Roth Quotes & Sayings

The construction of masculinity and femininity was driven by the need to sell products. — Benita Roth

To continue to love someone so far beyond help, beyond redemption, was madness — Veronica Roth

Grabbing hold of facts in the midst of shock is very Erudite of him. — Veronica Roth

All those paper people living in their paper houses, burning the future to stay warm. — John Green

None of us ate together: my Aunt Gladys ate at five o'clock, my cousin Susan at five-thirty, me at six, and my uncle at six-thirty. There is nothing to explain this beyond the fact that my aunt is crazy. — Philip Roth

Pay careful attention to the bodily sensations that you recognize as hunger. When you feel yourself starting to get hungry, sit down for a few minutes (and if you can't sit down, stand still). Where in your body do you experience hunger? In your throat? Your chest? Your stomach? Your legs? How is this sensation different from the sensation, let's say, of excitement? Or loneliness? What happens to you when you feel yourself getting hungry? Do you feel that you need to eat immediately? — Geneen Roth

Actually we did not have the feelings we said we had until we spoke them
at least I didn't; to phrase them was to invent them and own them. — Philip Roth

Confronted with the truly microscopic, all loftiness is hopeless, completely meaningless. The diminutive of the parts is more impressive than the monumentality of the whole. I no longer have any use for the sweeping gestures of heroes on the global stage. I'm going for a walk. — Joseph Roth

I have a strong art-history background. — Eli Roth

A husband should not discipline his wife, Johanna says. — Veronica Roth

She alone filled the whole room — Veronica Roth

Your mistake is that you've concluded life is short, so you treat it as if it's precious, like a pretty little princess. Bullshit! Everyone's life is short. Quit feeling sorry for yourself. Fuck it. Treat it like a cheap hooker. Ask crazy shit from it, and you'll get more out of life than you could have ever wanted, imagined, or deserved. — Ty Roth

Um ... how's your nose?"
"It's fine," he says. "I think the bruise really brings out my eyes, don't you? — Veronica Roth

Do me a favor, my people, and stick your suffering heritage up your suffering ass_ I happen also to be a human being! — Philip Roth

I walk through the seasons and always the birds
are singing and screaming and keening for love
When you're with me it seems so absurd
that I should be jealous of the jay and the dove. — Maggie Stiefvater

Should you protect profits? Yes. But run for the hills? No. — Philip Roth

No matter how much you know, no matter how much you think, no matter how much you plot and you connive and you plan, you're not superior to sex. It's a very risky game. A man wouldn't have two-thirds of the problems he has if he didn't venture off to get fucked. It's sex that disorders our normally ordered lives. — Philip Roth

I need to eliminate 'like' from my vocabulary. I begin sentences with, 'That's seriously like ... ' I hear myself talking in this Los Angeles high-school student kind of way, and I hate it. — Eli Roth

Yesterday he told me he thought I would have to pretend to be weak, but he was wrong. I am weak already. I brace myself against the wall and press my forehead to my hands. It's difficult to take deep breaths, so I take short, shallow ones. I can't let this happen. They attacked me to make me feel weak. I can pretend they succeeded to protect myself, but I can't let it become true. — Veronica Roth

I always got very nervous whenever I heard that Margo was about to show up, on account of how she was the most fantastically gorgeous creature that God has ever created. — John Green

You have to trust your instincts and hope the fans like what you do, but you don't gut check with the fans. If we're going to make a series, people are going to have a lot of opinions and if there's one overwhelming majority or one thing you continuously hear repeated from the fans, you certainly take that into account going into next season. — Eli Roth

Welcome to the Amity compound,' says Johanna. Her eyes fix on my face, and she smiles crookedly. 'Let us take care of you. — Veronica Roth

No matter how long you train someone to be brave, you never know if they are or not until something real happens. — Veronica Roth

The theory is that if you spill all your secrets, you'll have no desire to lie about anything, ever again. Like the worst about you is already in the open, so why not just be honest? — Veronica Roth

I have been attacked by crows and men with grotesque faces; I have been set on fire by the boy who almost threw me off a ledge; I have almost drowned - twice - and this> is what I can't cope with? This is the fear I have no solutions for - a boy I like, who wants to ... have sex with me? — Veronica Roth

