That was what her parents did not understandโand had never understoodโabout stories. Liza told herself storied as though she was weaving and knotting an endless rope. Then, no matter how dark or terrible the pit she found herself in, she could pull herself out, inch by inch and hand over hand, on the long rope of stories.
Lauren OliverThe second time my world exploded, it was also because of a word. A word that worked its way out of my throat and danced onto and out of my lips before I could think about it, or stop it. The question was: Will you meet me tomorrow? And the word was: Yes.
Lauren OliverIf you want something, if you take it for your own, you'll always be taking it from someone else.
Lauren OliverFor a second we just stand there in silence. Then, suddenly, Alex is back, easy and smiling again. โI left a note for you one time. In the Governorโs fist, you know?โ I left a note for you one time. Itโs impossible, too crazy to think about, and I hear myself repeating, โYou left a note for me?โ โIโm pretty sure it said something stupid. Just hi, and a smiley face, and my name. But then you stopped coming.โ He shrugs. โItโs probably still there. The note, I mean. Probably just a bit of paper pulp by now.
Lauren OliverI remember a story I once heard about drowning: that when you fall into cold water it's not that you drown right away but that the cold disorients you and makes you think that down is up and up is down, so you may be swimming, swimming, swimming for your life in the wrong direction, all the way toward the bottom until you sink. That's how I feel, as though everything has been turned around.
Lauren Oliver