Neal Shusterman
You can't change laws without first changing human nature.Collection: Law
How easy is murder when one calls it by a different name? How much easier is it for the conscience to condone "reaping" than "killing"-and when one knows that death isn't the end, does it stop the killing hand for fear of retribution, or does it simply make it easier to kill, because, if life continues, how can murder be murder at all?Collection: Hands
The living would come up with endless theories to argue, because the living were exceptionally good at arguing, especially when no one knew the answer.Collection: Answers
So," says Lev, as casually as he can, "you wanna dance?" "Do you believe in the end of the world?" she responds. Lev shrugs. "I don't know. Why?" "Because the day after that is when I'll dance with you.Collection: Believe
You can't change laws without first changing human nature.' -Nurse Greta You can't change human nature without first changing the law.' -Nurse YvonneCollection: Law
There are mysteries in Everlost. Some of them are wonderful, and others scary. They should all be explored, though- perhaps that's why we're here: to experience the good and the bad that Everlost has to offer.Collection: Scary
The Admiral's using us," he says to the kids around him. "Don't you see that?" Most of the kids just shrug, but Hayden's there, and he never misses an opportunity to add his peculiar wisdom to a situation. "I'd rather be used whole than in pieces," Hayden says.Collection: Kids
Don’t I have a choice in this?” But when she looks behind her, the answer is clear. There are two guards waiting to make sure that she has no choice at all. And as they lead her away, she thinks of Mr. Durkin. With a bitter laugh, Risa realizes that he may get his wish after all. Someday he may see her hands playing in Carnegie Hall. Unfortunately, the rest of Risa won’t be there.Collection: Thinking
It's that quirky kind of weekend feeling they write ridiculous sunny-day songs about. You know the ones--I'm sure they're on your iPod even though you'd never admit it.Collection: Song
Mooooon!” said the Ogre. “Tranquility …” Then he pointed at the full moon. “Neil Armstrong walked in a sea of Tranquility.” Then he added, “It’s made of cheese. But you have to take off the plastic before you put it on a burger.” Mickey sighed. “What’s his story?” the wraith asked. “He’s chocolate,” Mikey said.Collection: Moon
Part of my job is to help other kids find books, because not everyone has a keenly organized mind. Some kids could wander the library for hours and still have no idea how to find anything. For them, the Dewey Decimal System might as well be advanced calculus.Collection: Jobs
Happiness is not a state of being. Happiness is a vector, it is movement.Collection: Movement
Then Jix locked eyes with him and said very calmly, "If you hit her, I will open my mouth wide enough to swallow you whole, force you through my bowels, then out my other end." Avalon scowled at him. "You can't do that." "Try me," Jix said. Avalon backed off, then angrily stormed away, and Jix winked at Jill. "One in five.Collection: Eye
From the end of the bar, the bartender threw a sidelong look at him, so Clarence pulled out a broken Bluetooth headset and fixed it to his ear. "I learned this trick while traveling with Mikey," Clarence told Nick. "Makes my brand of crazy the same as everyone else's.Collection: Crazy
...the first sign of civilization is always trash.Collection: Civilization
Can I believe in that God too?Collection: Believe
I believe that we have free will. I believe we get the chance to make choices in our lives. Not everything is set in stone from the moment we're born. We choose our destiny, our ultimate fate. But I also think that we don't realize the choices we've made until after we make them. We're racing down a freeway, only to realize we've missed all the exits, and the only direction we can go is dead ahead.Collection: Believe
Beautiful is dangerous.Collection: Beautiful
...New Beginning to the same old storyCollection: New Beginnings
And he thinks that if his soul had a form, this is what it would be. A baby sleeping in his arms.Collection: Baby
Good in Crisis; Sucks at Normal.’ That about sums up my whole life, doesn’t it?Collection: Normal
Incredible. It never ceases to amaze Starkey how far society will go to protect the children it loves and to discard the ones it doesn’t.Collection: Children
I smell fear, he said with a quiet intensity. But not nearly enough.Collection: Fear
(Why did they call them sneakers if it was so hard to sneak in them?)Collection: Sneakers
Perhaps, thought Talon, there was a path in between. A way to shed their ignorance without losing their souls.Collection: Ignorance
