Catching Quotes

We've searched our database for all the quotes and captions related to Catching. Here they are! All 100 of them:

β€œ
Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.
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H. Jackson Brown Jr. (P.S. I Love You)
β€œ
What the hell is that?" I laughed. "It's my fox hat." "Your fox hat?" "Yeah, Pudge. My fox hat." "Why are you wearing your fox hat?" I asked. "Because no one can catch the motherfucking fox.
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John Green (Looking for Alaska)
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I wish I could freeze this moment, right here, right now and live in it forever.
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Suzanne Collins (Catching Fire (The Hunger Games, #2))
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Fire is catching! And if we burn, you burn with us!
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Suzanne Collins (Mockingjay (The Hunger Games, #3))
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Pursue what catches your heart, not what catches your eyes.
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Roy T. Bennett (The Light in the Heart)
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You know, you could live a thousand lifetimes and not deserve him.
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Suzanne Collins (Catching Fire (The Hunger Games, #2))
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Let us find the dam snack bar," Zoe said. "We should eat while we can." Grover cracked a smile. "The dam snack bar?" Zoe blinked. "Yes. What is funny?" "Nothing," Grover said, trying to keep a straight face. "I could use some dam french fries." Even Thalia smiled at that. "And I need to use the dam restroom." ... I started cracking up, and Thalia and Grover joined in, while Zoe just looked at me. "I do not understand." "I want to use the dam water fountain," Grover said. "And..." Thalia tried to catch her breath. "I want to buy a dam t-shirt.
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Rick Riordan (The Titan’s Curse (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, #3))
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Trust your heart if the seas catch fire, live by love though the stars walk backward.
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E.E. Cummings
β€œ
My nightmares are usually about losing you. I'm okay once I realize you're here.
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Suzanne Collins (Catching Fire (The Hunger Games, #2))
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Because this is what happens when you try to run from the past. It just doesn’t catch up, it overtakes … blotting out the future.
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Sarah Dessen (Just Listen)
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I can hear the change in Kaz's breathing when he looks at you." "You... you can?" "It catches every time, like he's never seen you before.
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Leigh Bardugo (Six of Crows (Six of Crows, #1))
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Boys think girls are like books, If the cover doesn't catch their eye they won't bother to read what's inside.
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Marilyn Monroe
β€œ
So it's you and a syringe against the Capitol? See, this is why no one lets you make the plans.
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Suzanne Collins (Catching Fire (The Hunger Games, #2))
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I realize only one person will be damaged beyond repair if Peeta dies. Me.
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Suzanne Collins (Catching Fire (The Hunger Games, #2))
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You do not know how fast you have been running, how hard you have been working, how truly exhausted you are, until somewhat stands behind you and says, β€œIt’s OK, you can fall down now. I’ll catch you.
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Taylor Jenkins Reid (The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo)
β€œ
Will has always been the brighter burning star, the one to catch attention β€” but Jem is a steady flame, unwavering and honest. He could make you happy.
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Cassandra Clare (Clockwork Prince (The Infernal Devices, #2))
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He was going to live forever, or die in the attempt.
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Joseph Heller (Catch-22)
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Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they aren't after you.
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Joseph Heller (Catch-22)
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I always channel my emotions into my work. That way, I don't hurt anyone but myself.
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Suzanne Collins (Catching Fire (The Hunger Games, #2))
β€œ
His feelings for Adam were an oil spill; he'd let them overflow and now there wasn't a damn place in the ocean that wouldn't catch fire if he dropped a match.
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Maggie Stiefvater (The Raven King (The Raven Cycle, #4))
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See, the world is full of things more powerful than us. But if you know how to catch a ride, you can go places,
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Neal Stephenson (Snow Crash)
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Anyway, I keep picturing all these little kids playing some game in this big field of rye and all. Thousands of little kids, and nobody's around - nobody big, I mean - except me. And I'm standing on the edge of some crazy cliff. What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff - I mean if they're running and they don't look where they're going I have to come out from somewhere and catch them. That's all I do all day. I'd just be the catcher in the rye and all. I know it's crazy, but that's the only thing I'd really like to be.
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J.D. Salinger (The Catcher in the Rye)
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At some point, you have to stop running and turn around and face whoever wants you dead.The hard thing is finding the courage to do it.
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Suzanne Collins (Catching Fire (The Hunger Games, #2))
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The bird, the pin, the song, the berries, the watch, the cracker, the dress that burst into flames. I am the mockingjay. The one that survived despite the Capitol's plans. The symbol of the rebellion.
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Suzanne Collins (Catching Fire (The Hunger Games, #2))
β€œ
We had to save you because you're the mockingjay, Katniss," says Plutarch. "While you live, the revolution lives.
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Suzanne Collins (Catching Fire (The Hunger Games, #2))
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No matter where you go or what you do to distract yourself, reality catches up with you eventually.