I never wanted to be Protestant. Jews do, plenty of them. Not me. To be assimilated, to be respectable, to be detached like the Wasps, I understand the desire, but I knew never to try. I see all those distinguished Wasps with the beautiful gray hair and the pinstripe suits who don't have pimples on their ass. They're my lawyers ... These guys are quiet. I don't want to be that way. I couldn't begin to be that way. I'm the wild Jew of the pampas. I am the Golem of the U.S.A. — Philip Roth

She kisses my cheek and slides the panel over the mirror. I think my mother could be beautiful, in a different world. Her body is thin beneath the gray robe. She has high cheekbones and long eyelashes, and when she lets her hair down at night, it hangs in waves over her shoulders. But she must hide that beauty in Abnegation. — Veronica Roth

I have trained myself to pull away from all gestures of affection, because [my parents] raised me to take them seriously. — Veronica Roth

No factions? A world in which no one knows who they are or where they fit? I can't even fathom it. I imagine only chaos and isolation. — Veronica Roth

Don't tell me you're going to eat a mashed-potato sandwich — Veronica Roth

The division is based on knowledge, based on qualifications - but as I learned from the factionless, a system that relies on a group of uneducated people to do its dirty work without giving them a way to rise is hardly fair. — Veronica Roth

It would be nice if life worked this way, stripping the dirt from our lives and sending us back out into the world clean. But some dirt is destined to lingered. — Veronica Roth

I'm not sure when, or if, anything will ever get better, not sure if these wounds are the kind that can heal. — Veronica Roth

I don't want to be just one thing. I want to be brave and selfless and intelligent and honest and kind. — Veronica Roth

In many shamanic societies, people who complain of being disheartened ... or depressed would be asked, ... When did you stop dancing? ... This is because dancing is a universal healing salve. — Gabrielle Roth

I did not know that my entire personality, my entire being, could be discarded as the byproduct of my anatomy. What if I really am just someone with a large prefrontal cortex ... and nothing more? — Veronica Roth

I love 'Harry Potter.' I'm a huge nerd - I would dress up if I could. — Veronica Roth

I laugh, mirthless, a mad laugh. I savor the scowl on her face, the hate in her eyes. She was like a machine; she was cold and emotionless, bound by logic alone. And I broke her. — Veronica Roth

Here in America either it's Faunia Farley or it's Monica Lewinsky! The luxury of these lives disquieted so by the inappropriate comportment of Clinton and Silk! — Philip Roth

There is his religion of art, my young successor: rejecting life! Not living is what he makes his beautiful fiction out of! And you will now be the person he is not living with! — Philip Roth

He was trying hard to continue to exist as himself despite the unlikeliness of everything. — Philip Roth

I regret ... " Tobias tilts his head, and sighs. "I regret my choice."
"What Choice?"
"Dauntless," he says. "I was born Abnegation. I was planning on leaving Dauntless, and becoming factionless. But I met her, and ... I felt like maybe I could make something more of my decision."
Her. — Veronica Roth

How is it possible to live the same story twice from different vantage points? — Veronica Roth

When i get home, I sit on the front step and take deep breaths of the cool spring air for a few minutes.
My mother was the one who taught me to steal moments like those, moments of freedom, though she didn't now it. I watched her ...
But I learned something else from watching her too, which is that the free moments always have to end. — Veronica Roth

They're similar, Cara and Tris, two women sharpened by loss. The difference is that Cara's pain has made her certain of everything, and Tris has guarded her uncertainty, protected it, despite all she's been through. She still approaches everything with a question instead of an answer. It is something I admire about her - something I should probably admire more. For — Veronica Roth

The floor is solid metal in some places and metal grating in others. Everything smells like rotting garbage and fire.
"Don't say I never took you anywhere nice," Peter says.
"Wouldn't dream of it," I say. — Veronica Roth

I like it," I say. "Insurgent. It's perfect. — Veronica Roth

Your voice takes you to your heart. — Gabrielle Roth

The ending is immense. Tell it plainly". — Philip Roth

When I look at him, I don't see the cowardly young man who sold me out to Jeanine Matthews, and i don't hear the excuses he gave afterward.
When I look at him, I see the boy who held my hand in the hospital when our mother broke her wrist and told me it would be all right. I see the brother who told me to make my own choices, the night before the Choosing Ceremony. I think of all the remarkable things he is
smart and enthusiastic and observant, quiet and earnest and kind. — Veronica Roth

