Picture Panem’s embers glowing—can one spark ignite a revolution?
Suzanne Collins’s Catching Fire, the second blaze in The Hunger Games trilogy, thrusts Katniss Everdeen back into the Capitol’s arena, where survival fuels rebellion.
These 50 quotes, gathered like kindling for the Mockingjay’s fire, weave defiance, love, and sacrifice, sourced from the Scholastic Press, 2009 edition (ISBN-13: 978-0439023498).
Fan through them to find one that burns in your chest. The pages may flicker—see the note below.
Rebellion: The Mockingjay’s Flame
Step into Panem’s unrest, where whispers of defiance flare against the Capitol’s iron grip.
“It must be very fragile, if a handful of berries can bring it down.”
~Suzanne Collins, Catching Fire, (Katniss Everdeen), Chapter 2, (Theme: Rebellion, Page 22)
“Aim higher in case you fall short.”
~Suzanne Collins, Catching Fire, (President Snow), Chapter 2, (Theme: Rebellion, Page 29)
“That if desperate times call for desperate measures, then I’m free to act as desperately as I wish.”
~Suzanne Collins, Catching Fire, (Katniss Everdeen), Chapter 6, (Theme: Rebellion, Page 75)
“But Mockingjays were never a weapon,” said Madge. “They’re just songbirds. Right?”
“Yeah, I guess so,” I said, But it’s not true. A mockingbird is just a songbird. A mockingjay is a creature the Capitol never intended to exist. They hadn’t counted on the highly controlled jabberjay having the brains to adapt to the wild, to thrive in a new form. They hadn’t anticipated its will to live.”
~Suzanne Collins, Catching Fire, (Madge and Katniss), Chapter 7, (Theme: Rebellion, Page 92)
“I really can’t think about kissing when I’ve got a rebellion to incite.”
~Suzanne Collins, Catching Fire, (Katniss Everdeen), Chapter 9, (Theme: Rebellion, Pages 125, 126)
Katniss’s defiance in her own words
“I guess this is a bad time to mention I hung a dummy and painted Seneca Crane’s name on it…”
~Suzanne Collins, Catching Fire, (Katniss Everdeen), Chapter 17, (Theme: Rebellion, Page 241)
“We had to save you because you’re the mockingjay, Katniss,” says Plutarch. “While you live, the revolution lives.”
~Suzanne Collins, Catching Fire, (Plutarch), Chapter 27, (Theme: Rebellion, Page 386)
“The bird, the pin, the song, the berries, the watch, the cracker, the dress that burst into flames. I am the mockingjay. The one that survived despite the Capitol’s plans. The symbol of the rebellion.”
~Suzanne Collins, Catching Fire, (Katniss Everdeen), Chapter 27, (Theme: Rebellion, Pages 386, 387)
“Katniss,” Gale says softly. I recognize that voice. It’s the same one he uses to approach wounded animals before he delivers a deathblow. I instinctively raise my hand to block his words but he catches it and holds on tightly. “Don’t,” I whisper. But Gale is not one to keep secrets from me. “Katniss, There is no District Twelve.”
~Suzanne Collins, Catching Fire, (Gale and Katniss), Chapter 27, (Theme: Rebellion, Page 391)
Yet love holds tighter than any Capitol chain…
Love and Loyalty: Bonds That Endure
Feel the pull of hearts—Katniss, Peeta, Gale—tangled in loyalty fiercer than the arena’s traps.
“Not like this…He wanted it to be real.”
~Suzanne Collins, Catching Fire, (Haymitch), Chapter 5, (Theme: Love and Loyalty, Page 73)
“Peeta, how come I never know when you’re having a nightmare?” I say. “I don’t know. I don’t think I cry out or thrash around or anything. I just come to, paralyzed with terror,” he says. “You should wake me,” I say, thinking about how I can interrupt his sleep two or three times on a bad night. About how long it can take to calm me down. “It’s not necessary. My nightmares are usually about losing you,” he says. “I’m okay once I realize you’re here.”
~Suzanne Collins, Catching Fire, (Katniss and Peeta), Chapter 6, (Theme: Love and Loyalty, Pages 85, 86)
“He tilts his forehead down to rest against mine and pulls me closer. His skin, his whole being radiates heat from being so near the fire, and I close my eyes, soaking in his warmth. I breathe in the smell of snow-dampened leather and smoke and apples, the smell of all those wintry days we shared before the Games. I don’t try to move away. Why should I anyway? His voice drops to a whisper. “I love you.” That’s why.”
~Suzanne Collins, Catching Fire, (Katniss and Gale), Chapter 7, (Theme: Love and Loyalty, Pages 96, 97)
“Gale is mine. I am his. Anything else is unthinkable.”