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Kody Keplinger (The DUFF: Designated Ugly Fat Friend (Hamilton High, #1))
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A photo says, you were happy, and I wanted to catch that. A photo says, you were so important to me that I put down everything else to come watch.
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Jodi Picoult
β€œ
Technically, I am unarmed. But no one should ever underestimate the harm that fingernails can do. Especially if the target is unprepared.
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Suzanne Collins (Mockingjay (The Hunger Games, #3))
β€œ
We star-crossed lovers of District 12, who suffered so much and enjoyed so little the rewards of our victory, do not seek our fans' favor, grace them with our smiles, or catch their kisses. We are unforgiving. And I love it. Getting to be myself at last.
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Suzanne Collins (Catching Fire (The Hunger Games, #2))
β€œ
I really can't think about kissing when I've got a rebellion to incite.
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Suzanne Collins (Catching Fire (The Hunger Games, #2))
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So I only say, "So what should we do with our last few days?" "I just want to spend every possible minute of the rest of my life with you," Peeta replies.
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Suzanne Collins (Catching Fire (The Hunger Games, #2))
β€œ
Aim higher in case you fall short.
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Suzanne Collins (Catching Fire (The Hunger Games, #2))
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Love meant jumping off a cliff and trusting that a certain person would be there to catch you at the bottom.
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Jodi Picoult (Second Glance)
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Really, the combination of the scabs and the ointment looks hideous. I can't help enjoying his distress. "Poor Finnick. Is this the first time in your life you haven't looked pretty?" I say. "It must be. The sensation's completely new. How have you managed it all these years?" he asks. "Just avoid mirrors. You'll forget about it," I say. "Not if I keep looking at you," he says.
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Suzanne Collins (Catching Fire (The Hunger Games, #2))
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Piper gripped his hand and followed him, β€œIf I fall, you’re catching me.” β€œUh, sure.” Jason hoped he wasn’t blushing. Leo stepped out next. β€œYou’re catching me, too, Superman. But I ain’t holding your hand.
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Rick Riordan (The Lost Hero (The Heroes of Olympus, #1))
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Gale is mine. I am his. Anything else is unthinkable.
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Suzanne Collins (Catching Fire (The Hunger Games, #2))
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Don't own so much clutter that you will be relieved to see your house catch fire.
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Wendell Berry (Farming: A Hand Book)
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All the world will be your enemy, Prince with a Thousand Enemies, and whenever they catch you, they will kill you. But first they must catch you, digger, listener, runner, prince with the swift warning. Be cunning and full of tricks and your people shall never be destroyed.
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Richard Adams (Watership Down (Watership Down, #1))
β€œ
Sometimes fate is like a small sandstorm that keeps changing directions. You change direction but the sandstorm chases you. You turn again, but the storm adjusts. Over and over you play this out, like some ominous dance with death just before dawn. Why? Because this storm isn't something that blew in from far away, something that has nothing to do with you. This storm is you. Something inside of you. So all you can do is give in to it, step right inside the storm, closing your eyes and plugging up your ears so the sand doesn't get in, and walk through it, step by step. There's no sun there, no moon, no direction, no sense of time. Just fine white sand swirling up into the sky like pulverized bones. That's the kind of sandstorm you need to imagine. And you really will have to make it through that violent, metaphysical, symbolic storm. No matter how metaphysical or symbolic it might be, make no mistake about it: it will cut through flesh like a thousand razor blades. People will bleed there, and you will bleed too. Hot, red blood. You'll catch that blood in your hands, your own blood and the blood of others. And once the storm is over you won't remember how you made it through, how you managed to survive. You won't even be sure, in fact, whether the storm is really over. But one thing is certain. When you come out of the storm you won't be the same person who walked in. That's what this storm's all about.
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Haruki Murakami (Kafka on the Shore)
β€œ
I did not know how to reach him, how to catch up with him... The land of tears is so mysterious.
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Antoine de Saint-ExupΓ©ry (The Little Prince)
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The last laugh, the last cup of coffee, the last sunset, the last time you jump through a sprinkler, or eat an ice-cream cone, or stick your tongue out to catch a snowflake. You just don't know.
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Lauren Oliver (Before I Fall)
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Will: "Nice place to live, isn't it? Let's hope they left something behind other than filth. Forwarding addresses, a few severed limbs, a prostitute or two ..." Jem: "Indeed. Perhaps, if we're fortunate, we can still catch syphilis." "Or demon pox," Will suggested cheerfully, trying the door under the stairs.
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Cassandra Clare (Clockwork Angel (The Infernal Devices, #1))
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It's easy to fall in love. The hard part is finding someone to catch you.
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Bertrand Russell
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You know I'm getting a little tired of waiting for you to catch on.
