Neal Shusterman famous quotes

I'd rather be partly great than entirely useless.
-- Neal Shusterman

#Inspiring #Failure #Optimistic

Once in a while our school has half days, and the teachers spend the afternoon 'in service,' which I think must be a group therapy for having to deal with us.
-- Neal Shusterman

#Teacher #School #Thinking

Cities are never random. No matter how chaotic they might seem, everything about them grows out of a need to solve a problem. In fact, a city is nothing more than a solution to a problem, that in turn creates more problems that need more solutions, until towers rise, roads widen, bridges are built, and millions of people are caught up in a mad race to feed the problem-solving, problem-creating frenzy.
-- Neal Shusterman

#Race #Bridges #Cities

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

#Art #Eye #Needs

Either things happen for a reason, or they happen for no reason at all. Either one's life is a thread in a glorious tapestry or humanity is just a hopelessly tangled knot.
-- Neal Shusterman

#Tangled #Humanity #Life Is

Touch is a freaky thing when you're not used to it. It makes you feel all kinds of things.
-- Neal Shusterman

#Kind #Used #Freaky

I think all mothers are alike, regardless of cultural background, when it comes to illogical cleaning.
-- Neal Shusterman

#Mother #Thinking #Cleaning

the captain is supposed to go down with the ship" . "unless the first mate knocks him out and throws him in a lifeboat
-- Neal Shusterman

#Ships #Firsts #Captains

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

#Dream #Stupid #Reality

When you truly start to care about someone you become vulnerable to all sorts of things.
-- Neal Shusterman

#Care #Vulnerable #Cares About Someone

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

#Hurt #Children #Pain

If your heart tells you something but your mind tells you something else, which do you believe? Both are just as apt to lie. In fact, they play at deceit all the time. Mostly they balance each other, giving us that crucial reality check. But what happens on the rare occasions when they conspire together?
-- Neal Shusterman

#Lying #Believe #Heart

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

#War #Hate #Differences

Hope can be bruised and battered. It can be forced underground and even rendered unconscious, but hope cannot be killed.
-- Neal Shusterman

#Unconscious

It's amazing that something as simple as a kiss can overpower the worst of worries.
-- Neal Shusterman

#Kissing #Simple #Worry

(Why did they call them sneakers if it was so hard to sneak in them?)
-- Neal Shusterman

#Sneakers #Sneak

That's wisdom you can take to the grave, and dig up when you need it!
-- Neal Shusterman

#Needs #Graves

That's what law is: educated guesses at right and wrong.
-- Neal Shusterman

#Law #Educated

Why are you still with me, Fry?" CyFi asks after one of his body-shaking seizures. "Any sane dude woulda taken off days ago. "Who says I'm sane?" "Oh, you're sane, Fry. You're so sane, you scare me. You're so sane, it's insane.
-- Neal Shusterman

#Taken #Scare #Insane

Don’t I have a choice in this?” But when she looks behind her, the answer is clear. There are two guards waiting to make sure that she has no choice at all. And as they lead her away, she thinks of Mr. Durkin. With a bitter laugh, Risa realizes that he may get his wish after all. Someday he may see her hands playing in Carnegie Hall. Unfortunately, the rest of Risa won’t be there.
-- Neal Shusterman

#Thinking #Hands #Two

The Admiral's using us," he says to the kids around him. "Don't you see that?" Most of the kids just shrug, but Hayden's there, and he never misses an opportunity to add his peculiar wisdom to a situation. "I'd rather be used whole than in pieces," Hayden says.
-- Neal Shusterman

#Kids #Opportunity #Missing

...the Statue of Liberty's got this invitation: 'Give me your tired, your poor, your reeking homeless--' 'Huddled masses,' said Ira. 'Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.' ... Okay, fine. So like everybody in the old countries says, 'Hey, I'm a huddled mass,' and they all wanna come over.
-- Neal Shusterman

#Country #Tired #Giving

You...you lost your faith?" "No...just my convictions. I still very much believe in God- just not a god who condones human tithing." Lev begins to feel himself choking up with an unexpected flood of feeling, all the emotions that had been building up throughout their talk- throughout the weeks- arriving all at once like a sonic boom. "I never knew there was a choice.
-- Neal Shusterman

