What happens when the symbol of hope becomes a weapon, and the cost of freedom is measured in unbearable loss?
Suzanne Collins’ Mockingjay, the searing conclusion to The Hunger Games trilogy, plunges readers into the brutal realities of war and the complex aftermath of trauma.
Following Katniss Everdeen’s escape from the Quarter Quell, she becomes the reluctant face of the rebellion against the tyrannical Capitol. But the fight for Panem’s future is far from glorious, demanding sacrifices that threaten to shatter her very identity.
These 46 quotes, drawn from the heart of the Mockingjay’s struggle, explore the novel’s core themes: the crushing weight of becoming a symbol, the haunting landscape of trauma and manipulation, the brutal costs of war, and the elusive nature of truth in a world built on lies.
Begin the journey with 115 Quotes from The Hunger Games.
Prepare to confront the fire, the ashes, and the enduring question: Are any victors in war?
Thrust into a role she never desired, Katniss grapples with the immense pressure and inherent dangers of being the rebellion’s living symbol.
The Reluctant Symbol: Becoming the Mockingjay
Katniss never asked to be the face of the rebellion, yet she becomes inextricably linked to its fate, burdened by the expectations and manipulations of others.
“My name is Katniss Everdeen. I am seventeen years old. My home is District 12. I was in the Hunger Games. I escaped. The Capitol hates me……..”
~Suzanne Collins, Mockingjay, (Character: Katniss Everdeen), Part 1, Page 4
This stark, repetitive self-identification becomes Katniss’s anchor amidst trauma and confusion, a way to reclaim her core identity when everything else is stripped away or distorted by war and hijacking.
“Finnick?” I say, “Maybe some pants?”
He looks down at his legs as if noticing his outfit for the first time. Then he whips off his hospital gown leaving him in just his underwear. “Why? Do you find this” — he strikes a ridiculously provocative pose — “distracting?”
I laugh. Boggs looks embarrassed and Finnick looks more like the guy I met at the Quarter Quell”
~Suzanne Collins, Mockingjay, (Characters: Katniss, Finnick), Part 1, Page 79
“Well, don’t expect us to be too impressed. We just saw Finnick Odair in his underwear.”
~Suzanne Collins, Mockingjay, (Character: Boggs), Part 1, Page 82
“Yes,” I whisper. The red blinking light on one of the cameras catches my eye. I know I’m being recorded. “Yes,” I say more forcefully. Everyone is drawing away from me—Gale, Cressida, the insects—giving me the stage. But I stay focused on the red light. “I want to tell the rebels that I am alive. That I’m right here in District Eight, where the Capitol has just bombed a hospital full of unarmed men, women, and children. There will be no survivors.” The shock I’ve been feeling begins to give way to fury. “I want to tell people that if you think for one second the Capitol will treat us fairly if there’s a cease-fire, you’re deluding yourself. Because you know who they are and what they do.” My hands go out automatically, as if to indicate the whole horror around me. “This is what they do! And we must fight back!”
I’m moving in toward the camera now, carried forward by my rage. “President Snow says he’s sending us a message? Well, I have one for him. You can torture us and bomb us and burn our districts to the ground, but do you see that?” One of the cameras follows as I point to the planes burning on the roof of the warehouse across from us. The Capitol seal on a wing glows clearly through the flames. “Fire is catching!” I am shouting now, determined that he will not miss a word. “And if we burn, you burn with us!”
~Suzanne Collins, Mockingjay, (Character: Katniss Everdeen), Part 1, Pages 99-100
This unscripted moment becomes Katniss’s most powerful prop, fueled by genuine rage and grief. It demonstrates Haymitch’s point: her effectiveness lies in authenticity, not staged performance. The line “If we burn, you burn with us!” becomes the rallying cry of the rebellion.
“Fire is catching! And if we burn, you burn with us!”
~Suzanne Collins, Mockingjay, (Character: Katniss Everdeen), Part 1, Page 106
“Are you, are you coming to the tree?
Wear a necklace of rope, side by side with me.
Strange things did happen here.
No stranger would let it be if we met up
At midnight in the hanging tree.”~Suzanne Collins, Mockingjay, (Character: Katniss Everdeen singing), Part 1, Page 123
“The Hanging Tree” song transforms from a haunting personal memory into a powerful symbol of rebellion across Panem, demonstrating the unexpected ways art can fuel resistance, even when its origins are dark and complex.
“It’s impossible to be the Mockingjay. Impossible to complete even this one sentence. Because now I know that everything I say will be directly taken out on Peeta. Result in his torture. But not his death, no, nothing so merciful as that. Snow will ensure that his life is much more worse than death.
