Ally Carter Quotes & Sayings

There are six reasons anyone does anything: Love. Faith. Greed. Boredom. Fear ... " he said, ticking them off on his fingers; but he lingered on the last, drawing a deep breath before he said, "Revenge. — Ally Carter

Despite popular belief, hitting someone with a closed fist actually hurts the hitter almost as much as the hittee. — Ally Carter

It was easy to believe, between lessons on Shakespeare and Dickens and Austen, that all of the great stories had already been written by dead Europeans. But every time I saw 'The Outsiders', I knew better. It was the first time I'd realized that real people write books. — Ally Carter

She watched him stop to pat the mayor on the back. He stumbled a little in the crowd, and his left hand disappeared ever so briefly inside the mayor's tuxedo pocket. It was over in a flash, a blink, a second. And Macey was quite certain she was the only person in the entire room to have seen it, but that was just as well. At least, Macey had seen enough. And at last, the boy made sense.
- Double Crossed by Ally Carter — Ally Carter

So you're Zach." Townsend didn't even try to hide the judgement in his voice as he looked Zach up and down in some sort of silent but dangerous examination.
Zach huffed but smiled. "so you're Townsend."
The two of them stared for a long time, wordless. It felt like I was watching a documentary on the Nature Channel, something about alpha males in the wild. — Ally Carter

Teenage girls read in packs. It's true today, and it was true when I was a teen growing up in a small town in northeast Oklahoma. — Ally Carter

It was so rare to find someone who was both so young and so wise, both so fresh and so jaded. — Ally Carter

Pain seared through me again-a hot, burning stab in my gut-and yet my body found strength I didn't know I had, correcting as I fell. — Ally Carter

Trinket. A souvenir. It's nothing." "Oh, not nothing," Macey said. She held her thin wrist out so that her bracelet caught the light. "I saw something just like it in the September Vogue." Amazingly, that made me feel better. "Well, at least I'm a crazy person with good taste. — Ally Carter

I know in the spy movies it always looks really cool when the operative goes from a maid's uniform to a slinky, sexy, ballgown in the amount of time it takes an elevator to climb three floors. Well, I don't know how it is for TV spies, but I can tell you that even with Velcro, the art of the quick change is one that must take a lot of practice (not to mention better lighting than one is likely to find in a tunnel that was once part of the underground railroad). — Ally Carter

I knew she was right. Of course she was right. Bex was always right. She knew me better than I knew myself. But then again, isn't that a best friend's job? — Ally Carter

You are my best friend. And sometimes I like to check and make sure my friends aren't dead. — Ally Carter

The Princess and the Pea?" Gabrielle suggested.
"Not enough time," Kat said
"Where's Waldo?" Gabrielle went on.
"No." Hamish recoiled. "I am still not allowed back in Morocco. — Ally Carter

Like Cammie is fine," Macey said, then glanced at me. "No offense."
"None taken," I said. "I think. — Ally Carter

I can sleep anywhere. Planes. Trains. Sofa. Lawn chairs. Call it the upside to my life as an army brat. Never having a home means, I guess, that everywhere is your home. There is absolutely no place I'm anxious to return to. But this is different.
I'm not trying to fall asleep in someplace new; I'm trying to fall asleep in someplace that's old. — Ally Carter

I've never heard of it. And, I don't like to brag, but I read a lot. I mean a lot. And most of it is classified. - Megan — Ally Carter

Look at the way the walls curve,' Macey said, her gaze panning around the strangely shaped room. 'it's almost like ... '
'The library,' Liz said, and immediately I knew that she was right. It was exactly like the library at the Gallagher Academy, from the position of the fireplace to the tall windows that overlooked the grounds.
'How do you know?' Zach asked.
Liz looked totally insulted. 'Because ... uh ... library.'
'Okay.' Zach threw up his hands. 'Point taken. — Ally Carter

since I know for a fact that her class had been in the physics labs when Mr. Fibs got attacked by the bees he thought he'd genetically modified to obey commands from a whistle. (Turns out they only respond to the voice of James Earl Jones.) — Ally Carter