~Suzanne Collins, Catching Fire, (Katniss), Chapter 8, (Theme: Love and Loyalty, Page 117)
“I’m so sorry,” I whisper. I lean forward and kiss him. His eyelashes flutter and he looks at me through a haze of opiates. “Hey, Catnip.” “Hey, Gale,” I say. “Thought you’d be gone by now,” he says. My choices are simple. I can die like a quarry in the woods or I can die here beside Gale. “I’m not going anywhere. I’m going to stay right here and cause all kinds of trouble.” “Me, too,” Gale says. He just manages a smile before the drugs pull him back under.”
~Suzanne Collins, Catching Fire, (Katniss and Gale), Chapter 8, (Theme: Love and Loyalty, Pages 118, 119)
“You could live a hundred lifetimes and not deserve him.”
~Suzanne Collins, Catching Fire, (Haymitch), Chapter 13, (Theme: Love and Loyalty, Page 178)
“I just want to spend every possible minute of the rest of my life with you,” Peeta replies.
~Suzanne Collins, Catching Fire, (Katniss and Peeta), Chapter 17, (Theme: Love and Loyalty, Page 244)
“I wish I could freeze this moment, right here, right now, and live in it forever,” he says. Usually this sort of comment, the kind that hints his undying love for me, makes me feel guilty and awful. But I’m so relaxed and beyond worrying about a future I’ll never have, I just let the word slip out. “Okay,” I say. I can hear the smile in his voice. “Then you’ll allow it?” “I’ll allow it.”
~Suzanne Collins, Catching Fire, (Katniss and Peeta), Chapter 17, (Theme: Love and Loyalty, Pages 245, 246)
“And to us, we’re more married than any piece of paper or big party could make us.”
~Suzanne Collins, Catching Fire, (Peeta), Chapter 18, (Theme: Love and Loyalty, Page 255)
“But I have to confess, I’m glad you two had at least a few months of happiness together.” “I’m not glad,” says Peeta. “I wish we had waited until the whole thing was done officially.” This takes even Caesar aback. “Surely even a brief time is better than no time?” “Maybe I’d think that, too, Caesar,” says Peeta bitterly, “If it weren’t for the baby.”
~Suzanne Collins, Catching Fire, (Caesar and Peeta), Chapter 18, (Theme: Love and Loyalty, Page 256)
“I don’t want you forgetting how different our circumstances are. If you die, and I live, there’s no life for me at all back in District Twelve. You’re my whole life,” Peeta says. “I would never be happy again. It’s different for you. I’m not saying it wouldn’t be hard. But there are other people who’d make your life worth living.” “No one really needs me,” he says, and there’s no self-pity in his voice. … I realize only one person will be damaged beyond repair if Peeta dies. Me. “I do,” I say. “I need you.”
~Suzanne Collins, Catching Fire, (Peeta and Katniss), Chapter 24, (Theme: Love and Loyalty, Page 351)
“So that’s who Finnick loves, I think. Not his string of fancy lovers in the Capitol. But a poor, mad girl back home.”
~Suzanne Collins, Catching Fire, (Katniss Everdeen), Chapter 24, (Theme: Love and Loyalty, Page 348)
But survival demands more than heart—it demands cunning…
Survival and Sacrifice: The Arena’s Price
Enter the Quarter Quell’s crucible, where every step tests the cost of staying alive.
“You’ve got to go through it to get to the end of it.”
~Suzanne Collins, Catching Fire, (Greasy Sae), Chapter 1, (Theme: Survival and Sacrifice, Page 12)
“Look, if you wanted to be babied you should have asked Peeta.”
~Suzanne Collins, Catching Fire, (Katniss Everdeen), Chapter 1, (Theme: Survival and Sacrifice, Page 14)
“My time in the arena made me realize how I needed to stop punishing [my mother] for something she couldn’t help, specifically the crushing depression she fell into after my father’s death. Because sometimes things happen to people and they’re not equipped to deal with them.”
~Suzanne Collins, Catching Fire, (Katniss Everdeen), Chapter 3, (Theme: Survival and Sacrifice, Pages 31, 32)
“If I feel ragged, my prep team seems in worse condition, knocking back coffee and sharing brightly colored little pills. As far as I can tell, they never get up before noon unless there’s some sort of national emergency, like my leg hair.”
~Suzanne Collins, Catching Fire, (Katniss Everdeen), Chapter 4, (Theme: Survival and Sacrifice, Page 48)
“Fine. Somebody else can arrange to get the stupid goat knocked up.”
