature without first changing the law."
— NURSE YVONNE

They need to be protected from themselves. They need . . . they need . . . they need to be unwound. Yes. That's the best solution for these two. They're of no use to anyone in their current state, least of all themselves. It would probably be a relief for them, for now they're all broken up on the inside. Better to be broken up on the outside instead.

I remember thinking, if a baby was going to be so unloved, why would God want it brought into the world?

and even though no one had wanted it, the entire neighborhood came to the funeral. People were crying like it was their baby that had died. . . . And that's when I realized that the people who were crying—they were the ones who had passed that baby around. They were the ones, just like my own parents, who had a hand in killing it

But this isn't a perfect world. The problem is people who think it is

Please be a human being. With a life so full of rules and regiments, it's so easy to forget that's what they are. She knows—she sees—how often compassion takes a back seat to expediency.

Cause 'all the king's horses and all the king's men . . . couldn't put Humphrey together again.

people aren't all good, and people aren't all bad. We move in and out of darkness and light all of our lives. Right now, I'm pleased to be in the light