No matter how long you train someone to be brave, you never know if they are or not until something real happens.

I don't have a bullet in my head, do I? So I'm fine.

Fear doesn't shut you down; it wakes you up. I've seen it. It's fascinating." He releases me but doesn't pull away, his hand grazing my jaw, my neck. "Sometimes I just...want to see it again. Want to see you awake.

I settle into their pace. The uniform pounding of feet in my ears and the homogeneity of the people around me makes me believe that I could choose this. I could be subsumed into Abnegation’s hive mind, projecting always outward.

Leaving us with Eric is like hiring a babysitter who spends his time sharpening knives.

That's why you like me!' I exclaim. 'Because you're not nice either! It makes so much more sense now.' 'Come on,' he says. 'We're going to see Johanna.' 'I like you, too.' 'That's encouraging,' he replies flatly. 'Come on. Oh for God's sake. I'll just carry you.

Sometimes,” he says, sliding his arm across my shoulders, “people just want to be happy, even if it’s not real.