110+ Neal Shusterman Quotes (Imaginative, Engaging And Thought-provoking)

Neal Shusterman is an American author of young adult fiction and children's books. He is best known for the dystopian novel series "Unwind" and the "Arc of a Scythe" series. He has also written many other books, including the "Skinjacker" trilogy and the "Star Shards" trilogy.

Top 10 Neal Shusterman Quotes

1. 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.
2. 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
3. Fight, flight, and screw up royaly.
4. Small victories are bet­ter than none.
5. I'd rather be partly great than entirely useless.
6. Once in a while our school has half days, and the teachers spend the afternoon 'in service,' which I think must be a group therapy for having to deal with us.
7. It's called loitering, which is like littering with human beings as the trash.
8. (Why did they call them sneakers if it was so hard to sneak in them?)
9. I think all mothers are alike, regardless of cultural background, when it comes to illogical cleaning.
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 Short Quotes

• When you live a life without questions, you're unprepared for the questions when they come.
• When you truly start to care about someone you become vulnerable to all sorts of things.
• No true hero ever believes that they are one.
• Touch is a freaky thing when you're not used to it. It makes you feel all kinds of things.
• The moment you're loved, that's when you got your soul.
• Stupid dreams. Even the good ones are bad, because they remind you how poorly reality measures up.
• A pedestal is the most insidious prison ever devised.
• Walls don't fall without effort.
• It's a big question. Where do you begin to change the world?
• I'm Switzerland; neutral as can be, and also with great chocolate.

Neal Shusterman Famous Quotes And Sayings

Sure, when you're in the midst of your own suffering, it's easy to convince yourself that you're no good—but we are all tested in this life...The measure of a man is not how much he suffers in the test, but how he comes out at the end. — Neal Shusterman

...One thing you learn when you've lived as long as I have-people aren't all good, and people aren't all bad. We move in and out of darkness and light all of our lives. Right now, I'm pleased to be in the light. — Neal Shusterman

Sharks have a deadly form of claustrophobia. It's not so much fear of enclosed spaces as it is inability to exist in them. No one knows why. Some say it's the metal in aquariums that throws their equilibrium off. But whatever it is, big sharks don't last long in captivity — Neal Shusterman

Words don't hurt you." Which is one of the hugest criminal lies perpetrated by adults against children in this world. Because words hurt more than any physical pain. — Neal Shusterman

How do you judge the brightness of a light when you’re the source? A spotlight can never see the shadows it casts. — Neal Shusterman

The woman wears a floral print blouse with lots of leaves and pink flowers. Risa would like to attack her with a weed whacker. — Neal Shusterman

It does, Tennyson, because there’s a fine line between confidence and arrogance. There’s a fine line between being assertive and being a bully. And you’re on the wrong side of both lines. — Neal Shusterman

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

[...] every time he forces himself to think before acting, it's her voice in his head telling him to slow down. He wants to tell her, but she's always so busy in the medical jet—and you don't just go to somebody and say, "I'm a better person because you're in my head. — Neal Shusterman

...And perhaps you can sense, in some small twisting loop of your gut, the convergence of the wrong, of the right, and of the woefully misguided. If you do, then pay sharp attention to the moment you wake, and the moment you fall asleep...For maybe then you will know, without a shadow of a doubt, which is which. — Neal Shusterman

If your heart tells you something but your mind tells you something else, which do you believe? Both are just as apt to lie. In fact, they play at deceit all the time. Mostly they balance each other, giving us that crucial reality check. But what happens on the rare occasions when they conspire together? — Neal Shusterman

Then you'd better listen, because me sounding like Bronte is one of the signs of the apocalypse-and if the end fo the world is coming, good deeds could earn you Judgment day brownie points. — Neal Shusterman

You think you want to know the secrets of the universe. You think you want to see the way things all fit together. You believe in your heart of hearts that enlightenment will save the world and set you free. Maybe it will. But the path to enlightenment is rarely a pleasant one. — Neal Shusterman

