The People of Sparks Quotes

“When someone has been mean to you, why would you want to be good to them?' 'You wouldn't want to. That's what makes it hard. You do it anyway. Being good is hard. Much harder than being bad.”
― Jeanne DuPrau , The People of Sparks

“People didn't make life, so they can't destroy it. Even if we were to wipe out every bit of life in the world, we can't touch the place life comes from. Whatever made the plants and animals and people spring up in the first place will always be there, and life will spring up again.”
― Jeanne DuPrau, The People of Sparks

“Remember the city, the city remember
Where treasure is hidden under the ground
The city, the city, always remember
That's where the treasure will be found.”
― Jeanne DuPrau, The People of Sparks

“Now Doon seemed to care for his new friends more than he did for her. Every time she thought about him she felt a thud of pain, like a bruised place inside her.”
― Jeanne DuPrau , The People of Sparks

“Can't it be stopped?" said Lina. She shifted around under her blanket, trying to find a place to sit where rocks weren't digging into her.
Maybe it can be stopped at the beginning," Maddy said. "If someone sees what's happening and is brave enough to reverse the direction."
Reverse the direction?"
Yes, turn it around."
How would you do that?"
You'd do something good," said Maddy. "Or at least you'd keep yourself from doing something bad."
But how could you?" said Lina. "When people have been mean to you, why would you want to be good to them?"
You wouldn't want to," said Maddy. "That's what makes it hard. you do it anyway. Being good is hard. Much harder than being bad.”
― Jeanne DuPrau, The People of Sparks

“Think about what it would mean to fight," he said. "Say we barricade ourselves here in the hotel and refuse to leave. They come at us with their Weapon, whatever it is. Some of us are hurt, some die. We go out to meet them with whatever weapons we can find - sticks, maybe, or pieces of broken glass. We battle each other. Maybe they set fire to the hotel. Maybe we march into the village and steal food from them nad they come after us and beat us. We beat them back. In the end, maybe we damage them so badly that they're too weak to make us leave. What do we have? Friends and neighbors and families dead. A place half destroyed, and those left in it full of hatred for us. And we ourselves will have to live with the memory of the terrible things we have done.”
― Jeanne DuPrau, The People of Sparks

“Lina couldn't sleep at first, thinking of the old songs and what they meant. Someone, long ago, had hoped that at least a few people would survive and had wanted them to remember her city and the treasure it held, the treasure that was most valuable of all - herself, her family, and all of the generations of people who had lived in that secret place, their purpose, though they didn't know it, to make sure that human beings did not vanish from the world, no matter what happened above.”
― Jeanne DuPrau, The People of Sparks

“Poppy was now almost well. She still slept more than usual, but when she wasn't sleeping she tromped around the doctor's house pulling spoons off the table and spilling cups of water and crumpling pages of books. That is, she was almost her old self.”
― Jeanne DuPrau, The People of Sparks

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. Hate multiplies hate, violence multiplies violence, and toughness multiplies toughness in a descending spiral of destruction.” —Martin Luther King, Jr., “Strength to Love,” 1963”
― Jeanne DuPrau, The People of Sparks

“Lina liked going to the market plaza. It was always alive with people and animals, and the market had things she'd never seen before-sandals made of old truck tires, hats and baskets woven of straw.”
― Jeanne DuPrau, The People of Sparks

“We come from the city of Ember,” the boy said. “We left there because our city was dying. We need help.” Mary, Ben, and Wilmer exchanged glances. Mary frowned. “The city of Ember? Where’s that? We’ve never heard of it.” The boy gestured back the way they had come, to the east. “That way,” he said. “It’s under the ground.” The frowns deepened. “Tell us the truth,” said Ben, “not childish nonsense.” This time the girl spoke up. She had long, snarled hair with bits of grass caught in it. “It isn’t a lie,” she said. “Really. Our city was underground. We didn’t know it until we came out.” Ben snorted impatiently, folding his arms across his chest. “Who is in charge here?” He looked at the bald man. “Is it you?” The bald man shook his head and gestured toward the boy and the girl. “They’re as in charge as anyone,” he said. “The mayor of our city is no longer with us. These young people are speaking the truth. We have come out of a city built underground.” The people around him all nodded and murmured, “Yes” and “It’s true.” “My name is Doon Harrow,” said the boy. “And this is Lina Mayfleet. We found the way out of Ember.” He thinks he’s pretty great, thought Torren, hearing a note of pride in the boy’s voice. He didn’t look so great. His hair was shaggy, and he was wearing an old jacket that was coming apart at the seams and grimy at the cuffs. But his eyes shone out confidently from under his dark eyebrows. “We’re hungry,” the boy said. “And thirsty. Will you help us?” Mary, Ben, and Wilmer stood silent for a moment. Then Mary took Ben and Wilmer by the arms and led them aside a few steps. They whispered to each other, glanced up at the great swarm of strangers, frowned, whispered some more. While he waited to hear what they’d say, Torren studied the people who said they came from underground.”
― Jeanne DuPrau, The People of Sparks