The responsibility to conduct the — Veronica Roth

Keep your mouth shut around me," he says, his voice low, "or I will do this again, only next time, I'll shove it right through your esophagus."
"That's enough," Evelyn says. Edward drops the fork and releases Peter. Then he walks across the room and sits next to the person who called him "Eddie" a moment before.
"I don't know if you know this," Tobias says, "but Edward is a little unstable."
"I'm getting that," I say.
"That Drew guy, who helped Peter perform that butter-knife maneuver," Tobias says. "Apparently when he got kicked out of Dauntless, he tried to join the same group of factionless Edward was a part of. Notice that you haven't seen Drew anywhere."
"Did Edward kill him?" I say.
"Nearly," Tobias says. "Evidently that's why that other transfer--Myra, I think her name was?--left Edward. Too gentle to bear it. — Veronica Roth

I fall in love with this life all over again. It's only when I try to live it myself that I have trouble. It never feels genuine. — Veronica Roth

What a mess you've made of the simplest of subjects, Della. — Kellyn Roth

It's the beginning of the Allegiant rebellion I've been expecting since I first heard the group had formed. Even though it has seemed inevitable to me since I saw how Evelyn chose to rule, I feel sick. It seems like the rebellions never stop, in the city, in the compound, anywhere. There are just breaths between them, and foolishly, we call those breaths "peace." I — Veronica Roth

I feel acutely aware of how young I am. In a way that is good. It's productive. It makes me realise that I should be growing as a writer and a person. — Veronica Roth

So small as to be negligible.
It's strange, but there's something in that thought that makes me feel almost ... free. — Veronica Roth

I wasn't good enough for abnegation," I say, "and I wanted to be free. So I chose Dauntless." "Why weren't you good enough?" "Because I was selfish." I say. "You were selfish? You aren't anymore?" "Of course I am. My mother said that everyone is selfish," I say, "but I became less selfish in Dauntless. I discovered there were people I would fight for. Die for, even. — Veronica Roth

It isn't that you subordinate your ideas to the force of the facts in autobiography but that you construct a sequence of stories to bind up the facts with a persuasive hypothesis that unravels your history's meaning. — Philip Roth

If you are having fun on the set, you are not getting things done. — Eli Roth

Among contemporaries, I hugely admire Alice Munro, our Chekhov, Saul Bellow, Philip Roth, and John Updike, American masters all. I also believe that the voice of Gordon Lish is astoundingly original and sorrowful. — Cynthia Ozick

I could have forgiven you, you know, " I say. "For trying to kill me during initiation. I probably could have."
We are both quiet for a while. I don't know why I told him that. Maybe just because it's true, and tonight, of all nights, is the time for honesty. Tonight I will be honest, and selfless, and brave. Divergent.
"I never asked you to, he says, and turns to leave. But then he stops at the door frame and says, "It's 9:24. — Veronica Roth

That our world is so massive that it is completely out of our control, that we cannot possibly be as large as we feel. — Veronica Roth

Can anyone be utterly without thoughtfulness? The answer is yes. — Philip Roth

Read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information — Veronica Roth

Cara communicates only through a series of grunts, inching her way, limb by limb, toward coffee. — Veronica Roth

No need to continually insist upon your unshakable masculinity. — Veronica Roth

When the whole world doesn't believe in God, it'll be a great place. — Philip Roth

Some girl named Eva has him convinced that you put out after one beer."
"What?" My voice was as shrill as the ringing tardy bell
"I personally don't believe it" he went on blithely, "and I have a Porsche. Not as much leg room as a Beamer, but so much hotter, I'm told. — Jennifer L. Armentrout

It doesn't matter the kind of music, it doesn't matter whether it's a cowboy hat or a yarmulke. I don't care if it's outer space or pop, the spirit is the same. — David Lee Roth

I am not Tobias Eaton, not anymore, never again. I am Dauntless. — Veronica Roth

Sleep," he says. "I'll fight the bad dreams off if they come to get you." "With what?" "My bare hands, obviously. — Veronica Roth

We come to the nations pretending to escape persecution, we the most deadly persecutors in all the wretched annals of man. — Samuel Roth

