Tris Quotes & Sayings

We're sorry for frightening you, Tris,' another voice says, 'but anonymity is integral to our operation. We mean you no harm.'
'Let go of me then!' I say, almost growling. All the hands holding me on the wall fall away.
'Who are you?' I demand.
'We are the Alliegiant,' the voice replies. 'And we are many, yet we are no one ... '
I can't help it: I laugh. — Veronica Roth

I'm not abnegation, I'm not dauntless, I am Divergent — Veronica Roth

I know some things
I know that I'm not alone, that I have friends, that I'm in love. I know that I don't want to die, and for me that's something
more than I could have said a few weeks ago. — Veronica Roth

Tris."
I finally look at him.
"I just don't want to lose you."
We stand there for a few minutes. I don't say what I'm thinking, which is that he might be right. There is a part of me that want to be lost, that struggles to join my parents and Will so that I don't have to ache for them anymore. A part of me that wants to see whatever comes next. — Veronica Roth

We believe that preparation eradicates cowardice, which we define as the failure to act in the midst of fear. — Veronica Roth

Every question that can be answered must be answered or at least engaged. Illogical thought processes must be challenged when they arise. Wrong answers must be corrected. Correct answers must be affirmed. - From the Erudite faction manifesto CHAPTER ONE TRIS I PACE IN our cell in Erudite headquarters, her words echoing in my mind: My name will be Edith Prior, and there is much I am happy to forget. — Anonymous

Babe Ruth made a great mistake when he gave up pitching. — Tris Speaker

If you see someone in trouble, you should help them. Experiment or not. — Veronica Roth

My parents did love each other. Enough to forsake plans and factions. Enough to defy "faction before blood." Blood before faction
no, love before faction, always. - Tris Prior — Veronica Roth

We are creatures of loss; we have left everything behind. I have no home, no path, and no certainty. I am no longer Tris, the selfless, or Tris, the brave. I suppose now, I must become more than either. — Veronica Roth

Caleb," I say, "I love you."
His eyes gleam with tear as he says, "I love you, too, Beatrice. — Veronica Roth

I feel something hot and violent writhing in my stomach. I want to hurt them. I stare at my eyes in the mirror. I want so, so I will. — Veronica Roth

I love you" I say.
"I love you, too" he says. "I'll see you soon. — Veronica Roth

When I was a rookie, Cy Young used to hit me flies to sharpen my abilities to judge in advance the direction and distance of an outfield-hit ball. — Tris Speaker

I should have known, then, that he would gladly trade thousands of GD memories-lives-for control of the experiments. That he would trade them without even thinking of alternatives-without feeling that he needed to bother to save them.
They're damaged, after all. — Veronica Roth

She taught me all about real sacrifice. That it should be done from love ... That it should be done from necessity, not without exhausting all other options. That it should be done for people who need your strength because they don't have enough of their own. — Veronica Roth

I grin at the fierce burn in my legs, in my chest.Using pain to relieve pain. It doesn't make much sense. — Veronica Roth

The Babe was a great ballplayer, sure, but Cobb was even greater. Babe could knock your brains out, but Cobb would drive you crazy. — Tris Speaker

I fit my mouth to his and he tastes like water and smells like fresh air. I drag my hand from his neck to the small of his back and put it under his shirt. He kisses me harder. — Veronica Roth

One choice can transform you. One choice can destroy you. Once choice will define you. — Veronica Roth

I never used to understand why people bothered to hold hands as they walked, but then he runs one of his fingertips down my palm, and I shiver and understand it completely — Veronica Roth

Oh, so it's not enough that I told you; it has to be in the right setting?" I raise my eyebrows. "Next time should I brew some tea and make sure the lighting is right too? — Veronica Roth

Ishabal: "If you may correct your vision as you like, why do you wear spectacles?"
Tris: "Because I like them. Because I have better things to do with my magic than fixing my vision when ordinary glass will do. — Tamora Pierce