~Suzanne Collins, Catching Fire, (Katniss Everdeen), Chapter 11, (Theme: Survival and Sacrifice, Page 156)
“As the alcohol overcomes my mind, I hear the glass bottle shatter on the floor. This seems appropriate since I have obviously lost my grip on everything.”
~Suzanne Collins, Catching Fire, (Katniss Everdeen), Chapter 13, (Theme: Survival and Sacrifice, Page 179)
“I swear if you cry, I’ll kill you here and now.” Cinna just smiles. “Had a damp morning?” “You could wring me out,” I reply.
~Suzanne Collins, Catching Fire, (Katniss and Cinna), Chapter 15, (Theme: Survival and Sacrifice, Page 205)
“I turn and put my lips close to Peeta’s and drop my eyelids in imitation… “He offered me sugar and wanted to know all my secrets,” I say in my best seductive voice.”
~Suzanne Collins, Catching Fire, (Katniss Everdeen), Chapter 15, (Theme: Survival and Sacrifice, Page 211)
“What about you?” “Not a clue. I keep wishing I could bake a cake or something.”
~Suzanne Collins, Catching Fire, (Peeta), Chapter 16, (Theme: Survival and Sacrifice, Page 234)
“Because I can count on my fingers the number of sunsets I have left, and I don’t want to miss any of them.”
~Suzanne Collins, Catching Fire, (Katniss), Chapter 17, (Theme: Survival and Sacrifice, Page 246)
“I always channel my emotions into my work. That way, I don’t hurt anyone but myself.”
~Suzanne Collins, Catching Fire, (Cinna), Chapter 20, (Theme: Survival and Sacrifice, Page 285)
“Whose is it, do you think?” I say finally. “No telling,” says Finnick. “Why don’t we let Peeta claim it, since he died today?”
~Suzanne Collins, Catching Fire, (Katniss and Finnick), Chapter 20, (Theme: Survival and Sacrifice, Page 292)
“I go into the saltwater and wash off the blood, trying to decide which I hate more, pain or itching. Fed up, I stomp back onto the beach, turn my face upward and snap, “Hey, Haymitch, if you’re not too drunk, we could use a little something for our skin.” … It’s almost funny how quickly the parachute appears above me. I reach up and the tube lands squarely in my open hand. “About time,” I say, but I can’t keep the scowl on my face. Haymitch. What I wouldn’t give for five minutes of conversation with him.”
~Suzanne Collins, Catching Fire, (Katniss Everdeen), Chapter 22, (Theme: Survival and Sacrifice, Page 315)
Still, fear sharpens every choice…
Fear and Defiance: Courage in the Fire
Trace the edge of terror—where Katniss and her allies dare to spit in the Capitol’s face.
“I had to do that. At least once.”
~Suzanne Collins, Catching Fire, (Gale), Chapter 2, (Theme: Fear and Defiance, Page 27)
“Oh, the fun we two have together.”
~Suzanne Collins, Catching Fire, (Katniss Everdeen), Chapter 6, (Theme: Fear and Defiance, Page 76)
“At some point, you have to stop running and turn around and face whoever wants you dead. The hard thing is finding the courage to do it.”
~Suzanne Collins, Catching Fire, (Katniss Everdeen), Chapter 8, (Theme: Fear and Defiance, Page 118)
“We star-crossed lovers of District 12, who suffered so much and enjoyed so little the rewards of our victory, do not seek our fans’ favor, grace them with our smiles, or catch their kisses. We are unforgiving. And I love it. Getting to be myself at last.”
~Suzanne Collins, Catching Fire, (Katniss Everdeen), Chapter 15, (Theme: Fear and Defiance, Page 212)
“Remember, girl on fire,” he says, “I’m still betting on you.”
~Suzanne Collins, Catching Fire, (Haymitch), Chapter 18, (Theme: Fear and Defiance, Page 262)
“I can only form one clear thought. This is no place for a girl on fire.”
~Suzanne Collins, Catching Fire, (Katniss Everdeen), Chapter 18, (Theme: Fear and Defiance, Page 263)
“What’s going on down there, Katniss? Have they all joined hands? Taken a vow of nonviolence? Tossed the weapons in the sea in defiance of the Capitol?” Finnick asks. “No,” I say. “No,” Finnick repeats. “Because whatever happened in the past is in the past. And no one in this arena was a victor by chance.” He eyes Peeta for a moment. “Except maybe Peeta.”
~Suzanne Collins, Catching Fire, (Finnick and Katniss), Chapter 19, (Theme: Fear and Defiance, Pages 276, 277)
“I pull an arrow, whip the notch into place, and am about to let it fly when I’m stopped by the sight of Finnick kissing Peeta. And it’s so bizarre, even for Finnick.”
