Divergent Quotes

The laws of Congress and the laws of physics have grown increasingly divergent, and the laws of physics are not likely to yield. ~ Bill McKibben

It's not about Al," I snap. "It's about everyone watching! Everyone who now sees
hurling themselves into the chasm as a viable option. I mean, why not do it if everyone
calls you a hero afterward? Why not do it if everyone will remember your name? It's ... I
can't ... ~ Veronica Roth

Morning," I say.
"Shh," she says. "If you don't acknowledge it, maybe it will go away. ~ Veronica Roth

It's my choice now, no matter what the test says. Abnegation. Dauntless. Erudite. Divergent. ~ Veronica Roth

Our society's almost doctrinal emphasis upon deductive reasoning, convergent thinking and selective retention perversely excludes divergent thinking, approximation and, importantly, guessing. If we are truly to understand the adolescent mind and develop effective ways to minimize the effects of risk-taking behaviour, we really need to understand these processes and engage with them. There is no logic involved with drug-taking and gambling. Adults can learn, too; understanding these mechanisms will also allow us to encourage creativity and value the spontaneity so characteristic of the adolescent mind. ~ Tony Little

I feel we are becoming divergent upon the paths we are walking down. I feel we are becoming distant, as the way we see things becomes more pronounced. I feel I know you less, where once I knew you like I knew myself before. I fear that in the end, we will become no more. When that guillotine descends, friend will be friend no longer. As time ascends, we will move forward on different paths in life's Wonderland. ~ Jennifer Megan Varnadore

'Harry Potter' really harnessed the imagination of so many young-adult minds, and it's the same with the 'Divergent' series. ~ Kate Winslet

But then I stopped allowing myself to dream, because it was more painful to long for things and never get them than to deal with whatever was in front of me. [ ... ] I'm too old to hear confront nonsense anymore. Too old to believe that everything will be alright. ~ Veronica Roth

I was merely making more perceptible that binary rhythm which love adopts in all those who have too little confidence in themselves to believe that a woman can ever fall in love with them, and also that they themselves can genuinely fall in love with her. They know themselves well enough to have observed that in the presence of the most divergent types of woman they felt the same hopes, the same agonies, invented the same romances, uttered the same words, and to have realised therefore that their feelings, their actions, bear no close and necessary relation to the woman they love, but pass to one side of her, splash her, encircle her, like the incoming tide breaking against the rocks, and their sense of their own instability increases still further their misgivings that this woman, by whom they so long to be loved, does not love them. ~ Marcel Proust

But now I'm wondering if I need it anymore, if we ever really need these words, "Dauntless," "Erudite," "Divergent," "Allegiant," or if we can just be friends or lovers or siblings, defined instead by the choices we make and the love and loyalty that binds us. ~ Veronica Roth

I'll be your family now." ~ Tobis 'Four ~ Veronica Roth

Hey You
You are beautiful.
You are talented.
You are blessed.
You are gifted.
You are smart.
You are funny.
You are fun.
You are loving.
You are lovable.
You are unique.
You are special.
But most of all, you are strong and will get through this because there are others that have gone through something similar. Look for them. Because they are looking for you! ~ Shannon L. Alder

Honesty leads to peace. ~ Veronica Roth

My name is Four," I say. "Call me 'Stiff' again and you and I will have a problem. ~ Veronica Roth

If you're disciplining yourself to constantly be at the intersection of many divergent streams of intellectual influence, it's like creating a check and balance set of forces for yourself. You don't need to make independence of thought an act of willpower. You don't need to be like a Marcus Aurelius sort of strong willed high virtue type of person in order to have an independent mind; you have an independent mind my listening to many different people constantly. ~ Venkatesh Rao

There is power in controlling something that can do so much damage - in controlling something, period. ~ Veronica Roth

I have come to understand that the same action of unjustified escalation most often comes from one of two positions: Supremacy, or Trauma. And in realizing this, I am surprised by the similar behaviors expressed by these two divergent experiences. ~ Sarah Schulman