To me, Tris has always seemed magnetic in a way I could not describe, and that she was not aware of. I have never feared or hated her for it, the way Peter does, but then, I have always been in a position of strength myself, not threatened by her. Now that I have lost that position, I can feel the tug toward resentment, as strong and sure as a hand around my arm. — Veronica Roth

Any idiot can stand in front of a target. It doesn't prove anything except that you're bullying him. Which, as I recall, is a sign of cowardice. — Veronica Roth

My parents ... They died today ... They died for me. -Tris
They loved you ... To them there was no better way to show you. -Four — Veronica Roth

I stand there for just a few seconds before people realize that I'm there. Their conversation peters out. I wipe my palms off on the hem of my shirt. Too many eyes, and too much silence.
Evelyn clears her throat. "Everyone, this is Tris Prior. I believe you may have heard a lot about her yesterday."
"And Christina, Uriah, and Lynn," supplies Tobias. I'm grateful for his attempt to divert everyone's attention from me, but it doesn't work.
I stand glued to the door frame for a few seconds, and then one of the factionless men--older, his wrinkled skin patterned with tattoos--speaks up.
"Aren't you supposed to be dead?"
Some of the others laugh, and I try a smile. It emerges crooked and small.
"Supposed to be," I say.
"We don't like to give Jeanine Matthews what she wants, though," Tobias says. — Veronica Roth

I push open the door just as Tobias, who is sitting on the floor with one leg stretched out, hurls a butter knife at the opposite wall. It sticks, handle out, from a large hunk of cheese they positioned on top of the dresser. Caleb, standing beside him, stares in disbelief, first at the cheese and then at me.
"Tell me he's some kind of Dauntless prodigy," says Caleb. "Can you do this too?"
"With my right hand, maybe," I say. "But yes, Four is some kind of Dauntless prodigy.
Tobias's eyes catch mine on the word "Four." Caleb doesn't know that Tobias wears his excellence all the time in his own nickname. — Veronica Roth

We have to go," Tris says, and I know she's not talking about leaving Michigan Avenue or taking Edward to the hospital; she's talking about the city. "We have to go," I repeat. — Veronica Roth

I keep finding myself stifled by the company of others and then crippled by loneliness when I leave them. I am terrified and I don't even know of what, because I have lost everything already. — Veronica Roth

I look out the window again, taking slow, deep breaths into a body too tense to move. And as I stare out at the land, I think that this, if nothing else, is compelling evidence for my parents' God, that our world is so massive that it is completely out of our control, that we cannot possibly be as large as we feel. -Tris Prior — Veronica Roth

Why is your heart racing Tris? — Veronica Roth

Never before had she seen such creatures, though they looked much live very large, very shaggy white goats. Thin black horns punctuated the top of their long faces.
You look like a collection of grandfathers, she thought, amused. — Tamora Pierce

You know, most boys enjoy being trapped in close quarters with a girl. — Veronica Roth

If we stay together, I'll have to forgive you over and over again, and if you're still in this, you'll have to forgive me over and over again too. So forgiveness isn't the point. What I really should have been trying to figure out is whether we were still good for each other or not — Veronica Roth

What's your name."
"Um ... " I don't know why I hesitate, but Betrise just doesn't sound right anymore. I have a chance to be remade here. A new fraction, a new name.
"Tris," I say firmly.
"Welcome to dauntless," he says to me. — Veronica Roth

I wonder if this is how it is with all evil men, that to someone, they look just like good men, talk like good men, are just as likable as good men. "Tris. — Veronica Roth

Maybe time would not feel as heavy if I didn't have this guilt - the guilt of knowing the truth and stuffing it down where no one can see it. — Veronica Roth

There's a reason why she left them, Lauren," he says. His voice is deep, and it rumbles. "What's your name?"
"Um ... " I don't know why I hesitate. But "Beatrice" just doesn't sound right anymore.
"Think about it," he says, a faint smile curling his lips. " You don't get to pick again."
A new place, a new name. I can be remade here.
"Tris," I say firmly. — Veronica Roth