~Suzanne Collins, Catching Fire, (Katniss Everdeen), Chapter 20, (Theme: Fear and Defiance, Page 280)
“The idea of being strong for someone else having never entered their heads, I find myself in the position of having to console them. Since I’m the person going in to be slaughtered, this is somewhat annoying.”
~Suzanne Collins, Catching Fire, (Katniss Everdeen), Chapter 20, (Theme: Fear and Defiance, Page 284)
“I’m going to wake Peeta,” I say. “No, wait,” says Finnick. “Let’s do it together. Put our faces right in front of his.” Well, there’s so little opportunity for fun left in my life, I agree. We position ourselves on either side of Peeta, lean over until our faces are inches from his nose, and give him a shake. “Peeta. Peeta, wake up,” I say in a soft, singsong voice. His eyelids flutter open and then he jumps like we’ve stabbed him. “Aa!” Finnick and I fall back in the sand, laughing our heads off. Every time we try to stop, we look at Peeta’s attempt to maintain a disdainful expression and it sets us off again.”
~Suzanne Collins, Catching Fire, (Katniss, Finnick, and Peeta), Chapter 22, (Theme: Fear and Defiance, Pages 316, 317)
“Remembering from last year how Haymitch’s gifts are often timed to send a message, I make a note to myself. Be friends with Finnick. You’ll get food.”
~Suzanne Collins, Catching Fire, (Katniss Everdeen), Chapter 22, (Theme: Fear and Defiance, Page 317)
“Tick, tock.”
~Suzanne Collins, Catching Fire, (Wiress), Chapter 22, (Theme: Fear and Defiance, Page 320)
“I don’t care if you are knocked up. I can still rip your throat out.”
~Suzanne Collins, Catching Fire, (Johanna), Chapter 23, (Theme: Fear and Defiance, Page 328)
“Beetee is still messing round the tree, doing I don’t know what. At one point he snaps off a sliver of bark, joins us, and throws it against the force field. It bounces back and lands on the ground, glowing. In a few moments it returns to its original color. “Well, that explains a lot,” says Beetee. I look at Peeta and can’t help biting my lip to keep from laughing since it explains absolutely nothing to anyone but Beetee.”
~Suzanne Collins, Catching Fire, (Katniss and Beetee), Chapter 25, (Theme: Fear and Defiance, Page 363)
“Really, the combination of the scabs and the ointment looks hideous. I can’t help enjoying his distress. “Poor Finnick. Is this the first time in your life you haven’t looked pretty?” I say. “It must be. The sensation’s completely new. How have you managed it all these years?” he asks. “Just avoid mirrors. You’ll forget about it,” I say. “Not if I keep looking at you,” he says.”
~Suzanne Collins, Catching Fire, (Katniss and Finnick), Chapter 26, (Theme: Fear and Defiance, Page 376)
“So it’s you and a syringe against the Capitol? See, this is why no one lets you make the plans.”
~Suzanne Collins, Catching Fire, (Haymitch), Chapter 27, (Theme: Fear and Defiance, Page 384)
Through it all, defiance lights the way forward…
Panem’s Last Spark
These 50 quotes from Catching Fire blaze like embers of defiance, love, and survival, carrying Katniss’s fight against the Capitol’s shadow. Collins’s words crackle with raw hope, daring you to hold one close as Panem’s revolution ignites. Which will you fan into flame?
Dive deeper into the trilogy with Katniss’s first stand or her final rebellion.
A Note on Page Numbers & Edition:
Like tinder awaiting a spark, these quotes fuel Katniss’s fight, sourced from the Scholastic Press, 2009 edition (ISBN-13: 978-0439023498). Pages may flicker across editions—check your copy to stay in the arena.
Want to ignite Panem’s story? Cite it like this:
Cite This Page (MLA):
Mortis, Jeremy. “50 Catching Fire Quotes With Page Numbers.” Ageless Investing, 16 Apr. 2025, https://agelessinvesting.com/catching-fire-quotes/. Accessed [Date].
Cite This Page (APA):
Mortis, J. (2025, April 16). 50 Catching Fire quotes with page numbers. Ageless Investing. Retrieved [Date], from https://agelessinvesting.com/catching-fire-quotes/.
Cite This Book (MLA):
Collins, Suzanne. Catching Fire. Scholastic Press, 2009.
Jeremy Mortis, founder of Ageless Investing, applies a rigorous analytical approach (the SPARK framework) to distill timeless wisdom and contextualized quotes from classic literature, saving you time while deepening understanding. Learn more about Jeremy’s unique background and methodology on his author bio page.