Neal Shusterman Quotes

When the ship is going down we trouble ourselves little enough about the style of the cabin furniture.

The toughest part was doing it in front of the world and recognizing that you had gotten to a point where if you didn't do something you were going to die.

I have lived too long to cherish many illusions about the essential high-mindedness of men when brought into stark confrontation with the issue of control over their security, and their property interests.

A man will fight harder for his interests than for his rights.

It sounds mercenary and it smacks of rats leaving the sinking ship. But get real, when everyone is bailing out, you don't want to be the last man standing.

The only driver stronger than an economic argument to do something is the war argument, the I-don't-want-to-die argument.

Hey, any time you're throwing bodies over board it is to save yourself.

Once it gets to a point where it becomes a matter of life and death to occupy a position of leadership or not, with an eye on future opportunities, therein lies the danger.

It goes without saying that when survival is threatened, struggles erupt between peoples, and unfortunate wars between nations result.

Engage in combat fully determined to die and you will be alive; wish to survive in the battle and you will surely meet death.

Aging leaders have put their own survival ahead of their reason for being and above that of the institution they serve.

A politician’s instinct is for self-survival.

I don't feel any remorse or guilt after a fight. I can sympathise with an opponent who is getting a beating, but if it is the choice between him and me, it's not gonna be me.

I ended up moving downtown with these three dudes that I didn't really know. I came into the house, and I didn't realize how things worked. From, like, 15-18, I was just fighting them. I fought, like, every day, and these were, like, older dudes. It was every man for himself.

Every fight is a fight for my life. And I step in the ring and make sure that I fight with that on the back of my mind.

I've pushed several women in front of violent situations. My rule is save myself first.

A widow is like a frigate of which the first captain has been shipwrecked.

Only in a true life or death scenario can you have mental clearness to know that you cannot feel guilty for surviving.

My rule is to save myself first.

You have to just look at it like Titanic: I know the ship sinks, but this is a love story

You have to fight for your life. That's the chief condition on which you hold it.

He hasn't accepted his death. He is already fighting hard to stay alive. Which also means that kind Peeta Mellark, the boy who gave me bread, is fighting hard to kill me.

I know that there are scores of people plotting to kill me, and this is not difficult to understand. After all, did we not seize power by plotting against our predecessors? However, I am far cleverer than they are. I know they are conspiring to kill me long before they actually start planning to do it. This enables me to get them before they have the faintest chance of striking at me.

Of fight or fly, This choice is left ye, to resist or die.

You think I'm gonna feel better eatin' a carrot? Get a grip. There's two idiots out there trying to kill me, and you think I'm gonna waste my last breath on a vegetable? (Lula)