The Testing Quotes
"Perhaps that's the first rule I will learn as an adult — that you can't always get what you want."
"You’re going to get up and face whatever comes. I’ll be proud of you no matter what today brings."
"Things don’t always work out the way we hope. You just have to pick yourself up and find a new direction to go in."
"Every year the United Commonwealth reviews the achievements of the graduates in all eighteen colonies."
"Make sure you eat right and get enough sleep. That’s going to help you stay strong and think clearly."
"Trust me when I say we can never have enough hands."
"Being chosen is an honor. The graduates of the University are our great hope."
"The biggest failures typically come before the biggest breakthroughs."
"Be careful who you trust, Cia. You do that and everything will be okay."
"I’d like to go straight in," I say. If I am shown to my room, I might never have the courage to come out.
"Most figure you’re easy competition. They equate small colonies with simple-mindedness."
"If I am shown to my room, I might never have the courage to come out."
"The Testing is not designed to be easy."
"You don’t know me. There’s no reason you should trust what I say."
"Because I don’t want anyone else to die."
"But if I’m right, three of us could be eliminated from The Testing because we trusted our teammate."
"If he isn’t involved in Roman’s trap, Brick will learn about it from me and gain the opportunity to pass when he doesn’t deserve to."
"Letting go of his hand, I open the door, give one last look at my teammate, and walk through hoping I did enough to save Brick’s life. Hoping I am confident enough in my own deductions to save my own."
"Do I keep my word and turn the handle, or go with my gut and walk away?"
"Every year candidates think the order you return in matters. It doesn’t. Be smart. Be safe."
"The enormity of the miles between us and our goal is overwhelming."
"I’d been too stunned to recognize it from the maps we’d studied in school."
"It only makes sense that they would set up smaller tests within the larger one, that they would not be willing to leave the obstacles we face up to chance."
"With Tomas’s arm around my shoulders, I can almost imagine we are sitting in the square back home, watching the heavens with our families somewhere nearby."
"I can’t help the surge of disappointment that is rapidly followed by fear."
"I can’t imagine what I would do if something happened to you."
"The memory of the dead girl and her sightless eyes keeps me pushing the pedals over rocks and underbrush until darkness falls."
"If I didn’t know about our crossbow friend, I’d say flag them down and see if we can help."
"I suppose the smell of food cooking alerted them to the presence of another human being."
"Someone took a couple potshots at me while I was getting out of the city."
"The road has been their greatest source of safety since they can see people coming and hide if necessary."
"We know not everyone is playing things straight."
"The Fourth Stage of war would never have happened if the president of the United States had attacked the Asian Alliance."
"Isn’t that the point the Testing committee was making when they dropped us in one of the destroyed cities?"
"You have only my word that I am not part of the United Commonwealth."
"The Testers aren’t making it that easy."
"Your boyfriend isn’t the nice guy he’s pretending to be."
"Seeing Tomas’s uneasiness, I am forced to reconsider my plans to have Will travel with us."
"There is a quiet determination about Stacia that makes me think she’ll make it."
"I’m scared to be alone. Scared to face the things that might come in the dark. Scared to face my own conscience after taking human life."
"Our laughter is more forced. Until there is nothing left to laugh at."
"I am torn between frustration at Tomas’s lack of trust and guilt that I trust so easily."
"I will my finger to press the trigger as the shadow looms larger."
"The sight of my three attackers closing the space between us is terrifying."
"The earth is resilient, but it’s hard to imagine a time when this place will be anything but a terrible reminder of what we as a people can do."
"The best leaders make mistakes and then learn from them."
"Maybe that’s the mark of a real leader. Admitting a mistake has been made and finding a way to stop it at all costs."
"All I want to do is curl into a ball and weep."
"Funny, but giving up is the last thing I will do. Not after everything we have witnessed and the things we have been forced to do."
"This isn’t the fever. This is something very different."
"You’re killing people. They weren’t hurting us. They’re just people."
"If riding triggers their aggression, I will not repeat the offense."
"It needs to matter. It needs to be remembered."
"All leaders have to live with disappointment at some point or another."
"Trusting Will was a poor choice. I will choose more wisely in the future."