“The One” by Kiera Cass is a YA dystopian romance novel that follows America Singer’s journey to find her happily ever after.
America enters the selection, a televised competition where the winner gets to marry Maxon Schreave, the prince of Illéa.
After entering the Selection, America struggles with her feelings for her first love, Aspen, and her growing attraction to Prince Maxon.
Now that she has made her choice, America is willing to fight for the future she desires.
The One Quotes With Page Numbers
“Though I still occasionally questioned my desire to be the princess, there was no doubt in my mind that I wanted to be Maxon’s.”
~Kiera Cass, The One, Page 6
“Lowering my gaze, I walked to my seat, settling in next to Kriss.
“Seriously America?” she whispered.
I tilted my head in her direction. “I’m sorry?” I replied, feigning confusion.
She put her silverware down, and we stared at each other. “You look trashy.”
“Well, you look jealous.”
~Kiera Cass, The One, Page 7
“What’s so funny?” I asked, horrified, trying to think of an inconspicuous way to check my breath.
“Of everything you’ve done, this is by far the most entertaining!” Maxon bent over, hitting his knee as he laughed.
“Excuse me?”
He kissed me hard on my forehead. “I always wondered what it would be like to see you try.” He started laughing again. “I’m sorry; I have to go.” Even the way he stood held a sense of amusement. “I’ll see you in the morning.”
And then he left. He just left!”
~Kiera Cass, The One, Pages 12, 13
“Fine,” I said. “But I’m telling you, this won’t work.” With an impish grin on his face, he came very close and gave me a long, slow kiss. “And I’m telling you it will.”
~Kiera Cass, The One, Page 18
“Opinions change. Don’t let that one moment bring you down too much.”
~Kiera Cass, The One, Page 18
“It doesn’t really matter how you feel about your character; it just matters what you do with it.”
~Kiera Cass, The One, Page 45
“She smiled. “Not wanting the crown means you’re probably the best person to have it.”
~Kiera Cass, The One, Page 46
“Fight,” I said to no one in particular. Then remembering where I was, I turned to the camera. “Fight. The rebels are bullies. They’re trying to scare you into doing what they want. And what if you do? What kind of future do you think they’ll offer you? These people, these tyrants, aren’t going to suddenly stop being violent. If you give them power, they’re going to be a thousand times worse. So fight. However you can, fight.”
~Kiera Cass, The One, Page 70
“You made me proud, America. Sometimes I’m surprised at the things you say, but I don’t know why. You were always stronger than you knew.”
~Kiera Cass, The One, Pages 75, 76
“Mistakes mean it’s real.”
~Kiera Cass, The One, Page 77
“Leave it to you to find beauty in something others would say ruins a day.”
~Kiera Cass, The One, Page 78
“I loved him.
I couldn’t pinpoint what made me so certain, but I knew it then, as surely as I knew my name or the color of the sky or any fact written in a book.
Could he feel it, too?
Maxon broke the kiss and looked at me. “You’re so pretty when you are a mess.”
I laughed nervously. “Thank you. For that and for the rain and for not giving up.”
He ran his fingers along my cheek and nose and chin. “You’re worth it. I don’t think that you get that. You’re worth it to me.”
~Kiera Cass, The One, Page 84
“You’re worth it. I don’t think you get that. You’re worth it to me.”
~Kiera Cass, The One, Page 84
“Do you need me to break her leg? I could make it happen.” She chuckled to herself. “I’m kidding.”
~Kiera Cass, The One, Page 94
“Maxon: “To be clear, no one agrees with you.”
America: “To be clear, I don’t care.”
~Kiera Cass, The One, Page 99
“America, you are full of nothing but bad ideas. Great intentions but awful ideas.”
~Kiera Cass, The One, Page 127
“Your eyes look like chocolate,” I mumbled.
He smiled. “And yours look like the morning sky.”~Kiera Cass, The One, Page 129
“The best people all have some kind of scar.”
~Kiera Cass, The One, Page 131
“Don’t worry. The best people all have some kind of scar.” I thought of Marlee’s hands and Maxon’s back. They both held permanent marks of their bravery. I was honored to join them.”
~Kiera Cass, The One, Page 131
“Bravery hides in amazing places.”
~Kiera Cass, The One, Page 151
“America: You didn’t have to do that.
Maxon: I know. But sometimes it’s about what you want to do, not what you have to.”
~Kiera Cass, The One, Page 160
“Celeste walked up, as strong as I’d ever seen her, and whispered something into Maxon’s ear.
When she was done, he smiled. “I don’t think that will be necessary.”
“Good.” She left, closing the door behind her, and I stood to take whatever was coming.