Anticipating attacks, I should like to emphasize that I do not subscribe to the myths propagated by enemies of Israel and I am not blaming Jews for anti-Semitism. Anti-Semitism predates the birth of Israel. Neither Israel's policies nor the critics of those policies should be held responsible for anti-Semitism. At the same time, I do believe that attitudes toward Israel are influenced by Israel's policies, and attitudes toward the Jewish community are influenced by the pro-Israel lobby's success in suppressing divergent views. ~ George Soros

Let us by all means teach black history, African history, women's history, Hispanic history, Asian history. But let us teach them as history, not as filiopietistic commemoration. The purpose of history is to promote not group self-esteem, but understanding of the world and the past, dispassionate analysis, judgment, and perspective, respect for divergent cultures and traditions, and unflinching protection for those unifying ideas of tolerance, democracy, and human rights that make free historical inquiry possible. ~ Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr.

If man is not ready to abdicate or to reconsider his case, it is because he has not yet drawn the final consequences of knowledge and of power. Convinced that his moment will come, that he will catch up with God and pass Him by, he clings - envious as he is - to the notion of evolution, as if the fact of advancing must necessarily bring him to the highest degree of perfection. Having sought to be other, he will end by being nothing; he is already nothing. Doubtless he is evolving, but against himself, to his cost, and toward a complexity which is ruining him. Becoming, progress: notions apparently tangential, actually divergent. True, everything changes, but rarely, if ever, for the better. Euphoric inflection of the original disease, of that false innocence which awakened in Adam a desire for the new, our faith in evolution, in the identity of becoming and progress, will collapse only when man, having reached the extremity of his distraction, having turned at last to the knowledge which leads to deliverance and not to power, will be in a position to offer an irrevocable no to his exploits and to his work. If he continues to clutch at them, he will doubtless enter upon the career of a ludicrous god or an obsolete animal, a solution as convenient as it is degrading, the ultimate stage of his infidelity to himself. Whatever choice he makes, and though he has not exhausted all the virtues of his failure, he has nonetheless fallen so low that it is hard to understand why he does ~ Emil M. Cioran

I feel like, the smaller I become, the safer I am. ~ Veronica Roth

You all have functional brains, last time I checked," I say. "You can think like the Erudite, too."
"But we don't have special Divergent brains!" says Marlene. She touches her fingertips to my scalp and squeezes lightly. "Come on, do your magic. ~ Veronica Roth

Is this because I'm a - " I start to say, but she presses her hand to my mouth. "Don't say that word," she hisses. "Ever." So Tori was right. Divergent is a dangerous thing to be. I just don't know why, or even what it really means, still. ~ Veronica Roth

Someone shouts, "Enough!" and I think too much and nothing at all. ~ Veronica Roth

Don't try to define me ~ Veronica Roth

Control thought of the theories as "slow death by," given the context: Slow death by aliens. Slow death by parallel universe. Slow death by malign unknown time-traveling force. Slow death by invasion from an alternate earth. Slow death by wildly divergent technology or the shadow biosphere or symbiosis or iconography or etymology. Death by this and by that. Death by indifference and inference. His favorite: "Surface-dwelling terrestrial organism, previously unknown." Hiding where all of these years? In a lake? ~ Jeff VanderMeer

We're sorry for frightening you, Tris,' another voice says, 'but anonymity is integral to our operation. We mean you no harm.'
'Let go of me then!' I say, almost growling. All the hands holding me on the wall fall away.
'Who are you?' I demand.
'We are the Alliegiant,' the voice replies. 'And we are many, yet we are no one ... '
I can't help it: I laugh. ~ Veronica Roth

I reach out and take his hand. His fingers slide between mine. I can't breathe. ~ Veronica Roth

We will die here and trust the meaning of our lives to the next generation.. That is the sole way we can rebel against this cruel world ! ~ Hajime Isayama

Everything has changed and it won't stop changing anytime soon. ~ Veronica Roth

Who can say if the thoughts you have in your mind as you read these words are the same thoughts I had in my mind as I typed them? We are different, you and I, and the qualia of our consciousnesses are as divergent as two stars at the ends of the universe.

And yet, whatever has been lost in translation in the long journey of my thoughts through the maze of civilization to your mind, I think you do understand me, and you think you do understand me. Our minds managed to touch, if but briefly and imperfectly.

