I think about going to the lake, but I’m so weak that I barely make it to mymeeting place with Gale. I sit on the rock where Cressida filmed us, but it’s too wide without his body beside me.Several times I close my eyes and count to ten, thinking that when I open them, he...

And once we reach the city, my stylist will dictate my look for the opening ceremonies tonight anyway. I just hope I get one who doesn’t think nudity is the last word in fashion.

Obviously this person’s a hazard. Stupid people are dangerous.

It’s the first time I’ve ever kissed a boy, which should make some sort of impression I guess, but all I can register is how unnaturally hot his lips are from the fever.

And I said, ‘A coal miner? Why did she want a coal miner if she could’ve had you?’ And he said, ‘Because when he sings … even the birds stop to listen.

We sit in silence awhile then I blurt out the thing that’s on both our minds. “How are we going to kill these people, Peeta?

Our rocky ledge overlooking the valley. Perhaps a little less green than usual, but the blackberry bushes hang heavy with fruit. Here began countless days of hunting and snaring, fishing and gathering, roaming together through the woods, unloading our thoughts while we filled our game bags. This was the doorway to both sustenance and sanity....

—Te creo. Da igual, tu estilista resultó ser profético en su elección de vestuario. Katniss Everdeen, la chica en llamas, ha encendido una chispa que, si no se apaga, podría crecer hasta convertirse en el incendio que destruya Panem.—,Por qué no me mata y ya está? —le digo.—,En público? Eso no haría más que añadir...

They’ll either want to kill you, kiss you, or be you.

Peeta, you said at the interview you’d had a crush on me forever. When did forever start?Oh, let’s see. I guess the first day of school. We were five. You had on a red plaid dress and your hair…it was in two braids instead of one. My father pointed you out when we were waiting...

Fire is catching! And if we burn, you burn with us!

You’re still trying to protect me. Real or not real,” he whispers.”Real,” I answer. “Because that’s what you and I do, protect each other.

And don’t you let your guard down for a second because you think anything’s inevitable.

I can’t,” he says.

Funny, though, I don’t feel too bad.

District 12: Where you can starve to death in safety.

Happy Hunger Games! And may the odds be ever in your favor.

Deep in the meadow, under the willowa bed of grass, a soft green pillow lay down your head, and close your sleepy eyesand when again they open, the sun will rise.Hear it’s safe, here it’s warm hear the daisies guard you from every harm hear your dreams are sweet and tomorrow brings them true hear...

Fire burns brighter in the darkness.

The hatred I feel for him, for the phantom girl, for everything, is so real and immediate that it chokes me. Gale is mine. I am his. Anything else is unthinkable. Why did it take him being whipped within an inch of his life to see it? Because I’m selfish. I’m a coward. I’m the...

I think….you still have no idea. The effect you can have.

It’s to the Capitol’s advantage to have us divided among ourselves.Another tool to cause misery in our district. A way to plant hatred between the starving workers [of the Seam] and those who can generally count on supper and thereby ensure we will never trust one another.

Do you want me to have them sedate you until it’s over?

Oh, no. It costs a lot more than your life. To murder innocent people?” says Peeta. “It costs everything you are.

But more words tumble out. ‘You’re a painter. You’re a baker. You like to sleep with the windows open. You never take sugar in your tea. And you always double-knot your shoelaces.’Then I dive into my tent before I do something stupid like cry.

Even in war there should be lines you didn’t cross.

He was safe for the moment, here in the playground, but people all over the world were suffering, starving, fleeing, killing one another as they waged their wars. How much energy they put into harming one another. How little into saving. Would it ever change? What would it take to make it change? He thought...

The War Has Been Declared.Your Ally Been Ensnared.It Is Now Or It Is Never.Break The Code Or Die Forever.Time Is Running OutRunning OutRunning OutTo the Warrior Give My BladeBy His Hand Your Fate Is MadeBut Do Not Forget the TickingOr the Clicking, Clicking, ClickingWhile a Rat’s Tongue May Be FlickingWith Its Feet It Does the...

Beware, Underlanders, time hangs by a thread.The hunters are hunted, white water runs red.The Gnawers will strike to extinguish the rest.The hope of the hopeless resides in a quest.An Overland warrior, a son of the sun,May bring us back light, he may bring us back none.But gather your neighbors and follow his callOr rats will...

Stay with me.Always.

A need for revenge can burn long and hot. Especially if every glance in a mirror reinforces it.

You don’t destroy what you want toacquire in the future.

The beauty of this idea is that my decision to keep Peeta alive at the expense of my own life is itself an act of defiance. A refusal to play the Hunger Games by the Capitol’s rules. My private agenda dovetails completely with my public one. And if I really could save Peeta… in terms...

You could do a lot worse.

An ability to look into the confusing mess of life and see things for what they are.

Sometimes things happen to people and they’re not equipped to deal with them.

I can feel Peeta press his forehead into my temple and he asks, ‘So now that you’ve got me, what are you going to do with me?’ I turn into him. ‘Put you somewhere you can’t get hurt.

What I need is the dandelion in the spring. The bright yellow that means rebirth instead of destruction. The promise that life can go on, no matter how bad our losses. That it can be good again.

I know I’ll never marry, never risk bringing a child into the world. Because if there’s one thing being a victor doesn’t guarantee, it’s our children’s safety. My kids’ names would go right into the reaping balls with everyone else’s. And I swear I’ll never let that happen.

But collective thinking is usually short-lived. We’re fickle, stupid beings with poor memories and a great gift for self-destruction.

I thought he wanted it, anyway,” I say. “Not like this,” Haymitch says. “He wanted it to be real.

Anyway, it looks plenty edible to me.

We are what no one wants to miss at the party. I act delighted, but I have zero interest in these Capitol people. They are only distractions from the food.

I’ll tell you more when my skin stops crawling.

Sorry excuses for hunters and friends. Both of us.

Either you came in here a swimmer or you’d better be a really fast learner

Dead, but not allowed to die. Alive, but as good as dead.

I search his eyes for the slightest sign of anything, fear, remorse, anger. But there’s only the same look of amusement that ended our last conversation. It’s as if he’s speaking the words again. “Oh, my dear Miss Everdeen. I thought we had agreed not to lie to each other.”He’s right. We did.The point of...

There’s a meeting in Command. Disregard your current schedule,’ he says. ‘Done,’ I say.’Did you follow it at all today?’ he asks in exasperation.’Who knows? I’m mentally disoriented.’ I hold up my wrist to show my medical bracelet and realize it’s gone. ‘See? I can’t even remember they took my bracelet.’ (Katniss and Boggs)

You here to finish me off, Sweetheart?