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Veronica Roth (Divergent (Divergent, #1))
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Peeta, how come I never know when you're having a nightmare?” I say. β€œI don't know. I don't think I cry out or thrash around or anything. I just come to, paralyzed with terror,” he says. β€œYou should wake me,” I say, thinking about how I can interrupt his sleep two or three times on a bad night. About how long it can take to calm me down. β€œIt's not necessary. My nightmares are usually about losing you,” he says. β€œI'm okay once I realize you're here.
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Suzanne Collins (Catching Fire (The Hunger Games, #2))
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The Constitution only guarantees the American people the right to pursue happiness. You have to catch it yourself.
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Benjamin Franklin
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I guess this is a bad time to mention I hung a dummy and painted Seneca Crane's name on it...
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Suzanne Collins (Catching Fire (The Hunger Games, #2))
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Man is the only creature that consumes without producing. He does not give milk, he does not lay eggs, he is too weak to pull the plough, he cannot run fast enough to catch rabbits. Yet he is lord of all the animals. He sets them to work, he gives back to them the bare minimum that will prevent them from starving, and the rest he keeps for himself.
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George Orwell (Animal Farm)
β€œ
What's wrong, little sis? You look upset." She could barely catch her breath. "Cracked...my...nail polish slapping your... worthless face. See?" She showed him her finger - just one of them. "Cute" He snorted.
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Cassandra Clare (City of Lost Souls (The Mortal Instruments, #5))
β€œ
Are you okay?" Daniel whispered, his voice soft, his lips so close to hers. "Yes." She could feel the beating of his wings. "You caught me." "I will always catch you when you fall.
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Lauren Kate (Torment (Fallen, #2))
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How ever, I've learned that the heart can't be told when and who and how it should love. The heart does whatever the hell it wants to do. The only thing we can control is whether we give our lives and our minds the chance to catch up to our hearts.
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Colleen Hoover (Maybe Someday (Maybe, #1))
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EARLY BIRD Oh, if you’re a bird, be an early bird And catch the worm for your breakfast plate. If you’re a bird, be an early early bird-- But if you’re a worm, sleep late.
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Shel Silverstein (Where the Sidewalk Ends)
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So that's who Finnick loves, I think. Not his string of fancy lovers in the Capitol. But a poor, mad girl back home.
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Suzanne Collins (Catching Fire (The Hunger Games, #2))
β€œ
I missed you every hour. And you know what the worst part was? It caught me completely by surprise. I'd catch myself just walking around to find you, not for any reason, just out of habit, because I'd seen something that I wanted to tell you about or because I wanted to hear your voice. And then I'd realize that you weren't there anymore, and every time, every single time, it was like having the wind knocked out of me. I've risked my life for you. I've walked half the length of Ravka for you, and I'd do it again and again and again just to be with you, just to starve with you and freeze with you and hear you complain about hard cheese every day. So don't tell me why we don't belong together," he said fiercely.
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Leigh Bardugo (Shadow and Bone (The Shadow and Bone Trilogy, #1))
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I certainly have not the talent which some people possess," said Darcy, "of conversing easily with those I have never seen before. I cannot catch their tone of conversation, or appear interested in their concerns, as I often see done.
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Jane Austen (Pride and Prejudice)
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You drive me insane June. You're the scariest, most clever, bravest person I know, and sometimes I can't catch my breath because I'm trying so hard to keep up. There will never be another like you. You realize that, don't you? Billions of people will come and go in this world, but there will never be another like you.
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Marie Lu (Champion (Legend, #3))
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It must be very fragile, if a handful of berries can bring it down.
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Suzanne Collins (Catching Fire (The Hunger Games, #2))
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Katniss," Gale says softly. I recognize that voice. It's the same one he uses to approach wounded animals before he delivers a deathblow. I Instinctively raise my hand to block his words but he catches it and holds on tightly. Don't," I whisper. But Gale is not one to keep secrets from me. Katniss, There is no District Twelve.
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Suzanne Collins (Catching Fire (The Hunger Games, #2))
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When a child first catches adults out -- when it first walks into his grave little head that adults do not always have divine intelligence, that their judgments are not always wise, their thinking true, their sentences just -- his world falls into panic desolation. The gods are fallen and all safety gone. And there is one sure thing about the fall of gods: they do not fall a little; they crash and shatter or sink deeply into green muck. It is a tedious job to build them up again; they never quite shine. And the child's world is never quite whole again. It is an aching kind of growing.
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John Steinbeck (East of Eden)
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Tick, tock.
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Suzanne Collins (Catching Fire (The Hunger Games, #2))
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That if desperate times call for desperate measures, then I'm free to act as desperately as I wish.
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Suzanne Collins (Catching Fire (The Hunger Games, #2))
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Look, if you wanted to be babied you should have asked Peeta.