Does that thought not make the universe seem just a bit kinder, a bit brighter, a bit warmer and more human?

We live for such miracles. ~ Ken Liu

Four flips the gun in this hand, presses the barrel to Peter's forehead, and clicks a bullet into place. Peter freezes with his lips parted, the yawn dead in his mouth. "Wake. Up," Four snaps. "You are holding a loaded gun, you idiot. Act like it. ~ Veronica Roth

I often feel as if I'm moving about as a double in my own skin, a Doppelganger walking a divergent path of my life's choices. ~ Lindsay Smith

I prefer to look at it another way-which is that if they are persistent enough, even tiny drops of water, over time, can change the rock forever. And it will never change back. ~ Veronica Roth

Minority viewpoints are important, not because they tend to prevail but because they stimulate divergent attention and thought, " finds Berkeley psychologist Charlan Nemeth, one of the world's leading experts on group decisions. "As a result, even when they are wrong they contribute to the detection of novel solutions and decisions that, on balance, are qualitatively better".
Dissenting opinions are useful even when they're wrong. ~ Adam Grant

It's getting more difficult to be wise," he says, laughing into my ear.
I smile at him. "I think that's how it's
supposed to be. ~ Veronica Roth

Music creates order out of chaos; for rythem imposes unianimity upon the divergent, melody imposes contuniuty upon the disjointed, and harmony imposes compatibility upon the incongruous. ~ Yehudi Menuhin

What's your name?
Um ...
Think about it. You don't get to pick again.
Tris. ~ Veronica Roth

I've read the whole 'Divergent' series, the 'Pretty' series. I just read it because I find this stuff interesting to read. ~ Mark Waters

I find it difficult to believe that God would want us to strip the courts of their powers to interpret the laws of this land, albeit with the divergent opinions. I shudder that my colleagues do not understand the dynamics of the Federal judiciary. ~ Alcee Hastings

Fourth, Tobias is a POLITICIAN?!?!?!? Four, the dauntless legend is a politician. Lame. Lastly, that's it? Tris dies, Tobias doesn't get a girlfriend, get married, anything like that, he lives with his mother. Yay!!!!! ~ Amazon Reviewer

You know, there's a word for big, strong men who attack women, and it's coward. ~ Veronica Roth

Divergent thinking is almost always seen as a gift rather than an acquired and developed skill. But this is far from the truth: divergent thinking is a distinct form of higher-order thinking that can be taught to all ages of students. ~ Dan Rothstein

Sometimes I still forget to look for the gentler parts of her. For so long all I saw was the strength, standing out like the wiry muscles in her arms or the black ink marking her collarbone with flight. ~ Veronica Roth

I am brave, I am selfless, I am Divergent. ~ Veronica Roth

I'm not Dauntless - I'm Divergent. I am whatever I choose to be. ~ Veronica Roth

Trust me when I tell you, Eaton boy, that resisting is worth doing. ~ Veronica Roth

Tris: Wait. So you have no idea what my aptitude is?
Tori: Yes and No. My conclusion is that you display equal aptitude for Abnegation, Dauntless and Erudite. People who get this kind of result are..are called ... Divergent. ~ Veronica Roth

Awkwardness aside, it's nice to be liked. ~ Veronica Roth

She can't possibly be me, though she moves when I move ~ Veronica Roth

The night of the fireworks changed the course of many lives in England, though no one suspected the dark future as hundreds of courtiers stared, faces upturned in delight, at the starbursts of crimson, green, and gold that lit up the terraces, gardens, and pleasure grounds of Rosethorn House, the country home of Richard, Baron Thornleigh. That night, no one was more proud to belong to the baron's family than his eighteen-year-old ward, Justine Thornleigh; she had no idea that she would soon cause a deadly division in the family and ignite a struggle between two queens. Yet she was already, innocently, on a divergent path, for as Lord and Lady Thornleigh and their multitude of guests watched the dazzle of fireworks honoring the spring visit of Queen Elizabeth, Justine was hurrying away from the public gaiety. Someone had asked to meet her in private. ~ Barbara Kyle