“Cut,” I hear Cressida say quietly.
“What’s wrong with her?” Plutarch says under his breath.
“She’s figured out how Snow’s using Peeta,” says Finnick.
There’s something like a collective sigh of regret from that semicircle of people spread out before me. Because I know this now. Because there will never be a way for me to not know this again. Because, beyond the military disadvantage losing a entails, I am broken.
Several sets of arms would embrace me. But in the end, the only person I truly want to comfort me is Haymitch, because he loves Peeta, too. I reach out for him and say something like his name and he’s there, holding me and patting my back. “It’s okay. It’ll be okay, sweetheart.” He sits me on a length of broken marble pillar and keeps an arm around me while I sob.
“I can’t do this anymore,” I say.
“I know,” he says.”
~Suzanne Collins, Mockingjay, (Characters: Katniss as narrator and listed characters), Part 2, Pages 162-163
While Katniss embodies the rebellion’s hope, Peeta becomes a tragic symbol of the Capitol’s cruelty, his mind twisted into a weapon against the one he loves.
Peeta: Hijacked and Haunted
Peeta’s torture and hijacking represent one of the Capitol’s most insidious acts, turning love into a weapon and blurring the lines between reality and manipulation.
“Katniss. I remember about the bread.”
~Suzanne Collins, Mockingjay, (Character: Peeta), Part 3, Page 230
“I must have loved you a lot.”
~Suzanne Collins, Mockingjay, (Character: Peeta), Part 3, Page 231
“All those months of taking it for granted that Peeta thought I was wonderful are over. Finally, he can see me for who I really am. Violent. Distrustful. Manipulative. Deadly. And I hate him for it.”
~Suzanne Collins, Mockingjay, (Character: Katniss about Peeta), Part 3, Page 232
Katniss’s self-loathing here is profound. Peeta, stripped of his idealized view, now reflects her own harshest judgments at her, forcing her to confront the morally ambiguous actions she took to survive, actions she can no longer easily justify.
“Ally.” Peeta says the words slowly, tasting it. “Friend. Lover. Victor. Enemy. Fiancee. Target. Mutt. Neighbor. Hunter. Tribute. Ally. I’ll add it to the list of words I use to try to figure you out. The problem is, I can’t tell what’s real anymore, and what’s made up.”
~Suzanne Collins, Mockingjay, (Character: Peeta), Part 3, Page 270
This heartbreaking list shows the devastating effect of the hijacking. Peeta’s core understanding of Katniss, his reality, has been shattered into conflicting fragments, leaving him unable to reconcile the different roles she played or discern truth from Capitol manipulation.
“At a few minutes before four, Peeta turns to me again. “Your favorite colour . . . it’s green?”
“That’s right.” Then I think of something to add. “And yours is orange.”
“Orange?” He seems unconvinced.
“Not bright orange. But soft. Like the sunset,” I say. “At least, that’s what you told me once.”
“Oh.” He closes his eyes briefly, maybe trying to conjure up that sunset, then nods his head.
“Thank you.”
But more words tumble out. “You’re a painter. You’re a baker. You like to sleep with the windows open.
You never take sugar in your tea. And you always double-knot your shoelaces.”
Then I dive into my tent before I do something stupid like cry.”
~Suzanne Collins, Mockingjay, (Characters: Peeta and Katniss), Part 3, Page 271
Peeta clinging to these small, concrete, factual details demonstrates his desperate attempt to rebuild his understanding of Katniss from the ground up, using verifiable truths as anchors against the flood of fear-infused, fabricated memories.
“You’re a painter. You’re a baker. You like to sleep with the windows open. You never take sugar in your tea. And you always double-knot your shoelaces.”
~Suzanne Collins, Mockingjay, (Character: Peeta about Katniss), Part 3, Page 271
“If I could grow wings, I could fly. Only people can’t grow wings,” he say’s. “Real or not real?”
“Real,” I say. “But people don’t need wings to survive.”
“Mockingjays do.”
~Suzanne Collins, Mockingjay, (Characters: Peeta and Katniss), Part 3, Page 302
“You’re still trying to protect me. Real or not real,” he whispers.
“Real,” I answer. “Because that’s what you and I do, protect each other.”
~Suzanne Collins, Mockingjay, (Characters: Peeta and Katniss), Part 3, Page 302
“It’s a long shot, it’s suicide maybe, but I do the only thing I can think of. I lean in and kiss Peeta full on the mouth. His whole body starts shuddering, but I keep my lips pressed to his until I have to come up for air. My hands slide up his wrists to clasp his. “Don’t let him take you from me.”
