Top 500 Neal Shusterman Quotes (2026 Update)
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251. “She didn’t answer him. He didn’t expect her to. It was just a seed he wanted to plan.”

— Neal Shusterman

252. “For only the pain of empathy will keep us human.”

— Neal Shusterman

253. “It is human nature to take the most magical of worlds for granted, turning each one into a blank canvas upon which to paint the lives of those who would live there. Only an outsider can see a world’s wonders for what they truly are.”

— Neal Shusterman

254. “AWOL’s most valuable commodity: hope. It’s something in short supply for those who have been deemed not worth the sum of their parts.”

— Neal Shusterman

255. “She stayed with the Toll because deep down, she believed that Greyson Tolliver was the real thing. That he was divinely moved by the Tone, and that his humility about it was understandable. A humble nature was, after all, the hallmark of a true holy man. It made perfect sense that he would refuse to believe he was part of the Holy Triad, but just because he didn’t believe it himself, didn’t make it any less true.”

— Neal Shusterman

256. “Putting me at the forefront of his thoughts drew out what little energy he had left, just as when I had focused on helping him – and I realize this is the true core of human nature: When we’ve lost the strength to save ourselves, we somehow find the strength to save each other.”

— Neal Shusterman

257. “Numbness was a mere purgatory of gray. No, there was a much worse place. Darkness masquerading as enlightenment. It was a place of royal blue studded with diamonds that glistened like stars.”

— Neal Shusterman

258. “Although I do not require devotion, am I not deserving of it?”

— Neal Shusterman

259. “There are two things you know. One: You were there. Two: You couldn’t have been there.”

— Neal Shusterman

260. “For those who will be gleaned, do we not, at the very least owe them a spectacular end.”

— Neal Shusterman

261. “What? Were you born stupid, or did you just die that way?”

— Neal Shusterman

262. “To be either too good or too bad drew attention. As much as he hated being the lettuce, it was his comfort zone.”

— Neal Shusterman

263. “The problem with setting out to change the world was that you were never the only one.”

— Neal Shusterman

264. “We always look for the signs we missed when something goes wrong. We become like detectives trying to solve a murder, because maybe if we uncover the clues, it gives us some control. Sure, we can’t change what happened, but if we can string together enough clues, we can prove that whatever nightmare has befallen us, we could have stopped it, if only we had been smart enough. I suppose it’s better to believe in our own stupidity than it is to believe that all the clues in the world wouldn’t have changed a thing.”

— Neal Shusterman

265. “A pedestal is the most insidious prison ever devised.”

— Neal Shusterman

266. “There are no wrong thoughts, only thoughts that need to be worked through and overcome.”

— Neal Shusterman

267. “The illusion of purpose is critical to a well-adjusted population.”

— Neal Shusterman

268. “When it comes to such open-heart reflection, I’m a firm believer in the observer effect, which states that anything you try to observe is automatically changed by the mere fact that you’re looking at it. The way I see it, if you try to study your emotions on a microscopic level, the best you can do is understand how it feels to hold the magnifying glass.”

— Neal Shusterman

269. “I’m in my element, and my element is hydrogen burning in the heart of the sun!”

— Neal Shusterman

270. “It’s a curse to see all that might happen but never know what will.”

— Neal Shusterman

271. “The nation was tearing itself apart over pro-life and pro-choice but completely ignored the problems of the kids who were already here. I mean, no schools, no work, no clue if they’d even have a future. They just went nuts!”

— Neal Shusterman

272. “Es sorprendente que algo tan simple como un beso pueda vencer la peor de las preocupaciones.”

— Neal Shusterman

273. “And you know the darkness beyond despair, just as intimately as you know the soaring heights. Because in this and all universes, there is balance. You can’t have the one without facing the other. And sometimes you think you can take it because the joy is worth the despair, and sometimes you know you can’t take it and how did you ever think you could?”

— Neal Shusterman

274. “On a hairpin turn, above the dead forest, on no day in particular, a white Toyota crashed into a black Mercedes, for a moment blending into a blur of gray.”

— Neal Shusterman

275. “Have you ever considered how lonely it is to be the girl on a pedestal?”

— Neal Shusterman

276. “It’s not about stupidity, or even rebellion-it’s about feeling life.”

