My English teacher said that a writer is the worst judge of his own work.

We all have our fictions, little lies we tell ourselves to keep going from one day to the next.

The grief in her green eyes slips then hardens and, for an instant, Pendleton sees the woman she has become and has no right being, not at sixteen.

But sticking to rules just because they're there does not make them right. You need to learn when the rules should be broken.

Obeying orders just to obey is the mark of a person who has ceased to think. Remember, it is better to suffer for doing what is right rather than for doing what is wrong.

They call it the drowning instinct. It's when drowning doesn't look like drowning. (pg. 241)

As the dog sprinted back, Jack said to the girl, "Sweetheart,honey, why do you have to be so hateful?" "Why not?" Ellie said. "It's not like being good ever got me anywhere.