Requiem Quotes
"Perfection is a promise, and a reassurance that we are not wrong."
"We’ll just have to hope we don’t cross paths."
"This is war. It’s bigger than you or me. It’s bigger than all of us combined."
"You don’t know shit about me, I don’t know shit about you."
"It’s not a game. It’s not a joke. This is war."
"Guilt requires absolution, and I have not absolved myself for my part in her crime."
"Amor deliria nervosa isn’t a disease of love. It’s a disease of selfishness."
"They obviously meant the message to be a warning."
"There’s something reassuring about the tic-tic-tic of my wheels against the pavement."
"The day is perfect, bright, and surprisingly cold."
"I try to remember the last time I went to Lena’s house, instead of she to mine."
"Everything seems impossible on a day like today."
"A bed of pansies nods at me, as though in agreement."
"Outside WoodCove Farms, the neighborhood quickly changes."
"I pass three mobile home parks in a row, which are crowded with outdoor charcoal grills and fire pits."
"It’s less than a mile to the house, and when I see the gabled roof, my heart leaps."
"I think at the time it was the mess that appealed to me."
"The buildings this far from the Old Port are no more than a few stories high."
"I haven’t been to Deering Highlands since last summer."
"The Wilds—so vast and changeable, so disorienting—also make us lust for the familiar."
"I let out a cry of recognition as soon as I see it: a triangle, followed by a number and a rudimentary arrow."
"The Wilds come alive again with rustling and scurrying and creaking: a constant nonsense-babble."
"I can only nod. I step through the French doors."
"I shouldn’t feel this way. I should feel brave, and confident, and careless."
"This is what the future looks like: happy pairs, bright lights and pretty music."
"I don’t want to stop; I give my dress a sharp tug and hear it tear."
"I don’t know how they make it through the winters."
"I’m overly conscious of the brightness of the lights."
"I can hear liquid sloshing around when I move."
"I feel a quick pulse of something: a squeeze deep in my stomach."
"She looks like she can handle a litter of ’em."
"I choke a little on her name and have to clear my throat."
"I try to squeeze back the pain, to push it deep under the anger."
"The realization brings with it a physical disappointment—and a feeling, too, of relief."
"We can't even choose the wrong thing. Beautiful, isn't it?"
"The gears of God don’t turn unless all the pieces fit right."
"You know you can’t be happy unless you’re unhappy sometimes, right?"
"Are you free, Lena? Is this the life you wanted?"
"We do what I can to spread the word about what's coming. I'll try to clear the camp."
"I’ll do what I can. I’ll try to clear the camp."
"There’s hardly any time. I expect you out of here in twenty minutes."
"There's no time to move everyone, no time to get the word out."
"The anxiety, the unhappiness. We can make it go away."
"I’m being stupid. Cassie was defective, like I thought she was, and Fred had every reason to divorce her."
"The past and present continue to converge and then separate: my mother now, my mother then."
"You can’t love, not fully, unless you are loved in return."
"I remember I used to imagine her sometimes standing on the edge of a cliff, coat billowing behind her."
"The whole group falls silent as we pass under its shadow."
"It’s quiet, except for the usual rustle of animals in the woods, and the gentle sighing of the wind."
"This is not any kind of happiness that I imagined. It is not what I chose. But it’s enough. It is more than enough."
"This is what we are made for: promises, pledges, and sworn oaths of obedience."
"We wanted the freedom to love, and instead we have been turned into fighters, savages."
"We are all punished for the lives we have chosen, in one way or another."
"The cure is about control. It’s about structure."
"This is the strange way of the world, that people who simply want to love are instead forced to become warriors."
"The world is full of so much pain, but now I don’t feel it."
"You cannot see through to the other side, don’t know whether it will bring freedom or ruin, resolution or chaos."
"It’s not about knowing. It is simply about going forward."
"You do not know what will happen if you take down the walls."
"Find it, the hard stuff, the links of metal and chink, the fragments of stone filling your stomach. And pull, and pull, and pull."
"The whole point of growing up is learning to stay on the laughing side."
"The truth is, though, I wouldn’t have minded reliving my greatest hits."
"If high school were a game of poker, Lindsay, Ally, Elody, and I would be holding 80 percent of the cards."