Allegiant Quotes

The 7 most famous lines from Veronica Roth’s Allegiant (2013), each with its speaker and the scene it belongs to. These are the quotes readers underline, copy into essays and put on walls - gathered in one place, explained in a line.

• “When you kill someone you love, the hard part is never over.”

  - Tris Prior. Chapter 8, p. 60 - carrying Will's death from book one; the grief the trilogy never lets become background.

• “It's strange how time can make a place shrink, make its strangeness ordinary.”

  - Tris Prior. Chapter 39, p. 387 - returning to Chicago from outside; the experiment seen from the far side of the glass.

• “Can I be forgiven for all I've done to get here? I want to be. I can. I believe it.”

  - Tris Prior. Chapter 50, p. 476 - her last chapter, the night before the mission; the Abnegation girl's prayer in the daughter of Abnegation's mouth.

• “To me, grief is a devastating numbness, every sensation dulled.”

  - Tobias (Four). Chapter 56, p. 503 - the first half of the book's final movement, told by the survivor.

• “There are so many ways to be brave in this world.”

  - Tobias (Four). Chapter 56, p. 509 - learning that endurance counts; the trilogy's closing argument about courage.

• “The trick is to notice them when they come around.”

  - Christina. Epilogue, p. 526 - finishing his sentence for him, the way friends do; said in a rebuilt city neither of them expected.

• “We can be mended. We mend each other.”

  - Tobias (Four). Epilogue, p. 526 - the last lines of the trilogy; no victory, no sequel hook - just repair.

Why these lines survive

Veronica Roth’s sentences earn their fame by compression: each line carries the whole book’s argument in a form you can carry in your pocket. Read in order, the 7 quotes above also sketch the novel’s shape - the world it opens, the pressure it applies, the note it ends on. If you meet them before the book, nothing is spoiled beyond mood; if you meet them after, each one lands like a place you have been.

Quote collectors: pair this page with the Allegiant quiz to see which lines actually stuck, the book club questions when you want to argue about them, or how long the reread takes - about 9 hours and 48 minutes at an average pace. If the lines did their job and you want more of the same nerve, the books like Allegiant list is next.

Want the whole shelf’s lines? Our Veronica Roth books in order guide lists every book.

How to use a quotes page

Three honest uses. Before reading: skim the first two quotes to taste the prose - if the voice does not pull you, the book will not either. During: mark which quote you actually reach in the text, because the distance between famous line and lived scene is where a book keeps its secrets. After: pick the one quote you would defend at dinner and check it against the discussion questions - a quote you can argue about is a quote you understood. What a quotes page is not for is replacing the book; five lines of Veronica Roth are an invitation, not a summary.

More quote collections

1984 quotes, Animal Farm quotes, Brave New World quotes, Lord of the Flies quotes - or browse quotes from all 133 classics. Then see which of them stuck on the original book quiz.

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