“What was that about?” I asked, nodding toward the door.
“Oh, Celeste was making it clear that if I hurt you, she’d make me cry,” he said with a smile.
I laughed. “I’ve been on the receiving end of those nails, so be careful there.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
~Kiera Cass, The One, Page 193
“I nodded. “I’m sorry I let you down.”
“No, no, dear,” she said, turning forward. “I see potential in you. I worked in a factory when I was your age. I was dirty and hungry, and sometimes I was angry. But I had an undying crush on the prince of Illéa, and when I got the chance to make him my own, I learned to check those feelings. There’s a lot to be done from here, but it might not happen the way you want it to. You need to learn to accept that, okay?”
“Yes, Mom,” I joked.
She looked back at me, her face like stone.
“I mean, ma’am. Ma’am.”
Her eyes started glistening, and she blinked a few times, turning forward again. “If it ends as I suspect it will, Mom will be just fine.”
~Kiera Cass, The One, Page 200
“And there we were, in the background of it all, holding on to one another. The Perfectionist, the Sweetheart, the Diva . . . and me.”
~Kiera Cass, The One, Page 213
“I wanted everything from and everything for him, because I wanted every piece of him.”
~Kiera Cass, The One, Page 214
“It’s hard to know everything about people close to you, even the people you love the most.”
~Kiera Cass, The One, Page 234
“I love you beyond paint, beyond melodies, beyond words. And I hope you will always feel that, even when I’m not around to tell you so.”
~Kiera Cass, The One, Page 245
“Live your life. Be happy as you can be, let go of the things that don’t matter, and fight.”
~Kiera Cass, The One, Page 245
“. . . It’s me?”
“Of course it’s you.”~Kiera Cass, The One, Page 268
“Maxon, some of those marks are on your back so they wouldn’t be on mine, and I love you for them.”
He stopped breathing for a second. “What did you say?”
I smiled. “I love you.”
“One more time, please? I just—”
I took his face in both of my hands. “Maxon Schreave, I love you. I love you.”
“And I love you, America Singer. With all that I am, I love you.”
~Kiera Cass, The One, Pages 269, 270
“You can’t spoil me, Maxon. I don’t want anything.”
We were nose to nose by then.
“Oh, I know. I don’t intend on giving you things. Well,” he amended,
“I do intend on giving you things, but that’s not what I mean. I’m going to love you more than any man has ever loved a woman, more than you ever dreamed you could be loved. I promise you that.”
~Kiera Cass, The One, Page 271
“I do intend on giving you things, but that’s not what I mean. I’m going to love you more that any man has ever loved a woman, more than you ever dreamed you could be loved. I promise you that.”
~Kiera Cass, The One, Page 271
“He sighed contentedly. “How are you feeling, my dear?”
“I feel like punching you for calling me ‘my dear’ mostly.” I poked his bare stomach.
Smiling, he crawled to sit over me. “Fine then. My darling? My pet? My love?”
“Any of those would work, so long as you’ve reserved it solely for me,” I said, my hands mindlessly wandering his chest, his arms. “What am I supposed to call you?”
“Your Royal Husbandness. It’s required by law, I’m afraid.”
~Kiera Cass, The One, Pages 274, 275
“What am I supposed to call you?”
“Your Royal Husbandness. It’s required by law, I’m afraid.”
~Kiera Cass, The One, Page 275
“I want everything with you, America. I want the holidays and the birthdays, the busy season and lazy weekends. I want peanut butter fingertips on my desk. I want inside jokes and fights and everything. I want a life with you.”
~Kiera Cass, The One, Pages 276, 277
“This letter has gotten foolish, and I think you know how I detest looking like a fool. But still I do. For you.”
~Kiera Cass, The One, Page 284
“December 26, 7:40 p.m.
Dear America,
I’ve been thinking of our first kiss. I suppose I should say first kisses, but what I mean is the second, the one I was actually invited to give you. Did I ever tell you how I felt that night? It wasn’t just getting my first kiss ever; it was getting to have that first kiss with you. I’ve seen so much, America, had access to the corners of our planet. But never have I come across anything so painfully beautiful as that kiss. I wish it was something I could catch with a net or place in a book. I wish it was something I could save and share with the world so I could tell the universe: this is what it’s like; this is how it feels when you fall.These letters are so embarrassing. I’ll have to burn them before you get home.
Maxon”~Kiera Cass, The One, Page 286
“December 27, Noon.
America,
I might as well tell you this since your maids will tell you anyway. I’ve been thinking of the little things you do. Sometimes you hum when you walk around the palace. Sometimes when I come up to your room, I hear the melodies you’ve saved up in your heart spill out the doorway. The palace seems empty without them.
