War is a monster. War is the devil. It starts, and it consumes, and it grows and grows. And otherwise normal men become monsters, too.

— Patrick Ness

War is like a monster," he says, almost to himself. "War is the devil. It starts, and it consumes, and it grows and grows and grows." He's looking at me now. "And otherwise normal men become monsters, too.

— Patrick Ness

We have to lie to ourselves to live. Otherwise, we'd go crazy.

— Patrick Ness

We're each other's questions, aren't we? The question that never gets an answer.

— Patrick Ness

We share our craziness, our neuroses, our little bit of screwed-up-less that comes from our family. We share it. And it feels like love.

— Patrick Ness

We stay watching the fire, which probably is just a fire, but we watch it together. Me and my friends. And there'll be a tomorrow, of course there will, when it all begins again, but right now is almost a kind of loop for me, something to feel on the inside of, but this time it's good. It's a loop with my friends that would even be a pretty damn good forever.

— Patrick Ness

We would do what we must. The world is big. Surely there is a space in it for one like you and one like me.

— Patrick Ness

What a sad thing men are. Can't do anything good without being so weak we have to mess it up. Can't build something up without tearing it down.

— Patrick Ness

What happens to you when you get older? Do you just forget everything from before you turned eighteen? Do you make yourself forget?

— Patrick Ness

Who am I? I am the spine that the mountains hang upon! I am the tears that the rivers cry! Furthermore, I am the lungs that breathe the wind! Furthermore, I am the wolf that kills the stag, the hawk that kills the mouse, the spider that kills the fly! Furthermore, I am the stag, the mouse and the fly that are eaten! Furthermore, I am the snake of the world devouring its tail! Furthermore, I am everything untamed and unnameable!

— Patrick Ness