How is it possible, I think, to change so much and not be able to change anything at all?

it seemed a lifetime ago i'd lain in bed with Lena and felt her breath tickling my chin and held her while she slept, felt her heart beating through her skin to mine. it was a lifetime ago. everything was different.

I didn't realize then what a privilege that was: to be bored with your best friend; to have time to waste.

it occurs to me that there is so much I never knew about him--his past, his role in the resistance, what his life was like in the Wilds, before he came to Portland, and I feel a flash of grief so intense it almost makes me cry out: not for what I lost, but for the chances I missed.

I’m with Julian,” I say at last. This, after all, is what I have chosen.

I love you. Remember. They cannot take it

Human beings, in their natural state, are unpredictable, erratic, and unhappy. It is only once their animal instincts are controlled that they can be responsible, dependable, and content.