I feel a thread tugging me again, but this time I know that it isn't some sinister force dragging me toward death.
This time I know it's my mother's hand, drawing me into her arms.
And I go gladly into her embrace. — 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

Scrying the wind is very difficult, Tris," Niko said gently. "It's like scrying the future. You're assailed with thousands of images - fragments, really. It drives many who try it insane." "You learned to scry the future," Tris pointed out. "And a number of people have informed me they think I am mad," Niko replied, his voice very dry. — Tamora Pierce

The tiles in the Merciless Mart are always black and white, and here they are in a checkered pattern. If I unfocus my eyes, I see exactly what the Candor don't believe in - gray. — Veronica Roth

Dauntless is the cruelest of the five
They tear each other to pieces ...
Erudite is the coldest of the five
Knowledge is a costly thing ... — Veronica Roth

Tris," Tobias says, crouching next to me. His face is pale, almost yellow.
There is too much I want to say. The first thing that comes out is, "Beatrice."
He laughs weakly.
"Beatrice," he amends, and touches his lips to mine. I curl my fingers into his shirt. — Veronica Roth

He must have stood there for a long time, making a list of all the terrible things he had done - almost killinng me was one of those thingss - and another list of all the good, heroic, brave things he had not done, and then decided that he was tired. Tired, not just of living, but of existing. Tired of being Al. — Veronica 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

I am no longer Tris, the selfless, or Tris, the brave.
I suppose that now, I must become more than either. — Veronica Roth

Looks like someone had a mood swing." She rolls her eyes. "Like you don't want to
know what his fears are. He acts so tough that he's probably afraid of marshmallows
and really bright sunrises or something. — Veronica Roth

Do you have nicknames for any of your other brothers?"
The youngster squinted his dark gray eyes in concentration. "Well, Tristan is Dare, and sometimes he's Tris; and Bradshaw is Shaw; and sometimes we call Andrew, Drew, but he doesn't like that very much."
"Why not?"
"He says it's a girls' name, and then Shaw calls him Drusilla. — Suzanne Enoch

I am a naturally curious person. -Tris — Veronica Roth

Tris: "I was reading."
Sandry: "You're always reading. The only way people can ever talk to you is to interrupt."
Tris: "Then maybe they shouldn't talk to me. — Tamora Pierce

My Tris should look pale and small
she is pale and small, after all
but instead the room is full of her. — Veronica Roth

Peter leans forward and looks into my eyes. "The serum will go into effect in one minute," he says. "Be brave, Tris." My heart begins to race. Why would Peter tell me to be brave? Why would he offer any kind words at all? — Veronica Roth

Every tattoo I got with them is a mark of their friendship, and almost every time I have laughed in this dark place was because of them. I don't want to lose them. But I feel like I have already. — Veronica Roth

You don't have to tell me everything right away, but I have to tell you everything right away? Can't you see how stupid that is? — Veronica Roth

If you put a baseball and other toys in front of a baby, he'll pick up a baseball in preference to the others. — Tris Speaker

And what this is, I realize, is life. I don't want it. I want my parents and I have for weeks. I've been trying to claw my way back to them, and now I am so close and he is telling me not to. — Veronica Roth

Independent and uninvolved. Must be nice. -Tris — 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

What is it with you today?" says Christina on the way to breakfast. Her eyes are still
swollen from sleep and her tangled hair forms a fuzzy halo around her face.
"Oh, you know," I say. "Sun shining. Birds chirping."
She raises an eyebrow at me, as if reminding me that we are in an underground
tunnel. — Veronica Roth

I feel like myself, strong and weak at once - allowed, at least for a little while, to be both. — Veronica Roth

Four! I call out. Why am I calling a number? Oh yes. Because that's his name. - Tris. — Veronica Roth

Lynn smacks Uriah hard in the back of the head, Christina says, "Hey Tris!" and Uriah cries, "Ow! How on earth do you make a pillow hurt, Lynn?"
"My exceptional strength," she says. — Veronica Roth

