Ballad Of Songbirds And Snakes Quotes

Nothing you can take from me was ever worth keeping.

Well, as they said, it's not over until the mockingjay sings.

People aren’t so bad, really,” she said. “It’s what the world does to them.

Snow lands on top

I think there’s a natural goodness built into human beings. You know when you’ve stepped across the line into evil, and it’s your life’s challenge to try and stay on the right side of that line.

That is the thing with giving your heart. You never wait for someone to ask. You hold it out and hope they want it

You’ve no right to starve people, to punish them for no reason. No right to take away their life and freedom. Those are things everyone is born with, and they’re not yours for the taking. Winning a war doesn’t give you that right. Having more weapons doesn’t give you that right. Being from the Capitol doesn’t give you that right. Nothing does.

Before need, before love, came trust.

What are lies but attempts to conceal some sort of weakness?

And try not to look down on people who had to choose between death and disgrace.

You're mine and I'm yours. It's written in the stars.

The strain of being a full-fledged adult every day had grown tiresome.

Wars are won by heads not hearts.

There is a point to everything or nothing at all, depending on your worldview.

The show’s not over until the mockingjay sings,” she said. “The mockingjay?” He laughed. “Really, I think you’re just making these things up.” “Not that one. A mockingjay’s a bona fide bird,” she assured him. “And it sings in your show?” he asked. “Not my show, sweetheart. Yours. The Capitol’s anyway.

But better off sad than dead.

Courage in battle was often necessary because of someone else’s poor planning.

What young brains lack in experience they sometimes make up for in idealism. Nothing seems impossible to them.

For a moment he laughed, forgetting where they were, how depressing the backdrop. For a moment there was just her smile, the musical cadence of her voice, and the hint of flirtation. Then the world exploded.

Coriolanus could see that Festus was falling for her. Did you tell your best friend his crush was a cannibal? Never a rule book when you needed one.

You can blame it on the circumstances, the environment, but you made the choices you made, no one else. It's a lot to take in all at once, but it's essential that you make an effort to answer that question. Who are human beings? Because who we are determines the type of governing we need. Later on, I hope you can reflect and be honest with yourself about that you learned tonight.

Afraid of everything. If the people who were supposed to protect you played so fast and loose with your life . . . then how did you survive? Not by trusting them, that was for sure. And if you couldn’t trust them, who could you trust? All bets were off.

I’m planning to,” said Sejanus. “I’m planning to build a whole new beautiful life here. One where, in my own small way, I can make the world a better place.

Trust is important.” “I think it’s more important than love. I mean, I love all kinds of things I don’t trust. Thunderstorms . . . white liquor . . . snakes. Sometimes I think I love them because I can’t trust them, and how mixed up is that?

What was there to aspire to once wealth, fame, and power had been eliminated? Was the goal of survival further survival and nothing more?

Why not? If they have merit.” Dr. Gaul tossed the stack of questionnaires onto the table. “What young brains lack in experience they sometimes make up for in idealism. Nothing seems impossible to them.

Everyone handles grief differently.

She could fly around District 12 all she liked, but she and her mockingjays could never harm him again.

Good-bye, District Twelve. Good-bye, hanging tree and Hunger Games and Mayor Lipp. Someday something will kill me, but it won’t be you.

And if even the most innocent among us turn to killers in the Hunger Games, what does that say? That our essential nature is violent,” Snow explained. “Self-destructive,” Dean Highbottom murmured

They were both after all, still children whose lives were dictated by powers above them.

Who needed wealth and success and power when they had love? Didn't it conquer all?

Everyone had learned to despise waste. It was creeping back into fashion, though.

Roses are red, love; violets are blue. Birds in the heavens know I love you.

Star-crossed lovers meeting their fate.

We don’t charge for tickets, because sometimes hungry people need music the most. But we get hungry, too.

Go build me a mansion, build it so high, So I can see my true love go by. See him go by, love, see him go by. So I can see my true love go by.

Do you hear that, Coriolanus? It’s the sound of Snow falling.

Start with that. Chaos. No control, no law, no government at all. Like being in the arena. Where do we go from there? What sort of agreement is necessary if we're to live in peace? What sort of social contract is required for survival?

Everyone's born as clean as a whistle— As fresh as a daisy And not a bit crazy. Staying that way's a hard row for hoeing— As rough as a briar, Like walking through fire. This world, it's dark, And this world, it's scary. I've taken some hits, so No wonder I'm wary. It's why I Need you— You're pure as the driven snow.

