"And Carolina will be cheering on the beautiful daughter of Magda and Shalom Singer, the new Lady America Singer!"

"There's a different kind of beauty that comes with humility and honesty."

"When you know who matters most to you, giving things up, even yourself, doesn't really feel like a sacrifice."

"My country can never be taken away from me now, I'd happily given it away."

"No wonder I'd never had any friends. I was shockingly bad at it."

"When my father is stern, no one chastises him. I don't think it's fair that when I act similarly, I'm seen as cruel. I'm making a huge decision, and I'm trying to be wise about it."

"Castes never meant that much to me."

"Maybe this isn't the right thing to say, but I want you to know: When you ran for the stage, I've never been so proud of you in all my life. You've always been beautiful; you've always been talented. And now I know that your moral compass is perfectly aligned, that you see clearly when things are wrong, and you do everything you can to stop it. As a father, I can't ask for more. I love you America. And I'm so so proud."

"You get confused by crying women, I get confused by walks with princes."

"I should have known that if any girl was going to disobey an order, it would be you."

"If this were a simpler matter, I'd have eliminated everyone else by now. I know how I feel about you. Maybe it's impulsive of me to think I could be so sure, but I'm certain I would be happy with you."

"The Selection was no longer something that was simply happening to me, but something I was actively a part of. I was an Elite."

"I worked, and I was excited about the next time the five of us had a joint class. When that time came, Silvia started by asking us what we were passionate about. I scribbled down my family, music, and then, as if the word demanded to be written, justice."

"No, I'm not choosing him or you. I'm choosing me."

"Books were a safe place, a world apart from my own. No matter what had happened that day, that year, there was always a story in which someone overcame their darkest hour. I wasn't alone."

"Sometimes you have to give the hurt a noise and let it out. If you don't, it fills you up with its emptiness."

"She wanted to be herself at all costs."

"I thought about the cameras following me in the terminal and pictured my family watching my entrance on TV. I hoped they'd be proud."

"I want everything with you, America. I want the holidays and the birthdays, the busy season and lazy weekends. I want peanut butter fingertips on my desk. I want inside jokes and fights and everything. I want a life with you."

"He must love you very much,' Gavril said once I had my footing.I couldn't look at him. 'What makes you say that?' Gavril sighed. 'I've known Maxon since he was a child. He's never stood up to his father like that."

"I will never forget your fire. I can't wait to see what you do."

"Heal my heart and make it clean, open up my eyes to the things unseen, show me how to love like you have loved me."

"Because even though you're dating five other women, I think I'm cheating on you."

"How had I lost so much in such a short period of time? It would seem like leaving your family, living in some foreign place, and being separated from the person you love should be events that take years to roll into place, not just a day."

"You think you walk, Lucy? I think you fly. You see yourself in a uniform? I see you in a cape. You're a hero, of the quietest but most genuine nature."

"It's amazing how photography can capture just a split second of something exquisite."

"Cinderella never asked for a prince. She asked for a night off and a dress."

"My shoes I got to pick. I chose worn-out red flats. I figured I should make it clear from the start that I wasn't princess material."

"What do you think my chances might be of finding a soul mate in the group of you? I'll be lucky if I can just find someone who'll be able to stand me for the rest of our lives. What if I've already sent her home because I was relying on some sort of spark I didn't feel? What if she's waiting to leave me at the first sign of adversity? What if I don't find anyone at all? What do I do then, America?"

"I don't think any girl in all of Illéa could have been smiling more than me."

"Listen to me, kitten. Win or lose, you'll always be a princess to me."

"But I guessed she would never stop wanting more for me, more from me. Maybe that's what mothers did."

"You've changed me forever. And I'll never forget you."

"So here I was expecting at the very best a cordial welcome from the girls who were prepared to fight me to the death for someone I didn't want. Instead I was embraced."

"Beauty is subjective. You know how sometimes what makes a person attractive is the way they make you laugh or how it seems like they can read your mind?"

"The picture of me just after I'd found out Aspen was saving up to marry me. I looked radiant, hopeful, beautiful. I looked like I was in love. And some idiot thought that love was for Prince Maxon."

"But if it was always a point of speculation, where one person insisted it was a certain way and another denied it, how would anyone ever hold on to the truth?"

"Well, the one thing I've thought about is having dad give me away. You know when he takes your hand and he puts it in the hand of the person you marry? That's the only part I've ever wanted."

"You are not the world, but you are everything that makes the world good. Without you, my life would still exist, but that's all it would manage to do."

"You know, I once read a book about people who practiced polygamy. One man with several wives. Crazy. I was just in a room with eight very unhappy woman and I have no idea why anyone would choose that."

"The Swendish queen- whose name I couldn't pronounce to save my life."

"Something about being that close to him all the time made my bones feel weak."

"Prince Maxon surveyed the room and found me. Our eye met for a moment, and he smiled."

"I know there was a time, when our country was new, when the assignment of these numbers helped organize something that was on the brink of not existing. But we are no longer that country. We are so much more now."

"Whatever happened, I'd met my person, the one my soul connected to."

"I instantly dragged my fingers across a shelf of book spines, in love with each one already. Books were a safe place, a world apart from my own. No matter what had happened that day, that year, there was always a story in which someone overcame their darkest hour. I wasn't alone."

"And when he broke, it was a miracle he managed to find all the pieces of himself again."

"Perfect was my only option."

"I guessed princesses-in-training didn't wear pants."

"I sense that you won't let the world push you into a life you don't want. Maybe I'm wrong so let me at least say this: Fight, America. You might not want to fight for the things that most others would fight for, like money or notoriety, but fight all the same. Whatever it is that you want, America, go after it with all that you have in you. If you can keep from letting fear make you settle for second best, then I can't ask for anything more from you. Live your life. Be as happy as you can be, let go of the things that don't matter, and fight."