Guilford concluded that creative individuals were also far more likely to exhibit "divergent" rather than "convergent" thinking:

In tests of convergent thinking there is almost always one conclusion or answer that is regarded as unique, and thinking is to be channeled or controlled in the direction of that answer....In divergent thinking, on the other hand, there is much searching about or going off in various directions. This is most obviously seen when there is no unique conclusion. Divergent thinking...is characterized...as being less goal-bound. There is freedom to go off in different directions....Rejecting the old solution and striking out in some direction is necessary, and the resourceful organism will more probably succeed. ~ Kay Redfield Jamison

Yeah, well," I say, "I left Abnegation because I wasn't selfless enough, no matter how hard I tried to be."
"That's not entirely true." He smiles at me. "That girl who let someone throw knives at her to spare a friend, who hit my dad with a belt to protect me-that selfless girl, that's not you?" ...
"You've been paying close attention, haven't you?"
"I like to observe people/"
"Maybe you were cut out for Candor, Four, because you're a terrible liar. ~ Veronica Roth

You know, the kind of person who gets this tattoo is probably the kind that should keep it very quiet," she says, looking at me from the corner of her eye. "Or else someone will start thinking they're Divergent. ~ Veronica Roth

But there is something appealing about it here too, a freedom, a refusal to belong to theses arbitrary categories we've made for ourselves. ~ Veronica Roth

But that would put me on a path that would make me totally divergent from who I am. I don't have to go through the heartache many other people go through, of figuring out what makes them "wealthy." I know what brings me joy. ~ Ben Sollee

But now I know how large the world is ... Well. I suppose I have grown to large out of my faction. As a consequence. ~ Veronica Roth

People who get his kind of result are ... She looks over her shoulder like she expects someone to appear behind her ... are called ... Divergent. ~ Veronica Roth

Divergent taught me that one choice doesn't define you

The Host taught me that you can't be so quick to judge

Hunger Games taught me that the tinest spark can change the world

The Mortal Instruments taught me that friends can help you overcome anything

Percy Jacskon taught me that everyone's a hero

Harry Potter taught me that love conquers all evil. ~ Random

Divergent thinking is that one starts thinking from one point and expands from there to generate more ideas. ~ Pearl Zhu

The divergent series are the invention of the devil, and it is a shame to base on them any demonstration whatsoever. By using them, one may draw any conclusion he pleases and that is why these series have produced so many fallacies and so many paradoxes. ~ Niels Henrik Abel

If only you could be yourself." they shouted. So, she did. "You are not like me or anyone I have met!" they screamed. So, she blended. "You are so fake." they laughed. So, the caterpillar retreated to her cocoon to find peace alone. One day, they came to find her gone. She left a message, "God knew I was different and gave me these beautiful wings because he meant for me to fly. You see ... I wasn't meant to be like you. I was meant to be me
better. ~ Shannon L. Alder

I only came for Cake" -Tobias Eaton, Divergent ~ Veronica Roth

People who get this kind of result are ... " She looks over her shoulder like she expects someone to appear behind her. " ... are called ... Divergent." She says the last word so quietly that I almost don't hear it, and her tense, worried look returns. ~ Veronica Roth

The modern family is one in which the divergent values of our separate souls are supported, valued, encouraged. Diversity is not just tolerated, it is affirmed as the radical gift of relationship. Conflict is mediated with accepting love despite disagreement, and no one carries the assigned burden of becoming something other than what they are. ~ James Hollis

Nothing is more vital to him than prejudices. Let us not take this word in bad part. It does not necessarily signify false ideas, but only, in the strict sense of the word, any opinions adopted without examination. Now, these kinds of opinion are essential to man; they are the real basis of his happiness and the palladium of empires. Without them, there can be neither religion, morality, nor government. There should be a state religion just as there is a state political system; or rather, religion and political dogmas, mingled and merged together, should together form a general or national mind sufficiently strong to repress the aberrations of the individual reason which is, of its nature, the mortal enemy of any association whatever because it gives birth only to divergent opinions. ~ Joseph De Maistre

An open society calls itself open to improvement. It is based on the recognition that people have divergent views and interests, and that nobody is in possession of the ultimate truth. ~ George Soros