Every decent con man knows that the simplest truth is more powerful than even the most elaborate lie. — Ally Carter

One day, you will see that the heart is not always as wise as it is strong. — Ally Carter

Somtimes people run to see if you'll ever come after them. -Joe — Ally Carter

Hale would scold her if he heard her say it - even here, even now, in the middle of a con. But there was a part of Kat, deep down, that might have even thought it was true if she ever allowed herself to think about such things - if she could stop running, working, grifting long enough to wonder if she was really going to get away with stealing W. W. Hale V. But — Ally Carter

You never know how you're going to react to something. To anything. Tragedy, joy, heartache. They affect us all in different ways in different times and different places. — Ally Carter

But I wasn't the girl I'd been when I left, and I knew it. — Ally Carter

No one would have ever guessed that seven of the world's most talented teenagers were coming to the Henley that day for an entirely different sort of lesson. — Ally Carter

I didn't move; I just waited out the night. The school was quiet around me, and I let the silence calm my heartbreak, lull me into a sleepless trance as I stared past my reflection in the dark glass, and whispered, "Happy birthday, Daddy. — Ally Carter

I wanted to wallow in my solitude and grief — Ally Carter

If you ever put a student at this school in danger again-'
'Oh, I thought you Gallagher Girls were immune to danger.'
Despite the hundred girls the filled the foyer, no one moved or gasped or tried to defend our honor. We stood silently, waiting for our headmistress to say, 'Oh, we are quite used to being underestimated, Agent Townsend. In fact, we welcome it. — Ally Carter

Seventh graders jumped onto the backs of FBI agents. Seniors squared off against the CIA. — Ally Carter

Eventually, we all end up alone. — Ally Carter

Tell me Cameron Ann Morgan, what do you want to be when you grow up? ... Alive — Ally Carter

He's a boy, Kat. I hate to break it to you, but we are fundamentally different. — Ally Carter

bad things for good reasons, — Ally Carter

Step 4: Cough and gag. Step 5: Repeat Step 4 until it feels like maybe your lungs aren't inside your body anymore. Step 6: Remember that a really cute boy is beside you, so try to cough in a far more attractive manner. — Ally Carter

But the heaviest things, I think, are the secrets. They can drown you if you let them. — Ally Carter

What kind of plan B?" Hale asked. He was almost holding his breath when a voice answered, "My kind." Macey tried to read the look on his face then, but it was gone in a flash. It had been a simple moment of peace and joy and pure happiness. That voice made Hale happy. It kept him calm. It was his backup and his conscience. Macey couldn't help herself, she envied him. — Ally Carter

I smile.
I lie. — Ally Carter

But on the upside, I guess we're getting ready to find out if you really only love me for my jet."
"I might love you for your jet," Gabrielle said, straight-faced.
He smiled a Kat. "What about you?"
"Yeah," Kat said, nodding. "I guess that is the question. — Ally Carter

Your mother brought a strange man to this house once, Katarina. I had hoped it might be a few years before history repeated itself."
Kat rolled her eyes at the mention of her father. "Uncle Eddie, I brought Hale home ages ago," she reminded him; but her uncle just shook his head.
"I've known my great-niece's friend. A boyfriend, on the other hand ... that is a most different matter."
"Yes, sir," Hale said. He stood up a little straighter, spoke a little louder.
"You have a powerful family, boy."
"Yes, sir," Hale said. "Please don't hold them against me."
Then Eddie gave a wry smile. "Who says I was talking about them? — Ally Carter

Sometimes the biggest lies we tell are to ourselves. — Ally Carter

If you ever wonder whether or not someone is too good for you, I'd advise going through their trash. Really. No one looks superior after that. — Ally Carter

