Top 500 Neal Shusterman Quotes (2024 Update)

1. “I’m Switzerland; neutral as can be, and also with great chocolate.”

— Neal Shusterman

2. “We’ll never be ready. So I guess that means we’re as ready as we’ll ever be.”

— Neal Shusterman

3. “In a perfect world everything would be either black or white, right or wrong, and everyone would know the difference. But this isn’t a perfect world. The problem is people who think it is.”

— Neal Shusterman

4. “The Bill of Life was signed, the Unwind Accord went into effect, and the war was over. Everyone was so happy to end the war, no one cared about the consequences.”

— Neal Shusterman

5. “It’s amazing how people can surprise you.”

— Neal Shusterman

6. “Everything has meaning, or nothing has meaning. Which world would you rather live in?”

— Neal Shusterman

7. “There’s ordinary people out there doing extraordinary things.”

— Neal Shusterman

8. “Death must exist for life to have meaning.”

— Neal Shusterman

9. “No true hero ever believes that they are one.”

— Neal Shusterman

10. “Either things happen for a reason, or they happen for no reason at all. Either one’s life is a thread in a glorious tapestry or humanity is just a hopelessly tangled knot.”

— Neal Shusterman

11. “Sometimes you have to be the monster to survive.”

— Neal Shusterman

12. “Getting to know someone in blind darkness changes your impression of them.”

— Neal Shusterman

13. “Stupid dreams. Even the good ones are bad, because they remind you how poorly reality measures up.”

— Neal Shusterman

14. “I’d rather be partly great than entirely useless.”

— Neal Shusterman

15. “The world has a talent for rewarding bad behavior with stardom.”

— Neal Shusterman

16. “I mean, it’s like we all get our raw materials from our families – but it’s up to us whether we build bridges or bombs.”

— Neal Shusterman

17. “How can you do the right thing when you can’t figure out what that is? When all you have before you are choices in various shades of wrong?”

— Neal Shusterman

18. “Se vuoi qualcosa con tutte le tue forze, prima o poi la ottieni.”

— Neal Shusterman

19. “History is written by the victors – and when there is no victors, it all winds up in the corporate shredders.”

— Neal Shusterman

20. “We’re all screwed,” says our morale officer.”

— Neal Shusterman

21. “And each time I witness a cruel act by a corrupt scythe, I seed the clouds somewhere in the world, and bring a lamentation of rain. Because rain is the closest thing I have to tears. – The Thunderhead.”

— Neal Shusterman

22. “People can be monsters. Whether it’s just their actions, or whether it’s who they really are, it doesn’t matter. The result is the same.”

— Neal Shusterman

23. “When we’ve lost the strength to save ourselves, we somehow find the strength to save each other.”

— Neal Shusterman

24. “Human nature is both predictable and mysterious; prone to great and sudden advances, yet still mired in despicable self-interest.”

— Neal Shusterman

25. “The scariest thing of all is never knowing what you’re suddenly going to believe.”

— Neal Shusterman

26. “Hope in the shadow of fear is the world’s most powerful motivator.”

— Neal Shusterman

27. “You can’t change laws without first changing human nature.”

— Neal Shusterman

28. “It’s funny how a flame can only burn your hand if you move too slow, you can tease it all you want and it never gets you, if your quick enough.”

— Neal Shusterman

29. “Hope can be bruised and battered. It can be forced underground and even rendered unconscious, but hope cannot be killed.”

— Neal Shusterman

30. “Do we exist because others perceive our existence, or is, indeed, our own affirmation enough?”

— Neal Shusterman

31. “My greatest wish for humanity is not for peace or comfort or joy. It is that we all still die a little inside every time we witness the death of another. For only the pain of empathy will keep us human. There’s no version of God that can help us if we ever lose that.”

— Neal Shusterman

32. “There’s this thing that happens with a mob. It’s called “deindividuation.” It’s the kind of thing that happens when a cop puts on a uniform, or when you wear a pair of sunglasses so people can’t quite see your eyes. It’s like you slip out of your normal self – and it makes you feel different. Behave different. So what happens when you’re just another thirsty soul in sea of water-zombies? You become one.”

— Neal Shusterman

33. “He had been in Citra’s embrace, the two of them cloaked in the robes of founding scythes Prometheus and Cleopatra, as Endura sank beneath the Atlantic. But those robes did not stay on for long.”

— Neal Shusterman

34. “Unwinds didn’t go out with a bang-they didn’t even go out with a whimper. they went out with the silence of a candle flame pinched between two fingers.”

— Neal Shusterman

35. “The end doesn’t always justify the means. But sometimes it does. Wisdom is knowing the difference.”

— Neal Shusterman

36. “The good thing about being explosive is that no one can beat you.”

— Neal Shusterman

37. “Walls don’t fall without effort.”

— Neal Shusterman

38. “You can’t expose a lie without first shattering the will to believe it. That is why leading people to truth is so much more effective than merely telling them.”

— Neal Shusterman

39. “But this isn’t a perfect world. The problem is people who think it is. -Connor.”

— Neal Shusterman

40. “One apology is enough,” the scythe told the boy. “Especially when it’s genuine.”

— Neal Shusterman

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

— Neal Shusterman

42. “We are not the same beings we once were. So then, if we are no longer human, what are we?”

— Neal Shusterman

43. “That which comes cannot be avoided.”

— Neal Shusterman

44. “You may ask any question. Some, however, must be answered by silence.”

— Neal Shusterman

45. “Heaven might shine bright, but so do flames.”

— Neal Shusterman

46. “You see, a conflict always begins with an issue – a difference of opinion, an argument. But by the time it turns into a war, the issue doesn’t matter anymore, because now it’s about one thing and one thing only: how much each side hates the other.”

— Neal Shusterman

47. “What does it take to unwind the unwanted? It takes twelve surgeons, in teams of two, rotating in and out as their medical specialty is needed. It takes nine surgical assistants and four nurses. It takes three hours.”

— Neal Shusterman

48. “I smell fear, he said with a quiet intensity. But not nearly enough.”

— Neal Shusterman

49. “Fight, flight, and screw up royaly.”

— Neal Shusterman

50. “This book is so interesting. I always wonder what’s going to happen next.”

— Neal Shusterman