Shatter Me Series Quotes

“You think these recent events are everything. You think Aaron fell in love with your friend of several months, a rebel girl named Juliette. You don't know. You don't know. You don't know that Aaron has been in love with Ella for the better part of his entire life. They've known each other since childhood...…..The reason he had to keep wiping their memories was because it didn't matter how many times he reset the story or remade the introductions - Aaron always fell in love with her. Every time.


- Delalieu”
― Tahereh Mafi, Defy Me

“I love you, Ella. I will love you for the rest of my life. My heart is yours. Please don't ever give it back to me.

- Warner”
― Tahereh Mafi, Defy Me

“i would happily watch the world go up in flames if anything happened to her, and if that's not enough for you, you can go to hell.”
― Tahereh Mafi, Believe Me

“I can't remember a single time in my life when someone apologized to me for hurting my feelings. No one has ever cared about my feelings long enough to apologize for hurting them. In my experience, I'm usually the monster. I'm the one expected to make amends.”
― Tahereh Mafi, Defy Me

“In this new, turbulent reality, the one person I recognize is him. My memories of him - memories of us - have done something to me. I've changed somewhere deep inside. I feel different. Heavier, like my feet have been more firmly planted, liberated by certainty, free to grow roots here in my own self, free to trust unequivocally in the strength and steadiness of my own heart. It's an empowering discovery, to find that I can trust myself - even when I'm not myself - to make the right choices. To know for certain now that there was at least one mistake I never made.

Aaron Warner Anderson is the only emotional through line in my life that ever made sense. He's the only constant. The only steady, reliable heartbeat I've ever had.

Aaron, Aaron, Aaron, Aaron.

I had no idea how much we'd lost, no idea how much of him I'd longed for. I had no idea how desperately we'd been fighting. How many years we'd fought for moments - minutes - to be together.

It fills me with a painful kind of joy.

- Ella”
― Tahereh Mafi, Defy Me

“i worry, sometimes, that my love for her will expand beyond the limitations of my body, that it will one day kill me with its heft.”
― Tahereh Mafi, Believe Me

“I cling to him, wishing I could ease his pain. I wish I could take his burdens and make them mine.

"It's weird, isn't it?" he says.

"What is?"

"If we were naked right now, I'd be dead."

"Shut up," I say, laughing against his chest. We're both wearing long sleeves, long pants. As long as my face and hands don't touch his skin, he's perfectly safe.

"Well, it's true."

"In what alternate universe would I ever be naked with you?"

"I am just saying," he says. "Shit happens. You never know."

"I think you need a girlfriend."

"Nah," he says. "I just need a hug from my friend."

I lean back to look at him. Try to read his eyes. "You're my best friend, Kenji. You know that, right?"

"Yeah, kid." He grins at me. "I do. And I can't believe I got stuck with your skinny ass.”
― Tahereh Mafi, Ignite Me

“Forgive me. I know it all seems stupid now, but I don't want to take anything for granted anymore. Forgive me for hurting you. Forgive me for not trusting you. I took my pain out on you and I'm so sorry. I was selfish, and I hurt you, and I'm so sorry.

- Ella”
― Tahereh Mafi, Defy Me

“That you could love me at all seems like some kind of miracle."
She smiles, even as she shakes her head. "That's ridiculous," she says. "It's very, very easy to love you."

-Warner and Ella”
― Tahereh Mafi, Defy Me

“I lived in a really dark place. I wasn't safe in my own mind. I woke up every morning hoping to die and then spent the rest of the day wondering if maybe I was already dead because I couldn't even tell the difference.”
― Tahereh Mafi, Ignite Me

“In my dreams I am safe; I have a strong hand to hold; a door to lock against the dark; a trusted ear into which I whisper my fears. In my dreams I am patient and kind; I have room in my heart for more pain than my own. I am not afraid to smile at strangers. I have never witnessed death.”
― Tahereh Mafi, Watch Me

“It's strange. How hollow i feel. Like there might be echoes inside of me. Like I'm one of those chocolate rabbits they used to sell around Easter, the ones that were nothing more than a sweet shell encapsulating a world of nothing. I'm like that. I encapsulate a world of nothing.”
― Tahereh Mafi, Unravel Me

“It’s the kind of kiss that inspires stars to climb into the sky and light up the world. The kind that takes forever and no time at all. His hands are holding my cheeks, and he pulls back just to look me in the eye and his chest is heaving and he says, “I think,” he says, “my heart is going to explode,” and I wish, more than ever, that I knew how to capture moments like these and revisit them forever.
Because this.
This is everything.”
― Tahereh Mafi, Ignite Me

“Sometimes I am so desperate for quiet that I think I might commit murder for a moment of silence. Instead, I shut down incrementally as I'm able.”
― Tahereh Mafi, Believe Me

“I sold my soul for a few years with my mother, and now, after everything, I don't even know if it'll be worth it.

