Things are changing, but this time I'm not afraid. This time I know who I am. This time I've made the right choice and fighting for the right team. I feel safe. Confident

— Tahereh Mafi

This planet is a broken bone that didn’t set right, a hundred pieces of crystal glued together. We’ve been shattered and reconstructed, told to make an effort every single day to pretend we still function the way we’re supposed to. But it’s a lie, it’s all a lie.

— Tahereh Mafi

Uh, yeah - how about a warm hell no to that request? Does that work for you? Because it works for me.

— Tahereh Mafi

Warner. A white bird with streaks of gold like a crown atop its head. A fair - skinned boy with gold hair, the leader of Sector 45. It was always him. All along. The link.

— Tahereh Mafi

We're too different now. We want different things. And this?" I say nodding at our hands. "All this managed to prove is that you are perfect at turning me off

— Tahereh Mafi

We've been shattered and reconstructed, told to make an effort every single day to pretend we still function the way we're supposed to. But it's a lie, it's all a lie; every person, place, thing and idea is a lie. I do not function properly. I am nothing more than the consequence of catastrophe.

— Tahereh Mafi

We write every day, we fight every day, we think and scheme and dream a little dream every day. Manuscripts pile up in the kitchen sink, run-on sentences dangle around our necks. We plant purple prose in our gardens and snip the adverbs only to thread them in our hair. We write with no guarantees, no certainties, no promises of what might come, and we do it anyway. This is who we are.

— Tahereh Mafi

While a part of me wants to know, another part of me is too exhausted to ask.

— Tahereh Mafi

Why are you touching

— Tahereh Mafi

You think that because I am unwanted, because I am neglected and-and discarded-" My voice inches higher with every word, the unrestrained emotions suddenly screaming through my lungs. "You think I don't have a heart? You think I don't feel? You think that because I can inflict pain, that I should? Furthermore, you're just like everyone else. Furthermore, you think I'm a monster just like everyone else. Furthermore, you don't understand me at all.

— Tahereh Mafi