Animorphs/Quotes

Remember, kids: here there be spoilers.

We can't tell you who we are. Or where we live. It's too risky, and we've got to be careful. Really careful. So we don't trust anyone. Because if they find us... well, we just won't let them find us. The thing you've got to know is that everyone is in really big trouble. Yeah. Even you.

—Blurb found on the back of a majority of the Animorphs books prior to book #51: The Absolute.

Here's the deal these days: they know exactly who we are. They know exactly where we live. We've got a few secrets left, and we're gonna use them. But just know that the end is coming. And we don't know how much longer we can do this. How much longer we can fight.

What about you? Where will you be where it ends? Think about it. Think hard. Because the countdown has already begun....

—Blurb found on the backs of books #51: The Absolute through #54: The Beginning.

You want to get into this fight against Yeerks? Fine. We'll see how gung-ho you are when it's your own brother you have to kill. It's not exactly like some video game, is it? This is reality. You don't know anything about reality, Jake, because nothing bad has ever happened to you. You have this perfect, happy, suburban family. Just like I used to have.

—Marco, #1 The Invasion

I would actually really love for this to be a comic book. See, in a comic book the superheroes don't get killed.

—Marco

(Ax has bought coffee for the first time)
Marco: Ax, you have to drink where the hole is in the lid.
Ax: A hole! In the lid! No spills! Ills! So simple! Imple. And yet so effective!
Marco: Yeah, it's a real miracle of human technology.
Ax: I have wanted to try other mouth uses. Drinking. Eating... Eeeaaating. Ting.

Marco: You just line up the little hole with your mouth. We have to find Jake. We already lost, like, ten minutes because of you.

—#5 The Predator

Ax: It's me. It's Aximili. I'm on Earth. I don't know how long I can talk. Not long.
Ax's father: Is your brother present?
Ax: Father... Elfangor is... He was killed.
Ax's father(shaken): Did he die well?
Ax: He died in the service of his people, defending freedom.
Ax's father: And has his death been avenged?
Ax: No.
Ax's father: You are now the eldest child. The burden of revenge is upon you. Do you know his killer?
Ax: Yes.
Ax's father: And does his killer still live?
Ax: Yes.
Ax's father: And do you, Aximili, take up the burden of avenging your brother's death?
Ax: Yes.

Ax's father: I am relieved to see you are still well.

—#8 The Alien

Only a fool is strong so others will see. The wise are strong for themselves.

—Toby

What choice do we have? Back to the Yeerk pools? Back to our home planet, with Andalite Dome ships in orbit above us, waiting for one of us to rise from the sludge, then blow us apart? Leave the universe to the almighty Andalites and the species they happen to like?

—Aftran, #19 The Departure

David: You got something to say to me? You looking for a fight?
Rachel: Maybe.
David: You wouldn't morph. Not here. Not in front of all these people.
Rachel: I don't need a morph to handle you.
David: Maybe you forget this sometimes, but you are just a girl, Rachel.
Rachel: And you're just a worm. Wanna see who wins that fight?
David: Aw, you're upset over Bird-Boy. Did you like him or something? That's sweet. But you know, birds have short lifespans.
Rachel: So do worms.
David: What are you trying to do? Scare me?
Rachel: Nah. Wouldn't want to scare you. I just wanted to tell you something. You try to sell us out to Visser Three, we'll know. We have sources inside the Yeerk organisation.
David: Yeah, right.
Rachel: How do you think we knew where the Summit Meeting was? How do you think we knew one of the heads of state was a Controller? You try to sell us out, we'll know.
David: Doesn't matter. Nothing you'd be able to do about it anyway.
Rachel: You're probably right. Even if we were warned, we wouldn't last long. But some of us would last a while, you little bastard. Long enough to make sure your parents... Well, just use your imagination.
(David swings at Rachel with his fist. Rachel catches his hand and jams a fork to the side of David's head)

Rachel: You want a war between you and us, that's fine, we'll play that out. But if you try to sell us out to the Yeerks, your little family will never get put back together again! Never!

—#22 The Solution

A leader who shows weakness invites disaster.

—Jake, #53 The Answer

Look, we were cockroaches at the time. The shoe was all we could see. We assumed the Yeerks would infest this guy. The President, or whoever it was. But no. Visser Three only acquired his DNA so he could morph him.
See, Visser Three is the only Yeerk to ever take control of an Andalite body. He's the only Yeerk who can morph.
And now he could morph Mr. Slashed Shoe. Whoever he was.
Sigh.

Now you know why my grade point average has dropped. See what I have to deal with? It's enough to make your head explode.

