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

"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

"Insanity: Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results."
— Albert Einstein

"Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans."
— John Lennon

"And that is how change happens. One gesture. One person. One moment at a time."
— Libba Bray (The Sweet Far Thing)

"In each of us lie good and bad, light and dark, art and pain, choice and regret, cruelty and sacrifice. We’re each of us our own chiaroscuro, our own bit of illusion fighting to emerge into something solid, something real. We’ve got to forgive ourselves that. I must remember to forgive myself. Because there is a lot of grey to work with. No one can live in the light all the time."
— Libba Bray

""I know because I read...Your mind is not a cage. It's a garden. And it requires cultivating.""
— Libba Bray

"Eve didn't choose to eat the apple. She was tempted by the serpent."
"Yes," I argue, thoughts coming out half-formed. "But...she didn't have to take a bite. She chose to."
— Libba Bray

"If God has nothing better to do than punish schoolgirls for a bit of tomfoolery, then I've no use for God. "
— Libba Bray (The Sweet Far Thing)

"The night's chilly breath tickles up my neck and finds my ear, whispering secrets only the wind knows."
— Libba Bray (The Sweet Far Thing)

"Peace is not happenstance. It is a living fire that must be fed constantly. It must be tended with vigilance, else it dies out. "
— Libba Bray (The Sweet Far Thing)

"If there were an international butt competition, Eric would win, hands down—or cheeks up."
— Charlaine Harris (Dead to the World)

"One good thing about music, when it hits you, you feel no pain."
— Bob Marley

"Pop music often tells you everything is OK, while rock music tells you that it's not OK, but you can change it."
— Bono (On the Move)

"If someone thinks that peace and love are just a cliche that must have been left behind in the 60s, that's a problem. Peace and love are eternal."
— John Lennon

"It's all in the mind."
— George Harrison

"’Ponyboy, I asked the nurse to give you this book so you could finish it.’ It was Johnny’s handwriting. I went on reading, almost hearing Johnny’s quiet voice. ‘The doctor came in a while ago but I knew anyway. I keep getting tireder and tireder. Listen, I don’t mind dying now. It’s worth it. It’s worth saving those kids. Their lives are worth more than mine, they have more to live for. Some of their parents came by to thank me and I know it was worth it…I’ve been thinking about it, and that poem, that guy that wrote it, he meant you’re gold when you’re a kid, like green. When you’re a kid, everything’s new, dawn. It’s just when you get used to everything that it’s day…You still have a lot of time to make yourself be what you want. There’s still lots of good in the world…Your buddy, Johnny.’…Someone should tell their side of the story, and maybe people would understand then and wouldn’t be so quick to judge…And I decided I could tell people…"
— S.E. Hinton (The Outsiders)

"None of us really changes over time. We only become more fully what we are."
— Anne Rice (The Vampire Lestat)

"Evil is always possible. And goodness is eternally difficult."
— Anne Rice (Interview With the Vampire)

"We don't need a list of rights and wrongs, tables of do's and don'ts: we need books, time, and silence. Thou shalt not is soon forgotten, but Once upon a time lasts forever."
— Philip Pullman

"I think it's perfectly possible to explain how the universe came about without bringing God into it, but I don't know everything, and there may well be a God somewhere, hiding away. Actually, if he is keeping out of sight, it's because he's ashamed of his followers and all the cruelty and ignorance they're responsible for promoting in his name. If I were him, I'd want nothing to do with them."
— Philip Pullman

"After nourishment, shelter and companionship, stories are the thing we need most in the world."
— Philip Pullman

"Don't think or judge, just listen."
— Sarah Dessen (Just Listen)

"Music is a total constant. That's why we have such a strong visceral connection to it, you know? Because a song can take you back instantly to a moment, or a place, or even a person. No matter what else has changed in your or the world, that one song says the same, just like that moment."
— Sarah Dessen (Just Listen)

"Sometimes it seems safer to hold it all in, where the only person who can judge is yourself."
— Sarah Dessen

"Black is the color of night. White is the true color of death"
— Melissa de la Cruz (Blue Bloods)

"Vampires. They wrote the book on possessive."
— Charlaine Harris (Dead to the World)

"Be not afraid of greatness. Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and others have greatness thrust upon them."
— William Shakespeare (Twelfth Night)

"Be the change that you wish to see in the world."
— Mahatma Gandhi

"Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened."
— 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

"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

"You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough"
— Mae West

"Imperfection is beauty, madness is genius and it's better to be absolutely ridiculous than absolutely boring."
— Marilyn Monroe (Marilyn: Her Life in Her Own Words)

"If you can make a girl laugh, you can make her do anything."
— Marilyn Monroe

"We are focusing on the small details and hiding the misery in the world. Look at the smoker and we miss global warming, war, and the crap we eat--not the bad guys but smoking. I smoke and they talk about cancer, I eat and they talk about cholesterol, I make love, it's AIDS. Before AIDS and cholesterol and cancer there's the pleasure of making love and eating and smoking. I have to die someday, so if the thing that gave me pleasure all of my life kills me instead of me going under a truck, that's fine. Besides, why should I live so that when I die I give fresh meat to the worms? I hope that I am rotted and they don't want to eat me. F@#$ck the worms."
— Marjane Satrapi

"In life you'll meet a lot of jerks. If they hurt you, tell yourself that it's because they're stupid. That will help keep you from reacting to their cruelty. Because there is nothing worse than bitterness and vengeance... Always keep your dignity and be true to yourself."
— Marjane Satrapi (Persepolis 1: The Story of a Childhood)

"One can forgive but one should never forget."
— Marjane Satrapi (Persepolis 1: The Story of a Childhood)

"'...Have you fallen in love with the wrong person yet?'
Jace said, "Unfortunately, Lady of the Haven, my one true love remains myself."
..."At least," she said, "you don't have to worry about rejection, Jace Wayland."
"Not necessarily. I turn myself down occasionally, just to keep it interesting.""
— Cassandra Clare (City of Bones)

"When life gives you lemons, make lemonade, and then throw it in the
face of the person who gave you the lemons until they give you the
oranges you originally asked for."
— Cassandra Clare

"There is no pretending," Jace said with absolute clarity. "I love you, and I will love you until I die, and if there is life after that, I'll love you then."
— Cassandra Clare (City of Glass)

"Carpe diem. Seize the day."
— John Keats

"And above all, watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places. Those who don't believe in magic will never find it."
— Roald Dahl

"So, please, oh please, we beg, we pray, go throw your TV set away, and in its place you can install, a lovely bookcase on the wall."
— Roald Dahl

"It doesn't matter who you are or what you look like, so long as somebody loves you."
— Roald Dahl (The Witches)

"A little nonsense now and then, is cherished by the wisest men."
— Roald Dahl (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory)

"I'm right and you're wrong, I'm big and you're small, and there's nothing you can do about it."
— Roald Dahl (Matilda)

"The witching hour, somebody had once whispered to her, was a special moment in the middle of the night when every child and every grown-up was in a deep deep sleep, and all the dark things came out from hiding and had the world all to themselves."
— Roald Dahl (The BFG)

"Two hours of writing fiction leaves this writer completely drained. For those two hours he has been in a different place with totally different people."
— Roald Dahl