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September 18, 2017 - January 1, 2018
politeness is deception in pretty packaging.”
Human reason can excuse any evil; that is why it’s so important that we don’t rely on it.
I believe in ordinary acts of bravery, in the courage that drives one person to stand up for another.
“He hurt you because your strength made him feel weak. No other reason.”
“We believe in bravery. We believe in taking action. We believe in freedom from fear and in acquiring the skills to force the bad out of our world so that the good can prosper and thrive.
I READ SOMEWHERE, once, that crying defies scientific explanation. Tears are only meant to lubricate the eyes. There is no real reason for tear glands to overproduce tears at the behest of emotion. I think we cry to release the animal parts of us without losing our humanity. Because inside me is a beast that snarls, and growls, and strains toward freedom, toward Tobias, and, above all, toward life. And as hard as I try, I cannot kill it.
“Insurgent,” he says. “Noun. A person who acts in opposition to the established authority, who is not necessarily regarded as a belligerent.”
People, I have discovered, are layers and layers of secrets. You believe you know them, that you understand them, but their motives are always hidden from you, buried in their own hearts. You will never know them, but sometimes you decide to trust them.
she isn’t just beautiful in spite of the scar, she’s somehow beautiful with it,
“Do remember, though, that sometimes the people you oppress become mightier than you would like.”
“You were afraid of shooting people?” “No,” I say. “I was afraid of my considerable capacity to kill.”
How many young men fear that there is a monster inside them? People are supposed to fear others, not themselves.
“You know what the Abnegation used to say about pride?” “Something unfavorable, I assume.” I laugh. “Obviously. They said it blinds people to the truth of what they are.”
If someone offers you an opportunity to get closer to your enemy, you always take it.
when you control information, or manipulate it, you don’t need force to keep people under your thumb. They stay there willingly.
I belong to the people I love, and they belong to me—they, and the love and loyalty I give them, form my identity far more than any word or group ever could.
There are so many ways to be brave in this world. Sometimes bravery involves laying down your life for something bigger than yourself, or for someone else. Sometimes it involves giving up everything you have ever known, or everyone you have ever loved, for the sake of something greater. But sometimes it doesn’t. Sometimes it is nothing more than gritting your teeth through pain, and the work of every day, the slow walk toward a better life.
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.