Mooooon!” said the Ogre. “Tranquility …” Then he pointed at the full moon. “Neil Armstrong walked in a sea of Tranquility.” Then he added, “It’s made of cheese. But you have to take off the plastic before you put it on a burger.” Mickey sighed. “What’s his story?” the wraith asked. “He’s chocolate,” Mikey said. — Neal Shusterman

Part of my job is to help other kids find books, because not everyone has a keenly organized mind. Some kids could wander the library for hours and still have no idea how to find anything. For them, the Dewey Decimal System might as well be advanced calculus. — Neal Shusterman

Crawley reached into the pocket of his fancy robe - a dinner jacket, I think it's called. The kind of thing Professer Plum would wear before killing Colonel Mustard in the ballroom with the candlestick. — Neal Shusterman

We move in and out of darkness and light all our lives. Right now I'm pleased to be in the light. — Neal Shusterman

Milestone! This is a momentous occasion," he tells her cheerily. "It should be witnessed by a friend." She throws him an icy gaze, and he does a verbal back pedal. "Aaaand since no friends are present, I'll have to do. — Neal Shusterman

A family is a collection of strangers trapped in a web of DNA and forced to cope. — Neal Shusterman

It comes with being sixteen," Mom said. "You teenagers, you go into a cocoon when you turn fifteen and don't come out for years." "So they become butterflies when they finally come out?" my little sister Christina asked. "No," Mom said. "They're still caterpillars, only now they're big fat caterpillars that smell. — Neal Shusterman

Why are you still with me, Fry?" CyFi asks after one of his body-shaking seizures. "Any sane dude woulda taken off days ago. "Who says I'm sane?" "Oh, you're sane, Fry. You're so sane, you scare me. You're so sane, it's insane. — Neal Shusterman

But this isn't a perfect world. The problem is people who think it is. -Connor — Neal Shusterman

What's the point of living if you're going to hate the world? Guard your heart if you have to, but don't shut it away. — Neal Shusterman

Anger is only our friend when we know its caliber and how to aim it. — Neal Shusterman

From the end of the bar, the bartender threw a sidelong look at him, so Clarence pulled out a broken Bluetooth headset and fixed it to his ear. "I learned this trick while traveling with Mikey," Clarence told Nick. "Makes my brand of crazy the same as everyone else's. — Neal Shusterman

does a sick society get so used to its illness that it can't remember being well? what if the memory is too dangerous for the people who like things the way they are? — Neal Shusterman

But now we've finally taken full possession of what is rightfully ours, because everyone must feel their own pain--and as awful as that is, it's also wonderful. — Neal Shusterman

Our conversation with the supermarket manager had been about as helpful as a New Jersey road sign, and if you've ever been there, you know the signs don't tell you the exit you're coming up to, they only point out the exits you've just missed. — Neal Shusterman

The measure of a man is not how much he suffers in the test, but how he comes out at the end. — Neal Shusterman

Your hair looks funny," Lief said, as soon as the Ugloids left. "It stands straight up!" No," said Nick, intensely irritated, "It's hanging straight down." Lief just gave him an upside-down shrug. "Up is down in China and you're part-Chinese. — Neal Shusterman

We'll never be ready. So I guess that means we're as ready as we'll ever be. — Neal Shusterman

In the backseat Moose and Squirrel inhabited a pair of six-year-old-twins, and wouldn't stop bickering and picking their noses. They were clearly in their element. — Neal Shusterman

It's that quirky kind of weekend feeling they write ridiculous sunny-day songs about. You know the ones--I'm sure they're on your iPod even though you'd never admit it. — Neal Shusterman

Which is worse, Risa often wondered, to have tens of thousands of babies that no one wanted or to silently make then go away before they were even born — Neal Shusterman

History is written by the victors--and when there is no victors, it all winds up in the corporate shredders. — Neal Shusterman

the captain is supposed to go down with the ship" . "unless the first mate knocks him out and throws him in a lifeboat — Neal Shusterman

