Since I was young, I have always known this: Life damages us, every one. We can’t escape that damage. But now, I am also learning this: We can be mended. We mend each other.
I want to be brave, and selfless, and smart, and kind, and honest.
Valuing knowledge above all else results in a lust for power, and that leads men into dark and empty places.
Four: Be brave Tris. The first time is always the hardest.
I have realized that part of being Dauntless is being willing to make things more difficult for yourself in order to be self-sufficient. There’s nothing especially brave about wandering dark streets with no flashlight, but we are not supposed to need help, even from light. We are supposed to be capable of anything. I like that. Because there might come a day when there is no flashlight, there is no gun, there is no guiding hand. And I want to be ready.
Soft hearts make the universe worth living in.
To me, when someone wrongs you, you both share the burden of that wrongdoing – the pain of it weighs on both of you. Forgiveness, then, means choosing to bear the full weight all by yourself. Caleb’s betrayal is something we both carry, and since he did it, all I’ve wanted is for him to take its weight away from me. I am not sure that I’m capable of shouldering it all myself – not sure that I am strong enough, or good enough.
You want to see people as extremes. Bad or good, trustworthy or not. I understand. It’s easier that way. But that isn’t how people work.
I may be in pain, but I am not weak.
I am a Shotet. I am sharp as broken glass, and just as fragile. I tell lies better than I tell truths. I see all of the galaxy and never catch a glimpse of it.
This body had carried me through a hard life. It looked exactly the way it was supposed to.
I didn’t choose the blood that runs in my veins, any more than you chose your fate. You and I, we’ve become what we were made to become.
So, throw honor out the window.” “Honor,” I said with a snort. “Honor has no place in survival.” The.
But I know that for every good thing that comes along, there is always a cost.
I want her, in a way I haven’t felt before, not just some kind of mindless physical drive but a real, specific desire. Not for someone, just for her.
Though I had already read all those books, I wanted to open them again just to search out the parts he most treasured; I wanted to read them as if immersed in his mind.
I saw, for the first time, how thin the line was between fear and love, between reverence and adoration.
A soft heart was a gift, whether given easily or with great reluctance. I would never take it for granted again.
I catch myself thinking ‘Thank God For This’ out of habit, and then I understand what he’s so concerned about. What if my parents’ God, their whole belief system, is just something concocted by a bunch of scientists to keep us under control? And not just their beliefs about God and whatever else is out there, about right and wrong, about selfishness?
Yeah, well, we’re all afraid.” I sighed. “The angry more than most, I think.