He's better-looking then the last vagabond I had to take in," Eddie said, standing and carrying empty bowls to the sink. "I'll give him that."
The insult slid off of Bobby like water. "So, you know, kid, according to thief culture, if you're going to court Kat, you now owe me two dozen goats."
"It's a dozen," Eddie corrected.
"Yeah, but Kat's worth two," Hamish said with a wink.
Through it all, Hale said nothing. Then, finally, he smiled. "I'm afraid I'm all out of goats at the moment, but I've got some ruby cuff links you can have."
"No." Bobby shook his head. "It's goats or nothing."
"Sorry, Kat." Hale shrugged, disappointed. "It was fun while it lasted."
"Don't look at me." Kat threw up her hands. "I'm officially ignoring all of you. — Ally Carter

No! I need to go home, I say, but then the realization comes: My mother was my home. My mother is dead. — Ally Carter

Even though Liz might have been at the bottom of our class in P&E, she is the best person I've ever seen at getting me out of bed, which is saying something, considering the woman who raised me. Macey was asleep in her headphones, so Liz felt free to yell, "We're doing this for you!" as she pulled on my left leg and Bex went in search of breakfast. Liz put her foot against the mattress for leverage as she tugged. "Come on, Cam. GET. UP. " "No!" I said, burrowing deeper into the covers. "Five more minutes. " Then she grabbed my hair, which is totally a low blow, since everyone knows I'm tender-headed. "He's a honeypot. " "He'll still be one in an hour, " I pleaded. Then Liz dropped down beside me. She leaned close. She whispered, "Tell Suzie she's a lucky cat. " I threw the covers aside. "I'm up! — Ally Carter

The gentlemen would like to know if'- he cleared his throat- 'that boom was as bloody brilliant as they thought it was. — Ally Carter

That's cool." Hale nodded, unfazed. "But just so you know, that"
he pointed to the piece of metal peeking out from behind the stage
"is a Hurst 5,000 PSI hydraulic spreader-cutter, more commonly know as the Jaws of Life."
"So?"
"So I'm not a normal boy. — Ally Carter

It's every little girl's dream," she said. "Interpol surveillance. And kittens. — Ally Carter

It is a little-known fact about covert operations that you will spend a lot of time with people you can't really trust. They may be traitors and liars. We call them assets or informants. But mostly, in those days, I called him Zach. — Ally Carter

My life is a never ending conversation of the things that people do not say — Ally Carter

Keep your chin up. Eventually, you will meet someone who cares about your opinion. I'm so sorry I'm not her. — Ally Carter

Hiding is for amateurs. — Ally Carter

That's a lovely piece," Kat said, pointing at a Louise XV armoire near the fireplace.
The man raised his eyebrows. "Did you come to steal it?"
"Darn it," Kat said with a snap of her fingers."I knew I should have brought my big purse. — Ally Carter

How are we doing, Simon?" she whispered into the small microphone in her collar.
"Just about ... " Simon started slowly. And then he stopped. "Wow."
"What?" she asked, panic in her voice.
"Nothing," he said too quickly.
"What?" she asked again.
"Well ... it's just that ... your boobs look even bigger on TV."
Kat took that opportunity to turn and glare at the nearest security camera. In his bathroom stall thirty feet away, Simon nearly fell off the toilet. — Ally Carter

You don't need a search warrant to go through someone's trash. Seriously. Once it hits the curb it is totally fair game-you an look it up. — Ally Carter

And, of course, there are the perfect day, perfect moment, perfect life dreams that come sometimes and make a person hit the snooze button for hours, trying to go back to sleep and make the perfect moments last. — Ally Carter

Like so many aspiring writers who still have boxes of things they've written in their parents' houses, I filled notebooks with half-finished poems and stories and first paragraphs of novels that never got written. — Ally Carter

But when Mr. Stein sipped his hot coffee and watched Kat drink hers, he smiled the way he might if he saw a replica of his favorite childhood toy in a shop window - happy that something he loved wasn't entirely gone from the world. — Ally Carter

