The Hunger Games: Katniss' 10 Most Inspirational Quotes
The Hunger Games series is one of the era-defining YA series of the times. Suzanne Collin's books were adapted into this four-part movie series featuring a big star-cast. Jennifer Lawrence plays Katniss Everdeen, an incredibly strong teenager who happens to be the spark that ignites a revolution.
Katniss is a very reluctant leader, who becomes a catalyst and a symbol, around whom the districts rally. Molding a generation and creating a wave of powerful YA heroines, Katniss was truly a hero that people could closely connect with. Here are some of her most inspiring lines in the series.
10 "With That Kind Of Thinking, You Can Kill Whoever You Want"
The distinction between Gale and Katniss becomes very evident here. When Gale doesn't mind crushing civilians in a mine, Katniss is very disillusioned. Gale's reasoning, and Gale's ease with othering people, seeing them as villains and enemies, is a very dangerous approach.
Katniss realizes how he's using the same reasoning the Capitol uses when they send kids to the Hunger Games to keep the districts in line. It's a fine line and crossing it allows one to kill whoever they want and Katniss refuses to buy into this flawed way reasoning.
9 "I, Of All People, Know That It Is Always Personal"
Gale tries to talk away the fine points by saying that it is a war and that "sometimes killing isn't personal." But for someone like Katniss, who has been through the Hunger Games not once, but twice, as a way to keep a check on the uprisings, she knows that it is personal.
She doesn't view war from the bigger picture perspective like many around her. She knows the real implications it has on lives. And how personal it actually is.
8 "Thank You For Your Consideration"
When viewers are introduced to Katniss in The Hunger Games, they are shown this spunky, outspoken and courageous girl who isn't willing to play nice to please anyone. This is one of the first instances when it becomes plenty clear what she's made of. When no one pays her attention during her demonstration, she is astounded by the inconsideration.
In her anger, she shoots out an apple from the mouth of a roasted pig that seems to be getting more attention than her. After this remarkable feat, she bows and sarcastically says these lines, which fully transforms Katniss into someone to be paid attention to.
7 "No. They Don't. Why Should They?"
At the end of the first Hunger Games, the game makers change the rules again and say that only one victor can remain. Peeta says the obvious, "One of us has to die. They have to have their victor." But Katniss doesn't agree with this.
This is the moment that changes the future entirely - the moment the world sees in her the leader of the rebellion. She asks very rightly, "Why should they?" And she pulls out the berries to make sure she goes out on her terms and not theirs.
6 "I Never Wanted Any Of This"
Katniss is very young - still a teenager. But the number of tragedies and difficulties she's experienced in life, and the way in which she continues forward, somehow makes viewers forget the fact that she is in fact, that young. But in a few of her more vulnerable moments, viewers see her admit that she wanted none of this. She was just a child trying to survive.
She was pushed to do things she didn't want to by the Capitol and then pushed to take responsibility she shouldn't have been burdened with by the Rebels. The truth is that she never wanted any of this, but that doesn't stop her from continuing to do what is right.
5 "I Outgrew Them"
When Finnick asks her what happened to her pretty girly dresses, she says that she outgrew them. This is a very noteworthy moment because viewers can truly see that she isn't the same girl she was in The Hunger Games.
In Catching Fire, viewers can see a Katniss who is struggling to understand her role in everything, and she has outgrown the silly smiles and dresses that she wore only to please Snow and the Capitol audiences.
4 "If We Burn, You Burn With Us!"
One of the most iconic quotes in the series, this is the moment when viewers see Katniss truly take up the mantle of the Mockingjay.
This is the moment when she evolves into the leader of the rebellion - into the leader the people around her already perceived her to be. She's truly heroic and when she shouts this, there is truth in what she's saying that reaches everyone.
3 "We Keep Each Other Alive. That's What We Do."
Sometimes it's not the big wars that matter. It's not the lives we take, but the lives we save. Katniss evolves into someone who stops caring simply about her survival. Over the course of Catching Fire, viewers see how she starts to place Peeta's life ahead of her own. It is this quality that finally compounds into her placing the lives of the rebels and the rebellion ahead of her own. But it all began with the true concern and affection she felt for this boy, who has consistently placed her life above his own.
In a way, their willingness to go to any length to keep each other alive is what keeps the movement going because it goes against the Capitol's belief in individualism, and the sole protection of individual interests.
2 "I Am Done Being A Piece In His Game"
In The Hunger Games, Peeta says that he doesn't want to just be another piece in the Capitol's game. While at that point, Katniss didn't have the luxury of thinking that way, she slowly comes to understand the value of Peeta's words.
She echoes the same later in Mockingjay - Part 2 and it is truly reflective of the journey she has made so far.
1 "I'm Not Afraid"
Katniss, in her more vulnerable moments, admits to being scared. She says to Gale that she's been scared since the reaping. She had to witness her sister's name being picked, she had to participate in the Hunger Games on her behalf, and then another one.
Through it all, she has to go through emotional distress, physical pain, and more, and she is indeed scared of everything that is happening to her and around her. But when she is in front of people who need her to be strong, she holds her head up high and fear leaves her - she's not afraid.