“It’s strange how a word, a phrase, a sentence, can feel like a blow to the head.”

It isn’t right to wish pain on other people just because they hurt me first.

It doesn’t prove anything except that you’re bullying us. Which, as I recall, is a sign of cowardice.

It reminds me why I chose Dauntless in the first place: not because they are perfect, but because they are alive. Because they are free.

But now, I am also learning this: we can be mended. We mend each other.

He stares at me, and I don’t look away. He isn’t a dog, but the same rules apply. Looking away is submissive.

Sometimes, the best way to help someone is just to be near them.

Since I was young, I have always known this: Life damages us, every one. We can’t escape that damage. But now, I am also learning this: We can be mended. We mend each other.

I’m sick of doing bad things and liking it and then wondering what’s wrong with me. I want it to be over. I want to start again.

I traded cowardice for cruelty; I traded weakness for ferocity.

I have never been carried around by a large boy, or laughed until my stomach hurt at the dinner table, or listened to the clamor of a hundred people all talking at once. Peace is restrained; this is free.

No matter how long you train someone to be brave, you never know if they are or not until something real happens.

Part of me wonders if this is a suicide mission disguised as a game.

Pride is what killed Al, and it is the flaw in every Dauntless heart. It is in mine.

Ingenuity requires creativity.

Reading is such a huge part of my life.

When you’re a writer, you hear your internal critic, and that’s really hard to get over. And then sometimes you hear critiques from classmates and stuff.

If it’s putting on a great dance record and rocking out in your apartment, do it. If kissing someone for 10 minutes makes you feel confident, do it.

Joy is what we all seek. It is an energy more powerful than food. But without love we can not feel true joy.

Whenever we feel that we are definitely right, so much so that we refuse to open up to anything or anybody else, right there we are wrong. It becomes wrong view.

I don’t want to do what my idols did… I want to do more than they did. And I feel like I’m on my way.

Some people are afraid of generosity. They feel they will be taken advantage of or oppressed.

That’s the thing with handmade items. They still have the person’s mark on them, and when you hold them, you feel less alone.

When I’m curious about something, I do it full on and take it as far as I go, but when I feel like I’ve really explored it, I’m OK with putting it aside and going on to something else.

And when someone else speaks your name you feel pleased. You feel wanted. You feel there. Alive.