The Declaration Quotes

“He said that we belonged together because he was born with a flower and I was born with a butterfly and that flowers and butterflies need each other for survival.”
― Gemma Malley, The Declaration

“Because no one needs to live for ever. I think that sometimes you can outstay your welcome.
”
― Gemma Malley, The Declaration

“Surplus meant unnecessary. Not required.
You couldn’t be a Surplus if you were needed by someone else. You couldn’t be a Surplus if you were loved.
”
― Gemma Malley, The Declaration

“I love you Anna Covey,' he said, his voice barely audible. And slowly, clumsily, he leant forward, and his lips found hers, and Anna felt him kiss her awkwardly, she knew that she wasn't a Surplus any more. And nor was Peter.”
― Gemma Malley, The Declaration

“But there was nothing beautiful about the word "brainwash". To clean the brain. To strip it bare.”
― Gemma Malley, The Declaration

“He said to me that we belonged toghether because he was born with a flower and I was born with a butterfly and that Flower and Butterfly need each other to survive”
― Gemma Malley , The Declaration

“I love you, Anna Covey,' he said, his voice barely audible. And slowly, clumsily, he leant forward, and his lips found hers, and as Anna felt him kiss her awkwardly, she knew that she wasn't a Surplus anymore. And nor was Peter.

Surplus meant unnecessary. Not required.

You couldn't be a Surplus if you were needed by someone else. You couldn't be a Surplus if you were loved.”
― Gemma Malley, The Declaration

“Reading and writing were a dangerous business; they made you think.”
― Gemma Malley, The Declaration

“Nature is not about preserving old things, but about creating new ones. New life. New ideas.”
― Gemma Malley, The Declaration

“But each time, nothing was done, because change carried risks, because change led to instability, because new technology meant using precious energy, and because, at the end of the day, no one really cared.”
― Gemma Malley, The Declaration

“But was falling such a bad thing, she wondered. Was it, perhaps better to see the top of the mountain, even if only for a moment, than never to even try? Or was it that the higher you allow yourself to climb, the further you have to come crashing down to earth?”
― Gemma Malley, The Declaration

“I think flowers can be just as important as food, sometimes. I think id depends what you're hungry for.”
― Gemma Malley, The Declaration

“...Sometimes her curiosity got the better of her and she found herself furtively asking questions about his life before Grange Hall, pretending as she did so that she wasn't really that interested. The truth was that Peter was a window through which Anna could glimpse the world outside, and the temptation to keep looking was quite overwhelming.”
― Gemma Malley, The Declaration

“Everyone would fear her again. And love her, of course. Mrs Pincent needed to be loved as much as wanted to be feared-to her they were two sides of the same coin. Both gave her total control.”
― Gemma Malley, The Declaration

“The snow is not falling for you.”
― Gemma Malley, The Declaration

“It was his eyes, so challenging and with a piercing look about them. They were eyes that trusted in nothing and they made her uncomfortable around him, self-conscious.”
― Gemma Malley, The Declaration

“What does time matter when every moment is stolen anyway?”
― Gemma Malley, The Declaration

“Usually she loved to learn new words, treating them as exciting possessions that she could employ as she chose-in her journal, in her conversation-relishing the newness and beauty of each one.”
― Gemma Malley, The Declaration

“The truth was that she'd never realised how absorbing it could be to write.”
― Gemma Malley, The Declaration

“Il dit qu'on est faits l'un pour l'autre, parce qu'il est né avec une fleur et moi un papillon, et que les fleurs et les papillons ont besoin les uns des autres pour survivre.”
― Gemma Malley, The Declaration

“Peter, ona sarı bir çiçek uzattı ve "Bu senin için," dedi gururla. "Bir nergis." Sonra kulağına eğilerek, "Doğuya gittiğimizde her yanımız çiçeklerle dolu olacak. Kelebeğim için rengârenk çiçekler.”
― Gemma Malley, The Declaration

“Artık gereksiz demekti. İstenmeyen demekti.
Size ihtiyaç duyan biri varken Artık olamazdınız. Sizi seven biri varken Artık olamazdınız.”
― Gemma Malley, The Declaration

“Bizim birbirimize ait olduğumuzu söyledi: çünkü o bir çiçekle doğmuş, ben de bir kelebekle... Hayatta kalabilmek için çiçekle kelebeklerin birbirine ihtiyacı varmış.”
― Gemma Malley, The Declaration

“I know that we have to live each moment because we won’t be here for ever, and that I wouldn’t want to be anyway, because knowing something’s going to end makes you appreciate it more, makes you want to savour every moment.
And I know that I won’t sign the Declaration, even if it makes me different, even if it makes me suspicious. Because no one needs to live for ever.
I think that sometimes you can outstay your welcome.”
― Gemma Malley, The Declaration

“But I do know that the world is the most beautiful place to be and that we're very lucky to be here. I know that we have to live each moment because we won't be here for ever, and that I wouldn't want to be anyway, because knowing something's going to end makes you appreciate it more, makes you want to savour every moment.”
― Gemma Malley, The Declaration

“But sometimes they all craved a little bit of danger, of excitement, of meaning, even if only to reinforce how very comfortable and secure their lives really were.”
― Gemma Malley, The Declaration

“I vow to serve, to pay my dues
And train myself for Legal use.
I vow to bear the Surplus shame
And repay Nature for the same
I vow to listen, not to speak;
To steel myself when I am weak.
I vow to work and most of all
To serve the State if it should call.”
― Gemma Malley, The Declaration

“It doesn't feel dangerous, it feels exciting, even though they're probably the same thing.”
― Gemma Malley, The Declaration

“There's a whole world out there, Anna, a whole world for us to explore.”
― Gemma Malley, The Declaration

“But it was a restless sleep, and throughout the night her dreams were filled with crying children, a woman screaming and a little butterfly, trapped in a cold, grey prison.”
― Gemma Malley, The Declaration