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Lauren Oliver

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Famous Lauren Oliver Quotes

“Grief is like sinking, like being buried. I am in water the tawny color of kicked-up dirt. Every breath is full of choking. There is nothing to hold on to, no sides, no way to claw myself up. There is nothing to do but let go. Let go. Feel the weight all around you, feel the squeezing of your lungs, the slow, low pressure. Let yourself go deeper. There is nothing but bottom. There is nothing but the taste of metal, and the echoes of old things, and days that look like darkness.”

WayFeelsLooksSidesWaterGriefDarknessColorTasteLetting GoLowsWeightPressureBreathsBottomDeeperBuriedMetalsEchoesDirtLungsChokeSinkingClawsOld ThingsSqueezing
Author:Lauren Oliver
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“As Steve draws me closer to the band, all I can see is a frenzied mass of seething, writhing people, like a many-headed sea snake, grinding, waving their arms, stamping their feet, jumping. No rules, just energy - so much energy, you could harness it; I bet you could power Portland for a decade. It is more than a wave. It's a tide, an ocean of bodies.”

PeopleI CanBodyEnergySeaFeetArmsBandOceanMassDrawsWaveDecadesTidesSnakesJumpingHarnessPortlandSeething
Book:Hana: A Delirium Short Story
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“Time becomes a stutter-the space between drumbeats, splintered into fragments, and also endlessly long, as long as soaring guitar notes that melt into one another, as full as the dark mass of bodies around me. I feel like the air downstairs has gone to liquid, to sweat and smell and sound, and I have broken apart in it. I am wave: I am pulled into the everything. I am energy and noise and a heartbeat going boom, boom, boom, echoing the drums.”

FeelsLongBodyEnergySoundDarkSpaceGoneAirBrokenMassNotesGuitarWaveSmellNoiseSweatSoarFragmentsHeartbeatLiquidSpace Between
Book:Delirium Stories: Hana, Annabel, Raven and Alex
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“We are such small, stupid things. For most of my life I thought of nature as the stupid thing: Blind, animal, destructive. We, the humans, were clean and smart and in control: we had wrestled the rest of the world into submission, battered it down, pinned it to a glass slide and the pages of The Bool of Shhh.”

WorldHumansAnimalStupidPagesSmartBlindCleanGlassesDestructiveSubmissionSlidesStupid ThingsBattered
Book:Hana: A Delirium Short Story
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“I’m Hana,” Hana says. “And this is Lena.” She jabs me with an elbow. I know I must look like a fish, standing there with my mouth gaping open, but I’m too outraged to speak. He’s lying. I know he’s the one I saw yesterday, would bet my life on it. “Alex. Nice to meet you.” Alex keeps his eyes on me as he and Hana shake hands. Then he extends a hand to me. “Lena,” he says thoughtfully. “I’ve never heard that name before.”

KnowsLooksHandsEyeLyingNamesSpeakSawsNiceHeardMouthsStandingFishesYesterdayHis EyesShakesAlexElbowsStanding ThereOutragedNice To Meet You
Book:Delirium: The Complete Collection: Delirium, Hana, Pandemonium, Annabel, Raven, Requiem
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“For a second we just stand there in silence. Then, suddenly, Alex is back, easy and smiling again. “I left a note for you one time. In the Governor’s fist, you know?” I left a note for you one time. It’s impossible, too crazy to think about, and I hear myself repeating, “You left a note for me?” “I’m pretty sure it said something stupid. Just hi, and a smiley face, and my name. But then you stopped coming.” He shrugs. “It’s probably still there. The note, I mean. Probably just a bit of paper pulp by now.”

ThinkingKnowsMeanSaidStillsFacesNamesLeftEasyBitsSilenceImpossibleCrazyStupidPaperNotesOne TimeGovernorsFistsAlexPulpSmileySmiley FaceAlex Sheathes
Author:Lauren Oliver
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“Maybe he sees it on my face, that fraction of a second when I let my guard down, because in that moment his expression softens and his eyes go bright as flame and even though I barely see him move, suddenly he has closed the space between us and he’s wrapping his warm hands over my shoulders—fingers so warm and strong I almost cry out—and saying, “Lena. I like you, okay? That’s it. That’s all. I like you.” His voice is so low and hypnotic it reminds me of a song. I think of predators dropping silently from trees: I think of enormous cats with glowing amber eyes, just like his.”

ThinkingMomentsHandsEyeFacesMovingSongStrongVoiceSpaceTreeCryExpressionLike YouLowsCatOkayFingersWarmShouldersEnormousFlamesHis EyesThat MomentDroppingGlowingFractionsPredatorSpace BetweenAmberI Like YouWrappingHypnoticAmber Eyes
Author:Lauren Oliver
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“This is the world we live in, a world of safety and happiness and order, a world without love. A world where children crack their heads on stone fireplaces and nearly gnaw off their tongues and the parents are concerned. Not heartbroken, frantic, desperate. Concerned, as they are when you fail mathematics, as they are when they are late to pay their taxes.”

WorldChildrenOrderParentPayFailingTaxesLateConcernedStonesMathematicsSafetyTongueDesperateCracksHeartbrokenWithout LoveFranticFireplaces
Author:Lauren Oliver
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“Something aches at the very core of me, something ancient and deep and stronger than words: the filament that joins each of us to the root of existence, that ancient thing unfurling and resisting and grappling, desperately, for a foothold, a way to stay here, breathe, keep going.”

WayExistenceRootsStrongerAncientBreatheCoreKeep GoingAcheResistingGrappling
Book:Delirium Trilogy: Delirium, Pandemonium, Requiem
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