By the time we leave, I have red lips and curled eyelashes, and I'm wearing a bright red dress. And there's a knife strapped to the inside of my knee. This all makes perfect sense. ~ Veronica Roth

I think it's important to protect people. To stand up for people [ ... ] That's what courage is. Not ... hurting people for no reason. - Al ~ Veronica Roth

I'll have to keep looking for more of them, more brief moments of freedom in a world that refuses to allow it. ~ Veronica Roth

As our appreciation of happiness in relationship increases, we take notice of the things that tend to take us away from this feeling. One major catalyst taking us away is the need to be right. An opinion that is taken too seriously sets up conditions that must be met first before you can be happy. In relationships, this might sound like 'You must agree with or see my point of view in order for me to love and respect you.' In a more positive feeling state, this attitude would seem silly or harmful. We can disagree, even on important issues, and still love one another - when our own thought systems no longer have control over our lives and we see the innocence in our divergent points of view.

The need to be right stems from an unhealthy relationship to your own thoughts. Do you believe your thoughts are representative of reality and need to be defended, or do you realize that realities are seen through different eyes? Your answer to this question will determine, to a large extent, your ability to remain in a positive feeling state.

Everyone I know, who has put positive feeling above being right on their priority list has come to see that differences of opinion will take care of themselves. ~ Richard Carlson

Human reason can excuse any evil; that is why it's so important that we don't rely on it. ~ Veronica Roth

You're not very nice," I say, grinning.
"You're one to talk."
"Hey, I could be nice if I tried."
"Hmm." He taps his chin. "Say something nice, then."
"You're very good-looking."
He smiles, his teeth a flash in this dark. "I like this 'nice' thing. ~ Veronica Roth

If someone offers you an opportunity to get closer to your enemy, you always take it. I know that without having learned it from anyone. ~ Veronica Roth

Looking away is submissive. Looking [..] in the eye is a challenge. ~ Veronica Roth

I was also beginning to learn about social psychology and the Milgram experiment on obedience to authority figures, which made me think about how malleable our supposedly strict moral codes become in the right conditions. Something that DIVERGENT grapples with. ~ Veronica Roth

Dead people can be our heroes because they cant disappoint us later; they only improve over time, as we forget more and more about them. ~ Veronica Roth

I suppose a fire that burns that bright is not meant to last. ~ Veronica Roth

A true university can never rest upon the will of one man. A true university always rests upon the wills of many divergent-minded old men, who refuse to be disturbed, but who growl in their kennels. ~ John Jay Chapman

You think my first instinct is to protect you. Because you're small, or a girl, or a Stiff. But you're wrong."
He leans his face close to mine and wraps his fingers around my chin. His hand smells like metal. When was the last time he held a gun, or a knife? My skin tingles at the point of contact, like he's transmitting electricity through his skin.
"My first instinct is to push you until you break, just to see how hard I have to press." he says, his fingers squeezing at the word break. My body tenses at the edge in his voice, so I am coiled as tight as a spring, and I forget to breathe.
His dark eyes lifting to mine, he adds, "But I resist it."
"Why ... " I swallow hard. "Why is that your first instinct?"
"Fear doesn't shut you down; it wakes you up. I've seen it. It's fascinating." He releases me but doesn't pull away, his hand grazing my jaw, my neck. "Sometimes I just want to see it again. Want to see you awake. ~ Veronica Roth

I love Tris the Divergent, who makes decisions apart from faction loyalty, who isn't some faction archetype. But the Tris who's trying as hard as she can to destroy herself ... I can't love her. ~ Anonymous

What's your name."
"Um ... " I don't know why I hesitate, but Betrise just doesn't sound right anymore. I have a chance to be remade here. A new fraction, a new name.
"Tris," I say firmly.
"Welcome to dauntless," he says to me. ~ Veronica Roth

The tiles in the Merciless Mart are always black and white, and here they are in a checkered pattern. If I unfocus my eyes, I see exactly what the Candor don't believe in - gray. ~ Veronica Roth

