Neal Shusterman > Quotes

“Stupid dreams. Even the good ones are bad, because they remind you how poorly reality measures up.”
― Neal Shusterman, Unwind

“In a perfect world everything would be either black or white, right or wrong, and everyone would know the difference. But this isn't a perfect world. The problem is people who think it is.”
― Neal Shusterman, Unwind

“I'd rather be partly great than entirely useless.”
― Neal Shusterman, Unwind

“...One thing you learn when you've lived as long as I have-people aren't all good, and people aren't all bad. We move in and out of darkness and light all of our lives. Right now, I'm pleased to be in the light.”
― Neal Shusterman, Unwind

“My greatest wish for humanity is not for peace or comfort or joy. It is that we all still die a little inside every time we witness the death of another. For only the pain of empathy will keep us human. There’s no version of God that can help us if we ever lose that.”
― Neal Shusterman, Scythe

“Nice socks.”
― Neal Shusterman, Unwind

“You see, a conflict always begins with an issue - a difference of opinion, an argument. But by the time it turns into a war, the issue doesn't matter anymore, because now it's about one thing and one thing only: how much each side hates the other.”
― Neal Shusterman, Unwind

“Hope in the shadow of fear is the world's most powerful motivator.”
― Neal Shusterman, Scythe

“You can't change laws without first changing human nature.'
-Nurse Greta

You can't change human nature without first changing the law.'
-Nurse Yvonne”
― Neal Shusterman, Unwind

“Words don't hurt you." Which is one of the hugest criminal lies perpetrated by adults against children in this world. Because words hurt more than any physical pain.”
― Neal Shusterman, UnWholly

“Without the threat of suffering, we can’t experience true joy.”
― Neal Shusterman, Scythe

“Sure, I can talk like you, but I choose not to, It's like an art, you know? Picasso had to prove to the world he could paint the right way, before he goes putting both eyes on the side of a face... See if you paint wrong because that's the best you can do, you just a chump. But you do it because you want to? Then you're an artist...You can take that to the grave and dig it up when you need it.”
― Neal Shusterman, Unwind

“Death must exist for life to have meaning.”
― Neal Shusterman, Thunderhead

“Everyone is guilty of something, and everyone still harbors a memory of childhood innocence, no matter how many layers of life wrap around it. Humanity is innocent; humanity is guilty, and both states are undeniably true.”
― Neal Shusterman, Scythe

“I think all young women are cursed with a streak of unrelenting foolishness, and all young men are cursed with a streak of absolute stupidity.”
― Neal Shusterman, Scythe

“It's funny how a flame can only burn your hand if you move too slow, you can tease it all you want and it never gets you, if you're quick enough.”
― Neal Shusterman, Unwind

“Dead kids are put on pedestals, but mentally ill kids get hidden under the rug.”
― Neal Shusterman, Challenger Deep

“The sad truth about humanity...is that people believe what they're told. Maybe not the first time, but by the hundredth time, the craziest of ideas just becomes a given.”
― Neal Shusterman, UnWholly

“I'm scared," he says.
"I know," says the nurse.
"I want you all to go to Hell."
"That's natural.”
― Neal Shusterman, Unwind

“The greatest achievement of the human race was not conquering death. It was ending government.”
― Neal Shusterman, Scythe

“Roland glares at Connor and Connor glares back. Then he says what he always says at moments like this.
"Nice socks."
Although Roland doesn't look down right away, it derails him just enough for him to back off. He doesn't check to see if his socks match until he thinks Connor isn't looking. And the moment he does, Connor snickers. Small victories are bet­ter than none.”
― Neal Shusterman, Unwind

“Looks are deceiving," Risa says. "After all, when I first saw you I thought you looked reasonably intelligent.”
― Neal Shusterman, Unwind

“Unwinds didn't go out with a bang-they didn't even go out with a whimper. they went out with the silence of a candle flame pinched between two fingers.”
― Neal Shusterman, Unwind

“If you’ve ever studied mortal age cartoons, you’ll remember this one. A coyote was always plotting the demise of a smirking long-necked bird. The coyote never succeeded; instead, his plans always backfired. He would blow up, or get shot, or splat from a ridiculous height.

And it was funny.

Because no matter how deadly his failure, he was always back in the next scene, as if there were a revival center just beyond the edge of the animation cell.

I’ve seen human foibles that have resulted in temporary maiming or momentary loss of life. People stumble into manholes, are hit by falling objects, trip into the paths of speeding vehicles.

And when it happens, people laugh, because no matter how gruesome the event, that person, just like the coyote, will be back in a day or two, as good as new, and no worse—or wiser—for the wear.

Immortality has turned us all into cartoons.”
― Neal Shusterman, Scythe

“if we were judged by the things we most regret, no human being would be worthy to sweep the floor.”
― Neal Shusterman, Thunderhead

“That's what law is: educated guesses at right and wrong.”
― Neal Shusterman, Unwind

“Fight, flight, and screw up royaly.”
― Neal Shusterman, Unwind

“Mortals fantasied that love was eternal and its loss unimaginable. Now we know neither is true. Love remained mortal, while we became eternal.”
― Neal Shusterman, Scythe

“Getting to know someone in blind darkness changes your impression of them.”
― Neal Shusterman, Unwind

“Because rain is the closest thing I have to tears.”
― Neal Shusterman, Thunderhead