"There is a legend about a bird which sings just once in its life, more sweetly than any other creature on the face of the earth. From the moment it leaves the nest it searches for a thorn tree, and does not rest until it has found one. Then, singing among the savage branches, it impales itself upon the longest, sharpest spine. And, dying, it rises above its own agony to outcarol the lark and the nightingale. One superlative song, existence the price. But the whole world stills to listen, and God in His heaven smiles. For the best is only bought at the cost of great pain… Or so says the legend."
— Colleen McCullough (The Thorn Birds)

"Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter, and those who matter don't mind."
— Dr. Seuss

"Dance like no one is watching. Sing like no one is listening. Love like you've never been hurt and live like it's heaven on Earth."
— Mark Twain

"A room without books is like a body without a soul."
— Marcus Tullius Cicero

"Nobody can make you feel inferior without your consent."
— Eleanor Roosevelt

"Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away."
— Maya Angelou

"So many books, so little time."
— Frank Zappa

"I am so clever that sometimes I don't understand a single word of what I am saying."
— Oscar Wilde

"Women are like teabags; you never know how strong they are until they're put in hot water."
— Eleanor Roosevelt

"Good friends, good books and a sleepy conscience: this is the ideal life."
— Mark Twain

"Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and it may be necessary from time to time to give a stupid or misinformed beholder a black eye."
— Jim Henson

"If you don't like someone's story, write your own."
— Chinua Achebe

"Nothing of me is original. I am the combined effort of everyone I've ever known."
— Chuck Palahniuk (Invisible Monsters)

"Books are the quietest and most constant of friends; they are the most accessible and wisest of counselors, and the most patient of teachers."
— Charles W. Eliot

"[Words] cling to the very core of our memories and lie there in silence until a new desire reawakens them and recharges them with loving energy. That is one of the qualities of love that moves me most, their capacity for transmitting love. Like water, words are a wonderful conductor of energy. And the most powerful, transforming energy is the energy of love."
— Laura Esquivel (Swift as Desire)

"It was very pleasant to savor its aroma, for smells have the power to evoke the past, bringing back sounds and even other smells that have no match in the present. -Tita"
— Laura Esquivel

"If the real world were a book, it would never find a publisher. Over-long, detailed to the point of distraction- and ultimately without a major resolution."
— Jasper Fforde