The discussions of the prior generation, shaped by H. Richard Niebuhr's Christ and Culture (see chapter three above), still presumed "gospel" and "culture" as two disparate and divergent categories and realities. An incarnational and pentecostal approach to culture realizes that while distinct, the gospel always comes through culture and that culture can - indeed, must! - be redeemed for the purposes of the gospel. ~ Amos Yong

When you put off a task, you buy yourself time to engage in divergent thinking rather than foreclosing on one particular idea ... ~ Adam Grant

You will know that it is time when there are many among you whose minds appear to be more flexible than the others. The name you should give those people is Divergent. ~ Veronica Roth

It's been so long since someone said my name that way, like it was a revelation and not a threat. ~ Veronica Roth

Living in a diverse world - or leading a diverse work force - is more than a mental construct, a memorized list of cultural differences, or a willingness to be tolerant. It's about examining how well we function at the margins and interfaces of life, where divergent ways of being and believing meet and collide. (Kemper ~ Mark E. Mendenhall

So often it happens that this one or that stands condemned by the social laws that govern family relations; and yet there are peculiar circumstances in the case, differences of temperament, divergent interests, innumerable complications of family life that excuse the apparent offence. ~ Honore De Balzac

I feel like someone breathed new air into my lungs. I am not Abnegation. I am not Dauntless.
I am Divergent. ~ Veronica Roth

I don't want to be just one thing. I want to be brave and selfless and intelligent and honest and kind. ~ Veronica Roth

You're desperate, and so am I,' I said. 'Desperate people make stupid decisions all the time.'"

P244 ~ Veronica Roth

He turns toward me. I want to touch him, but I'm afraid of his bareness; afraid that he will make me bare too.
'Is this scaring you, Tris?'
'No,' I croak. I clear my throat. 'Not really. I'm only…afraid of what I want.'
'What do you want?' Then his face tightens. 'Me?'
Slowly I nod. ~ Veronica Roth

I have a message for the Divergent" I am Divergent. "This is not a negotiation" No, it is not. "It is a warning" I understand. "Every two days until one of you delivers yourself to Erudite headquarters ... " I will. " ... this will happen again" It will never happen again. ~ Veronica Roth

She is a woman of muscle twisted around bone. ~ Veronica Roth

Love of music, of sunsets and sea; a liking for the same kind of people; political opinions that are not radically divergent; a similar stance as we look at the stars and think of the marvelous strangeness of the universe - these are what build a marriage. And it is never to be taken for granted. ~ Madeleine L'Engle

In the tense silence the continual buzzing of the horseflies was the only audible sound, that and the constant rain beating down in the distance, and, uniting the two, the ever more frequent scritch-scratch of the bent acacia trees outside, and the strange nightshift work of the bugs in the table legs and in various parts of the counter whose irregular pulse measured out the small parcels of time, apportioning the narrow space into which a word, a sentence or a movement might perfectly fit. The entire end-of-October night was beating with a single pulse, its own strange rhythm sounding through trees and rain and mud in a manner beyond words or vision: a vision present in the low light, in the slow passage of darkness, in the blurred shadows, in the working of tired muscles; in the silence, in its human subjects, in the undulating surface of the metaled road; in the hair moving to a different beat than do the dissolving fibers of the body; growth and decay on their divergent paths; all these thousands of echoing rhythms, this confusing clatter of night noises, all parts of an apparently common stream, that is the attempt to forget despair; though behind things other things appear as if by mischief, and once beyond the power of the eye they don't hang together. So with the door left open as if forever, with the lock that will never open. There is a chasm, a crevice. ~ Laszlo Krasznahorkai

don't belong to Abnegation, or Dauntless, or even the Divergent. I don't belong to the Bureau or the experiment or the fringe. I belong to the people I love, and they belong to me - they, and the love and loyalty I give them, form my identity far more than any word or group ever could. I ~ Veronica Roth

Why do you say vague things if you don't want to be asked about them? ~ Veronica Roth

Don't let imperfections or petty differences hinder love. We don't all have to agree on everything in order to create harmony within our own circles. We simply have to respect divergent opinions and recognize the good in the imperfect people we love--which more often then not will outweigh the bad. ~ Irene Hannon