Carve the Mark (Carve the Mark, #1)

by Veronica Roth

I saw, for the first time, how thin the line was between fear and love, between reverence and adoration.

“Find another reason to go on,” I said. “It doesn’t have to be a good one, or a noble one. It just has to be a reason.”

“I know what it is to become something you hate. I know how it hurts. But life is full of hurt.” Shadows pooled in her eye sockets like they were proving her point. “And your capacity for bearing it is much greater than you believe.”

You don’t know how fate finds you, and neither do I. But until it does, we get to be whatever we can be.”

“Can I kiss you?” he said. “Or will it hurt?” Her eyes went wide. Then she said breathlessly, “And if it hurts?” And smiled a little. “Life is full of hurt anyway.”