Deep in the meadow, under the willow A bed of grass, a soft green pillow Lay down your head, and close your sleepy eyes And when again they open, the sun will rise. Here it’s safe, here it’s warm Here the daisies guard you from every harm Here your dreams are sweet and tomorrow brings them true Here is the place where I love you.

I’m bad news, all right,” said Coriolanus.

Hey, you found some katniss. Good work, CC.

And he wanted to keep her. Safe and close at hand. Admired and admiring. Devoted. And entirely, unequivocally his.

You can’t take my sass. You can’t take my talking. You can kiss my ass And then keep on walking. Nothing you can take from me was ever worth keeping.

We’ll get new dreams out there...

The ability to control things. Yes, that was what he’d loved best of all.

That even if they were separated by space, they were together in time.

Trust is important. I think it's more important than love. I mean, I love all kinds of things I don't trust. Thunderstorms... white liquor... snakes. Sometimes I think I love them because I can't trust them, and how mixed up is that?

It's Lucy Gray and I'm not really from Twelve," she said. "My people are Covey. Musicians by trade. We just took a wrong turn one day and were obliged to stay.

His mind could fixate on a problem like that — anything, really — and not let go. As if controlling one element of his world would keep him from ruin. It was a bad habit that blinded him to other things that could harm him. A tendency towards obsession was hardwired into his brain and would likely be his undoing if he couldn't learn to outsmart it.

We control it,” he said quietly. “If the war’s impossible to end, then we have to control it indefinitely. Just as we do now. With the Peacekeepers occupying the districts, with strict laws, and with reminders of who’s in charge, like the Hunger Games. In any scenario, it’s preferable to have the upper hand, to be the victor rather than the defeated.

If the people who were supposed to protect you played so fast and loose with your life . . . then how did you survive? Not by trusting them, that was for sure.

Well, you know what they say. The show’s not over until the mockingjay sings,” she said.

The Capitol had tried to take everything from Lucy Gray, and it had utterley failed.

Not to you maybe," she said. "But it matters the world having someone show up like I mattered.

Coriolanus to the rescue, Livia to the nearest exit.

I just need five more minutes, he pleaded with the universe. Even two will do. The universe ignored him.

Snow lands on top.

Maybe he was not cut out to be a lover. Maybe he was more of a loner at heart. Coriolanus Snow, more loner than lover.

It’s just the kind of story that catches fire.

One look tells you ours have had more food, nicer clothing, and better dental care,” said Dean Highbottom. “Assuming anything more, a physical, mental, or especially a moral superiority, would be a mistake. That sort of hubris almost finished us off in the war.

I hope old new doesn't haunt new you. We've already got enough ghosts between us.

What young brains lack in experience they sometimes make up for in idealism.

It's one thing to speak of humans' essential nature theoretically, another to consider it when a fist is smashing into your mouth.

Please, Coriolanus, I would never forget the favor.

Coriolanus felt sure he’d spotted his first mockingjay, and he disliked the thing on sight.

Who are human beings? Because who we are determines the type of governing we need.

Then be kind, Coryo,” she snapped. “And try not to look down on people who had to choose between death and disgrace.

The more he had treated her as something special, the more she'd become human

Then be kind, Coryo, and try not to look down on people who had to choose between death and disgrace

no matter his advantages, Hilarius always seemed to feel oppressed.

What sort of agreement is necessary if we’re to live in peace? What sort of social contract is required for survival?

Someday something will kill me, but it won’t be you.

I’ve no use for liars. What are lies but attempts to conceal some sort of weakness?

He knew this would be easier if he wasn’t such an exceptional person. The best and the brightest humanity had to offer. The youngest to pass the officer candidate test.

You've no right to starve people, to punish them for no reason. No right to take away their life and freedom. Those are things everyone is born with, and they're not yours for the taking. Winning a war doesn't give you that right. Having more weapons doesn't give you that right. Being from the Capitol doesn't give you that right. Nothing does.

They created a strange tableau: rabid boy, trapped girl, bombed-out building. It suggested a tale that could only end in tragedy. Star-crossed lovers meeting their fate. A revenge story turned in on itself. A war saga that took no prisoners.

Hearts been jumping just like a rabbit. Blood keeps pumping but that's just habit.

