The Host Quotes

“My heart faltered and then beat unevenly, and I wanted to laugh at myself. Did it matter that [Jared] was beautiful, that I loved him, when he was going to kill me?”

“That’s my point. Body and soul. Two different things, in my case.”

“How does going to one of those other planets help you? You’ll still be a parasite, [Wanda].”

“People touched my cheeks often, or put their fingers under my chin, holding my face up to see it better. I was frequently patted on my head (which was in easy reach, since I was shorter than everyone but the children).”

“Anger flashed through me, hot and wild. In eight full lives, I’d never had an emotion touch me with such force.”

“How much is physical, how much in the mind? How much accident and how much fate? Love simply is where it is.”

“Perhaps you should open your eyes and look around for [love] specifically. It might do you a lot of good.”

“The mysterious bond of mother and child was not a mystery to me any longer. There was no bond greater than one that required your life for another’s.”

“The souls were wrong to be here. My humans deserved their world. I could not give it back to them, but I could give them this.”

“I held you in my hand, Wanderer. And you were so beautiful.”

“Look, I’m human. It’s hard to be fair sometimes. We don’t always feel the right thing, do the right thing.”

“How can I not trust another human completely? We’re family—both part of the brotherhood of extinction.”

“Perhaps without the lows, the highs could not be reached. Were the souls the exception to that rule? Could they have the light without the darkness of the world?”

“I knew the human exaggeration for sorrow—a broken heart. I’d always thought of it as a hyperbole. I wasn’t expecting the pain in my chest.”

“I, the soul called Wanderer, love you, human Ian. And that will never change, no matter what I might become.”

“Humans were deceitful, treacherous creatures. I couldn’t anticipate their darker agendas when such things were unthinkable to my species.”

“Were twenty-nine rattlesnakes afraid of a lone field mouse?”

“My first language had no word for betrayal or traitor. Or even loyalty—because without the existence of an opposite, the concept had no meaning.”

“There are millions of us, all working together in perfect harmony toward our goal.”

“Because he was a soul, by nature he was all things good: compassionate, patient, honest, virtuous, and full of love.”

“You never know how much time you’ll have.”

“Humans were brutish and ungovernable. They had killed one another so frequently that murder had been an accepted part of life.”

“My reaction was instantaneous and unthinking. I skittered to one side of the tunnel, sweeping Jamie along with one arm so that I was between him and whatever was coming for me.”

“Her name is Wanda, not it.”

“It’s a big universe, and there’s a lot of company out there.”

“Laughter was like a fresh breeze—it cleaned its way through the body, making everything feel good. Did other species have such a simple healer?”