How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
I didn't run. I couldn't. Whether it was one of them or an Aunt Tilly, I had to defend my turf. The only way to stay alive is to stay alone. That's rule number two. (3.29)
Cassie, who has found herself in the middle of a very unusual war, is making the rules up as she goes along. This "never trust anyone, ever" rule seems sort of rough.
Quote #2
I turned to my father and said, "We should nuke 'em." (5.119)
Cassie's first instinct is to nuke the aliens. (That's before the war begins.) Do you think the Others saw humans and had the same thought?
Quote #3
It [the announcement] came from the sky, from them. In the form of a 727 tumbling end over end to the Earth from ten thousand feet until it disappeared from behind a line of trees and exploded, sending up a fireball that reminded me of the mushroom cloud of an atomic blast. (6.29)
The aliens' first visible act of war occurs when people see planes fall from the sky. It's a terrifying image.
Quote #4
I hugged Lizbeth and told her I'd call as soon as the phones started working again. I was still practicing pre-invasion thinking. You know, the power goes out, but it always comes back on. (6.74)
Cassie tells us that, for a long time, it didn't occur to anyone that their old way of life was over. It must have been a difficult pill to swallow.
Quote #5
We couldn't take them head-on, but we could fight a guerilla war. We could go all asymmetrical on their alien asses. We had enough guns and ammo and even some transport that survived the 1st Wave. (10.30)
Humans still had some get-up-and-go… that is, until the Third Wave, the plague, hit. That sort of sapped their will to fight back.
Quote #6
It wasn't the aliens that first made us gear up for war; it was our fellow humans. (12.22)
Before the alien pestilence started killing people, the main threat to safety was human looters. That's what killed Ben's family.
Quote #7
"Do you know how to tell who the enemy is in wartime, Cassie?" His eyes darted around the shack. Why couldn't he look at me? "The guy who's shooting at you—that's how you tell." (16.35)
This piece of advice that Cassie received from her dad serves her well throughout the story. It's how she figures out who she can trust.
Quote #8
"The key to winning this war isn't tactics or strategy or even imbalances in technology. The real key to winning this war, or any war, is understanding how your enemy thinks." (51.71)
This tidbit comes from a conversation between Vosch and Ben. What's sinister is that, ultimately, we learn that Vosch himself is an alien, and he has been studying humans for thousands of years.
Quote #9
We're the vanguard. Seven kids who just six months ago, were, well, just kids; we're the counterpunch to attacks that left seven billion dead. (56.14)
Zombie looks around at his fellow child soldiers and wonders how they'll ever defeat the enemy. What he doesn't know is that they're not the "counterpunch." They're the offense.