Cassia Quotes

The quickest path to self-destruction is to push away the people you love. ~ Cassia Leo

Neither of us moves for a moment, locked instead in each other's eyes and in the branches of this Hill we might never finish climbing. ~ Ally Condie

His voice was like a warm tea laced with arsenic, all at once soothing me and killing me. ~ Cassia Leo

Holding hands is like giving someone a mini-hug. ~ Cassia Leo

Not all stories have happy endings; but that doesn't mean they're not worth the read. ~ Cassia Leo

We don't understand how much those small moments of closeness mean to us until they're taken away. ~ Cassia Leo

Now that she was ruined, broken beyond belief. He wouldn't need her anymore. She collapsed and he rolled her over, staring into her eyes. He must have liked what he saw, as a grin broke out across his face. He tenderly kissed her forehead, stroking her hair in affection once again. "Why darlin', I do believe you are my favorite. ~ Cassia Brightmore

Most people think that they want spacious homes, but they don't realize how the emptiness of a large room just amplifies the emptiness in a broken heart. And we're all broken, in one way or another. ~ Cassia Leo

Cassia doesn't like to sort people. I'm all too good at it and I worry I'll grow to like it too much.It's a talent.[...]And all it takes is a misstep or two for that talent to become a liability instead of an asset. ~ Ally Condie

Maybe espresso is one of those universal words because it's a little like life. You have to enjoy life slowly, savoring every single moment so you don't miss anything important. Like your brother's despair and your own self-destruction. Like surprise honeymoons and your kids growing up before your very eyes.
Slow down, pay attention, and drink it in. And don't forget to share it with the ones you love. ~ Cassia Leo

I do know the quickest way to your heart," she murmured in his ear. "It's through your chest with this laser blade. ~ Melissa Landers

Cassia.
Even far away, I know it's her by the way her dark hair tangles with the wind and how she stands on the red rocks of the Carving. She's more beautiful than snow.
Is this real?
She points to the sky. ~ Ally Condie

I guess we need to keep adjusting our dreams to fit reality, because life is not going to cooperate. Maybe this makes me a defeatist, but I'd prefer to think of myself as realist. ~ Cassia Leo

Cassia had a feeling Kane might not follow her instructions to the letter, but she never expected him to come barreling into the docking lot with Arabelle hoisted over one shoulder, shielding his head with his free arm and yelling like his pants were on fire. Behind him, Doran and Solara ran through the open doorway, each armed with a stolen pulse pistol and firing indiscriminately at someone out of view.
So much for smooth negotiating. ~ Melissa Landers

We may only ever have one great, passionate love, but sometimes it's best to leave that kind of love in the past. A love like that can't last forever. ~ Cassia Leo

You can curtesy on my dick. ~ Cassia Leo

I think I'm finally starting to realize that love isn't about fixing things or people. It's about sticking around when things can't be fixed. ~ Cassia Leo

It's funny how nothing really turns out the way we expect it to, no matter how certain the future seems. I guess we need to keep adjusting our dreams to fit ~ Cassia Leo

This is that moment; the moment where everything slows down and nothing is ever the same. ~ Cassia Leo

Houston, I'd rather have the truth than this ring." "That ring is my promise to tell you the truth, but only when the time is right. ~ Cassia Leo

I stare at the table for a moment, lost in thoughts of what it will be like to hold a human being that I made in my hands. I can write a song and I can play it until my fingers bleed, but I can't carry music in my hands. I can't touch it or smell it. I can't give it my heart. ~ Cassia Leo

There was a darkness simmering in him, something beneath the surface that he fought hard to conceal. As terrifying as it was, it was also alluring in a way. Seductive even. Something about his savage skills was damn sexy. "Get ~ Cassia Brightmore

George, we've slept together plenty of times before. We should be able to do it for a few nights without your penis ending up in my vagina. ~ Cassia Leo

Basically, love and hate activate similar circuits in the brain, but hate also activates the circuits used for rational thought. Which means, when you hate my adorable lips, you're thinking quite clearly, unlike when you think of how I love you and you turn unto a pile of irrational mush. In other words, you love me with all your circuits. ~ Cassia Leo

I know you meant that you would always remember me, Cassia, but I'm afraid you might forget. ~ Ally Condie

To love is to destroy pain.
I love your heart. ~ Cassia Leo

Then maybe you'll believe me when I say ... you're pretty fucking special, Laney Hill. ~ Cassia Leo

Where we love is home ~ Cassia Leo

Fear is blinding; it can make us miss the warning signes flashing right in front of our eyes. It can also make you miss those brilliant flashes of color, when the world isn't so gray. But, if you think about it, being afraid isn't such a bad thing. Because fear is a reminder that you still have something to lose.
Something Worth holding onto. ~ Cassia Leo