It can be said, then, that Everlost is heaven...for the places that deserve a share of forever. Such places are few and far between...The greatest of these stood near Manhattan's southern-most tip: the two gray brothers to the green statue in the bay. The towers had found their heaven...held fast, and held forever by the memories of a mourning world, and by the dignity of the souls who got where they were going on that dark September day.Collection: Brother
You know that feeling you get when your leg falls asleep? Well, I suddenly had that feeling in my spine. Like termites were chewing through the marrow in my backbone.Collection: Fear
You don’t just go to somebody and say, ‘I’m a better person because you’re in my head.Collection: Better Person
The woman wears a floral print blouse with lots of leaves and pink flowers. Risa would like to attack her with a weed whacker.Collection: Weed
Cowards hide [...] but warriors lie and wait [...] the only difference is whether you're motivated by fear or purpose.Collection: Lying
Eventually your body will learn the alliances it has to make with itself,' Kenny had said - as if Cam was a factory full of strike-prone workers, or worse, a clutch of slaves forced into unwanted labor.Collection: Alliances
History is written by the victors--and when there is no victors, it all winds up in the corporate shredders.Collection: Wind
He only wishes there were something that would heal the scars in his mind, which he can still feel. He sees his mind now as an archipelago of islands that he labors to build bridges between - and while he's had great success engineering the most spectacular of bridges, he suspects there are some islands that he'll never reach.Collection: Islands
Their fate rested entirely on me. I could save them by telling the truth. I could destroy them by lying. No one should have that much power.Collection: Lying
I can't destroy things so beautiful." "Time will destroy them if you don't. Time destroys everything. But if you destroy them, it will mean something.Collection: Beautiful
They meet in the girls' bathroom. The last time they were forced to meet in a place like this, they took separate, isolated stalls. Now they share one. They hold each other in the tight space, making no excuses for it. There's no time left in their lives for games, or for awkwardness, or for pretending they don't care about each others, and so they kiss as if they've done it forever. As if it is as crucial as the need for oxygen.Collection: Girl
Teenage rebellion is for suburban schoolchildren. Get over it.Collection: Teenage
The nation was tearing itself apart over pro-life and pro-choice but completely ignored the problems of the kids who were already here. I mean, no schools, no work, no clue if they'd even have a future. They just went nuts!Collection: School
Milestone! This is a momentous occasion," he tells her cheerily. "It should be witnessed by a friend." She throws him an icy gaze, and he does a verbal back pedal. "Aaaand since no friends are present, I'll have to do.Collection: No Friends
The moment you're loved, that's when you got your soul.Collection: Soul
Normally Connor would walk away from a conversation like this. His life is about tangibles: things you can see, hear and touch. God, souls, and all that has always been like a secret in a black box he couldn't see into, so it was easier just to leave it alone. Only now, he's inside the black box.Collection: Soul
...You know something, don't you?" "I know lots of things--your inquiry needs to be more specific." "Just answer the question." "True/false or multiple choice?Collection: Multiple Choice
I gotta go to the bathroom," Emby mumbles. "You should have thought of that before you left," says Hayden, putting on his best mother voice. "How many times do we have to tell you? Always use the potty before climbing into a shipping crate.Collection: Mother
What he's really saying 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.Collection: Compassion
You have robbed me, and everyone here, of their purpose. That's not salvation, that's damnation.Collection: Damnation
Statistically speaking, there's a better chance that some part of me will go on to greatness somewhere in the world. I'd rather be partly great than entirely useless.Collection: Greatness
I know this is your hand now,' she tells him. "Roland would have never touched me like that." Connor smiles, and Risa takes a moment to look down at the shark on his wrist. It holds no fear for her now, because the shark has been tamed by the soul of a boy. No- the soul of a man.Collection: Boys
Who says I'm insane?" "Oh you're sane alright. You're so sane, you scare me. You're so sane, it's insane.Collection: Insane
No," says Ariana. "It was a dream. Reality got in the way, that's all.Collection: Dream