Peeta’s panting hard as he fights the nightmares raging his head. “No. I don’t want to. . .”
I clench his hands to the point of pain. “Stay with me.”
His pupils contract to pinpoints, dilate again rapidly, and then return to something resembling normalcy.
“Always,” he murmurs.”
~Suzanne Collins, Mockingjay, (Characters: Katniss and Peeta), Part 3, Page 314
“Stay with me.
…
Always.”~Suzanne Collins, Mockingjay, (Characters: Katniss and Peeta), Part 3, Page 314
“I clench his hands to the point of pain. “Stay with me.”
His pupils contract to pinpoints, dilate again rapidly, and then return to something resembling normalcy. “Always,” he murmurs.”
~Suzanne Collins, Mockingjay, (Characters: Katniss and Peeta), Part 3, Page 314
“I know what blood poisoning is, Katniss,” says Peeta. “Even if my mother isn’t a healer.”
I’m jolted back in time, to another wound, another set of bandages. “You said that same thing to me in the first Hunger Games. Real or not real?”
“Real,” he says. “And you risked your life getting the medicine that saved me?”
“Real.” I shrug. “You were the reason I was alive to do it.”
~Suzanne Collins, Mockingjay, (Character: Peeta), Part 3, Page 321
“I think….you still have no idea. The effect you can have.”
~Suzanne Collins, Mockingjay, (Character: Peeta), Part 3, Page 325
Amidst the chaos and manipulation, the core connections between Katniss, Peeta, and Gale are tested, fractured, and ultimately redefined.
Bonds and Fractures: Love, Loyalty, and Loss
The war tests and reshapes Katniss’s relationships, forcing painful choices and revealing the complex nature of love and loyalty under duress.
“Some walks you have to take alone.”
~Suzanne Collins, Mockingjay, (Character: Katniss Everdeen), Part 1, Page 5
“Katniss….he’s still trying to keep you alive.”
~Suzanne Collins, Mockingjay, (Character: Gale), Part 1, Page 30
“I knew you’d kiss me.”
“How?” I say. Because I didn’t know myself.
“Because I am in pain,” He say’s. “That’s the only way I get your attention.”~Suzanne Collins, Mockingjay, (Characters: Gale and Katniss), Part 1, Page 130
“Sometimes when I’m alone, I take the pearl from where it lives in my pocket and try to remember the boy with the bread, the strong arms that warded off nightmares on the train, the kisses in the arena.”
~Suzanne Collins, Mockingjay, (Character: Katniss Everdeen), Part 2, Page 195
“I roll my eyes. “So when did I become so special? When they carted me off to the Capitol?”
“No, about six months before that. Right after New Year’s. We were in the Hob, eating some slop of Greasy Sae’s. And Darius was teasing you about trading a rabbit for one of his kisses. And I realized…I minded.”~Suzanne Collins, Mockingjay, (Characters: Katniss and Gale), Part 2, Page 199
Gale pinpoints the moment his protective friendship shifted towards something deeper, a subtle jealousy revealing feelings he hadn’t consciously acknowledged before, even amidst the harsh realities of District 12.
“Is that why you hate me?” I ask.
“Partly,” She admits. “Jealousy is certainly involved. I also think you’re a little hard to swallow. With your tacky romantic drama and your defender-of-the-helpless act. Only it isn’t an act, which makes you more unbearable. Please feel free to take this personally.”
~Suzanne Collins, Mockingjay, (Characters: Johanna and Katniss), Part 3, Page 220
“What about Gale?”
“He’s not a bad kisser either,” I say shortly.
“And it was okay with both of us? You kissing the other?” He asks.
“No. It wasn’t okay with either of you. But I wasn’t asking your permission,” I tell him. Peeta laughs again, coldly, dismissively. “Well, you’re a piece of work, aren’t you?”
~Suzanne Collins, Mockingjay, (Characters: Peeta and Katniss), Part 3, Page 232
“Finnick!” Something between a shriek and a cry of joy. A lovely if somewhat bedraggled young woman–dark tangled hair, sea green eyes–runs toward us in nothing but a sheet. “Finnick!” And suddenly, it’s as if there’s no one in the world but these two, crashing through space to reach each other. They collide, enfold, lose their balance, and slam against a wall, where they stay. Clinging into one being. Indivisible.
A pang of jealousy hits me. Not for either Finnick or Annie but for their certainty. No one seeing them could doubt their love.”