Yes, she laid down her life taunting her tribute with a sandwich, thought Coriolanus. Maybe her gravestone could read, “Casualty of cheap laughs.

And you didn’t have to like your family. The bond was a given.

And last but least, District Twelve girl . . . she belongs to Coriolanus Snow.

A little thought can save a lot of lives.

Without the threat of death, it wouldn’t have been much of a lesson,” said Dr. Gaul. “What happened in the arena? That’s humanity undressed. The tributes. And you, too. How quickly civilization disappears. All your fine manners, education, family background, everything you pride yourself on, stripped away in the blink of an eye, revealing everything you actually are. A boy with a club who beats another boy to death. That’s mankind in its natural state.

Your dress has been a big hit in the Capitol!" "Has it? Well, the Covey love color, and me more than most. But this was my mama's, so it's extra special to me," she said. "She in District Twelve?" Lepidus asked. "Just her bones, darling. Just her pearly white bones.

Coriolanus winced a little. For a decade now, though the rebels had been silent, his grandmother had not.

but something about the mockingjays repelled him. He distrusted their spontaneous creation. Nature running amok. They should die out, and die out soon.

Obviously, he was dealing with a lunatic who should be handled with extreme care.

I’m not convinced that we are all as inherently violent as you say, but it takes very little to bring the beast to the surface, at least under the cover of darkness. I

Watching the bright pages of his picture books — the very ones he’d pored over with his mother — reduced to ashes had never failed to bring him to tears. But better off sad than dead.

The failed experiment, the bird that could repeat human speech, that had been a tool for espionage until the rebels had figured out its abilities and sent it back carrying false information. Now the useless creatures were creating an echo chamber filled with the Avoxes’ pitiful wails.

As the snakes swarmed her, the faded fabric vanished, leaving her with a brilliant skirt of weaving reptiles.

Then she gave him a kiss. Not a peck. A real kiss on the lips, with hints of peaches and powder. The feel of her mouth, soft and warm against his own, sent sensations surging through his body. Rather than pulling back, he held her even tighter as the taste and touch of her made his head spin. So this was what people were talking about! This was what made them so crazy! When they finally broke apart, he drew a deep breath, as if surfacing from the depths.

mentor as anything but an honor. A way to serve the Capitol and perhaps gain a little glory. But she had a point. If the cause wasn’t honorable, how could it be an honor to participate in it? He felt confused, then manipulated, then undefended. As if he were more a tribute than a mentor.

His girl. His. Here in the Capitol, it was a given that Lucy Gray belonged to him, as if she’d had no life before her name was called out at the reaping. Even that sanctimonious Sejanus believed she was something he could trade for. If that wasn’t ownership, what was? With her song, Lucy Gray had repudiated all that by featuring a life that had nothing to do with him, and a great deal to do with someone else. Someone she referred to as “lover,” no less. And while he had no claim on her heart — he barely knew the girl! — he didn’t like the idea of anyone else having it either. Although the song had been a clear success, he felt somehow betrayed by it. Even humiliated.

Sometimes Coriolanus wondered if the debris had been left there to remind the citizens of what they had endured. People had short memories. They needed to navigate the rubble, peel off the grubby ration coupons, and witness the Hunger Games to keep the war fresh in their minds.

Is there a space for them?” There wasn’t. But there should be, he thought, given how fractured families were by the war. There should be a place for anyone who cared for you at all. In fact, maybe that should be the question to start with: Who cares about you? Or even better, Who can you count on?

That’s our right,” Dr. Gaul countered. “No, it isn’t! I don’t care what you say. You’ve no right to starve people, to punish them for no reason. No right to take away their life and freedom. Those are things everyone is born with, and they’re not yours for the taking. Winning a war doesn’t give you that right. Having more weapons doesn’t give you that right.

be a girl from the districts, or at least not Capitol. A second-class citizen. Human, but bestial. Smart, perhaps, but not evolved. Part of a shapeless mass of unfortunate, barbaric creatures that hovered on the periphery of his consciousness. Surely, if there had ever been an exception to the rule, it was Lucy Gray Baird.

That's our right," Dr. Gaul countered. "No, it isn't! I don't care what you say. You've no right to starve people, to punish them for no reason. No right to take away their life and freedom. These are things everyone is born with, and they're not yours for the taking. Winning a war doesn't give you the right., having more weapons' doesn't give you that right. Being from the capital doesn't give you that right. Nothing does.