- Warner”
― Tahereh Mafi, Defy Me

“It’s simple logic: if we believe our choices are our own—if we do not know we are being bent into obeisance—we will not be tempted to revolt.”
― Tahereh Mafi, Watch Me

“Doubt had married my fear and moved into my mind, where it built castles and ruled kingdoms and reigned over me, bowing my will to its whispers until I was little more than an acquiescing peon, too terrified to disobey, too terrified to disagree..”
― Tahereh Mafi

“When there's something you want but can't have, you can be patient or creative. Choose a path.”
― Tahereh Mafi, Watch Me

“You know what’ll fuck you up? Watching adults terrorize children over and over again.”
― Tahereh Mafi, Watch Me

“I always wanted revenge against the rebels responsible for the destruction of my life and the upheaval of the world—even as I found the actions of my own regime to be worse than despicable. I aligned myself with what I believed to be the lesser of two evils, trusting that no government could be trusted.”
― Tahereh Mafi, Watch Me

“The question of the next generation will not be one of how to liberate the masses, but rather, how to make them love their servitude.
- Aldous Huxley”
― Tahereh Mafi, Watch Me

“People have too many problems of their own. Those who reek of neediness are pariahs; there’s no faster path to isolation than to ask for help.”
― Tahereh Mafi, Watch Me

“Then, with a force that takes my breath away, I finally understand. In a moment of pure, undiluted panic, I finally understand. This is why I keep making mistakes around him— This is what’s wrong with me— This is why I can’t seem to die and stay dead, why my skin keeps burning, my heart keeps racing, my head keeps spinning—
He is what’s wrong with me.
After so many years being dead inside, James makes me feel alive.”
― Tahereh Mafi, Watch Me

“I keep going: “But there are other ways to connect with people.”
“What do you mean?”
“You know,” I say, popping a piece of lettuce into my mouth. “Like, just paying attention. I pay attention to you.”
She turns pink. Almost all of her turns pink. It’s fucking adorable. I want to die.”
― Tahereh Mafi, Watch Me

“Nazeera sits back in her seat. "I know you all think the children of the supreme commanders are a bunch of carefree, amoral psychopaths, happy to be the military robots our parents wanted us to be, but nothing is ever that straightforward. Our parents are homicidal maniacs intent on ruling the world; that part is true. But the thing no one seems to understand is that our parents chose to be homicidal maniacs. We, on the other hand, were forced to be. And just because we have been trained to be mercenaries doesn't mean we like it...And it's not insane to imagine that sometimes even horrible people are searching for a way out of their own darkness.”
― Tahereh Mafi, Defy Me

“At once, my body flushes with heat.
It’s automatic, instinctive, and unprecedented. I’m not this kind of person. I have never physically reacted to another human being before, and right now I feel as if someone has flipped a switch inside of me, flooding my veins with light. It’s so foreign a sensation I have the sudden desire to examine it, to search inside myself for the cause and kill it.
James is standing by the exit.”
― Tahereh Mafi, Watch Me

“This is not a level playing field.
It doesn’t come naturally to me to orchestrate the downfall of vulnerable women. I liked it better when she was actively trying to murder me. I liked it better before I made her cry. Hell, I could’ve sworn she used to talk more. And she never used to look at me like this, like a cat when it’s comfortable. Softly blinking, sleepy eyes. I don’t like it. It’s freaking me out. I need her to try to stab me or something, and soon. Really soon.”
― Tahereh Mafi, Watch Me

“For as long as I can remember, every psychological evaluation and aptitude test agreed: The child appears to be dead inside.
There was something wrong with me, something broken, some meaningful reason why I never laughed the way other children did, never smiled at strangers. Why I never cried when they sliced me open over and over and over again, trying to feed my mind to a machine.
I would not be a scientist or a doctor. Not a mother or a soldier. I would grow up to be an efficient killer. An excellent asset to the regime. At the height of The Reestablishment’s power, I never imagined my skills would be so enthusiastically desired, but now that we lack the robust military of a bygone era, mercenaries are more important than ever. Spies, assassins, executioners. We’ve been forced to downsize our kill capacity, designing missions with surgical precision and efficiency.
This is all my life is worth. And I decided long ago to sacrifice my dead body so that Clara might live.
“By the way,” says James, interrupting my reverie. “If you’re going to pretend to go through the motions, you need to work on the details. You carry that notebook around but you never carry a pen. You're not fooling anyone."
I don't know what prompts me to say it. I'm not sure I'm thinking at all when I
say, softly-
"I've been fooling people all my life. You're the only one paying attention.”
― Tahereh Mafi, Watch Me

“If she's not driving me up a wall she's driving me insane. Sometimes all she does is look at me. I never know what to do when she does this, so I just sit there as she stares, her eyes raking over every inch of me, wondering what the hell she's thinking and knowing she'll never tell me. Sometimes she won't speak for so long the silence begins to make me sweat. I wake up thinking about her. I fall asleep thinking about her. I accidentally brushed against her going through a doorway and the way my body reacted you'd think she'd pinned me the wall and offered to unzip my pants. I had to leave the building just to get some air. I've started dreaming about her. I wake up in the middle of the night overheated and out of my mind. I've had trouble sleeping all my life-but this might be the worst sleep I've had in years.”
― Tahereh Mafi, Watch Me

“I'd finally crossed my arms and said, "Are you going to do this forever? Seriously?
You're just going to sit there and stare at me and give me nothing? What's your favorite color, Rosabelle? Can you tell me your favorite color? Or is that some kind of highly protected trade secret you can't speak into the world for fear of inciting a new world war?" and then she laughed at me, and then I had a stroke. I actually felt the blood drain from my face. My hands went hot, then clammy.
It was a soft, musical sound of delight I'd never heard from her. Hell, I'd never
even seen her smile before.
She was still smiling when she looked at me after that, the gentle expression lin-
gering on her face.
My fucking soul left my body.
I'd always thought she was gorgeous, but I had no idea what I was missing. The way her eyes lit up, the way her nose wrinkled. She's been eating more every day, looking healthier, growing only more radiant.
"Wow," I'd whispered, gaping at her like an idiot discovering his hands for the first time. And then, realizing I'd said the word out loud, I reached inside myself and put my fist through my brain.”
― Tahereh Mafi, Watch Me