I also miss your smell. I miss your perfume drifting off your hair when you turn to laugh at me or your scent radiating on your skin when we walk through the garden. It’s intoxicating.
So I went to your room to spray your perfume on my handkerchief, another silly little trick to make me feel like you were here. And as I was leaving your room, Mary caught me. I’m not sure what she was looking after since you’re not here; but she saw me, shrieked, and a guard came running in to see what was wrong. He had his staff gripped, and his eyes flashed threateningly. I was nearly attacked. All because I missed your smell.”
~Kiera Cass, The One, Pages 286, 287
“I was nearly attacked. All because I missed your smell.”
~Kiera Cass, The One, Page 287
“December 27, 11:00 p.m.
My Dear America,
I’ve never written a love letter, so forgive me if I fail now. . . .
The simple thing would be to say that I love you. But, in truth, it’s so much more than that. I want you, America. I need you.
I’ve held back so much from you out of fear. I’m afraid that if I show you everything at once, it will overwhelm you, and you’ll run away. I’m afraid that somewhere in the back of your heart is a love for someone else that will never die. I’m afraid that I will make a mistake again, something so huge that you retreat into that silent world of yours. No scolding from a tutor, no lashing from my father, no isolation in my youth has ever hurt me so much as you separating yourself from me.
I keep thinking that it’s there, waiting to come back and strike me. So I’ve held on to all my options, fearing that the moment I wipe them away, you will be standing there with your arms closed, happy to be my friend but unable to be my equal, my queen, my wife.
And for you to be my wife is all I want in the world. I love you. I was afraid to admit it for a long time, but I know it now.
I would never rejoice in the loss of your father, the sadness you’ve felt since he passed, or the emptiness I’ve experienced since you left. But I’m so grateful that you had to go. I’m not sure how long it would have taken for me to figure this out if I hadn’t had to start trying to imagine a life without you. I know now, with absolute certainty, that is nothing I want.
I wish I was as true an artist as you so that I could find a way to tell you what you’ve become to me. America, my love, you are sunlight falling through trees. You are laughter that breaks through sadness. You are the breeze on a too-warm day. You are clarity in the midst of confusion.
You are not the world, but you are everything that makes the world good. Without you, my life would still exist, but that’s all it would manage to do.
You said that to get things right one of us would have to take a leap of faith. I think I’ve discovered the canyon that must be leaped, and I hope to find you waiting for me on the other side.
I love you, America.
Yours forever,
Maxon”
~Kiera Cass, The One, Pages 287, 288
“America, my love, you are sunlight falling through trees. You are laughter that breaks through sadness. You are the breeze on a too-war day. You are clarity in the midst of confusion.
You are not the world, but you are everything that makes the world good. Without you, my life would still exist, but that’s all it would manage to do.
You said that to get things right one of us would have to take a leap of faith. I think I’ve discovered the canyon that must be leaped, and I hope to find you waiting for me on the other side.
I love you, America.
Yours forever,
Maxon”~Kiera Cass, The One, Page 288
“You are not the world, but you are everything that makes the world good.”
~Kiera Cass, The One, Page 288
“You are not the world, but you are everything that makes the world good. Without you, my life would still exist, but that’s all it would manage to do.”
~Kiera Cass, The One, Page 288
“I’ll love you until my very last breath. Every beat of my heart is yours. I don’t want to die without you knowing that.”
~Kiera Cass, The One, Page 295
“Break my heart. Break it a thousand times if you like. It was only ever yours to break anyway.”
~Kiera Cass, The One, Page 295
“If you live,” I whispered, “I’ll let you call me your dear. I won’t complain, I promise.”
~Kiera Cass, The One, Page 302
“If me dying meant you living, how could that be anything but good?”
~Kiera Cass, The One, Pages 315, 316
“In those seconds, I was mourning everything I’d lost. How I’d never get to see you walk down an aisle toward me, how I’d never get to see your face in our children, how I’d never get to see streaks of silver in your hair. But, at the same time, I couldn’t be bothered. If me dying meant you living, how could that be anything but good?”
~Kiera Cass, The One, Pages 315, 316
“But even now I know this isn’t a fairy tale. I know that we’ll have hard times, confusing times. I know that things won’t always happen the way we want them to and that we’ll have to work to remember that we chose this. It won’t be perfect, not all the time.
This isn’t happily ever after.
It’s so much more than that.”
~Kiera Cass, The One, Page 323
“This isn’t happily ever after.
It’s so much more than that.”~Kiera Cass, The One, Page 323