01UndatedBut the past cannot be changed, and we carry our choices with us, forward, into the unknown. We can only move on.Libba Bray / quote ↗
02UndatedPippa's laugh is bitter, tinged with tears. 'Ha! Why do girls think being beautiful will solve every problem? Being beautiful just creates problems. It's a misery. I wish I were someone else.Libba Bray / quote ↗
03UndatedScoring well on tests is the sort of happy thing that gets the school district the greenbacks they crave. Understanding and appreciating the material are secondary.Libba Bray / quote ↗
04UndatedI've never done acid, finding it hard to go willingly to a place that could be frightening, hellish, and totally beyond my control. A place much like high school.Libba Bray / quote ↗
07UndatedI'd like to thank readers. Every time you open a book, it is a strike against ignorance. Unless you're reading Sarah Palin.Libba Bray / quote ↗
09UndatedYou set fire to my house, killed my family, and ate my dog. But steal my boyfriend? That's a step too far.Libba Bray / quote ↗
10UndatedWe're all strangers connected by what we reveal, what we share, what we take away--our stories. I guess that's what I love about books--they are thin strands of humanity that tether us to one another for a small bit of time, that make us feel less alone or even more comfortable with our aloneness, if need be.Libba Bray / quote ↗
11UndatedPeople always fear what they don't understand, Evangeline. History proves that.Libba Bray / quote ↗
12UndatedHer eyes take on that suspicious, wounded look girls get when they know they've fallen off the top rung of friendship and someone else has passed them, but they don't know when or how the change took place.Libba Bray / quote ↗
13UndatedShe dances a little jig. "This would make one hell of a TV show, huh?" "Yeah. But no one would believe it." I should let it go. But it's like the hole, like the door, and I have to know. Or at least, I have to ask. "Hey, Dulcie, was any of that real?" She finishes her dance and the wings come to rest. "Who's to say what's real or not?" "Yeah, but--my barometer on reality, not so good since I started going crazy. "Yeah, well, who but the mad would choose to keep on living? In the end, aren't we all just a little crazy?Libba Bray / quote ↗
14UndatedWar." Gorgon spits the word. "That is what they call it to give the illusion of honor and law. It is chaos. Madness and blood and the hunger to win. It has always been thus and shall always be so.Libba Bray / quote ↗
15UndatedBecause 'You're perfect just the way you are,' is what your guidance counselor says. And she's an alcoholic.Libba Bray / quote ↗
16UndatedAgent Jones held Sinjin’s face in his hands. “I’m going to make balloon animals. People need balloon animals.”“How right you are, strange delusional man,” Sinjin said.Libba Bray / quote ↗
17UndatedNew Maxi-Pad Pets. Accessories for your period.Brought to you by The Corporation: In your homes andin your pants.Libba Bray / quote ↗
18UndatedWhen she can't bring me to heal with scolding, she bends me to shape with guilt.Libba Bray / quote ↗
19UndatedReally? And what curse befalls the Adams of the world?"Ann opens her mouth and, presumably thinking of nothing to say, closes it again. It is Felicity who answers, eyes steely. "They are weak to temptation. And we are their temptresses.Libba Bray / quote ↗
20UndatedSexuality is not meant to be this way - an honest, consensual expression in which a girl might take an active role when she feels good and ready and not one minute before. No. Sexual desire is meant to sell soap. And cars. And beer. And religion.Libba Bray / quote ↗
21UndatedAnd that is how change happens. One gesture. One person. One moment at a time.Libba Bray / quote ↗
22UndatedBut Gemma, you could change the world.""That should take far more than my power," I say."True. But change needn't happen all at once. It can be small gestures.""Moments. Do you understand?" He's looking at me differently now, though I cannot say how. I only know I need to look away...We pass by the pools, where the mud larks sift. And for only a few seconds, I let the magic loose again."Oi! By all the saints!" a boy cries from the river."Gone off the dock?" an old woman calls. The mud larks break into cackles."'S not a rock!" he shouts. He races out of the fog, cradling something in his palm. Curiosity gets the better of the others. They crowd about trying to see. In his palm is a smattering of rubies. "We're rich mates! It's a hot bath and a full belly for every one of us!"Kartik eyes me suspiciously. "That was a strange stroke of good fortune.""Yes it was.""I don't suppose that was your doing.""I'm not sure I don't know what you mean," I say.And that is how change happens. One gesture. One person. One moment at a time.Libba Bray / quote ↗
23UndatedOur mouths and bodies speak for us in a new language as the trees shake loose a rain of petals that stick to our slickness like skins we will wear forever. And just like that, I am changed.Libba Bray / quote ↗
24UndatedPlease, I'm a transgender former boy-bander. You think I don't know how to defend myself?Libba Bray / quote ↗