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Suzanne Collins (Catching Fire (The Hunger Games, #2))
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I'm going to wake Peeta," I say. "No, wait," says Finnick. "Let's do it together. Put our faces right in front of his." Well, there's so little opportunity for fun left in my life, I agree. We position ourselves on either side of Peeta, lean over until our faces are inches frim his nose, and give him a shake. "Peeta. Peeta, wake up," I say in a soft, singsong voice. His eyelids flutter open and then he jumps like we've stabbed him. "Aa!" Finnick and I fall back in the sand, laughing our heads off. Every time we try to stop, we look at Peeta's attempt to maintain a disdainful expression and it sets us off again.
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Suzanne Collins (Catching Fire (The Hunger Games, #2))
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...[A]nything worth dying for ... is certainly worth living for.
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Joseph Heller (Catch-22)
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I just want to spend every possible minute of the rest of my life with you.
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Suzanne Collins (Catching Fire (The Hunger Games, #2))
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I pull an arrow, whip the notch into place, and am about to let it fly when I'm stopped by the sight of Finnick kissing Peeta. And it's so bizarre, even for Finnick.
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Suzanne Collins (Catching Fire (The Hunger Games, #2))
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Remember, girl on fire,” he says, β€œI'm still betting on you.
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Suzanne Collins (Catching Fire (The Hunger Games, #2))
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I turn and put my lips close to Peeta's and drop my eyelids in imitation... "He offered me sugar and wanted to know all my secrets," I say in my best seductive voice.
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Suzanne Collins (Catching Fire (The Hunger Games, #2))
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The idea of being strong for someone else having never entered their heads, I find myself in the position of having to console them. Since I'm the person going in to be slaughtered, this is somewhat annoying.
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Suzanne Collins (Catching Fire (The Hunger Games, #2))
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His forehead bumped softly against mine, his brilliant silver gaze searing into me. β€œI plan to keep you, from everyone, for as long as I’m alive. That includes Puck, the false king, and anyone else who would take you away.” One corner of his mouth quirked, as I struggled to catch my breath under his powerful scrutiny. β€œI guess I should’ve warned you that I have a slight possessive streak.
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Julie Kagawa (The Iron Queen (The Iron Fey, #3))
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Catching sight of himself in the long mirrors that ran along the walls, he stiffened in shock...His eyes were surrounded by black shadows, his shirt smeared with dried blood and filthy mud... "Admiring yourself?" The Inquisitor's voice cut through his reverie. "You won't look so pretty when the Clave gets through with you." "You do seem obsessed with my look...Could it be that you're attracted to me?" "Don't be revolting...You could be my son.
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Cassandra Clare (City of Ashes (The Mortal Instruments, #2))
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You may not remember the time you let me go first. Or the time you dropped back to tell me it wasn't that far to go. Or the time you waited at the crossroads for me to catch up. You may not remember any of those, but I do and this is what I have to say to you: Today, no matter what it takes, we ride home together.
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Brian Andreas (Traveling Light: Stories & Drawings for a Quiet Mind)
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The enemy is anybody who's going to get you killed, no matter which side he is on.
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Joseph Heller (Catch-22)
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I don't know if anyone's ever told you this", he begins. He doesn't blush, and his eyes don't dart away. Instead I find myself staring into a pair of oceans - one perfect, the other blemished by that tiny ripple. "You're very attractive." I've been complimented on my appearance before. But never in his tone of voice. Of all the things he's said, I don't know why this catches me off guard. But it startles me so much that without thinking I blurt out, "I could say the same about you." I pause. "In case you didn't know." A slow grin spreads across his face. "Oh, trust me. I know.
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Marie Lu (Legend (Legend, #1))
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I can only form one clear thought. This is no place for a girl on fire.
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Suzanne Collins (Catching Fire (The Hunger Games, #2))
β€œ
Because I can count on my fingers the number of sunsets I have left, and I don't want to miss any of them.
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Suzanne Collins (Catching Fire (The Hunger Games, #2))
β€œ
It doesn't make a damned bit of difference who wins the war to someone who's dead.
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Joseph Heller (Catch-22)
β€œ
He knew everything there was to know about literature, except how to enjoy it
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Joseph Heller (Catch-22)
β€œ
All right then," said the savage defiantly, I'm claiming the right to be unhappy." "Not to mention the right to grow old and ugly and impotent; the right to have syphilis and cancer; the right to have too little to eat, the right to be lousy; the right to live in constant apprehension of what may happen tomorrow; the right to catch typhoid; the right to be tortured by unspeakable pains of every kind." There was a long silence. "I claim them all," said the Savage at last.
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Aldous Huxley (Brave New World)
β€œ
I don't want you forgetting how different our circumstaces are. If you die, and I live, there's no life for me at all back in District Twelve. You're my whole life." Peeta says. "I would never be happy again. It's different for you. I'm not saying it wouldn't be hard. But there are other people who'd make your life worth living." "No one really needs me," he says, and there's no selfpity in his voice. It's true his family doesn't need him. They will mourn him, as will a handfull of friends. But they will get on.... I realise only one person will be damaged beyond repair if Peeta dies. Me. "I do," I say. "I need you.
