When I touched that boy, I felt something. Something awful. Something I can’t describe.”“We all felt it,” Nick said.“You may have felt it, but I caused it.” Then both his eyes seemed to go far away. “Something changed out there. I don’t know what it was, but something in the world changed because that kid didn’t deserve what I did to him—and the powers that be known that I did it.” Nick watched as a tear fell from his Everlast eye and disappeared through the living world table.“What if,” said Nick, not even sure what he was going to say yet, “what if you were that kid, and you were told you could change the world, but you would have to sacrifice yourself to do it?” Clarence chuckled at the thought. “I believe that question was already asked a long time ago, and that creepy kid did not look anything like Jesus to me.”“But you do think that something changed. . . .”“I don’t know whether it’s good or bad.”“What if it’s neither?” suggested Nick. “What if we get to make it one or the other?

— Neal Shusterman

When you drop a pebble into a pond, ripples spread out, changing all the water in the pool. The ripples hit the shore and rebound, bumping into one another, breaking each other apart. In some small way, the pond is never the same again.

— Neal Shusterman

When you truly start to care about someone you become vulnerable to all sorts of things.

— Neal Shusterman

Whether consciousness is implanted in us by something divine, or whether it is created by the efforts of our brains, the end result is the same. We are.

— Neal Shusterman

Which side was I on? There was no time to search for answers. All I could do now was ride on a werewolf's back, toward a destiny as hidden as the dark side of the moon.

— Neal Shusterman

While it’s five in the morning here, it’s also five in the evening somewhere in China—proving that incompatible truths make perfect sense when seen with global perspective.

— Neal Shusterman

With hardly any effort at all, she made me feel special. Just like all the other people she toyed with.

— Neal Shusterman

You can't change laws without first changing human nature... You can't change human nature without first changing the law.

— Neal Shusterman

You can't imagine what it's like to be torn between darkness and light- to be a traitor no matter what move you make. If my grandmother and Marissa died tonight, it would be because I had stayed in the darkness too long, flirting with the idea of being Cedric's consigliere. If that happened, I could never live with myself- but if Cedric gave me the bite as he planned, I would be forced to live with it forever. That was the worst hell I could imagine.

— Neal Shusterman

You know," he said, his voice making me feel cold in spite of the heat, "this city can get hold of you and pull you back no matter how hard you try to climb out. Like a grave.

— Neal Shusterman