Is this scaring you, Tris?"
"No," I croak. I clear my throat. "Not really. I'm only ... afraid of what I want."
"What do you want?" Then his face tightens. "Me?" Slowly I nod. He nods too, and takes my hands in his gently. — Veronica Roth

Some of my anger has faded, but it isn't hard to call back. All I have to do is think about how cold the air was and how loud the laughter was. Look at her. She's a child. — Veronica Roth

Morning," I say.
"Shh," she says. "If you don't acknowledge it, maybe it will go away. — Veronica Roth

I think that you are the liar!" I say, my voice quaking. "You tell me you love me, you trust me, you think I'm more perceptive than the avarge person. And the first second that belief in my perceptiveness, that trust, that love is put to the test, it all falls apart." I am crying now, nut I am not ashamed of the tears shining on my cheeks or the thickness of my voice. "So you must have lied when you told me all those things ... you must have, because I can't believe your love really is that feeble."
I step closer to him, so that there are only inches between us, and none of the others can hear me.
"I am still the person who would have died rather than kill you," I say, remembering the attack simulation and the feel of his heartbeat under my hand. "I am exactly who you think I am. — Veronica Roth

I was beginning to feel that I had finally found a place to stay, a place that was not so unstable or corrupt or controlling that I could actually belong there. You would think that I would have learned by now - such a place does not exist. — Veronica 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

He wants to know, "Why would you fuck up Tris's Barbies?" and now I'm like, Shit, is this the price of the sacrifice for Caroline passing out unexpectedly early - that Nick has taken over the melancholy stage that usually follows Caroline's inquisitive one? "I have three sisters and I know that's some serious business, messing with another girl's Barbies." Okay, maybe he's not being melancholy because his sarcastic smile lets me know he's back to being standard-issue band-boy irony creature. Damn him that it somewhat makes me wanna jump his bones. — David Levithan

That said, in the two weeks before I leave for the Dark Days tour, I am going radio silent, which means I will be avoiding the Internet at all costs in order to revise, revise, revise. I will miss you. Tris says hi, though. — Veronica Roth

Caleb and Tris exchange a look. The skin on his face and on her knuckles is nearly the same colour, purple-blue-green, as if drawn with ink. This is what happens when siblings collide - they injure each other in the same way. — Veronica Roth

He holds my face in both hands and kisses me back. I press into the distance between us until it is gone, crushing the secrets we have kept and the suspicions we have harbored-for good, I hope. — Veronica Roth

What did you do?" I scream.
"You die, I die too. — Veronica Roth

You know, most boys would enjoy being trapped in close quarters with a girl." I roll my eyes.
"Not claustrophobic people, Tris. — Veronica Roth

How have I never realized before that for all the strong, kind parts of him, there are also hurting, broken parts? — Veronica Roth

Can I be forgiven for all I've done to get here?
I want to be.
I can.
I believe it. — Veronica Roth

I open my eyes and for the first time stare openly at my own reflection. My heart rate picks up as I do, like I am breaking the rules and will be scolded for it. It will be difficult to break the habits of thinking Abnegation instilled in me, like tugging a single thread from a complex work of embroidery. But I will find new habits, new thoughts, new rules. I will become something else.
... Looking at myself now isn't like seeing myself for the first time; it's like seeing someone else for the first time. Beatrice was a girl I saw in stolen moments at the mirror, who kept quiet at the dinner table. This is someone whose eyes claim mine and don't release me; this is Tris. — Veronica Roth

For a few minutes we kiss, deep in the chasm, with the roar of water all around us. And we rise, hand in hand, I realize that if we had both chosen differently, we might have ended up doing the same thing, in a safer place, in gray clothes instead of black ones. — Veronica Roth