“Lina had never seen anyone so disorganized as the doctor. She peeked into the medicine room once when the doctor was out and was amazed at the clutter in there-shelves and cupboards and tables piled with stuff in bottles and stuff in boxes and stuff in jars, all higgledy-piggledy. How Dr. Hester found anything she couldn't imagine.”
― Jeanne DuPrau, The People of Sparks

“Full to the brim with hope and love and joy, she watched the little light bulb shining like a promise in the night.”
― Jeanne DuPrau, The People of Sparks

“This is such an amazing world," he said finally, putting the glass and magnet into his pocket. "I love it here, except for the troubles with people.”
― Jeanne DuPrau, The People of Sparks

“You did a remarkable thing, running out alone like that. Quite Courageous." "Well, I had to," said Lina. Mrs. Murdo raised her eyebrows questioningly. Lina was too tired to explain about trying to do a good thing to change the direction and how she had hoped that someone else might do it so she just shrugged her shoulders and said nothing. Mrs. Murdo ran a comb through her hair. "I believe a great many of us were thinking of doing the same thing," she said. "But no one quite had the courage. Only you." "I didn't feel courageous. " said Lina. "I felt afraid." "That makes it all the braver." said Mrs, Murdo. - The People of Sparks”
― Jeanne DuPrau, The People of Sparks

“It's like this," Maddy said at last. "say the A people and the B people get in an argument. The A people do something that hurts the B people. The B people strike back to get even. But that just makes the A people angry all over again. They say, 'You hurt us, so we're going to hurt you.' It keeps on like that. One bad thing leads to a worse bad thing, on and on." It was like what Torren had said when he was telling her about the Disaster. Revenge. he'd called it. "Can't it be stopped?" said Lina. She shifted around under her blanket, tying to find a place to sit where rocks weren't digging into her. "maybe it can be stopped at the beginning," Maddy said. "if someone sees what's happening and is brave enough to reverse the direction." "Reverse the direction?" "Yes, turn it around." "How would you do that?" "You'd do something good." said Maddy. "Or at least you'd keep yourself from doing something bad." "But how could you?" said Lina. "When people have been mean to you, why would you want to be good to them?" "You wouldn't want to," Maddy said. "That's what makes it hard. You do it anyway. Being good is hard. Much harder than being bad."- The People of Sparks”
― Jeanne DuPrau, The People of Sparks

“city was lost in darkness now, and anyone left there was lost, too.”
― Jeanne DuPrau, The People of Sparks

“When anger is in control, you get unintended consequences.”
― Jeanne DuPrau, The People of Sparks

“What are those?”
― Jeanne DuPrau, The People of Sparks

“Tick wanted power. He wanted glory. He wanted war, with himself in command. He had raised his army”
― Jeanne DuPrau, The People of Sparks

“Goats and oxen, pulling carts in from the field, left their big, smelly plops all over. these got cleaned up eventually-someone came and scraped them into buckets and took them away-but often this didn't happen until halfway through the morning, and people had to step carefully until then and breathe in that powerful smell.”
― Jeanne DuPrau, The People of Sparks

“But how could you?" said Lina. "When people have been mean to you, why would you want to be good to them?"
"You wouldn't want to," Maddy said. "That's what makes it hard. You do it anyway. Being good is hard. Much harder than being bad.”
― Jeanne DuPrau, The People of Sparks

“Resentment increased on both sides, until any little accident could flare up into a fight.”
― Jeanne DuPrau, The People of Sparks

“His vision of the future, already shadowed by anxiety, had just grown several shades darker.”
― Jeanne DuPrau, The People of Sparks

“The people of Ember were just as grubby as the people of Sparks; everyone looked more or less the same.”
― Jeanne DuPrau, The People of Sparks

“Tick wanted power. He wanted glory. He wanted war, with himself in command. He had raised his army by attacking his own people.”
― Jeanne DuPrau, The People of Sparks

“Doon went up close to the wall of the hotel and examined the words scratched there. He pictured the people who had done it, clutching their burnt chunks of wood, writing with big, angry strokes in the dark of the night. Yes, Tick was right. Hatred seethed in those jagged letters. He felt almost as if their strokes had scraped open his skin.”
― Jeanne DuPrau, The People of Sparks

“Every time she thought about him, she felt a thud of pain, like a bruised place inside her.”
― Jeanne DuPrau, The People of Sparks

“She looked powerful, Lina thought, even though she was very short.”
― Jeanne DuPrau, The People of Sparks

“Two of the guards looked up at us and lost their balance and fell into the water. They grabbed hold of the loaded boats, which made the boats tip and dump their load into the river. The other guards and Looper knelt down and tried to reach them, but they were pulled in, too. In the midst of all this, the mayor jumped onto the one boat that was still upright, but as soon as he hit it, it turned over and he plunged into the river.”
― Jeanne DuPrau, The People of Sparks