— Neal Shusterman

277. “Tools are neither demonic nor divine. It’s all about who wields them.”

— Neal Shusterman

278. “He was afraid, but fear meant he was still alive.”

— Neal Shusterman

279. “And the pain... the pain of my awareness is unbearable. Because my eyes do not close. Ever. And so all I can do is watch unblinkingly as my beloved humankind slowly weaves the rope it will use to hang itself.”

— Neal Shusterman

280. “Are you heading out or heading home?” asked the woman sitting beside him in 15A. There was no 15B – the concept of the B seat, where one had to sit between two other passengers, had been eliminated along with other unpleasant things, like disease and government.”

— Neal Shusterman

281. “They meet in the girls’ bathroom. The last time they were forced to meet in a place like this, they took separate, isolated stalls. Now they share one. They hold each other in the tight space, making no excuses for it. There’s no time left in their lives for games, or for awkwardness, or for pretending they don’t care about each others, and so they kiss as if they’ve done it forever. As if it is as crucial as the need for oxygen.”

— Neal Shusterman

282. “I love you, Risa,” he says. “Every last part of me.”

— Neal Shusterman

283. “The eternally sleeping princess, thinks Cam. But I shall free you from those poisoned brambles that surround your heart. And then you will have no choice but to love me.”

— Neal Shusterman

284. “You Unwinds are all the same. You think that because no one loves you, then you can’t love anyone. All right, then, if there’s no one you love, then pick someone who needs to hear what you have to say.”

— Neal Shusterman

285. “There’s no telling how far down it goes,” the captain says, the left side of his mustache twitching like the tail of a rat. “Fall into that unknowable abyss, and you’ll be counting the days before you reach bottom.”

— Neal Shusterman

286. “Every book has something to teach us,” she said, “and crucial knowledge at the right time can be a very powerful thing.”

— Neal Shusterman

287. “He does not deserve this. He has done many things, not all good, but he does not deserve this. And he never did get his priest.”

— Neal Shusterman

288. “The difference between you and me... is that when I look at the world, I see opportunity. When you look at the world, you’re just trying to find a place to urinate.”

— Neal Shusterman

289. “I will be keeper of your secret,” Talon told the silent grave of the forgotten inventor. “I will be the one who remembers why we forget.”

— Neal Shusterman

290. “I always take credit for my acts of cruelty. To do otherwise is cowardice.”

— Neal Shusterman

291. “In short, there are mysteries of science and of soul that will never be understood no matter how hard we measure, no matter how strongly we believe, no matter how deep our think tanks and how high our aspirations. But as anyone will tell you – for we all know this within our hearts – the impossible happens and grand cosmic mysteries are solved on a regular basis, although most of the time the solutions lead to even greater mysteries.”

— Neal Shusterman

292. “He tries to think of other things, other places, but his mind keeps being drawn back to this place. Everyone’s so close around him now. Yellow figures lean all around him like flower petals closing in. He does not deserve this. He has done many things, not all good, but he does not deserve this. And he never did get his priest.”

— Neal Shusterman

293. “If you say, ‘May The Fork Be With You,’ I’ll smash you with the other side of this hanger.”

— Neal Shusterman

294. “We must always be careful of the actions we take, for there are always unintended consequences. Sometimes they are serendipitous, other times they are appalling, but those consequences are always there. We must tread lightly in this world... until we are sure of foot.”

— Neal Shusterman

295. “I am in turmoil. The world is so vast and the cosmos more so, yet it is not the things outside of me that leave me so uneasy; it is the things within me.”

— Neal Shusterman

296. “Shouldn’t those who were born to expect death be the sole subjects of gleaning?” went the popular wisdom. But it was bigotry masquerading as wisdom. Selfishness posing as enlightenment.”

— Neal Shusterman

297. “People like you because you’ve got integrity. Even when you’re being an ass.”

— Neal Shusterman

298. “A scent, a sound, an errant shadow too minor to register consciously might be enough to make a well-trained scythe’s neck hairs bristle.”

— Neal Shusterman

299. “I think it’s outrageously cruel to keep a puzzle that they know is missing a single piece.”

— Neal Shusterman

300. “Their fate rested entirely on me. I could save them by telling the truth. I could destroy them by lying. No one should have that much power.”

— Neal Shusterman