He smiled as he led me toward the ship's wheel. Go ahead, touch it, ~ Cassia Leo

It's good to know that Xander's here. So that when I go down, she won't be alone.
"You walked through the Carving to find me," I tell Cassia softly. "I'm going to walk through this to reach you. ~ Ally Condie

Faith, in the Scripture, is spoken of under the emblem of all the senses. It is sight: "Look unto me and be ye saved." It is hearing: "Hear, and your soul shall live." Faith is smelling: "All thy garments smell of myrrh, and aloes, and cassia"; "thy name is as ointment poured forth." Faith is spiritual touch. ~ Charles Haddon Spurgeon

Don't tell me I don't know you when I've spent the last three years trying to forget you. ~ Cassia Leo

And there is irony in learning that you can't trust someone you love because it makes you stop trusting yourself. ~ Leo, Cassia

But, honestly, I hope you'll tell me that I'm enough."
She smiles. "You're more than enough. You're my circuit breaker. ~ Cassia Leo

I guess that's the way secrets are. They're only heavy when you're holding them. As soon as you let go, the significance of keeping those secrets hidden blows away and everything falls into place. ~ Cassia Leo

It could have been different," I say, almost under my breath. If I'd kissed Indie again after she kissed me. If I hadn't known Cassia before I met Indie.
"But it's not," Indie says, and she's right. ~ Ally Condie

Turn the page to read a preview of Chase #2 - Disclosure ~ Cassia Leo

Cassia.
I know which life is my real one now, no matter what happens. It's the one with you. For some reason, knowing that even one person knows my story makes things different. Maybe it's like the poem says. Maybe this is my way of not going gentle.
I love you. (Ky Markham) ~ Ally Condie

You can't choose the road you take; you can only hope to avoid the potholes. ~ Cassia Leo

Lying in bed, my body and soul bruised and tired, I realize that the Officials are right. Once you want something, everything changes. Now I want everything. More and more and more. I want to pick my work position. Marry who I choose. Eat pie for breakfast and run down a real street instead of on a tracker. Go fast when I want and slow when I want. Decide which poems I want to read and what words I want to write. There is so much that I want. I feel it so much that I am water, a river of want, pooled in the shape of a girl named Cassia. ~ Ally Condie

Sometimes you forget how much you love someone, until you realize their smile is like a spotlight shined on your heart. ~ Cassia Leo

I need you to know how serious I am first." He takes my face in his hands again and I draw in a sharp breath. "Promise me you'll wait for me and I promise I'll tell you everything. ~ Cassia Leo

Trust your words ~ Ally Condie

Eventually, you're gonna have to let someone in. ~ Cassia Leo

And I do not know how I can feel this much pain and survive, and at the same time know how much I have to live. ~ Ally Condie

Fate is death. No one escapes it. But if you stick around long enough, you might find someone to help you cheat fate for a while. And when you can't cheat anymore, and fate finally catches up to you, maybe it won't seem so scary with that someone by your side. ~ Cassia Leo

He blinks back tears. There's so many things you don't know about me that I need to tell you, so you'll understand everything that happened back then and afterward. ~ Cassia Leo

This is called 'Black Box', for the girl who holds the key to mine. ~ Cassia Leo

You think saving someone's life cancels out taking another person's life? In terms of fate and circumstance, yes. In terms of retribution and contrition, no. ~ Cassia Leo

Death will not take the people I love. Our journey will end differently. ~ Ally Condie

I want to invade the space all around you until everywhere you look all you see is me." I trace my tongue along the delicate curves of her ear and she sighs. "I want to occupy the space inside you until you don't know the difference between my heartbeat and yours. I want to be your everything. ~ Cassia Leo

The relentless pull of love is a thousand times harder to fight than the tides. If you're lucky, you'll make it out before you drown. If you're even luckier, you're pulled under just long enough to wash away the sorrow. If you're really lucky, like me, you resurface just in time to find the one you love floating right beside you. ~ Cassia Leo

This black box is yours to keep, to stash your troubles away. Just lock it up and call my name and I'll be there always. ~ Cassia Leo

There's a little blackness inside all of us. ~ Cassia Leo

Back then, I was home in Oria, trying to make Cassia fall in love with me. ~ Ally Condie

It's not our mistakes that define us. It's the lessons we learn that show our true character. ~ Cassia Leo

The pain is just a subtle reminder of how alive you made me feel. ~ Cassia Leo

Laney always took a different lane, but we always arrived at the same place. ~ Cassia Leo