Getting to know someone in blind darkness changes your impression of them. — Neal Shusterman

I'm against solutions that are worse than the problem. Like old women who want their hair dyed the color of shoe polish to hide the gray. — Neal Shusterman

Eventually your body will learn the alliances it has to make with itself,' Kenny had said - as if Cam was a factory full of strike-prone workers, or worse, a clutch of slaves forced into unwanted labor. — Neal Shusterman

The Admiral's using us," he says to the kids around him. "Don't you see that?" Most of the kids just shrug, but Hayden's there, and he never misses an opportunity to add his peculiar wisdom to a situation. "I'd rather be used whole than in pieces," Hayden says. — Neal Shusterman

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

Who says I'm insane?" "Oh you're sane alright. You're so sane, you scare me. You're so sane, it's insane. — Neal Shusterman

think of it this way," he said "It took nine months to get you born, so doesn't it figure it would take nine months to get you dead? — Neal Shusterman

Fine," Connor tells him. "Think about stuff until your head explodes. But the only thing I want to think about is surviving to eighteen." I find your shallowness both refreshing and disappointing at the same time. Do you think that means I need therapy? — Neal Shusterman

Dreams can twist your emotions like no reality can. — Neal Shusterman

Perhaps, thought Talon, there was a path in between. A way to shed their ignorance without losing their souls. — Neal Shusterman

I can't destroy things so beautiful." "Time will destroy them if you don't. Time destroys everything. But if you destroy them, it will mean something. — Neal Shusterman

Well...you're a martyr and I'm a patron saint-I can't think of anyone better! — Neal Shusterman

Who am I? The sum of your dreams, the thrill you refuse to grasp, the unknown you fear. — Neal Shusterman

Mental illness is by far the most misunderstood, and stigmatized, of all afflictions. Statistically, one in three families in the U.S. deals with mental illness, and yet it's rarely discussed in the open. It's time for that to change. — Neal Shusterman

The good thing about being explosive is that no one can beat you. — Neal Shusterman

This book is so interesting. I always wonder what's going to happen next. — Neal Shusterman

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

I'm tired of eating your family's lousy, tasteless recipes," Dad said. "Tasteless recipes? My grandmother's rolling in her grave!" "It's from indigestion. — Neal Shusterman

They were the screams of riders torn apart by the twisted reflections of their own inner selves. — Neal Shusterman

Monster only had the power that you gave them — Neal Shusterman

I know this is your hand now,' she tells him. "Roland would have never touched me like that." Connor smiles, and Risa takes a moment to look down at the shark on his wrist. It holds no fear for her now, because the shark has been tamed by the soul of a boy. No- the soul of a man. — Neal Shusterman

Sometimes, though, you make a pact with yourself. I'll pretend there's nothing wrong if you pretend there's nothing wrong. It's called denial, and it's one of the strongest pacts in the world. Just ask all those people who were still drinking champagne while the Titanic went down. — Neal Shusterman

...the Statue of Liberty's got this invitation: 'Give me your tired, your poor, your reeking homeless--' 'Huddled masses,' said Ira. 'Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.' ... Okay, fine. So like everybody in the old countries says, 'Hey, I'm a huddled mass,' and they all wanna come over. — Neal Shusterman

We weren't going anywhere," Nick said with a smile. He was trying to sound charming, but instead wound up sounding heavily sedated. — Neal Shusterman

Incredible. It never ceases to amaze Starkey how far society will go to protect the children it loves and to discard the ones it doesn’t. — Neal Shusterman

Revelations are never convenient, and always annoying. — Neal Shusterman

Cities are never random. No matter how chaotic they might seem, everything about them grows out of a need to solve a problem. In fact, a city is nothing more than a solution to a problem, that in turn creates more problems that need more solutions, until towers rise, roads widen, bridges are built, and millions of people are caught up in a mad race to feed the problem-solving, problem-creating frenzy. — Neal Shusterman