”
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Suzanne Collins (Catching Fire (The Hunger Games, #2))
β€œ
[They] agreed that it was neither possible nor necessary to educate people who never questioned anything.
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Joseph Heller (Catch-22)
β€œ
I have been feeling very clearheaded lately and what I want to write about today is the sea. It contains so many colors. Silver at dawn, green at noon, dark blue in the evening. Sometimes it looks almost red. Or it will turn the color of old coins. Right now the shadows of clouds are dragging across it, and patches of sunlight are touching down everywhere. White strings of gulls drag over it like beads. It is my favorite thing, I think, that I have ever seen. Sometimes I catch myself staring at it and forget my duties. It seems big enough to contain everything anyone could ever feel.
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Anthony Doerr (All the Light We Cannot See)
β€œ
So I hear we get to go to town this weekend. Want to catch a movie or something? --Z P.S. That is, if Jimmy doesn't mind. Translation: This weekend might be a good chance for us to see each other outside our school in a social environment, free of competetiton. I do not view other boys as threats, and I enjoy making them seem insignificant by calling them the wrong names. (Translation by Macey McHenry)
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Ally Carter (Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy (Gallagher Girls, #2))
β€œ
There was only one catch and that was Catch-22, which specified that a concern for one's safety in the face of dangers that were real and immediate was the process of a rational mind. Orr was crazy and could be grounded. All he had to do was ask; and as soon as he did, he would no longer be crazy and would have to fly more missions. Orr would be crazy to fly more missions and sane if he didn't, but if he was sane he had to fly them. If he flew them he was crazy and didn't have to; but if he didn't want to he was sane and had to. Yossarian was moved very deeply by the absolute simplicity of this clause of Catch-22 and let out a respectful whistle. "That's some catch, that Catch-22," he observed. "It's the best there is," Doc Daneeka agreed.
”
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Joseph Heller (Catch-22)
β€œ
They're trying to kill me," Yossarian told him calmly. No one's trying to kill you," Clevinger cried. Then why are they shooting at me?" Yossarian asked. They're shooting at everyone," Clevinger answered. "They're trying to kill everyone." And what difference does that make?
”
”
Joseph Heller (Catch-22)
β€œ
Now he's [Cinna] arranging things around my living room: Clothing, fabrics, and sketchbooks with designs he's drawn. I pick one up and examine one of the dresses I supposedly created. You know, I think I show a lot of promise," I say. Get dressed, you worthless thing.
”
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Suzanne Collins (Catching Fire (The Hunger Games, #2))
β€œ
He’s not feeling well,” Clary said, catching at Simon’s wrist. β€œWe’re going.” β€œNo,” Simon said. β€œNo, I β€” I need to talk to him. To the Inquisitor." Robert reached into his jacket and drew out a crucifix. Clary stared in shock as he held it up between himself and Simon. β€œI speak to the Night’s Children Council representative, or to the head of the New York clan,” he said. β€œNot to any vampire who comes to knock at my door β€”β€œ Simon reached out and plucked the cross out of Robert’s hand. β€œWrong religion,” he said.
”
”
Cassandra Clare (City of Heavenly Fire (The Mortal Instruments, #6))
β€œ
There are, it has been said, two types of people in the world. There are those who, when presented with a glass that is exactly half full, say: this glass is half full. And then there are those who say: this glass is half empty. The world belongs, however, to those who can look at the glass and say: What's up with this glass? Excuse me? Excuse me? This is my glass? I don't think so. My glass was full! And it was a bigger glass! Who's been pinching my beer? And at the other end of the bar the world is full of the other type of person, who has a broken glass, or a glass that has been carelessly knocked over (usually by one of the people calling for a larger glass) or who had no glass at all, because he was at the back of the crowd and had failed to catch the barman's eye.
”
”
Terry Pratchett (The Truth: Stage Adaptation)
β€œ
But I have to confess, I'm glad you two had at least a few months of happiness together." I'm not glad," says Peeta. "I wish we had waited until the whole thing was done officially." This takes even Caesar aback. "Surely even a brief time is better than no time?" Maybe I'd think that, too, Caesar," says Peeta bitterly, "If it weren't for the baby.
”
”
Suzanne Collins (Catching Fire (The Hunger Games, #2))
β€œ
I'm so sorry," I whisper. I lean forward and kiss him. His eyelashes flutter and he looks at me through a haze of opiates. "Hey, Catnip." "Hey, Gale," I say. "Thought you'd be gone by now," He says. My choices are simple. I can die like a quarry in the woods or I can die here beside Gale. "I'm not going anywhere. I'm going to stay right here and cause all kinds of trouble." "Me, too," Gale says. He just manages a smile before the drugs pull him back under.
