Lauren Oliver, Delirium

"Love: a single word, a wispy thing, a word no bigger or longer than an edge. That's what it is: an edge; a razor. It draws up through the center of your life, cutting everything in two. Before and after. The rest of the world falls away on either side."

"Most of us won't see one another after graduation, and even if we do it will be different. We'll be different. We'll be adults--cured, tagged and labeled and paired and identified and placed neatly on our life path, perfectly round marbles set to roll down even, well-defined slopes."

"I'd rather die on my own terms than live on theirs. I'd rather die loving Alex than live without him."

"I'd rather die my way than live yours."

"I know that the whole point—the only point—is tofind the things that matter, and hold on to them, and fight for them, and refuse tolet them go."

"Find the things that matter, and hold on to them, and fight for them, and refuse to let them go."

"And now I know why they invented words for love, why they had to: It's the only thing that can come close to describing what I feel in that moment, the baffling mixture of pain and pleasure and fear and joy, all running sharply through me at once."

"I told you,"he whispers back. I can feel his breath just tickling the space behind my ear, making my hair prick up on my neck. "I like you.""You don't know me,"I say quickly."I want to, though."

"You can't be happy unless you're unhappy sometimes"."

"Find the things that matter, and hold on to them, and fight for them, and refuse to let them go."

"He is my world and my world is him and without him there is no world."

"Unhappiness is bondage; therefore, happiness is freedom."

"Find the things that matter, and hold on to them, and fight for them, and refuse to let them go."

"It's so strange how life works: You want something and you wait and wait and feel like it's taking forever to come. Then it happens and it's over and all you want to do is curl back up in that moment before things changed."

"I'd rather die on my own terms than live on theirs. I'd rather die loving Alex than live without him."

"I guess that’s just part of loving people: You have to give things up. Sometimes you even have to give them up."

"I love you. Remember. They cannot take it"

"I know that the whole point—the only point—is tofind the things that matter, and hold on to them, and fight for them, and refuse tolet them go."

"Now I'd rather be infected with love for the tiniest sliver of a second than live a hundred years smothered by a lie."

"Are you sure that being like everybody else will make you happy?""I don't know any other way.""Let me show you."And then we're kissing. Or at least, I think we're kissing—I've only seen it done a couple of times, quick closed-mouth pecks at weddings or on formal occasions. But this isn't like anything I've ever seen, or imagined, or even dreamed: this is like music or dancing but better than both."