#Believe #Choices #Feelings

...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

#Moving #Light #Long

Getting to know someone in blind darkness changes your impression of them.
-- Neal Shusterman

#Darkness #Blind #Impression

It does, Tennyson, because there’s a fine line between confidence and arrogance. There’s a fine line between being assertive and being a bully. And you’re on the wrong side of both lines.
-- Neal Shusterman

#Bully #Arrogance #Lines

The homes here are almost identical, but not quite, full of people almost identical, but not quite.
-- Neal Shusterman

#Home #People #Identical

think of it this way," he said "It took nine months to get you born, so doesn't it figure it would take nine months to get you dead?
-- Neal Shusterman

#Thinking #Nine #Way

Then you'd better listen, because me sounding like Bronte is one of the signs of the apocalypse-and if the end fo the world is coming, good deeds could earn you Judgment day brownie points.
-- Neal Shusterman

#World #Deeds #Judgment

Most people have two emergency modes. Fight and Flight. But Conner always knew he had three. Fight, Flight, and Screw Up Royally.
-- Neal Shusterman

#Fighting #Two #People

I believe that we have free will. I believe we get the chance to make choices in our lives. Not everything is set in stone from the moment we're born. We choose our destiny, our ultimate fate. But I also think that we don't realize the choices we've made until after we make them. We're racing down a freeway, only to realize we've missed all the exits, and the only direction we can go is dead ahead.
-- Neal Shusterman

#Believe #Fate #Destiny

When it comes to such open-heart reflection, I'm a firm believer in the observer effect, which states that anything you try to observe is automatically changed by the mere fact that you're looking at it. The way I see it, if you try to study your emotions on a microscopic level, the best you can do is understand how it feels to hold the magnifying glass.
-- Neal Shusterman

#Heart #Reflection #Glasses

A family is a collection of strangers trapped in a web of DNA and forced to cope.
-- Neal Shusterman

#Dna #Stranger #Collections

From the end of the bar, the bartender threw a sidelong look at him, so Clarence pulled out a broken Bluetooth headset and fixed it to his ear. "I learned this trick while traveling with Mikey," Clarence told Nick. "Makes my brand of crazy the same as everyone else's.
-- Neal Shusterman

#Crazy #Broken #Bars

For standing between Cody and his pain is my obligation, and standing between my uncle and his pain is my rent, but the pain I coax from Bronte is my joy
-- Neal Shusterman

#Uncles #Pain #Joy

Happiness is not a state of being. Happiness is a vector, it is movement.
-- Neal Shusterman

#Vectors #Movement #States

...New Beginning to the same old story
-- Neal Shusterman

#New Beginnings #Stories

Mooooon!” said the Ogre. “Tranquility …” Then he pointed at the full moon. “Neil Armstrong walked in a sea of Tranquility.” Then he added, “It’s made of cheese. But you have to take off the plastic before you put it on a burger.” Mickey sighed. “What’s his story?” the wraith asked. “He’s chocolate,” Mikey said.
-- Neal Shusterman

#Moon #Sea #Chocolate

How can you do the right thing when you can't figure out what that is? When all you have before you are choices in various shades of wrong?
-- Neal Shusterman

#Choices #Shade #Figures

Part of my job is to help other kids find books, because not everyone has a keenly organized mind. Some kids could wander the library for hours and still have no idea how to find anything. For them, the Dewey Decimal System might as well be advanced calculus.
-- Neal Shusterman

#Jobs #Book #Kids

It's that quirky kind of weekend feeling they write ridiculous sunny-day songs about. You know the ones--I'm sure they're on your iPod even though you'd never admit it.
-- Neal Shusterman

#Song #Writing #Weekend

But now we've finally taken full possession of what is rightfully ours, because everyone must feel their own pain--and as awful as that is, it's also wonderful.
-- Neal Shusterman

#Pain #Taken #Awful

What can fingerprints mean when they’re not necessarily yours?
-- Neal Shusterman

#Mean #Fingerprints

Then Jix locked eyes with him and said very calmly, "If you hit her, I will open my mouth wide enough to swallow you whole, force you through my bowels, then out my other end." Avalon scowled at him. "You can't do that." "Try me," Jix said. Avalon backed off, then angrily stormed away, and Jix winked at Jill. "One in five.
-- Neal Shusterman