”
”
Suzanne Collins (Catching Fire (The Hunger Games, #2))
β€œ
The best thing, though, in that museum was that everything always stayed right where it was. Nobody'd move. You could go there a hundred thousand times, and that Eskimo would still be just finished catching those two fish, the birds would still be on their way south, the deers would still be drinking out of that water hole, with their pretty antlers and they're pretty, skinny legs, and that squaw with the naked bosom would still be weaving that same blanket. Nobody's be different. The only thing that would be different would be you. Not that you'd be so much older or anything. It wouldn't be that, exactly. You'd just be different, that's all. You'd have an overcoat this time. Or the kid that was your partner in line the last time had got scarlet fever and you'd have a new partner. Or you'd have a substitute taking the class, instead of Miss Aigletinger. Or you'd heard your mother and father having a terrific fight in the bathroom. Or you'd just passed by one of those puddles in the street with gasoline rainbows in them. I mean you'd be different in some wayβ€”I can't explain what I mean. And even if I could, I'm not sure I'd feel like it.
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J.D. Salinger (The Catcher in the Rye)
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His chest, heaving harder this time. His words, almost gasping this time. β€œYou destroy me.” I am falling to pieces in his arms. My fists are full of unlucky pennies and my heart is a jukebox demanding a few nickels and my head is flipping quarters heads or tails heads or tails heads or tails heads or tails β€œJuliette,” he says, and he mouths the name, barely speaking at all, and he’s pouring molten lava into my limbs and I never even knew I could melt straight to death. β€œI want you,” he says. He says β€œI want all of you. I want you inside and out and catching your breath and aching for me like I ache for you.” He says it like it’s a lit cigarette lodged in his throat, like he wants to dip me in warm honey and he says β€œIt’s never been a secret. I’ve never tried to hide that from you. I’ve never pretended I wanted anything less.
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Tahereh Mafi (Unravel Me (Shatter Me, #2))
β€œ
This is rather as if you imagine a puddle waking up one morning and thinking, 'This is an interesting world I find myself in β€” an interesting hole I find myself in β€” fits me rather neatly, doesn't it? In fact it fits me staggeringly well, must have been made to have me in it!' This is such a powerful idea that as the sun rises in the sky and the air heats up and as, gradually, the puddle gets smaller and smaller, frantically hanging on to the notion that everything's going to be alright, because this world was meant to have him in it, was built to have him in it; so the moment he disappears catches him rather by surprise. I think this may be something we need to be on the watch out for.
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Douglas Adams (The Salmon of Doubt: Hitchhiking the Galaxy One Last Time)
β€œ
If I should have a daughterβ€¦β€œInstead of β€œMom”, she’s gonna call me β€œPoint B.” Because that way, she knows that no matter what happens, at least she can always find her way to me. And I’m going to paint the solar system on the back of her hands so that she has to learn the entire universe before she can say β€œOh, I know that like the back of my hand.” She’s gonna learn that this life will hit you, hard, in the face, wait for you to get back up so it can kick you in the stomach. But getting the wind knocked out of you is the only way to remind your lungs how much they like the taste of air. There is hurt, here, that cannot be fixed by band-aids or poetry, so the first time she realizes that Wonder-woman isn’t coming, I’ll make sure she knows she doesn’t have to wear the cape all by herself. Because no matter how wide you stretch your fingers, your hands will always be too small to catch all the pain you want to heal. Believe me, I’ve tried. And β€œBaby,” I’ll tell her β€œdon’t keep your nose up in the air like that, I know that trick, you’re just smelling for smoke so you can follow the trail back to a burning house so you can find the boy who lost everything in the fire to see if you can save him. Or else, find the boy who lit the fire in the first place to see if you can change him.” But I know that she will anyway, so instead I’ll always keep an extra supply of chocolate and rain boats nearby, β€˜cause there is no heartbreak that chocolate can’t fix. Okay, there’s a few heartbreaks chocolate can’t fix. But that’s what the rain boots are for, because rain will wash away everything if you let it. I want her to see the world through the underside of a glass bottom boat, to look through a magnifying glass at the galaxies that exist on the pin point of a human mind. Because that’s how my mom taught me. That there’ll be days like this, β€œThere’ll be days like this my momma said” when you open your hands to catch and wind up with only blisters and bruises. When you step out of the phone booth and try to fly and the very people you wanna save are the ones standing on your cape. When your boots will fill with rain and you’ll be up to your knees in disappointment and those are the very days you have all the more reason to say β€œthank you,” β€˜cause there is nothing more beautiful than the way the ocean refuses to stop kissing the shoreline no matter how many times it’s sent away. You will put the β€œwind” in win some lose some, you will put the β€œstar” in starting over and over, and no matter how many land mines erupt in a minute be sure your mind lands on the beauty of this funny place called life. And yes, on a scale from one to over-trusting I am pretty damn naive but I want her to know that this world is made out of sugar. It can crumble so easily but don’t be afraid to stick your tongue out and taste it. β€œBaby,” I’ll tell her β€œremember your mama is a worrier but your papa is a warrior and you are the girl with small hands and big eyes who never stops asking for more.” Remember that good things come in threes and so do bad things and always apologize when you’ve done something wrong but don’t you ever apologize for the way your eyes refuse to stop shining. Your voice is small but don’t ever stop singing and when they finally hand you heartbreak, slip hatred and war under your doorstep and hand you hand-outs on street corners of cynicism and defeat, you tell them that they really ought to meet your mother.
