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 ShustermanWhat he's really saying is: Please be a human being. With a life so full of rules and regiments, it's so easy to forget that's what they are. She knowsโshe seesโhow often compassion takes a back seat to expediency.
Neal ShustermanBecause if their own parents didn't care enough about them to keep them, who would want them in Heaven?
Neal ShustermanGreat tragedies have great consequences. They ripple through the fabric of this world and the next. When the loss is too great for either world to bear, Everlost absorbs the shock, like a cushion between the two.
Neal ShustermanThe 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 ShustermanIt'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 elseโas if their experience somehow resonates inside of you.
Neal Shusterman