#Eye #Trying #Avalon

Wars are often waged not because of what we believe, but because of the things we want others to believe.
-- Neal Shusterman

#War #Believe #Want

Love, Allie concluded, wasn't blind, it simply saw alternate dimensions.
-- Neal Shusterman

#Dimensions #Saws #Blind

...the first sign of civilization is always trash.
-- Neal Shusterman

#Civilization #Firsts #Trash

It's strange how we always want other people to feel what we feel. It must be a basic human drive. Misery loves company, right? Or when you see a movie that you love, don't you want to drag all your friends to see it as well? Because it's only good the second time if it's the first time for somebody else—as if their experience somehow resonates inside of you.
-- Neal Shusterman

#People #Want #Firsts

No," says Ariana. "It was a dream. Reality got in the way, that's all.
-- Neal Shusterman

#Dream #Reality #Way

Beautiful is dangerous.
-- Neal Shusterman

#Beautiful #Dangerous

So," says Lev, as casually as he can, "you wanna dance?" "Do you believe in the end of the world?" she responds. Lev shrugs. "I don't know. Why?" "Because the day after that is when I'll dance with you.
-- Neal Shusterman

#Believe #World #End Of The World

You don't like her, do you?" "Who, me? No, I love her dearly. Evil scheming ***** are my favorite kind of people." (Risa)
-- Neal Shusterman

#Evil #People #Kind

There's ordinary people out there doing extraordinary things.
-- Neal Shusterman

#People #Ordinary #Ordinary People

What? Were you born stupid, or did you just die that way?
-- Neal Shusterman

#Stupid #Way #Born

Milestone! This is a momentous occasion," he tells her cheerily. "It should be witnessed by a friend." She throws him an icy gaze, and he does a verbal back pedal. "Aaaand since no friends are present, I'll have to do.
-- Neal Shusterman

#No Friends #Icy #Doe

How easy is murder when one calls it by a different name? How much easier is it for the conscience to condone "reaping" than "killing"-and when one knows that death isn't the end, does it stop the killing hand for fear of retribution, or does it simply make it easier to kill, because, if life continues, how can murder be murder at all?
-- Neal Shusterman

#Hands #Names #Doe

One cannot let the events of one's past murder one's future.
-- Neal Shusterman

#Past #Events #Murder

Incredible. It never ceases to amaze Starkey how far society will go to protect the children it loves and to discard the ones it doesn’t.
-- Neal Shusterman

#Children #Incredibles #Protect

Good in Crisis; Sucks at Normal.’ That about sums up my whole life, doesn’t it?
-- Neal Shusterman

#Normal #Crisis #Whole Life

You should never apologize for existing, Lev. Not even to all those people out there who wish you didn't.
-- Neal Shusterman

#People #Wish #Apologizing

I came running down the stairs that morning, like it was Christmas. My parents were already up. In my family, presents never waited; they were there upon waking. Our family has a problem with what they called delayed gratification. We want what we want when we want it, and we always want it now.
-- Neal Shusterman

#Running #Morning #Parent

People would cheer throw confetti and then go about breaking the resolutions they had made only moments before.
-- Neal Shusterman

#Cheer #People #Moments

I'm against solutions that are worse than the problem. Like old women who want their hair dyed the color of shoe polish to hide the gray.
-- Neal Shusterman

#Color #Shoes #Hair

So is darkness better than a heartfelt lie?
-- Neal Shusterman

#Lying #Heartfelt #Darkness

Whoever invented the spork should be killed.
-- Neal Shusterman

#Should #Sporks

The way I see it, the impossible happens all the time; but we're so good at taking it for granted, we forget it was once impossible.
-- Neal Shusterman

#Way #Impossible #Forget

You can't change laws without first changing human nature.
-- Neal Shusterman

#Law #Firsts #Human Nature

When you live a life without questions, you're unprepared for the questions when they come.
-- Neal Shusterman

#Unprepared

Sure, when you're in the midst of your own suffering, it's easy to convince yourself that you're no good—but we are all tested in this life...The measure of a man is not how much he suffers in the test, but how he comes out at the end.
-- Neal Shusterman

