Patrick Ness Quotes

American-British novelist and children's writer

Patrick Ness FRSL (born 17 October 1971) is an American-British author, journalist, lecturer, and screenwriter. Born in the United States, Ness moved to London and holds dual citizenship. He is best known for his books for young adults, including the Chaos Walking (2008–2010) trilogy and A Monster Calls (2011). Ness won the annual Carnegie Medal in 2011 and in 2012, for Monsters of Men and A Monster Calls.
He is one of seven writers to win two Medals, and the second to win consecutively. He wrote the screenplay of the 2016 film adaptation of A Monster Calls, and was the creator and writer of the Doctor Who spin-off series Class.

From: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)

It was not wrong, the monster said, It was only a thought, one of a million. It was not an action.

The house was quiet when he got inside. Why wouldn't it be?
He was alone.

Hope is terrifying, Viola,' he said. 'No one wants to admit it, but it is.'
I feel my eyes go wet again. 'Then how can you stand it? How can you bear even thinking it? It feels so dangerous, like you'll be punished for even thinking you deserved it.'
He touched my arm, just lightly. 'Because, Viola, life is so much more terrifying without it.

Tread carefully, Marty. I mean it. The world has completely changed around you while you weren't looking.

You're helpless to the behaviour but the effort involved is just unbelievable.

Mistress Coyle agreed, and Simone set to work, planning the whole thing with the absolute focus on capturing a
Spackle and sending it back with a message of peace.
Which seems strange after we’ve killed so many of them to do it, but it’s been obvious since the beginning that wars make
no sense. You kill people to tell them you want to stop killing them.

She regards me quietly and then she quotes something Mistress Coyle once said to me. “We are the choices we make.” It takes me a second to realize she's just said goodbye.

Your mind will believe comforting lies while also knowing the painful truths that make those lies necessary. And your mind will punish you for believing both. (Fight it) by speaking the truth. If you speak the truth, you will be able to face whatever comes.

Doesn’t a part of you think you’re making a big deal out of not very much? That if you were somehow not so weak, you could be happy and free just like everyone else?

He opens his voice, showing me other sunrises he has seen, where the fields turn golden and the Source and his one in particular stood up from their early morning labours to watch it rise, a memory as simple as that, yet covered in joy and loss and love and grief-
And hope.

A bully with charisma and top marks is still a bully.

Kindness is the most important thing of all. Pity is an insult. Kindness is a miracle.

But that's the risk, isn't it? Being the best gives you nowhere to go but down. It also makes you a target, for if someone else wants to be the best, they have to beat you, don't they?

Miss Kwan said, putting her voice into its “kindly” mode, which was only slightly less scary than full-on shouting.

The whole room was like a museum of how people lived in olden times.