5th Wave Quotes:

I am the one, Not Running, Not Staying, But FACING

- Rick Yancey

source: Rick Yancey (2013). “The 5th Wave”, p.103, Penguin

topic: Running, Staying, 5th Wave

We’re here, and then we’re gone, and it’s not about the time we’re here, but what we do with the time.

- Rick Yancey

source: Rick Yancey (2013). “The 5th Wave”, p.164, Penguin

topic: Gone, 5th Wave

Why did they come billions of miles just to stare at us? It's rude.

- Rick Yancey

source: Rick Yancey (2013). “The 5th Wave”, p.32, Penguin

topic: Rude, Miles, Staring, 5th Wave

Sci-Fi is the genre that explored both possibilities: the end of our existential crisis and the end of our existence. My novel, The 5th Wave, explores the latter scenario, because, frankly, I believe it represents the likeliest outcome of an extraterrestrial encounter. In short, if theyre out there, we better hope they never find us.

- Rick Yancey

topic: Believe, Outcomes, Encounters, 5th Wave, Existential Crisis

How do you rid the Earth of humans? Rid the humans of their humanity.

- Rick Yancey

source: Rick Yancey (2013). “The 5th Wave”, p.25, Penguin

topic: Humanity, Earth, Humans, 5th Wave

You can only call someone crazy if there’s someone else who’s normal. Like good and evil. If everything was good, then nothing would be good.

- Rick Yancey

source: Rick Yancey (2013). “The 5th Wave”, p.18, Penguin

topic: Crazy, Evil, Would Be, 5th Wave

When I cry - when I let myself cry - that's who I cry for. I don't cry for myself. I cry for the Cassie that's gone. And I wonder what that Cassie would think of me. The Cassie who kills.

- Rick Yancey

source: Rick Yancey (2013). “The 5th Wave”, p.19, Penguin

topic: Thinking, Gone, Wonder, 5th Wave

But if I'm it, the last of my kind, the last page of human history, like hell I'm going to let the story end this way. I may be the last one, but I am the one still standing. I am the one turning to face the faceless hunter in the woods on an abandoned highway. I am the one not running but facing. Because if I am the last one, then I am humanity. And if this is humanity's last war, then I am the battlefield.

- Rick Yancey

source: Rick Yancey (2013). “The 5th Wave”, p.103, Penguin

topic: Running, War, Humanity, Faceless, 5th Wave

I had it all wrong," he says. "Before I found you, I thought the only way to hold on was to find something to live for. It isn't. To hold on, you have to find something you're willing to die for.

- Rick Yancey

topic: Found You, Way, Willing, Willing To Die, 5th Wave

Cruelty isn't a personality trait. Cruelty is a habit.

- Rick Yancey

source: Rick Yancey (2013). “The 5th Wave”, p.132, Penguin

topic: Personality, Habit, Cruelty, 5th Wave, Personality Traits

That's what you do when the curtain is falling--you give the line that the audience wants to hear.

- Rick Yancey

source: Rick Yancey (2013). “The 5th Wave”, p.45, Penguin

topic: Fall, Giving, Lines, 5th Wave

What were they thinking? 'It's an alien apocalypse! Quick, grab the beer!

- Rick Yancey

source: Rick Yancey (2013). “The 5th Wave”, p.20, Penguin

topic: Beer, Thinking, Aliens, 5th Wave

Sometimes in my tent, late at night, I think I can hear the stars scraping against the sky.

- Rick Yancey

source: Rick Yancey (2013). “The 5th Wave”, p.39, Penguin

topic: Stars, Night, Thinking, Late Night, 5th Wave

Some things you can never leave behind. They don't belong to the past. They belong to you.

- Rick Yancey

source: Rick Yancey (2013). “The 5th Wave”, p.192, Penguin UK

topic: Life, Past, Behinds, 5th Wave

I would kill for a cheeseburger. Honestly. If I stumbled across someone eating a cheeseburger, I would kill them for it.

- Rick Yancey

source: Rick Yancey (2013). “The 5th Wave”, p.46, Penguin

topic: Eating, Honestly, Cheeseburger, 5th Wave

Then the door flew open and Mr. Faulks told us to head over to the gym. I thought that was really smart. Get all of us in one place so the aliens didn't have to waste a lot of ammunition.

- Rick Yancey

source: Rick Yancey (2013). “The 5th Wave”, p.41, Penguin

topic: Smart, Doors, Waste, 5th Wave

And no answer when we sent our message. Something like, "Hello, welcome to Earth. Hope you enjoy your stay. Please don't kill us.

- Rick Yancey

source: Rick Yancey (2013). “The 5th Wave”, p.32, Penguin

topic: Answers, Earth, Messages, 5th Wave