I'm not God, and I can't always offer chances. I'm not sure if this won't be your last. — Kellyn Roth

The cruelty of fate is that I must travel with the people I hate when the people I love are dead behind me. — Veronica Roth

There is power in self-sacrifice. I — Veronica Roth

We're all right, you know,' he says quietly. 'You and me. Okay?' My chest aches, and I nod. 'Nothing else is all right.' His whisper tickles my cheek. 'But we are. — Veronica Roth

Who are they now? They are the simplest version possible of themselves ... They are out from under everything ever piled on top of them. — Philip Roth

My problem might be that even if I did go home, I wouldn't belong there, among people who give without thinking and care without trying. — Veronica Roth

I take my personal upkeep real seriously; my sense of organization and attention to detail; my memory; my business - I love the business. — David Lee Roth

Hey, I notice you look like you're coming down off a meth binge and smell vaguely of algae. Were you perchance dancing with a snakebit Margo Roth Spiegelman a couple of hours ago? — John Green

To my mother, who gave me the moment when Beatrice realizes how strong her mother is and wonders how she missed it for so long. — Veronica Roth

My opportunity to design school choice systems began in 2003 with a phone call from Jeremy Lack at the New York City Department of Education. He knew of my work on the medical match and wondered if similar efforts might help reorganize the dysfunctional, congested system then used to match students to high schools. — Alvin E. Roth

Now, I'm very vulnerable to female beauty, as you know. Everybody's defenseless against something, and that's it for me. I see it and it blinds me to everything else. — Philip Roth

This man did not deal in fairy tales. You could see that as soon as you walked into his office. Schevitz was somebody who liked to be proved right, somebody whose wish to prevail was his vocation. — Philip Roth

Hayes. Peter Hayes. — Veronica Roth

I also see you," she says fiercely, her hand closing around my arm. "And I know who you are. — Veronica Roth

I think it would be easier to fight in a dress," says Marlene, tapping her chin. "It would give your legs freer movement. And who really cares if you flash people your underwear, as long as you're kicking the crap out of them?"
Lynn goes silent, like she recognizes that as a spark of brilliance but can't bring herself to admit it.
"What's this about flashing underwear?" says Uriah, sidestepping a bunk. "Whatever it is, I'm in. — Veronica Roth

Okay. Then ... I can talk. Ask me something."
"Okay." He laughs shakily in my ear. "Why is your heart racing Tris?"
I cringe and say, "Well, I ... I barely know you. I barely know you and I'm crammed up against you in a box, Four, what do you think?" ...
"Maybe you were cut out for Candor," he says, "because you're a terrible liar. — Veronica Roth

Don't make me sit here and watch you die. You don't do that to me. — Jennifer L. Armentrout

To my lady. May she have success in all her endeavors, health and friendships, and may I not take my own last breath until she takes hers. May she always know I love her. — Katy Evans

I definitely look up to Veronica Roth, Suzanne Collins, and J.K. Rowling. — Victoria Aveyard

Kemp-Roth was always a Trojan horse to bring down the top rate. — David Stockman

That night we push our cots just a little closer together, and look into each other's eyes in the moments before we fall asleep. When he finally drifts off, our fingers are twisted together in the space between the beds.
I smile a little, and let myself go. — Veronica Roth

Maybe there is some Abnegation in everyone, even if they don't know it. — Veronica Roth

Life damages us, every one. We can't escape that damage. — Veronica Roth

It's the nature of hearts to break. It's in their job description. When a heart is doing what it's supposed to be doing, it holds nothing back. And sometimes it gets broken. — Geneen Roth

He told me once to be brave, and though I have stood still while knives spun toward my face and jumped off a roof, I never thought I would need bravery in the small moments of my life. I do. — Veronica Roth

He slouched back in his seat, looking tired, and leaned his face on his shoulder to look at me while he played with my hair. He started to hum a song, and then, after a few bars, he sang it. Quietly, sort of half-sung, half-spoken, incredibly gentle. I didn't catch all the words, but it was about his summer girl. Me. Maybe his forever girl. His yellow eyes were half-lidded as he sang, and in that golden moment, hanging taut in the middle of an icecovered landscape like a single bubble of summer nectar, I could see how my life could be stretched out in front of me. — Maggie Stiefvater

The most important part of any rock song is the guitar solo. — David Lee Roth