Veronica Roth

He is stronger than anyone I know, & warmer than anyone else realizes; he is a secret that I have kept, & will keep, for the rest of my life.

You__e too important to just _ die._ He shakes his head. He won__ even look at me__is eyes keep shifting across myface, to the wall behind me or the ceiling above me, to everything but me. I am too stunned to be angry.____ not important. Everyone will do just fine without me,_ I say.__ho cares about everyone? What about me?

I don't know why, but his reaction disappoints me.

I want to break something, or hit something, but I am afraid to move, so I start crying instead.

... if they are persistent enough, even tiny drops of water, over time, can change the rock forever. And it will never change back." - Zoe

How many young men fear that there is a monster inside them? People are supposed to fear others, not themselves. People are supposed to aspire to become their fathers, not shudder at the thought.

I don't understand', I say,'why they care what I think, as long as I'm acting how they want me to.''You're acting how they want you to now', he says,'but what happens when your Abnegation-wired brain tells you to do something else, something they don't want?

Becoming fearless isn't the point. That's impossible. It's learning how to control your fear, and how to be free from it.

If someone offer you an opportunity to get closer to your enemy, you always take it.

Tris!_ Four calls out. Will and I exchange a look, half surprise and half apprehension. Four pulls away from the railing and walksup to me. Ahead of us, Al and Christina stop running, and Christina slides to the ground. I don__ blame them for staring. There are four of us, and Four is only talking to me.__ou look different._ His words, normally crisp, are now sluggish.__o do you,_ I say. And he does__e looks more relaxed, younger. __hat are you doing?___lirting with death,_ he replies with a laugh. __rinking near the chasm. Probably not a good idea.___o, it isn__._ I__ not sure I like Four this way. There__ something unsettling about it.__idn__ know you had a tattoo,_ he says, looking at my collarbone.He sips the bottle. His breath smells thick and sharp. Like the factionless man__ breath.__ight. The crows,_ he says. He glances over his shoulder at his friends, who are carrying on without him, unlike mine. He adds,____ ask you to hang out with us, but you__e not supposed to see me this way.__ am tempted to ask him why he wants me to hang out with him, but I suspect the answer has something to do with the bottle inhis hand.__hat way?_ I ask. __runk?___eah...well, no._ His voice softens. __eal, I guess._____l pretend I didn__.___ice of you._ He puts his lips next to my ear and says, __ou look good, Tris.__is words surprise me, and my heart leaps. I wish it didn__, because judging by the way his eyes slide over mine, he has no ideawhat he__ saying. I laugh. __o me a favor and stay away from the chasm, okay?___f course._ He winks at me.

I don__ know how long i tis before we get cold again, and huddle under the blanket together.-It__ getting more difficult to be wise. _ He says,laughing into my ear.I smile at him. _ I think that__ how it__ supposed to be.

So you__e her brother?_ says Lynn. __ guess we know who got the good genes.__ laugh at the expression on Caleb__ face, his mouth drawn into a slight pucker and his eyes wide.

How do you stop conflict without conflict?

I am not Tobias Eaton, not anymore, never again. I am Dauntless.

All three combined is...a different kind of stupid formerly unheard of by humankind.

Oh. I just assumed... That because I am so absorbed by him everyone must be too.

At home I used to spend calm, pleasant nights with my family. My mother knit scarves for the neighborhood kids. My father helped Caleb with his homework. There was a fire in the fireplace and peace in my heart, as I was doing exactly what I was supposed to be doing, and everything was quiet. I have never been carried around by a large boy, or laughed until my stomach hurt at the dinner table, or listened to the clamor of a hundred people all talking at once. Peace is restrained; this is free.

Sometimes crying or laughing are the only options left, and laughing feels better right now.