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Sarah Kay
β€œ
I will love you as a thief loves a gallery and as a crow loves a murder, as a cloud loves bats and as a range loves braes. I will love you as misfortune loves orphans, as fire loves innocence and as justice loves to sit and watch while everything goes wrong. I will love you as a battlefield loves young men and as peppermints love your allergies, and I will love you as the banana peel loves the shoe of a man who was just struck by a shingle falling off a house. I will love you as a volunteer fire department loves rushing into burning buildings and as burning buildings love to chase them back out, and as a parachute loves to leave a blimp and as a blimp operator loves to chase after it. I will love you as a dagger loves a certain person’s back, and as a certain person loves to wear dagger proof tunics, and as a dagger proof tunic loves to go to a certain dry cleaning facility, and how a certain employee of a dry cleaning facility loves to stay up late with a pair of binoculars, watching a dagger factory for hours in the hopes of catching a burglar, and as a burglar loves sneaking up behind people with binoculars, suddenly realizing that she has left her dagger at home. I will love you as a drawer loves a secret compartment, and as a secret compartment loves a secret, and as a secret loves to make a person gasp, and as a gasping person loves a glass of brandy to calm their nerves, and as a glass of brandy loves to shatter on the floor, and as the noise of glass shattering loves to make someone else gasp, and as someone else gasping loves a nearby desk to lean against, even if leaning against it presses a lever that loves to open a drawer and reveal a secret compartment. I will love you until all such compartments are discovered and opened, and until all the secrets have gone gasping into the world. I will love you until all the codes and hearts have been broken and until every anagram and egg has been unscrambled. I will love you until every fire is extinguised and until every home is rebuilt from the handsomest and most susceptible of woods, and until every criminal is handcuffed by the laziest of policemen. I will love until M. hates snakes and J. hates grammar, and I will love you until C. realizes S. is not worthy of his love and N. realizes he is not worthy of the V. I will love you until the bird hates a nest and the worm hates an apple, and until the apple hates a tree and the tree hates a nest, and until a bird hates a tree and an apple hates a nest, although honestly I cannot imagine that last occurrence no matter how hard I try. I will love you as we grow older, which has just happened, and has happened again, and happened several days ago, continuously, and then several years before that, and will continue to happen as the spinning hands of every clock and the flipping pages of every calendar mark the passage of time, except for the clocks that people have forgotten to wind and the calendars that people have forgotten to place in a highly visible area. I will love you as we find ourselves farther and farther from one another, where we once we were so close that we could slip the curved straw, and the long, slender spoon, between our lips and fingers respectively. I will love you until the chances of us running into one another slip from slim to zero, and until your face is fogged by distant memory, and your memory faced by distant fog, and your fog memorized by a distant face, and your distance distanced by the memorized memory of a foggy fog. I will love you no matter where you go and who you see, no matter where you avoid and who you don’t see, and no matter who sees you avoiding where you go. I will love you no matter what happens to you, and no matter how I discover what happens to you, and no matter what happens to me as I discover this, and now matter how I am discovered after what happens to me as I am discovering this.
”
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Lemony Snicket
β€œ
It starts so young, and I'm angry about that. The garbage we're taught. About love, about what's "romantic." Look at so many of the so-called romantic figures in books and movies. Do we ever stop and think how many of them would cause serious and drastic unhappiness after The End? Why are sick and dangerous personality types so often shown a passionate and tragic and something to be longed for when those are the very ones you should run for your life from? Think about it. Heathcliff. Romeo. Don Juan. Jay Gatsby. Rochester. Mr. Darcy. From the rigid control freak in The Sound of Music to all the bad boys some woman goes running to the airport to catch in the last minute of every romantic comedy. She should let him leave. Your time is so valuable, and look at these guys--depressive and moody and violent and immature and self-centered. And what about the big daddy of them all, Prince Charming? What was his secret life? We dont know anything about him, other then he looks good and comes to the rescue.
