Cruelty does not make a person dishonest, the same way bravery does not make a person kind.

Sometimes I see him as just another person, and sometimes I feel the sight of him in my gut, like a deep ache.

Color fills her cheeks, and I think it again: that Johanna Reyes might still be beautiful. Except now I think that she isn't just beautiful in spite of the scar, she's somehow beautiful with it, like Lynn with her buzzed hair, like Tobias with the memories of his father's cruelty that he wears like armor, like my mother in her plain gray clothing.

My father says that those who want power and get it live in terror of losing it. That's why we have to give power to those who do not want it.

Tris.” I keep staring. “Tris.” I finally look at him. “I just don’t want to lose you.

One piece of advice I have is: Want something else more than success. Success is a lovely thing, but your desire to say something, your worth, and your identity shouldn’t rely on it, because it’s not guaranteed and it’s not permanent and it’s not sufficient. So work hard, fall in love with the writing — the characters, the story, the words, the themes — and make sure that you are who you are regardless of your life circumstances. That way, when the good things come, they don’t warp you, and when the bad things hit you, you don’t fall apart.

I have done bad things. I can't take them back, and they are part of who I am. Most of the time, they seem like the only thing I am.