Could You Repeat That? CXXXXI

What If?, Randall Munroe
There's no material safety data sheet for astatine. If there were, it would just be the word "NO" scrawled over and over in charred blood.

Pirate King, Laurie R. King
The men went past, speaking in Portuguese.
I followed. Of course I followed.

The Shadow Hero (graphic novel), Gene Luen Yang & Sonny Liew
THE TORTOISE: [I told you this was a bad idea, but did you listen to me? No!]
HANK: AAAH!
THE TORTOISE: [And why should you? I'm just an annoying old spirit who has the wisdom of a thousand human lifetimes!]
HANK: OOF!
THE TORTOISE: [I'm sure you know better. After all, you're nineteen.]

The Walking Dead, Book Eight (graphic novel), Robert Kirkman & Charlie Adlard
ABRAHAM: Have a good night last night?
MICHONNE: Not really. I'm pretty lonely.
ABRAHAM: Holy shit...I was just making conversation. I didn't expect you to be depressingly honest.

The Walking Dead, Book Nine (graphic novel), Robert Kirkman & Charlie Adlard
JESUS: Oh, I think I forgot to mention...Ezekiel has a tiger.

The Walking Dead, Book Ten (graphic novel), Robert Kirkman & Charlie Adlard
RICK: Who was it in the hall?
ANDREA: It was Michonne. She was smiling.
RICK: Really? Okay, now I'm worried.

Find Me, Laura van den Berg
To be looked for is to matter.
Every girl on every missing persons flyer has mattered more than me.

McGlue, Ottessa Moshfegh
This is home--me down in the heart of the drifting vessel, wanting, going somewhere.

A Brave Man Seven Storeys Tall, Will Chancellor
That one shade was the text of his private religion. First he saw the color and then he gave it a face and a name. But it was the color that mattered. He met the color here, and it stayed with him for days.

AND...

You don't give a gift to shape someone into the person you want him to be. You give a gift because it's something you couldn't bear to be without, but it's even more unthinkable for the other person to be without it.

Annihilation, Jeff VanderMeer
The effect of this cannot be understood without being there. The beauty of it cannot be understood, either, and when you see beauty in desolation it changes something inside you. Desolation tries to colonize you.

All the Light We Cannot See, Anthony Doerr
But she is angry. At Etienne for doing so little, at Madame Manec for doing so much, at her father for not being here to help her understand his absence. At her eyes for failing her. At everything and everyone. Who knew love could kill you?

AND...

Now the piano makes a long, familiar run, the pianist playing different scales with each hand--what sounds like three hands, four--the harmonies like steadily thickening pearls on a strand, and Werner sees six-year-old Jutta lean toward him, Frau Elena kneading bread in the background, a crystal radio in his lap, the cords of his soul not yet severed.

Station Eleven, Emily St. John Mandel
This is my soul and the world unwinding, this is my heart in the still winter air. Finally whispering the same two words over and over: "Keep walking. Keep walking. Keep walking." He looked up and met the eyes of an owl, watching him from a snow-laden branch.

The Distracted Preacher, Thomas Hardy
"Take my arm, Lizzy," he murmured.
"I don't want it," she said.