And I'm left with this girl, this Siren of Mixed Signals, this Norah. She's a fuck-good kisser, but clearly has some massive consistency issues. I ask her how the fuck she knows Tris, because that is leaving me completely confused, and at first she's looking at me like I'm this guy she didn't just start kissing out of nowhere, but then she's got her hand on my arm in a way that makes me really notice I have an arm, and then she's making to run away, and at the same time looking at me like I'm some cancer child. Then I take hold of her arm and she resists without really resisting. Finally she pulls away, only to touch my face in this way that reminds me exactly of her kiss.Then she calls me you poor schmuck. — David Levithan

Did you just make a joke, Tris? We should have you on painkillers more often if your going to start cracking jokes. — Veronica Roth

I can't imagine what kind of poverty would motivate a person to forget themselves and everyone they loved so their families could get a monthly stipend. I may have lived on Abnegation bread and vegetables for most of my life, with nothing to spare, but I was never that desperate. Their situation must have been much worse than anything I saw in the city. - Tris — Veronica Roth

One thing I know: For helping me forget how awful the world is, I prefer her to alcohol. — Veronica Roth

God Tris, are you even human? — Veronica Roth

Dead people can be our heroes because they cant disappoint us later; they only improve over time, as we forget more and more about them. — Veronica Roth

I belong to the people I love, and they belong to me
they, and the love and loyaty I give them, form my identity far more than any word or group ever could. — Veronica Roth

Are you asking me to undress, Tris?'
A nervous laugh gurgles from my throat. 'Only ... partially — Veronica Roth

There are other kinds of people in this world. There is the kind like Tris, who, after suffering and betrayal, could still find enough love to lay down her life instead of her brother's. Or the kind like Cara, who could still forgive the person who shot her brother in the head. Or Christina, who lost friend after friend but still decided to stay open, to make new ones. Appearing in front of me is another choice, brighter and stronger than the ones I gave myself. — Veronica Roth

What is wrong with you?' I shake my head. 'Pull it together.'
And that's what it feels like: pulling the different parts of me up and in like a shoelace. I feel suffocated, but at least I feel strong. — Veronica Roth

Don't try to define me — Veronica Roth

Aren't you going to ask me if I'm all right?" I say.
"No, I'm pretty sure you're not all right."
He shakes his head. "I'm going to ask you not to make any decisions until we've talked
about it. — Veronica Roth

Be brave, Tris," he whispers. "The first time is always the hardest." His eyes are the last thing I see. — 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

Maybe we're strangers no matter where we go. Or maybe we'll make a home somewhere inside ourselves, to carry with us wherever we go. — Veronica Roth

Your daughter is doing well here. I've been overseeing her training."
Since when does "overseeing" include throwing knives at me and scolding me at every opportunity? — Veronica Roth

What the hell is going on?" I demand, craning my neck to look at Jeanine. "We agreed-cooperation in exchange for results! We agreed--"
"This is entirely separate from our agreement," says Jeanine, glancing at her watch. "This is not about you, Beatrice."
The door opens again.
Tobias walks in--limps in--flanked by Dauntless traitors. His face is bruised and there's a cut above his eyebrow. He does not move with his usual care; he's holding himself perfectly straight. He must be injured. I try not to think about how he got that way.
"What is this?" he says, his voice rough and creaky.
From screaming, probably.
My throat feels swollen.
"Tris," he says, and he lurches toward me, but the Dauntless traitors are too quick. They grab him before he can move more than a few steps. "Tris, are you okay?"
"Yeah," I say. "Are you?"
He nods. I don't believe him. — Veronica Roth

Taking the best left-handed pitcher in baseball and converting him into a right fielder is one of the dumbest things I ever heard. — Tris Speaker

Do I look like I've been crying?' I say.
'Hmm.' He leans in close, narrowing his eyes like he's inspecting my face. A smile tugs at the corner of his mouth. Even closer, so we would be breathng the same air- if I could remember to breathe.
'No, Tris,' he says. A more serious look replaces his smile as he adds, 'You look tough as nails. — Veronica Roth

She smiles, but her eyes are glassy, like a dormant part of her is fighting its way out and spilling over. The train hisses over the rails, a tear drops down Tris's cheek, and the city disappears into the darkness. — Veronica Roth