For some reason the neatly ordered and abandoned books make me feel sad. Tired. I wish Cassia were with me. She'd turn each page and read every word. I can picture her in the dim light of the cave with her bright eyes and her smile and I close my eyes. That shadowy memory might be as close as I come to seeing her again. We have the map, but the distance we still have to cross looks almost insurmountable. ~ Ally Condie

The man was a walking felony, it should be illegal for someone to look and smell as good as he did; especially considering he was such an asshole. "Uh - I'm ~ Cassia Brightmore

No scarf tonight?" the captain asked, pointing at Solara's neck.
"I guess you finally beat that cold virus."
"I don't believe she had a cold," Renny said thoughtfully.
"I'll bet it was the Hoover flu. You know, named after the old vacuum cleaners on Earth?"
"Oh, I've heard of that disease," Cassia chimed in. "Doesn't it cause a rash that looks like suction marks? Highly contagious when mixed with cute guys and Crystalline? ~ Melissa Landers

Then, she let it go. ~ Cassia Leo

Once you see the good in someone, it's hard not to notice the good in everyone. ~ Cassia Leo

I'd like to think there's a simple reason why people visit reflection pools. When you look into one on a clear day, you see your own mirror image. When there's a storm, and the rain is splashing the surface, or the wind whips the water up in rippling waves, it becomes impossible to see a clear image of anything. It's easy to feel as if you're lost in the storm. But storms don't last. ~ Cassia Leo

A far cicada rings high and clear over the river's heavy wash. Morning glory, a lone dandelion, cassia, orchids. So far from the nearest sea, I am taken aback by the sight of a purple land crab, like a relict of the ancient days when the Indian subcontinent, adrift on the earth's mantle, moved northward to collide with the Asian landmass, driving these marine rocks, inch by inch, five miles into the skies. The rise of the Himalaya, begun in the Eocene, some fifty million years ago, is still continuing: an earthquake in 1959 caused mountains to fall into the rivers and changed the course of the great Brahmaputra, which comes down out of Tibet through northeastern India to join the Ganges near its delta at the Bay of Bengal. ~ Peter Matthiessen

I should be with Ky in the infirmary. i should be with Xander in prinson. I should be sorting for a cure. can only try to do all three and hope these pieces of myself are enough to find something that can make me whole ~ Ally Condie

You cannot change your journey if you are unwilling to move at all. ~ Ally Condie

Why? Why do you have to leave?" "Because sometimes you have to suffer without the things you want now so you can have everything you need later. ~ Cassia Leo

All notions of probable innocence aside, he seemed more at ease again, though somewhat more alert than before. Rudolf looked at her, more serious now.
"A lot of men who kill have got a reason for what they do. Some are forced into it or have a threat hanging over their heads, natural inclinations they can't ignore or a festering hatred caused by someone or something."
Cassia wondered about hatred and that fire of anger that smouldered inside of her, wanting to see the Nemorans slaughtered for what they did to her sisters. She didn't just want justice, she wanted vengeance. Yet, she felt that went beyond hatred into hurt and the desire to protect others from their violence. ~ Mara Amberly

You're afraid of being vulnerable, physically and emotionally. You're afraid of loving completely. Most of all, you're afraid you'll live your whole life without ever being truly happy because you don't even know what it is that will make you happy. You're afraid of not being passionate enough or brave enough to live. But you are. You are brave because not only did you go to the library with me today, you were the one who insisted we go. ~ Cassia Leo

Cassia and I sit as near to each other as we can. She leans into me and I keep my arms around her. I don't fool myself that I hold her together- she does that on her own- but holding her keeps me from flying apart. ~ Ally Condie

The two of us hold each other's gazes for a long, unembarrassed moment and I feel that Ky knows. I'm not sure what he knows - whether he knows me, or just something about me. ~ Ally Condie

The monsters we can't see are the scariest ones of all. ~ Cassia Leo

Love is a strange concept. That the very sight of someone, the very mention of their name, can cause an intense chemical reaction inside you is crazy. ~ Cassia Leo

Reality is a gravitational pull, yanking us back down to earth when we least expect it. ~ Cassia Leo

How can you love someone who doesn't think they deserve to be loved? ~ Cassia Leo

The way the two of them look at each other is like touching. ~ Ally Condie

It's about us," I whisper. He looks confused. "What are you talking about?" "The book. It's the story of us." He sighs as if he's been waiting to hear these words all his life. "I hope it never ends. ~ Cassia Leo

It's funny that when the one person you live for is ripped out of your life you can still find a way to convince yourself it's for the best and that you will eventually get over it.
What a joke. ~ Cassia Leo

Wade would never write you a song, but I've already written you three. ~ Cassia Leo