~Suzanne Collins, Mockingjay, (Character: Katniss Everdeen as narrator, observing Annie), Part 2, Pages 175-176
“Oh, that I do know…Katniss will pick whoever she thinks she can’t survive without.”
~Suzanne Collins, Mockingjay, (Character: Gale), Part 3, Page 329
“No problem,” Gale replies. “I wake up ten times a night anyway.”
“To make sure Katniss is still here?” asks Peeta.
“Something like that,”…
“That was funny, what Tigris said. About no one knowing what to do with her.”
“Well, WE never have,”…
“She loves you, you know,” says Peeta. “She as good as told me after they whipped you.”
“Don’t believe it,”Gale answers. “The way she kissed you in the Quarter Quell…well she never kissed me like that.”
“It was just part of the show,” Peeta tells him, although there’s an edge of doubt in his voice.
“No, you won her over. Gave up everything for her. Maybe that’s the only way to convince her you love her.” There’s a long pause. “I should have volunteered to take your place in the first Games. Protected her then.”
“You couldn’t,” says Peeta. “She’d never have forgiven you. You had to take care of her family. They matter more to her than her life.”
…
“I wonder how she’ll make up her mind.”“Oh, that I do know.” I can just catch Gale’s last words through the layer of fur. “Katniss will pick whoever she thinks she can’t survive without”
~Suzanne Collins, Mockingjay, (Characters: Gale and Peeta), Part 3, Pages 328-329
This pivotal conversation highlights the complex triangle. Peeta recognizes Katniss’s love for Gale, while Gale understands Katniss’s choices are driven by perceived necessity and survival, not necessarily romantic preference alone, foreshadowing the outcome.
Beyond the personal struggles, the narrative grapples with the profound destruction and moral compromises inherent in violent conflict.
The Cost of War: Trauma, Loss, and Moral Ambiguity
Mockingjay unflinchingly portrays the devastating physical and psychological toll of war, questioning the morality of tactics used by both sides.
“They’ll either want to kill you, kiss you, or be you.”
~Suzanne Collins, Mockingjay, (Character: Finnick), Part 1, Page 71
Finnick encapsulates the bizarre and dangerous nature of fame within Panem’s war-torn society – Katniss inspires devotion, desire, and deadly envy, making her both a powerful symbol and a constant target.
“I drag myself out of nightmares each morning and find there’s no relief in waking.”
~Suzanne Collins, Mockingjay, (Character: Katniss Everdeen), Part 2, Page 156
“It takes ten times as long to put yourself back together as it does to fall apart.”
~Suzanne Collins, Mockingjay, (Character: Finnick Odair), Part 2, Page 156
Finnick, speaking from deep personal experience with trauma and recovery, offers this stark piece of wisdom, highlighting the immense and disproportionate effort required to heal from psychological wounds inflicted by the Capitol and the Games.
“There’s a chance that the old Peeta, the one who loves you, is still inside. Trying to get back to you. Don’t give up on him.”
~Suzanne Collins, Mockingjay, (Character: Prim), Part 2, Page 184
“You’re punishing him over and over for things that are out of his control. Now, I’m not saying you shouldn’t have a fully loaded weapon next to you round the clock. But I think it’s time you flipped this little scenario in your head. If you’d been taken by the Capitol, and hijacked, and then tried to kill Peeta, is this the way he would be treating you?” demands Haymitch.
I fall silent. It isn’t. It isn’t how he would be treating me at all. He would be trying to get me back at any cost. Not shutting me out, abandoning me, greeting me with hostility at every turn.”
~Suzanne Collins, Mockingjay, (Characters: Haymitch and Katniss as narrator), Part 3, Pages 268-269
“Oh, my dear Miss Everdeen. I thought we had an agreement not to lie to each other.”
~Suzanne Collins, Mockingjay, (Character: President Snow), Part 3, Page 358 (Also referenced Page 372)
“Let me go!” I snarl at him, trying to wrest my arm from his grasp.
“I can’t,” he says.”
~Suzanne Collins, Mockingjay, (Characters: Katniss and Peeta), Part 3, Page 373
“I no longer feel any allegiance to these monsters called human beings, despise being one myself. I think that Peeta was onto something about us destroying one another and letting some decent species take over. Because something is significantly wrong with a creature that sacrifices its children’s lives to settle its differences. You can spin it any way you like. Snow thought the Hunger Games were an efficient means of control. Coin thought the parachutes would expedite the war. But in the end, who does it benefit? No one. The truth is, it benefits no one to live in a world where these things happen.”