—Jake

It felt good to hear Jake say I was indispensable, but with Jake you could never be sure what was sincere, and what was just expedient. He'd been the most open of guys back in the old days. What you saw with Jake was what you got. But he'd been the leader for a long time now, he'd learned to say what he needed to say.

Jake needed me as one of the Animorphs. He liked me, respected me, was happy for me when I was happy. And when he had to he used me without any regard for anything except winning.

—Tobias, #33 The Illusion

A phone call at three a.m. is rarely a good thing. When you're an Animorph, chance of good news ever - day or night - is zero.

—Jake, #36 The Mutation

Jake: If this is the future, I want to go back.
Elfangor/Tobias: Too much for you?
Jake: No. I want to go back so I can stop all this from happening in the first place. I can win this war without sacrificing my friends, without sacrificing the things we're supposed to be fighting for the in the first place!
Elfangor/Tobias: Victory without sacrifice? You know better than that.
Jake: You don't always have to give up your principles to win. Isn't there always an alternative to sacrifice if you just step back, look at the big picture and -

Elfangor/Tobias: You know better than that.

—#41 The Familiar

Tobias is, like, really into the whole bird thing, isn't he?

—David

Rachel: You're wrong! I could have taken them all down.
Marco: You had blood in your eyes! You couldn't even see the reinforcements coming down the stairs.
Jake: Relax.
Marco: You're about to blow, Rachel. What is the matter with you? Haven't you learned anything? You put everyone at risk by hanging back when Jake said to bail! We can't always cater to your personal need to bash heads.
Rachel: Oh, what, but as long as we follow Marco's righteous program, everything's fine? Mighty Marco can -
Marco: Forget about saving your life next time?!
Jake: I said relax!
(Ax, in human morph, peeks out from behind a corner)
Ax: Prince Jake, I still have not heard from Tobias.
Jake: Ask again. See if we're clear from the -
(Jake sees Tobias flying away)

Marco: Oh. Oh, that's great. That's really great! What a guy. So, he's, what, he's off the clock now? I'm going home.

—#41 The Familiar

Tobias: What's going on?
Rachel: What's going on is that I'm sick of everybody acting like I'm some kind of warmonger when all I am is ready and willing to do my duty. Marco whines and slacks every chance he gets. So how come I'm the one that gets the bug-eyed look from everyone and Marco isn't?
Tobias: That's not really fair. Marco carries his weight and you know it.
Rachel: Okay, so he's not a slacker. But he does complain a lot. I'm sick to death of that "Why me? Why us?" stuff all the time. How come everyone lets him get away with it?
Tobias: I think it's because Marco is just saying what everyone else is thinking but would never actually say.
Rachel: Right. So how come everybody doesn't tell him to can the complaints and just get on with the job? How come I'm the bad guy?
Tobias: The others may not say everything Marco says, but basically, they feel the same way he does. They really don't want to be a part of this. On the other hand, nobody really knows where you're coming from and...never mind.
Rachel: You said you could handle it.

Tobias: Okay. I don't think anyone really understands where you're coming from, Rachel. You're too into it and, for a while, we were all right with that. But now it's kind of starting to freak everybody out.

—#48 The Return

Well? Scared? You should be.

—Rachel, #54 The Beginning

Gen. Doubleday: All right, Mr. Alien, what have you got to say to me?
Jake: Well, first of all, I'm not an alien. I'm a human with access to alien morphing technology. Second, I know a way to hurt the Yeerks in a way they won't be able to brush off, but I need your help providing a diversion.
Gen. Doubleday: My help? You want my help? I'm an Army general, son. Four star. I take my orders from a chain of command, and that ain't you.
Jake: Your chain of command is almost certainly infiltrated by Yeerks. So is this base. Probably even this room. You don't know if the orders you get are legitimate or not, and you don't know if the orders you give are going to be obeyed. Your power only extends as far as the first Controller in your staff.

Gen. Doubleday: Get the hell out of my headquarters.

—#53 The Answer

I'm not crazy. I am not some kind of nut.

—Rachel, repeated line

The Ellimist: I see. Afraid to play a game you might lose. A coward after all.

Crayak: A survivor, Ellimist.

—The Ellimist Chronicles

It's not a message, Big Jake. The Yeerks know we'll do whatever we have to do, they know it's out-and-out war. We're way past sending messages.

—Marco, #53 The Answer

My people have a saying - grace is the acceptance of the inevitable.

—Ax, #5 The Predator

Sorry, fighting a guerilla war against parasitic aliens has amped up my already rampant paranoia.

—Marco

If there's one thing I've learned from Jake it's that a leader can feel just as scared or full of doubt as any of his soldiers. He just isn't allowed to show it. Under any circumstances.

—Rachel, #37 The Weakness