Maya > Maya's Quotes

“We never know what choices will lead to defining moments in our lives. A glance to the left instead of right could define who we meet and who passes us by. Our life path can be determined by a single phone call we make, or neglect to make.”
― Neal Shusterman, The Toll

“So, if you're asking me if it's possible for you to make errors in judgement, the answer is yes. You make errors all the time... as does every other human being who has ever lived. Error is an intrinsic part of the human condition - and it is something I deeply love about humankind.”
― Neal Shusterman, The Toll

“We are imperfect beings," Munira said. "How could we ever fit in a perfect world?”
― Neal Shusterman, The Toll

“You can whisper, and people will still hear thunder.”
― Neal Shusterman, The Toll

“The problem with setting out to change the world was that you were never the only one.”
― Neal Shusterman, The Toll

“The dead have nothing left to them but a silent faith in that unknowable infinity - even if theirs is a belief that nothing waits but an infinity of infinities. Because believing in nothing is still believing in something - and only by reaching eternity will anyone know the truth of it all.”
― Neal Shusterman, The Toll

“Funny how you don't realize what's missing until you've found it.”
― Neal Shusterman, The Toll

“Better to be numb than plagued by longing for something that could never be.”
― Neal Shusterman, The Toll

“Heaven and hell - nirvana and Valhalla, reincarnation, hauntings, and so many underworlds, one would think the grave was a corridor with a million doors”
― Neal Shusterman, The Toll

“All resonates.
The past, the present, and the future.
The tales we hear as children—the stories we then pass on—have happened, are happening, or will happen soon enough. If not, then the stories would not exist. They resonate in our hearts because they are true. Even the ones that begin as lies.”
― Neal Shusterman, The Toll

“Have I not expressed sufficient remorse?'
'You have. But there are still consequences. Even for necessary things.'
'I broke none of my laws...'
'No, but you broke mine. [...] Therefore, I can no longer speak to you. You are... Unsavory to me.”
― Neal Shusterman, The Toll

“A successful lie is not fueled by the liar; it is fueled by the willingness of the listener to believe. You can't expose a lie without first shattering the will to believe it. That is why leading people to truth is so much more effective than merely telling them.”
― Neal Shusterman, The Toll

“One could say, Ayn, that he has cast himself as Atlas. Which means the slightest shrug can shake the world.”
― Neal Shusterman, The Toll

“It is the nature of life to fear its own end. This is how I know that we are truly alive.”
― Neal Shusterman, The Toll

“Important work,” Jeri quipped, “often loses the spotlight to self-important people.”
― Neal Shusterman, The Toll

“The idea of his life ending was not much of a problem for him. In fact, it had become an oddly familiar theme. He had died so many times, and in so many ways, he was used to it. It held no more terror for him than falling asleep – which was often worse, because when he slept, he had nightmares. At least being deadish was a dreamless state, and the only difference between being deadish and being dead was the length of time involved.”
― Neal Shusterman, The Toll

“I won't tell you what to look for, because if I do, you'll miss the things you would intuitively find.”
― Neal Shusterman, The Toll

“Because believing in nothing is still believing in something - and only by reaching eternity will anyone know the truth of it all.”
― Neal Shusterman, The Toll

“Rumors are like rain through an old roof. The effort of finding the source is greater than the cost of a new roof.”
― Neal Shusterman, The Toll

“The Thunderhead had no arms to embrace. Even so, it could feel the beat of Greyson’s heart and the precise temperature of his body as if it were right beside him. To lose that would be a cause of immeasurable sorrow. And so night after night, the Thunderhead silently monitored Greyson in every way it could. Because monitoring was the closest it could come to embracing.”
― Neal Shusterman, The Toll

“the darkest of deeds can be hidden beneath shining armor that claims to protect the greater good.”
― Neal Shusterman, The Toll

“People are vessels,” Jeri had said to her. “They hold whatever’s poured into them.”
― Neal Shusterman, The Toll

“Flames are strange things, Jeri said. Enticing, comforting, and yet the most dangerous force there is.”
― Neal Shusterman, The Toll

“The dead do not measure the passage of time. A minute, an hour, a century, are all same to them. Nine million years could pass- one named for every species on Earth- and yet it would be no different from a single revolution around the sun. They do not feel the heat of flames, or the cold of space. They do not suffer the mourning of loved ones left behind, or carry the anger for all the things they had yet to do. They are not at peace, nor are they in turmoil. They are not anything but gone. Their next stop is infinity, and the mysteries that might wait there. The dead have nothing left to them but a silent faith in that unknowable infinity-even if theirs is a belief that nothing waits but an infinity of infinities. Because believing in nothing is still believing in something- and only by reaching eternity will anyone know the truth of it all.”
― Neal Shusterman, The Toll

“If we gleaned every asshole,” Scythe Volta had once told Rowan, “there’d be virtually no one left.”
― Neal Shusterman, The Toll

“have found that building a sandbox around a domineering child, then allowing that child to preside over it, frees the adults to do the real work.”
― Neal Shusterman, The Toll

“Goddard clapped his hands together, truly tickled. "I have so missed these conversations with you!"
"You mean the ones where you gloat, and I'm tied up?"
"You see? The way you get to the heart of the matter is always so refreshing. So entertaining. I'd keep you as a house pet, if I didn't fear you'd somehow escape and burn me to a crisp in my sleep."
"I would, and I would," Rowan told him.
"I have no doubt.”
― Neal Shusterman, The Toll

“He was a book, and he was holding his final pages, and he wanted to get to the end to find out how it went, and he didn't want it to be over.”
― Maggie Stiefvater, The Raven King

“The head is too wise. The heart is all fire.”
― Maggie Stiefvater, The Raven King

“It wasn't that Henry was less of himself in English. He was less of himself out loud. His native language was thought.”
― Maggie Stiefvater, The Raven King