“Staying alive was what we did to pass the time.”

“Did he just say--?"
"Yes," Claire said, smiling. "Yes, he did."
"Whoa. Guess I'd better stay alive, then.”

““What course of action do you favor?”
“Me? Why, none. Mary, if there is any one thing I have learned in the past couple of centuries, it’s this: These things pass. Wars and depressions and Prophets and Covenants—they pass. The trick is to stay alive through them.””

“When time passes, it's the people who knew you whom you want to see; they're the ones you can talk to. When enough time passes, what's it matter what they did to you?”

“And medecine, law, business, engineering, these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love: these are what we stay alive for.”

“But those would be lies and Tris never lied to herself. At least not more than was required to stay human or sane. Lying to others was different. That was what people like her did if they wanted to remain alive.”

“i will stay alive.”

“Since flesh can't stay, we pass the words along.”

“Yes, I'm alive," Mat said. "I'm usually pretty good at staying alive. I've only failed one time that I can remember, and it hardly counts.”

“Even in that time of utter darkness, somewhere deep inside me the memory of love and goodness had stayed alive.”