Quotes by Neal Shusterman

Today he failed to change the world. As for tomorrow, who can tell?

There are worse things than being robbed... I could smell the sick old-meat stench on his breath, like he really had eaten my grandmother. ...worse things than dyin even. You be a good boy, Little Red, and maybe youll get to live awhile. Maybe youll get to die in your own natural time.

You should never apologize for existing, Lev. Not even to all those people out there who wish you didnt.

Luck, however, is too dumb to remain consistent

Do we exist because others perceive our existence, or is, indeed, our own affirmation enough?

I cant help what I have any more than you can help what you dont

Please give me a single reason why I shouldnt hurl myself beneath the wheels of that bus.

How many kids are in the Graveyard?A bunch.Who sends your supplies?George Washington. Or is it Abraham Lincoln? I forget.How often do you receive new arrivals?About as often as you beat your wife.

Wars have a way reinventing people. And making too many things disappear.-Sonia

Sometimes, Lev, I just want to smack you.You already hit him with a car.

Their fate rested entirely on me. I could save them by telling the truth. I could destroy them by lying. No one should have that much power.

You see, Risa, survival is a dance between our needs and our consciences. When the need is great enough, and the music loud enough, we can stomp conscience into the ground.Risa closes her eyes. She knows the dance...Its the way of the world, Divan continues. Look at unwinding, societys grand gavotte of denial. There will, no doubt, come a time when people look to one another and say, My God, what have we done? But I dont believe it will happen any time soon. Until then, the dance must have music; the chorus must have its voice. Give it that voice, Risa. Play for me.But Risas fingers offer him nothing, and the Orgao Organico holds the obdurate, unyielding silence of the grave.

Its always the lesser of two evils.I dont see why there have to be any evils at all.-Connor

I almost told her everything right then. I wanted to tell her about the Wolves, and how I was supposed to hate them, but when you spend your days with evil, some of it is bound to soak into your clothes, like cigar smoke in a closed room.

Whether consciousness is implanted in us by something divine, or whether it is created by the efforts of our brains, the end result is the same. We are.

They will find whatever button will make you dance, and dance you will, no matter how hideous the tune.

Griping is for those without a plan of action...

Hole... He grips Risas hand tighter. Hole, Risa, hole... And she smiles Yes, Connor, she says. Youre whole. Youre finally whole.

It made my blood boil so hot, my brain stopped working right.

I wrote Unwind for lots of reasons, and it poses questions about alot of subjects. To state it briefly, I wanted to point out how when peopletake intractable positions on an issue, and stick to extreme sides,sometimes the result is a compromise that is worse than either extreme. Imeant it as a wake up call to society -- and to point out that sometimes theproblem IS that we take sides on an issue, when a different sort of approachis needed. Its also to pose questions about what it means to be alive.Where does life begin, where does it end -- and point out that there is nosingle answer to these questions. The problem is people who think there aresimple answers. People who see things as simple black-and-whiteright-and-wrong are the type of people who will end up with a world like theworld in Unwind.