Specials Scott Westerfeld Quotes

I love you all. But it's time to say good-bye, for now. be careful with the world, or the next time we meet, it might get ugly. -Tally Youngblood

I don't want to hurt you but I will if I have too - Tally Youngblood

Having a brain hurt so much sometimes.

And over all those sleepy weeks, the dream always ended the same way, with the dragon coming for the princess saying the same words every time.... "Face it, Tally-wa, you're Special.

It didn't matter what you looked like. It was how you carried yourself, how you saw yourself.

And a special thanks for not burning up the whole ship. Including yourself, you daft bum-rag.

That Shay was in possesion of hand grenades was a comforting thought showed what kind of night this had become.

your not alone, Tally. Don't pretend you are

Tally, do you ever suffer from sudden flashes of anger or euphoria, countersocial impulses, or feelings of superiority?

Listen, you bubblehead-up-until-five-minutes-ago...

It doesn't take much convincing to make someone believe they're better than everyone else.

Frighteningly Beautiful, Dangerously Strong, Breathtakingly Fast. Face it Tally-wa you're special...

you just took on five million years of evolution again

The world needed more fireworks- especially now that there was going to be a shortage of beautiful, useless things.

I can pick up the city feeds on my antenna. It said they were going to change you all. Turn you into something less dangerous. Are you still...?" She gazed at him. "What do you think, David?" He peered into her eyes for a long moment, then sighed and shook his head. "You just look like Tally to me." She looked down, her vision blurring. What's the matter?" Nothing, David." She shook her head. "You just took on five million years of evolution again." I what? Did I say something wrong?" No." She smiled. "You said something right.

She carried a knife inside of herself now, one that was always cutting her. She could feel it every time she swallowed, every time her thoughts strayed from the splendor of the wild.

they walked with a pedatory grace.... one of them ripped off their hood and said, "my name is Tally Youngblood and is a special circumstance"....

So what are those balloons for? In case you fall off your hoverboard?' -- Tally to Peris

Tally turned away. Five minutes was suddenly too long to stand here, eyes burning, unable to cry.

That was the whole point of being special: You existed to make sure everyone else behaved, but that didn't mean YOU had to.

What about a hoverboard?" "It's waiting on the roof, of course." Dr. Cable snorted. "What is it about you miscreants and those things?

I'm not sure what I am anymore... Sometimes I think I'm nothing but what other people have done to me―a big collection of brainwashing, surgeries, and cures... That, and all the mistakes I've made. All the people I've disappointed.

you're infamous, Tally. Everyone's terrified of you. The new system may have made the other cities nervous, but they seem to think my little gang of psychotic sixteen-year-olds is worse" - Cable to Tally

That was one problem with dramatic exits: Sometimes they wound up making you look like a bubblehead.

Keep challenging the gods

She'd never have to cut herself again. She carries a knife inside herself now, one that was always cutting her. She could feel it every time she swallowed, every time her thoughts strayed.

From now on, no one rewires my mind but me.

By plucking her petals you do not gather the beauty of the flower. —Rabindranath Tagore, “Stray Birds

Controlling someone by changing their brain is like trying to stop a hovercar by digging a ditch. If they think hard enough, they can fly right over.

Face it, Tally-wa, you're special

I don't want to hurt you but I will if I have too

Face it, Tally-wa, you're Special.

Sometimes I think I’m nothing but what other people have done to me

Without lesions making everyone agreeable, society was left roiling in a constant battle of words, images, and ideas. All around her Tally felt the city seething, all those unfettered minds bouncing their opinions off each other, like something ready to explode.

My name’s Tally Youngblood,” she said. “Sorry to disturb you, but this is a special circumstance.

But having a brain hurt so much sometimes.

We're too busy being special.

Yeah, you should have seen your face. Actually, I should have seen your face. Stupid sneak suits.

The world’s beauty hurt like razors, and Tally knew she’d never have to cut herself again. She carried a knife inside herself now, one that was always cutting her.

It didn’t matter what you looked like. It was how you carried yourself, how you saw yourself.

But somehow her satisfaction never lasted very long. She always found herself changing, pushing against the limits and ruining things for everyone around her. "It's not always my fault," she said softly. "Things just get complicated, sometimes.

She scanned the captives, looking for Shay and David. The familiar faces in the crowd were haggard, dirty, crumpled by shock and defeat, but Tally realized that she no longer thought of them as ugly. It was the cold expressions of the Specials, beautiful though they were, that seemed horrific to her now. A

And hidden within the agony the strange clarity came again, as if the world had ordered itself into something that made perfect sense.

Maybe this time she could show him what was really inside her, deeper than any operation could reach.

They couldn't see how maddening death really was, how colossally pointless in every way.

One faces the future with one’s past.

It doesn’t take much convincing to make someone believe they’re better than everyone else.

Hookworms,” I said. “Hookworms?” He took the seat next to me. “Never heard of that. ” I sipped from my third Bahamalama-Dingdong. “Well, they burrow in through your feet, using this enzyme that breaks down skin tissue, then travel along the bloodstream till they get into your lungs. They mess up your breathing, so you cough them up. But you know how you always swallow a little bit of phlegm?” One of his eyebrows raised, but he admitted he did. “Well, a few hookworm eggs get swallowed along with the phlegm and travel down into your intestines, where they grow to be about half an inch long.” I held up my fingers a hookworm’s length apart. “And they develop this circle of teeth in their mouths, like a coil of barbed wire. They start chomping into your intestinal wall and sucking your blood.” I realized I was going into drunken detail here and paused to check if he was still interested. “Really?” His voice sounded a bit dry. I nodded. “Wouldn’t lie to you, Dave. But here’s the cool thing. They produce this special anticlotting factor, kind of like blood antifreeze, so the wound doesn’t scab over. You become a sort of temporary hemophiliac, just in that one spot. Your intestines won’t stop bleeding until the hookworm gets its fill!” “Hookworms, huh?” he asked. “That’s what they’re called.” Dave nodded gravely, standing back up. He grasped my shoulder firmly, a serious expression on his face. His thoughtful features seemed to reflect for a moment the hard road I had in front of me. “Good luck with that,” he said.

Face it, Tally-wa, you’re Special.

Tally's body is constantly changing (much like a real teenager's body does) - going from ugly to pretty to Crim to special to ... whatever she is at the end of the series. How much of Tally's body is really hers and not just some smart plastic and ceramic bone? If even her brain is being operated on, then how does Tally stay Tally? How do we know, as readers, that it's still her in there? That she hasn't become totally pretty, or totally special? Through her use of language. Through the things she says, the way she speaks, the slang she uses. When your brain, body, and lifestyle are in a constant state of change, language is your only constant. Language is the way you shape and express your identity.

Tally's journey from ugly to pretty to special and then out the other side is not just a physical journey. It's also a journey through language, as Tally takes on the slang of her various new cliques and then slowly comes to realize that when your body keeps changing, sometimes the way you speak is the only piece of you that you can hold on to.

One faces the future with one’s past. —Pearl S. Buck

It didn’t matter what you looked like. It was how you carried yourself, how you saw yourself. Strength and reflexes were only part of it—Shay simply knew that she was special, and so she was. Everyone else was just wallpaper,

Stay icy, Tally-wa

When the people of the world all know beauty as beauty, There arises the recognition of ugliness. When they all know the good as good, There arises the recognition of evil.

She pulled away, his grip no stronger than the strands of a spider web.