It's not Cam's fault," Bex told her. "We rigged her bed so that if she gets up, I get an electric shock."
"Liz designed it," Macey said, and Bex shrugged
"We told you we were taking precautions."
Of course. Because at Gallagher Academy, "precautions" usually equals "voluntary shock therapy". — Ally Carter

Switzerland didn't exactly work out. Neither did France. Or Norway." "Three schools?" Hale asked. "Well, technically, five schools - three countries. — Ally Carter

But that's the thing about being the girl who's spent years convincing the world she's not afraid of anything: At some point, someone is going to find out you're afraid of everything. — Ally Carter

I didn't know there were this many math guys," Hale said as they stepped onto the crowded concourse.
Kat cleared her throat.
"And women," he added. "Math women. — Ally Carter

Is Joe your father, Zach?'
I don't know where the question came from, but it was out, and I couldn't take it back even if I'd wanted to.
'No.' Zach shook his head. 'I never knew my dad. I don't know anything about him. — Ally Carter

Oh, and Cammie," At the sounds of his voice, I spun around, expecting to hear him crack a joke or call me Gallagher Girl. The last thing I expected was to feel his arms sliding arounds me, to sense the whole world turning upside down as Zach dipped me in the middle of the foyer and pressed his lips to mine. Then he smiled that smile I'd come to know. "I always finish what I start. — Ally Carter

Ambassador Winters, allow me to introduce my aunt Abby and her ... boyfriend.' Townsed tensed. Abby glared. And Rebecca Baxter looked like she was going to choke on her chewing gum. — Ally Carter

I saw the gun. I sensed the van as it rushed forward, seconds away and coming faster. I heard the screams of the fight behind us. But nothing that night was louder than the masked man's astonished whisper as he looked at the boy who stood beside me and said, 'you? — Ally Carter

Even though Kate had only known Hale for a little more than two years, she had seen him in a lot of situations. — Ally Carter

Thanks to you, Gabs, we just figured out a half dozen ways not to rob the Henley. — Ally Carter

Gabrielle was insulted and didn't even bother to hide it. 'Oh, and I suppose you think your dad was alone when he free-climbed the Kyoto Banking Tower on a windy day last September. — Ally Carter

All these years I'd thought being a spy was challenging. Turns out, being a girl is the tricky part. — Ally Carter

Hello, Gallagher Girl
--Zack — Ally Carter

But maybe because sometimes a girl just really needs to snap at someone who she knows will forgive her later. — Ally Carter

Did you hear that? I'm special. — Ally Carter

Abby must have been the one who found the safe house, because Townsend didn't like it.
"The building across the street is under construction," he snarled as soon as we'd carried our bags inside.
"The elevator has key card access, and I've hacked into the surveillance cameras from every system on the block," Abby argued. "We have a three-hundred-sixty-degree visual."
"Excellent." Townsend dropped his bag. "Now the circle can see us from every angle."
"Don't mind Agent Townsend, girls," Abby told us. "He's a glass-half-empty kind of spy."
"Also known as the good kind," he countered.
Abby huffed. — Ally Carter

When the woman took the earbud, he didn't ask another question. She was a woman on a mission as she placed the tiny device in her ear and said, This is Special Agent Abby Cameron. Let me talk to Macey McHenry. — Ally Carter

I suppose you should her it from me that I met your mother" he smiled a litte sadly. "well ... When I say met I mean one time I tried to kill her."
"Do me a favor" Zach's voice was low and dark and dangerous. "Next time don't just try — Ally Carter

It was the first time in years I didn't wonder if my father was out there, looking at it too. — Ally Carter

In a place where everyone knew my story, it was nice to know there was a chapter that ONLY I HAD TO READ. — Ally Carter

I don't understand hate. I've seen its power. I've known its wrath. I've even felt it coursing through my veins, pushing me on. But I don't know where it comes from or why it lasts, how it can take hold in some people and grow. — Ally Carter

