Young Adult Quotes

“As the sun shines low and red across the water, I wade into the ocean. The water is still high and brown and murky with the memory of the storm, so if there’s something below it, I won’t know it. But that’s part of this, the not knowing. The surrender to the possibilities beneath the surface. It wasn’t the ocean that killed my father, in the end. The water is so cold that my feet go numb almost at once. I stretch my arms out to either side of me and close my eyes. I listen to the sound of water hitting water. The raucous cries of the terns and the guillemots in the rocks of the shore, the piercing, hoarse questions of the gulls above me. I smell seaweed and fish and the dusky scent of the nesting birds onshore. Salt coats my lips, crusts my eyelashes. I feel the cold press against my body. The sand shifts and sucks out from under my feet in the tide. I’m perfectly still. The sun is red behind my eyelids. The ocean will not shift me and the cold will not take me.”
― Maggie Stiefvater, The Scorpio Races

“Who is it who decides that one man should live and another should die? My life wasn't worth any more than his, but he's the one who's buried, while I get to enjoy at least a few more hours above the ground. Is it chance, random and cruel, or is there some purpose or pattern to all this, even if it lies beyond our ken?”
― Christopher Paolini, Inheritance

“The sun does not abandon the moon to darkness.”
― Brian A. McBride, Dominion

“Am I more afraid
Of taking a chance and
learning I'm somebody
I don't know, or of risking
new territory,
only to find I'm the same
old me? There is comfort
in the tried and true.
Breaking ground
might uncover a sinkhole,
one impossible to climb out
of. And setting sail in
uncharted waters
might mean capsizing into
a sea monster's jaws.
Easier to turn my back on
these things
than to try tjem and fail.
And yet, a whisper insists
I need to know if they are or
aren't integral to me.
Status quo is a swamp.
And stagnation is slow death.”
― Ellen Hopkins, Perfect

“I figured it is always better to be unpopular by your own choice.”
― Tom Upton, Vanished

“It's taken me all this time, all this loss, to realize what really matters is now.”
― Suzanne Young, The Treatment

“Do you see the colours, Salama?' Kenan whispers.

The sunset is gorgeous, but it pales in comparison to him. He's drenched in the dying day's glow, a kaleidoscope of shades dancing on his face. Pink, orange, yellow, purple, red. Finally settling into an azure blue. It reminds me of Layla's painting. A colour so stark it would stain my fingers were I to touch it.

As the sun sinks, in those few precious moments when the world is caught between day and night, something shifts between Kenan and me. 'Yes,' I breathe. 'Yes.”
― Zoulfa Katouh, As Long as the Lemon Trees Grow

“Is it always like that?" I ask, breathless. “No,” he says. “It's never like that.” I hear the wonder in his voice. And just like that, everything changes.”
― Nicola Yoon, Everything, Everything

“And to think of all colors in the world, blood chose to be red." ~ The Fray Theory”
― Nelou Keramati

“I read her nasty, wicked thoughts—and she knows for sure that I am a Druid. She is totally warped and absolutely no doubt about it—evil!”
― C. Toni Graham, Crossroads and the Himalayan Crystals

“When I turn back to Jase, he’s again beaming at me. “You’re nice.” He sounds pleased, as if he hadn’t expected this aspect of my personality.”
― Huntley Fitzpatrick, My Life Next Door

“The bent but unbroken ones.”
― Rick Yancey, The Last Star

“Robert, I’m sorry that you feel so strange, but I’m not sorry that you’re feeling it because of me,” I whispered, my heart feeling a familiar twinge as I continued, “but even if you hadn’t felt it, it would not change the way I feel about you.”
― S.L. Naeole, Falling From Grace

“Anya looked upon Nin admirably. Having him as a partner-in-crime—if only on this one occasion, which she hoped would only be the start of something more—was more revitalizing than the cheap thrills of a cookie-cutter shallow, superficial romance, where the top priority was how beautiful a person was on the outside.”
― Jess C Scott, The Other Side of Life

“Laughter comes from living." I shrug, try to sound indifferent. "I've never really been alive before.”
― Tahereh Mafi, Shatter Me

“Right. Because if you have trouble putting ketchup and mustard on a hot dog, you should totally move on to saving lives.”
― Huntley Fitzpatrick, My Life Next Door

“Jase props himself up on an elbow, looking at me for a minute without saying anything. His face gets an unreadable expression, and I wish I could take back walking over.
Then he observes, “I’m guessing that’s a uniform.”
Crap. I’d forgotten I was still wearing it.”
― Huntley Fitzpatrick, My Life Next Door

“The Lord of Rags and Tatters.”
― Megan Whalen Turner, The Thief

“Dignity is overrated. You know what trumps dignity? Kissing.”
― Nina LaCour, Everything Leads to You

“We're close. I can smell their faint scent," Blake whispered.
Kieran snorted. "That makes one of us. All I smell is dog shit.”
― Jayde Scott, A Job From Hell

“Rough palms cradled my face while my fingers gripped the pillow on either side of his. Lips, teeth, tongue, mingled together. I ate him up and didn’t let go until I had to come up for air.”
― Priya Ardis

“I promised I will always protect you. You've been wounded badly because I've failed to keep that promise.
[...]
But I won´t fail you in this, Rachel. no matter what has happened. No matter what you've done. No matter what you will do. I will always love you. I swear it.”
― C.J. Redwine, Defiance

“The last declaration he'd made to me hung between us. The L word. The one that had nothing to do with like.”
― Priya Ardis, My Merlin Awakening

“You like it,” he says. There’s a glint
in his eyes, like he understands something I don’t. “You like that nickname."

And . . . I kind of do. It hasn’t felt irritating in a while. It’s only his, a language only we have, even if it’s a reference I don’t understand.”
― Rachel Lynn Solomon, Today Tonight Tomorrow

“When I grow up, I want to be just like her--so confident and so in control.”
― S.G. Blaise, The Last Lumenian

“I look up, right into the Archgod of Chaos and Destruction’s bewildered eyes, gathering more of my magic. “Here’s a taste of consequences.”
― S.G. Blaise, The Last Lumenian

“Enough with the self-pity. You want things to change? Do something about it. Complaining will get you nowhere.”
― S.G. Blaise, The Last Lumenian

“Having not seen him for over two weeks, just the sight of him makes me want to run up to him and kiss him and hold him and not let go of him for at least twenty minutes. I clench my fists and stay very still as he walks up to me. God, everything about him is so perfect.”
― Alice Oseman, Nick and Charlie

“When I make love to you,’ he said in a low whisper right by my ear, ‘I want to be able to give you one hundred percent of my attention. Right now, with the Unit on our tail, I’m going to be giving you less than fifty percent. I’ve got one eye on the door and one on you, not to mention a gun under the pillow. Not exactly the accessory I imagined.”
― Sarah Alderson, The Lila Collection

“I’m not sure what made me think God would choose to reveal himself to little ol’ me. I think I believed that if I pleaded often and hard enough, he would see how sincere I was and grant my request, kind of like Linus and the Great Pumpkin. My sincerity would win him over so he would choose my pumpkin patch -- or, in this case, my bedroom -- to make a brief personal appearance. Unfortunately, that never happened.”
― Spencer C Demetros, The Bible: Enter Here: Bringing God's Word to Life for Today's Teens