The collection / 34 fragments

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Passages, proverbs, and questions carried across the ages.

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01Undated

The books in the library were old, rotted, and there was no one left in the world to read them, but Kira made sure that none of them went into the fire. It seemed wrong.

Dan Wells / quote

02Undated

Humanity will destroy itself, body and soul, before it will learn a simple lesson.

Dan Wells / quote

03Undated

If my life had no meaning there was no reason not to end it.

Dan Wells / quote

04Undated

Hello, Bradley,' said Mom. She'd regained her composure after my outburst, and now raised her camera. 'Stand close.''No, Mom,' I said. 'No pictures.''But you're friend's here now,' she said, waving us together. 'Smile!''I don't need a picture with-' the flash snapped '-another guy. That's great, Mom, thank you. Send that one to Dad and tell him we're going steady.

Dan Wells / quote

05Undated

They buried him in dirt that smelled like broken batteries, and crouched in a fiberglass shed while the acid rain poured down to dissolve his flesh and bleach his bones.

Dan Wells / quote

06Undated

Would they be cheered by their recovery, or marked for life by their trauma?

Dan Wells / quote

07Undated

I'm on the edge, Neblin, I'm off the edge - I'm over the edge and falling into hell on the other side.''Calm down, John,' he said. 'We can work through this. Just tell me where you are.''I'm down in the cracks of the sidewalks,' I said, 'in the dirt and in the blood, and the ants are looking up and we're damning you all, Neblin. I'm down in the cracks and I can't get out.

Dan Wells / quote

08Undated

It's not enough, is it? Just to follow; just to have faith in someone bigger and smarter and better informed. That's how we're built, that's how every Partial is wired - to follow orders and trust in our leaders - but it's not enough. It never has been. We've followed our leaders, and sometimes they win and sometimes they lose; we do what they say and we play our part. But this is our decision. Our mission. And when we're done, it will be our victory, or our defeat. I don't want to fail, but if I do, I want to be able to look back and say, 'I did that. I failed. That was all me.

Dan Wells / quote

09Undated

I'd made a long list of exceptions to cover the area between "ignoring her completely" and "abducting her at knifepoint.

Dan Wells / quote

10Undated

The last to fall were the buildings, distant and solemn, the gravestones for an entire world.

Dan Wells / quote