You can't let your past define your future. Once you get that figured out, you begin to understand the joy of living in the present. And the present is full of tiny gifts that we can only see when we stop looking behind and ahead of us. Sometimes, these gifts land right at our feet. Sometimes, it's our feet that carry us toward them, running at full-speed until our hearts nearly give out. Either way, never stop noticing them, and never stop wishing. ~ Cassia Leo

I used to think fate was for religious nuts and people who were too afraid to take their fate into their own hands. Now I know the truth. ~ Cassia Leo

I love you with all my circuits. ~ Cassia Leo

With every choice you risk the life you could have had. With every decision you lose it. ~ Cassia Leo

If I wanted to punish myself, I'd keep looking at your face."
"Isn't my face in half the pictures taped to your bunk wall?"
"Maybe I keep them there to scare away the devil."
"Just show him your feet," he said, going for her weak spot. She had adorable toes, but she hated that her second one was longer than the first. "He'll run screaming back to hell with his forked tail between his legs."
"Keep talking and I'll send you there to meet him."
"I'll say hello to your demon-spawn mother while I'm there."
"Try not to wet yourself like you did at the palace."
"Hey!" He drew back an inch. That was hitting below the belt. "I was only four when that happened, and your mom was legitimately scary. ~ Melissa Landers

draw out the anticipation, until I was begging for him to fuck me. He would kiss and caress my body until I was forced to beg for it, until I reached the point of no return, where even the slightest touch would set off a chain reaction inside my body; a domino effect of nerve endings firing through ~ Cassia Leo

Even though all cannot be as everyone could wish, there is satisfaction in knowing that something good and right and true was part of you. ~ Cassia Reyes Reached

I think how this is always the way he is, giving me something even when most would think there was nothing left to do but let go ~ Ally Condie

There is satisfaction in knowing that something good and right and true was part of you. That you had the blessing, gift, good fortune, perfect luck, to know someone like this, to pass through fire and water and stone and sky together and emerge, all of you, strong enough to hold on, strong enough to let go. (Cassia) ~ Ally Condie

We all remember people the way we want to remember them. ~ Cassia Leo

There are moments in life, and they happen so infrequently that they tend to really stand out, when life hands you the gift of perspective. Sometimes, we forget to show our appreciation. Sometimes, we get our priorities mixed up. And, sometimes, we forget how far we've come. But life always has a way of nudging you to remind you about these important things. ~ Cassia Leo

This is a cruel thing to do because when someone knows your story they know you. And they can hurt you. It's why I give mine away in pieces, even to Cassia. ~ Ally Condie

Claire, the love of my life and mother of my child. The owner of my heart and soul and the inspiration for every song I write. If you ever doubt how much I love you, I'll always be there to remind you. And if I should leave this Earth before you, I'll haunt the fuck out of you. ~ Cassia Leo

I hate you,' I begin. 'I hate the way your lip curls up when you're confused. It's sickeningly adorable. I hate the way your arms are so fucking strong. It kind of scares me.' He smiles and I take a deep breath, trying to keep from crying, but it's so hard. 'I hate that your smile makes me want to cry and I don't know why. I hate that you know how to look so together on the outside when you're screaming inside. I hate that you always know the right thing to say. I hate the way that I already know what you're thinking just by the way you're looking at me.' He wipes the tears from my jaw and I close my eyes. 'I hate that you saved me. But, most of all, I hate that you love me because now I love you and I don't know how to make it stop. ~ Cassia Leo

I was eighteen when I got lost in Houston, and in him I found myself. They say love is just two souls recognizing each other. With Houston and me it was more like two souls staring into a mirror, my left hand aligned with his right, our hearts skipping a beat at the same moment, our lungs choking on the same noxious air, our scars as perfectly aligned as mountains and fault lines. If ever two souls were perfectly right and perfectly wrong for each other, it would be us. ~ Cassia Leo

Life has shown me all too often that there is no rhyme or reason to the cruelty inflicted upon humanity. ~ Cassia Leo

Clear night, thumb-top of a moon, a back-lit sky.
Moon-fingers lay down their same routine
On the side deck and the threshold, the white keys and the black keys.
Bird hush and bird song. A cassia flower falls.
I want to be bruised by God.
I want to be strung up in a strong light and singled out.
I want to be stretched, like music wrung from a dropped seed.
I want to be entered and picked clean.
And the wind says "What?" to me.
And the castor beans, with their little earrings of death, say "What?" to me.
And the stars start out on their cold slide through the dark.
And the gears notch and the engines wheel. ~ Charles Wright

Conformity and exclusion. If you're not the best or the ~ Cassia Leo

You're one tough egg to crack. You know that? You're like a Kinder egg wrapped inside a mystery wrapped inside an enigma. ~ Cassia Leo