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Deb Caletti (The Secret Life of Prince Charming)
β€œ
What do you want to show me?" "Nothing, really. I just want to be alone with you for a minute." He pulled her to the back of the driveway, where they were almost completely hidden by a line of trees and the RV and the garage. "Seriously?" she said. "That was so lame." "I know," he said, turning to her. "Next time, I'll just say, 'Eleanor, follow me down this dark alley, I want to kiss you.'" She didn't roll her eyes. She took a breath, then closed her mouth. He was learning how to catch her off guard. She pushed her hands deeper in her pockets, so he put his hands on her elbows. "Next time," he said, "I'll just say, 'Eleanor, duck behind these bushes with me, I'm going to lose my mind if I don't kiss you.'" She didn't move, so he thought it was probably okay to touch her face. Her skin was as soft as it looked, white and smooth as freckled porcelain. "I'll just say, 'Eleanor, follow me down this rabbit hole...'" He laid his thumb on her lips to see if she'd pull away. She didn't. He leaned closer. He wanted to close his eyes, but he didn't trust her not to leave him standing there.
”
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Rainbow Rowell (Eleanor & Park)
β€œ
No problem," Gale replies. "I wake up ten times a night anyway." "To make sure Katniss is still here?" asks Peeta. "Something like that,"... "That was funny, what Tigris said. About no one knowing what to do with her." "Well, WE never have,"... "She loves you, you know," says Peeta. "She as good as told me after they whipped you." "Don't believe it,"Gale answers. "The way she kissed you in the Quarter Quell...well she never kissed me like that." "It was just part of the show," Peeta tells him, although there's an edge of doubt in his voice. "No, you won her over. Gave up everything for her. Maybe that's the only way to convince her you love her." There's a long pause. "I should have volunteered to take your place in the first Games. Protected her then." "You couldn't," says Peeta. "She'd never have forgiven you. You had to take care of her family. They matter more to her than her life." ... "I wonder how she'll make up her mind." "Oh, that I do know." I can just catch Gale's last words through the layer of fur. "Katniss will pick whoever she thinks she can't survive without
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Suzanne Collins (Mockingjay (The Hunger Games, #3))
β€œ
Yes,” I whisper. The red blinking light on one of the cameras catches my eye. I know I’m being recorded. β€œYes,” I say more forcefully. Everyone is drawing away from meβ€”Gale, Cressida, the insectsβ€”giving me the stage. But I stay focused on the red light. β€œI want to tell the rebels that I am alive. That I’m right here in District Eight, where the Capitol has just bombed a hospital full of unarmed men, women, and children. There will be no survivors.” The shock I’ve been feeling begins to give way to fury. β€œI want to tell people that if you think for one second the Capitol will treat us fairly if there’s a cease-fire, you’re deluding yourself. Because you know who they are and what they do.” My hands go out automatically, as if to indicate the whole horror around me. β€œThis is what they do! And we must fight back!” I’m moving in toward the camera now, carried forward by my rage. β€œPresident Snow says he’s sending us a message? Well, I have one for him. You can torture us and bomb us and burn our districts to the ground, but do you see that?” One of the cameras follows as I point to the planes burning on the roof of the warehouse across from us. The Capitol seal on a wing glows clearly through the flames. β€œFire is catching!” I am shouting now, determined that he will not miss a word. β€œAnd if we burn, you burn with us!
”
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Suzanne Collins (Mockingjay (The Hunger Games, #3))
β€œ
You destroy me." "Juliette," he says and he mouths the name, barely speaking at all, and he's pouring molten lava into my limbs and I never even knew I could melt straight to death. "I want you," he says. He says "I want all of you. I want you inside and out and catching your breath and aching for me like I ache for you." He says it like it's a lit cigarette lodged in his throat, like he wants to dip me in warm honey and he says "It's never been a secret. I've never tried to hide that from you. I've never pretended I wanted anything less." "You-you said you wanted f-friendship-" "Yes," he says, he swallows, "I did. I do. I do want to be your friend. He nods and I register the slight movement in the air between us. "I want to be the friend you fall hopelessly in love with. The one you take into your arms and into your bed and into the private world you keep trapped in your head. I want to be that kind of friend," he says. "The one who will memorize the things you say as well as the shape of your lips when you say them. I want to know every curve, every freckle, every shiver of your body, Juliette-" "No," I gasp. "Don't-don't s-say that-" "I want to know where to touch you," he says. "I want to know how to touch you. I want to know how to convince you to design a smile just for me." I feel his chest rising, falling, up and down and up and down and "Yes," he says. "I do want to be your friend." He says "I want to be your best friend in the entire world." "I want so many things," he whispers. "I want your mind. Your strength. I want to be worth your time." His fingers graze the hem of my top and he says "I want this up." He tugs on the waist of my pants and says "I want these down." He touches the tips of his fingers to the sides of my body and says, "I want to feel your skin on fire. I want to feel your heart racing next to mine and I want to know it's racing because of me, because you want me. Because you never," he says, he breathes, "never want me to stop. I want every second. Every inch of you. I want all of it." And I drop dead, all over the floor. "Juliette." I can't understand why I can still hear him speaking because I'm dead, I'm already dead, I've died over and over and over again. He swallows, hard, his chest heaving, his words a breathless, shaky whisper when he says "I'm so-I'm so desperately in love with you-
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Tahereh Mafi (Unravel Me (Shatter Me, #2))