#Men #Suffering #Tests

Who says I'm insane?" "Oh you're sane alright. You're so sane, you scare me. You're so sane, it's insane.
-- Neal Shusterman

#Scare #Insane #Sane

The moment you're loved, that's when you got your soul.
-- Neal Shusterman

#Soul #Moments #Your Soul

I know this is your hand now,' she tells him. "Roland would have never touched me like that." Connor smiles, and Risa takes a moment to look down at the shark on his wrist. It holds no fear for her now, because the shark has been tamed by the soul of a boy. No- the soul of a man.
-- Neal Shusterman

#Men #Boys #Sharks

Can I believe in that God too?
-- Neal Shusterman

#Believe #I Believe #I Believe In

How can you pass laws about things that nobody knows?" "They do it all the time," says Hayden. "That's what law is: educated guesses at right and wrong.
-- Neal Shusterman

#Law #Educated #Nobody Knows

But this isn't a perfect world. The problem is people who think it is. -Connor
-- Neal Shusterman

#Thinking #Perfect #People

Adulthood can do the most horrific things to the best of people.
-- Neal Shusterman

#People #Horrific #Adulthood

As your older brother, it's my sacred duty to save you from yourself." She brings her fists down on the table, making all the dinner plates jump. "The ONLY reason you're fifteen minutes older than me is because you cut in front of the line, as usual!
-- Neal Shusterman

#Brother #Cutting #Dinner Plates

Do you know that if you take the books in an average school library and stretched out all those words into a single line, the line would go all the way around the world? Actually, I made that up, but doesn't it sound like it should be true?
-- Neal Shusterman

#Book #School #Average

Love turns a heart to crystal...Much more valuable, but much more fragile.
-- Neal Shusterman

#Heart #Crystals #Valuable

In short, there are mysteries of science and of soul that will never be understood no matter how hard we measure, no matter how strongly we believe, no matter how deep our think tanks and how high our aspirations. But as anyone will tell you—for we all know this within our hearts—the impossible happens and grand cosmic mysteries are solved on a regular basis, although most of the time the solutions lead to even greater mysteries.
-- Neal Shusterman

#Believe #Heart #Thinking

We move in and out of darkness and light all our lives. Right now I'm pleased to be in the light.
-- Neal Shusterman

#Moving #Light #Darkness

You are so obtuse!" Brontë says, exasperated. I am calm in my response. "Do you mean stupid, or angular? You need to be more specific with your insults.
-- Neal Shusterman

#Stupid #Mean #Needs

They say you never know who's the real hero and who's the real coward until you're looking death in the face. I've always been afraid of plenty of things, but fear isn't what makes you a coward. It's how depraved your heart becomes when fear gets pumped through it.
-- Neal Shusterman

#Real #Hero #Heart

Because if their own parents didn't care enough about them to keep them, who would want them in Heaven?
-- Neal Shusterman

#Parent #Heaven #Care

I mean, it's like we all get our raw materials from our families―but it's up to us whether we build bridges or bombs.
-- Neal Shusterman

#Mean #Bridges #Raw Materials

The way I see it, truth only looks good when you're looking at it from far away. It's kind of like that beautiful girl you see on the street when you're riding past in the bus...there she is, this amazing girl walking by on the street, and you think if you could only get off this stupid bus and introduce yourself to her, your life would change. The thing is, she's not as perfect as you think, and if you ever got off the bus to introduce yourself, you'd find out... This girl is truth. She's not so pretty, not so nice. But then, once you get to know her, all that stuff doesn't seem to matter.
-- Neal Shusterman

#Beautiful #Girl #Nice

There's a set of unspoken rules we live by when it comes to fighting. We can't help it. It comes from living in a civilized world. Even when you're fighting your hardest, somewhere deep down, you know how far you can go. But today the rules are gone. Today I fight not to win, but to destroy.
-- Neal Shusterman

#Life #Fighting #Winning

Should I push him or should I throw him?" Howie asks. "Do what comes naturally," I yelled back. "I don't know," he says. "This is a very unnatural thing.
-- Neal Shusterman

#Should