140 Quotes by Rebecca Stead

You can have it all, but you can’t have it all at once.

But sometimes our veils are pushed away for a few moments, like there’s a wind blowing it from our faces. And when the veil lifts, we can see the world as it really is, just for those few seconds before it settles down again. We see all the beauty, and cruelty, and sadness, and love. But mostly we are happy not to. Some people learn to lift the veil themselves. Then they don’t have to depend on the wind anymore.

My grandfather used to say that everyone alive has already beaten the craziest odds, just being born. Like one in a trillion. Your parents could have had a million different kids, but they had you. And before that could happen, your parents had to be born themselves, and their parents had to be born.

This is the world of pretend. We are artists and we are servants of the stage, and I take both jobs very seriously. As artists, we work as a collective – all for one and one for all. As servants, we work for thos who venture out alone, otherwise known as performers.

She’s called the secretary, but as far as I can tell she basically runs the school.

It is, actually,” Sherm said, looking her straight in the eyes, the way he had during the intruder drill. “Best thing ever.

And if you’ve got a voice, you might as well use it, right?

Thank you for showing me your planet.

Life was anything but fast, in your opinion. If it went any more slowly, time would probably start to run backward.