All this time, Lev ever realized what he needed. He did not need to be adored or pitied. He needed to be forgiven. Not by God, who is all forgiving. Not by people like Marcus and Pastor Dan, who would always stand by his side. He needed to be forgiven by an unforgiving world. — Neal Shusterman

How much do you know about the Heartland War?' Connor shrugs. 'It was the last chapter in our history textbook, but we had state testing, so we never got to it. — Neal Shusterman

And he thinks that if his soul had a form, this is what it would be. A baby sleeping in his arms. — Neal Shusterman

My grandmother used to say that twisting paths always cross again," he told her. "And whose paths are more twisted than ours? — Neal Shusterman

They signed the unwind order just to spite each other,but laugh,laugh,laugh,Hayden, because if you ever stop laughing,it might just tear you apart worse than a Chop Shop. — Neal Shusterman

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

Do you know that if you take the books in an average school library and stretched out all those words into a single line, the line would go all the way around the world? Actually, I made that up, but doesn't it sound like it should be true? — Neal Shusterman

The homes here are almost identical, but not quite, full of people almost identical, but not quite. — Neal Shusterman

This is not going to be easy. I'm good at being bad, but I'm bad at being good. I don't know the first thing about good deeds. — Neal Shusterman

What can fingerprints mean when they’re not necessarily yours? — Neal Shusterman

Then she offers him a slim but sincere smile, and he reluctantly returns it. It doesn't bridge the gap between them, but at least it marks the spot where the bridge might be built. — Neal Shusterman

Great tragedies have great consequences. They ripple through the fabric of this world and the next. When the loss is too great for either world to bear, Everlost absorbs the shock, like a cushion between the two. — Neal Shusterman

So much of my life had been under tight control. So much of Quinn's life had been wild insanity. What we needed now was both: a directed burst of controlled insanity. — Neal Shusterman

We can lie to ourselves, saying we believe one thing, and sometimes we convince other's it's true, with the hope that by convincing others, we can convince ourselves. Wars are often waged not because of what we believe, but because of the things we want others to believe. — Neal Shusterman

Love turns a heart to crystal...Much more valuable, but much more fragile. — Neal Shusterman

Roland glares at Connor and Connor glares back. Then he says what he always says at moments like this. "Nice socks." Although Roland doesn't look down right away, it derails him just enough for him to back off. He doesn't check to see if his socks match until he thinks Connor isn't looking. And the moment he does, Connor snickers. Small victories are bet­ter than none. — Neal Shusterman

You should never apologize for existing, Lev. Not even to all those people out there who wish you didn't. — Neal Shusterman

Cities are never random. No matter how chaotic they might seem, everything about them grows out of a need to solve a problem — Neal Shusterman

...New Beginning to the same old story — Neal Shusterman

Lev smiles. "Leave it to you to turn someone else's screwup into gold — Neal Shusterman

Hey," says Hayden, "I'm Switzerland; neutral as can be, and also with great chocolate." "Get lost," Roland tells him. "Already am." And Hayden strolls away. — Neal Shusterman

He's become like that briefcase in the ground-full of gems yet void of light, so nothing sparkles, nothing shines. — Neal Shusterman

One cannot let the events of one's past murder one's future. — Neal Shusterman

Love, Allie concluded, wasn't blind, it simply saw alternate dimensions. — Neal Shusterman

Lord, if what I'm doing is wrong, then by all means strike me down. Otherwise set me free. — Neal Shusterman

Cowards hide [...] but warriors lie and wait [...] the only difference is whether you're motivated by fear or purpose. — Neal Shusterman

Happiness is not a state of being. Happiness is a vector, it is movement. — Neal Shusterman

Life Lessons by Neal Shusterman

1. Neal Shusterman's work often explores difficult topics such as death and mortality, showing that life is precious and should be lived to the fullest.
2. He also emphasizes the importance of empathy and understanding, as well as the power of choice and the consequences of our decisions.
3. His stories often present moral dilemmas and encourage readers to think critically about the world around them.