Not Even Bones Quotes

“Pain. Everyone is always in pain. Whether it’s a loose hangnail, a sore joint, a cramped back muscle—something. No human is never not in at least a minute amount of pain.”
― Rebecca Schaeffer, Not Even Bones

“He snorted. “You do remember that I’m on the wrong side of the cage now?”
She turned to him, and the floor was cool against her cheek. “I’m pretty sure we’re both on the wrong side of the cage.”
― Rebecca Schaeffer, Not Even Bones

“I know.” His hand ran across the floor, making shapes in the nonexistent dust. “Have you ever seen those shows starring serial-killer main characters? Dexter? Hannibal? Some of those sexy vampire ones the mafia funds to lure victims to them? They make all sorts of excuses for the serial killers. ‘It’s okay, he’s killing bad guys.’ ‘It’s okay, because it happened offscreen.’ I hate those. I hate when people do that to me. When they try to make me sympathetic, moralize all the decisions that aren’t moral.”
― Rebecca Schaeffer, Not Even Bones

“They thought because the US was a “first-world country,” they didn’t have black markets or human trafficking. Idiots.”
― Rebecca Schaeffer, Not Even Bones

“She would never cross a line she didn't want to again. Not because of something as transient as a conscience, but because of something more concrete. Resolve.”
― Rebecca Schaeffer, Not Even Bones

“But the problem with losing your morality is that sometimes it takes other things with it. You don’t realize the things that are important to you, in order to be the person you want to be, until you’ve already damaged them beyond repair.”
― Rebecca Schaeffer, Not Even Bones

“I won't ever say I'm a good person. I don't want to be. I like who I am - and I don't want to lose that. I don't want to lose me. Because it felt like that's what happened to all of them. They'd lost themselves to their monsters.”
•pg.332 - Kovit”
― Rebecca Schaeffer, Not Even Bones

“When did you cross over into serial killer territory, Nita?”
― Rebecca Schaeffer, Not Even Bones

“Morals were nothing but things to be manipulated with. They were tools you could use against others, and weapons others could use against you.”
― Rebecca Schaeffer, Not Even Bones

“In a weird, twisted way, Nita almost felt like Kovit’s and her stories were opposite facets on the same diamond. Different, sure, but similar in some fundamental ways. It made Nita feel . . . weird. Squiggly, not-quite empathy, but sort of fear-empathy . . . something. Nita couldn’t put it into words.”
― Rebecca Schaeffer, Not Even Bones

“I think, more than anything, people like to feel superior to others... And when people feel superior, it make it harder for them to see the problems just beneath the surface. They don't want to believe them, to face them, because if they did, can they really claim to be superior anymore?”
― Rebecca Schaeffer, Not Even Bones

“This place isn't a town — I shouldn't call it that. It's a shopping mall. And the only people here are the buyers, the sellers, and the products.”
― Rebecca Schaeffer, Not Even Bones

“Piece after piece went into little glass jars. Fingernails were pried off and dropped into vials with little clinks. Hair was shaved off and tied with a ribbon. The skull was sawed off and the brain scooped out, and portioned into little Tupperware containers like a zombie’s lunch. Then Nita stapled the top of the skull back on so they could wave the head around if needed for leverage.”
― Rebecca Schaeffer, Not Even Bones

“Native to Southeast Asia, zannies were skilled torturers, notoriously amoral, and universally despised. Over the years, zannies had spread across the world, and their small population made them highly paid and in higher demand. Every dictator and genocidal maniac worth his salt had a zannie on staff.”
― Rebecca Schaeffer, Not Even Bones

“But, if Nita was being honest with herself, most of her habits and life choices were bad signs.”
― Rebecca Schaeffer, Not Even Bones

“But the problem with losing your morality is that sometimes it takes other things with it. You don't realize the things that are important to you, in order to be the person you want to be, until you've already damaged them beyond repair.”
•pg.333 - Kovit”
― Rebecca Schaeffer, Not Even Bones

“the only person who tries to justify your choices is you.”
― Rebecca Schaeffer, Not Even Bones

“Had little baby Kovit toddled around stabbing his father in the shins and ripping his sister’s hair out? Actually, that probably wasn’t too different from other children.”
― Rebecca Schaeffer, Not Even Bones

“We’re prisoners.” Well, duh. Nita resisted the urge to roll her eyes. This was why she hated people.”
― Rebecca Schaeffer, Not Even Bones

“Kovit tilted his head to the side, like a predatory bird. “Oh, don’t want your men to know how weak you are?”
― Rebecca Schaeffer, Not Even Bones

“It was like celebrities could get away with murder when ordinary people couldn’t. If you were someone important, you were beyond the normal rules of society.”
― Rebecca Schaeffer, Not Even Bones

“Everyone is always in pain. Whether it’s a loose hangnail, a sore joint, a cramped back muscle—something. No human is never not in at least a minute amount of pain.”
― Rebecca Schaeffer, Not Even Bones

“Don’t think, Can you do it? Think, How will you do it?”
― Rebecca Schaeffer, Not Even Bones

“They make all sorts of excuses for the serial killers. ‘It’s okay, he’s killing bad guys.’ ‘It’s okay, because it happened offscreen.’ I hate those.”
― Rebecca Schaeffer, Not Even Bones

“Air conditioning is the best invention in the world.”
― Rebecca Schaeffer, Not Even Bones

“Mirella stared at Nita with wide eyes.”
― Rebecca Schaeffer, Not Even Bones

“Why was there this obsession Americans had that others should learn their language to accommodate them? They were in Peru. Why didn’t those American people learn Spanish?”
― Rebecca Schaeffer, Not Even Bones

“She slipped her earbuds in and flicked on her Disney playlist.”
― Rebecca Schaeffer, Not Even Bones