Avalon Chen > Avalon Chen's Quotes

“You can blame it on the circumstances, the environment, but you made the choices you made, no one else. It's a lot to take in all at once, but it's essential that you make an effort to answer that question. Who are human beings? Because who we are determines the type of governing we need. Later on, I hope you can reflect and be honest with yourself about that you learned tonight.”
― Suzanne Collins, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes

“I’m planning to,” said Sejanus. “I’m planning to build a whole new beautiful life here. One where, in my own small way, I can make the world a better place.”
― Suzanne Collins, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes

“Then she gave him a kiss. Not a peck. A real kiss on the lips, with hints of peaches and powder. The feel of her mouth, soft and warm against his own, sent sensations surging through his body. Rather than pulling back, he held her even tighter as the taste and touch of her made his head spin. So this was what people were talking about! This was what made them so crazy! When they finally broke apart, he drew a deep breath, as if surfacing from the depths.”
― Suzanne Collins, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes

“Well, as they said, it's not over until the mockingjay sings.”
― Suzanne Collins, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes

“You’ve no right to starve people, to punish them for no reason. No right to take away their life and freedom. Those are things everyone is born with, and they’re not yours for the taking. Winning a war doesn’t give you that right. Having more weapons doesn’t give you that right. Being from the Capitol doesn’t give you that right. Nothing does.”
― Suzanne Collins, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes

“The strain of being a full-fledged adult every day had grown tiresome.”
― Suzanne Collins, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes

“Without the threat of death, it wouldn’t have been much of a lesson,” said Dr. Gaul. “What happened in the arena? That’s humanity undressed. The tributes. And you, too. How quickly civilization disappears. All your fine manners, education, family background, everything you pride yourself on, stripped away in the blink of an eye, revealing everything you actually are. A boy with a club who beats another boy to death. That’s mankind in its natural state.”
― Suzanne Collins, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes

“Remember, we're madly in love, so it's all right to kiss me anytime you feel like it.”
― Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games

“You don’t forget the face of the person who was your last hope.”
― Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games

“You’ve got about as much charm as a dead slug.”
― Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games

“You here to finish me off, Sweetheart?”
― Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games

“Yes, frosting. The final defense of the dying.”
― Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games

“And then he gives me a smile that just seems so genuinely sweet with just the right touch of shyness that unexpected warmth rushes through me.”
― Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games

“Kind people have a way of working their way inside me and rooting there.”
― Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games

“Oh, and I suppose the apples ate the cheese.”
― Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games

“It's lovely. If only you could frost someone to death."

"Don't be so superior. You can never tell what you will find in the arena. Say it's a gigantic cake-”
― Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games

“Peeta, you were supposed to wake me after a couple of hours," I say.

"For what? Nothing's going on here," he says. "Besides, I like watching you sleep. You don't scowl. Improves your looks a lot."

This, of course, brings on a scowl that makes him grin.”
― Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games

“I feel like I owe him something, and I hate owing people. Maybe if I had thanked him at some point, I'd be feeling less conflicted now. I thought about it a couple of times, but the opportunity never seemed to present itself. And now it never will. Because we're going to be thrown into an arena to fight to the death. Exactly how am I supposed to work in a thank-you in there? Somehow it just won't seem sincere if I'm trying to slit his throat.”
― Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games

“What must it be like, I wonder, to live in a world where food appears at the press of a button? How would I spend the hours I now commit to combing the woods for sustenance if it were so easy to come by? What do they do all day, these people in the Capitol, besides decorating their bodies and waiting around for a new shipment of tributes to rill in and die for their entertainment?”
― Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games

“Peeta?" I creep along the bank.

"Well, don't step on me.”
― Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games

“The mayor finishes the dreary Treaty of Treason and motions for Peeta and me to shake hands. His are as solid and warm as those loaves of bread. Peeta looks me right in the eye and gives my hand what I think is meant to be a reassuring squeeze. Maybe it's just a nervous spasm.
We turn back the crowd as the anthem of Panem plays.
Oh well, I think. There will be twenty-four of us. Odds are someone else will kill him before I do.
Of course, the odds have not been very dependable of late.”
― Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games

“It's funny, because even though they're rattling on about the Games, it's all about where they were or what they were doing or how they felt when a specific event occurred. . . . Everything is about them, not the dying boys and girls in the arena”
― Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games

“To this day, I can never shake the connection between this boy, Peeta Mellark, and the bread that gave me hope, and the dandelion that reminded me that I was not doomed.”
― Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games

“Then something unexpected happens. At least, I don't expect it because I don't think of District 12 as a place that cares about me. But a shift has occurred since I stepped up to take Prim's place, and now it seems I have become someone precious. At first one, then another, then almost every member of the crowd touches the three middle fingers of their left hand to their lips and holds it out to me. It is an old and rarely used gesture of our district, occasionally seen at funerals. It means thanks, it means admiration, it means good-bye to someone you love.”
― Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games

“Not exactly. You see, Portia and I think that the coal miner thing's very overdone. No one will remember you in that. And we both see it has our job to make District 12 tributes unforgettable,' says Cinna.
I'll be naked for sure, I think.
'So rather than focus on the coal mining itself, we're going to focus on the coal,' says Cinna.
Naked and covered in black dust, i think.
'And what do we do with coal? We burn it,' says Cinna. 'You're not afraid of fire, are you, Katniss?' He sees my expression and grins.”
― Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games

“I volunteer!" I gasp. "I volunteer as tribute!”
― Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games

“I know we promised Haymitch, we'd do exactly what they said, but I don't think he considered this angle.'
'Where is Haymitch, anyway? Isn't he supposed to protect us from this sort of thing?' says Peeta.
'With all that alcohol in him, it's probably not advisable to have him around an open flame,' I say.”
― Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games

“Hey, Effie, watch this!" says Peeta. He tosses his fork over his shoulder and literally licks his plate clean whit his tongue making loud, satisfied sounds. Then he blows a kiss out to her in general and calls, "We miss you, Effie!”
― Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games

“It's hard to hate my prep team. They're such total idiots." - Katniss.”
― Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games

“I pound on the glass, screaming my head off. Everyone ignores me except for some Capitol attendant who appears behind me and offers me a beverage.”
― Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games