The older man cocked his head and gave a laugh, "We get all the ladies. But for some reason I don't think you're here looking for me." "I don't know," Kat said. "I'm always in the market for good rappelling harness." "For you, my dear, nothing but the best." "But you are right about something. I'm actually trying to find
" "Young Mr. Hale, I'm assuming." Kate blushed. "Let me guess
I'm not the only one?" "Maybe. But you're the one i hope finds him." He gave a wink and walked away, and Kat didn't feel alone anymore in the big room full of people. — Ally Carter

Five decades on the throne and this is how they treat me, Ms. Blakely. Makes me wish I'd been a teacher." His voice drops. He almost sounds a little wistful. "I would have liked to have been a teacher. — Ally Carter

Acting like you don't care is a whole lot easier when you don't care — Ally Carter

If he'd looked like a cross between Mr. Clooney and, say, one of the hobbits, I probably would have been far more capable of coherent thought. — Ally Carter

Your test had cheese meteor questions? - Bex to Liz. — Ally Carter

Life is classified. There is always so much that goes unsaid. — Ally Carter

Because sometimes not liking someone is easier. — Ally Carter

Well, see, there's this cave in Switzerland I really need to find.' She slipped on her sunglasses; was already in the middle of the street when she turned and looked back at Hale and Gabrielle. 'You coming? — Ally Carter

Fear is a weakness. It makes a person lose her nerve and her cool. It makes people jumpy and organizations nervous, and when that happens, there is always a chance to take advantage. — Ally Carter

Still half asleep and groggy, Kat squinted up through the shadows of the tiny space and into Hale's eyes. It was the closest they'd been in weeks. Whatever had stood between them was lost in the shadows, and Kat felt Hale's mouth press against hers. His fingers wove into her hair, holding her close, gripping her tightly. It was the hungriest kiss she'd ever known, and Kat let herself get lost in it. Forget. Tell herself that there was nothing they couldn't do as long as they were together.
But, then again, they were currently trapped in a closet on the thirty-seventh floor of a well-secured high-rise in the middle of the night, so perhaps her judgment was lacking.
"Sorry," Hale said, breaking the kiss and pulling away. — Ally Carter

Guess we should start by X-raying it," Liz said slowly. "We'll need to scan it for biohazards, of course, and - " Abby lunged forward, cutting Liz off. She didn't hesitate as she grabbed the package and ripped. Scraps of paper and packing material flew everywhere, but no one said a thing as Abby turned the envelope upside down and dumped the contents onto the table. "Or we could do that," Liz finished. — Ally Carter

Tell me Zach." I don't know if it was the wind or the adrenaline, but I shivered. "And don't lie to me. — Ally Carter

You look disappointed to see me, Zach," Macey teased. "Don't you like my jacket? — Ally Carter

The time for crying with your girlfriends about a broken heart is over chocolate ice cream
and chick flicks - not stun guns and bulletproof vests. — Ally Carter

So I hear we get to go to town this weekend. Want to catch a movie or something?
Z
P.S. That is, if Jimmy doesn't mind.
Translation: This weekend might be a good chance for us to see each other outside our school in a social environment, free of competetiton. I do not view other boys as threats, and I enjoy making them seem insignificant by calling them the wrong names. (Translation by Macey McHenry) — Ally Carter

I know. I'm sorry. And the bizarre part is that I really am. I want to be good, to use the right fork and wear a pretty linen dress to breakfast. I want to be the girl in the pictures upstairs. But I can't be. That girl is dead. — Ally Carter

So, your dad's hot."
"Thanks. He was that way when I met him, so I can't really take credit. — Ally Carter

Not all people with scars are evil. — Ally Carter

For the first time he's not looking at me like I'm dangerous. He's looking at me like I'm broken. It's a look I know too well. — Ally Carter

pavement artist - you — Ally Carter

Sitting there that day, I knew that the only thing I could do was keep putting one foot in front of the other, hoping none of the secrets on my shoulders would make me lose my balance. — Ally Carter

seasoned operative should always check his or her perimeter at unexpected times and in unexpected ways. — Ally Carter