~Suzanne Collins, Mockingjay, (Character: Katniss as the narrator), Part 3, Page 377
This marks a moment of profound disillusionment for Katniss. Witnessing the rebels employ tactics mirroring the Capitol’s cruelty shatters her belief in the inherent righteousness of their cause, revealing the cyclical nature of violence and power.
“But collective thinking is usually short-lived. We’re fickle, stupid beings with poor memories and a great gift for self-destruction.”
~Suzanne Collins, Mockingjay, (Character: Plutarch), Part 3, Page 379
“She’s not here,” I tell him. Buttercup hisses again. “She’s not here. You can hiss all you like. You won’t find Prim.” At her name, he perks up. Raises his flattened ears. Begins to meow hopefully. “Get out!” He dodges the pillow I throw at him. “Go away! There’s nothing left for you here!” I start to shake, furious with him. “She’s not coming back! She’s never ever coming back here again!” I grab another pillow and get to my feet to improve my aim. Out of nowhere, the tears begin to pour down my cheeks. “She’s dead, you stupid cat. She’s dead.”
~Suzanne Collins, Mockingjay, (Character: Katniss Everdeen), Part 3, Page 386
“But his arms are there to comfort me, and eventually his lips. On the night I feel that thing again, the hunger that overtook me on the beach, I know this would have happened anyway. That what I need to survive is not Gale’s fire, kindled with rage and hatred. I have plenty of fire myself. What I need is the dandelion in the spring. The bright yellow that means rebirth instead of destruction. The promise that life can go on, no matter how bad our losses. That it can be good again. And only Peeta can give me that. So after, when he whispers, “You love me. Real or not real?” I tell him “Real.”
~Suzanne Collins, Mockingjay, (Characters: Katniss and Peeta), Epilogue, Page 388
“What I need is the dandelion in the spring. The bright yellow that means rebirth instead of destruction. The promise that life can go on, no matter how bad our losses. That it can be good again.”
~Suzanne Collins, Mockingjay, (Character: Katniss Everdeen), Epilogue, Page 388
“That what I need to survive is not Gale’s fire, kindled with rage and hatred. I have plenty of fire myself. What I need is the dandelion in the spring. The bright yellow that means rebirth instead of destruction. The promise that life can go on, no matter how bad our losses. That it can be good again. And only Peeta can give me that.”
~Suzanne Collins, Mockingjay, (Character: Katniss Everdeen), Epilogue, Page 388
Katniss finally understands the fundamental difference between Gale’s consuming fire and Peeta’s enduring hope. She recognizes that healing requires not more destruction, but the resilience and promise of new beginnings symbolized by the dandelion.
“You love me. Real or not real?”
I tell him, “Real.”~Suzanne Collins, Mockingjay, (Characters: Peeta and Katniss), Epilogue, Page 388
“There are much worse games to play.”
~Suzanne Collins, Mockingjay, (Character: Katniss as the narrator), Epilogue, Page 398
“I’ll tell them how I survive it. I’ll tell them that on bad mornings, it feels impossible to take pleasure in things because I’m afraid it could be taken away. That’s when I make a list in my head of every act of goodness I’ve seen someone do. It’s like a game. Repetitive. Even a little tedious after more than twenty years.
But there are much worse games to play.”
~Suzanne Collins, Mockingjay, (Character: Katniss as narrator), Epilogue, Page 398
Katniss reveals her coping mechanism for lifelong trauma – a conscious, repetitive effort to focus on goodness as a shield against despair. It acknowledges that the “Games” never truly end, but they transform the objective from mere survival to finding meaning.
The fight for Panem’s future exacts a terrible price, leaving scars that may never fully fade, yet the Mockingjay’s journey ends not in despair, but in the quiet resilience of rebuilding.
Conclusion: The Scars Remain
Mockingjay offers a raw and often brutal conclusion to Katniss’s journey. It doesn’t shy away from the lasting scars of war, the manipulation inherent in power, and the agonizing choices required when survival and morality collide.
Through these 46 quotes and their analysis, we see the evolution of a symbol, the fracturing and tentative healing of minds, and the enduring truth that even in the ashes, the fight for a better future, however flawed, persists.
Continue exploring the earlier stages of the rebellion: Discover 50 Quotes from Catching Fire.
A Note on Page Numbers & Edition: Like echoes in the Capitol’s tunnels, page numbers may shift between editions. These quotes were meticulously sourced from the Scholastic Press; First Edition (September 1, 2010), ISBN-13: 978-0439023511 edition.
Always verify with your copy to ensure you hear the exact words that sparked the rebellion.
Jeremy Mortis, founder of Ageless Investing, applies a rigorous analytical approach (the AAM 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.