"Clocks slay time... time is dead as long as it is being clicked off by little wheels; only when the clock stops does time come to life."
— William Faulkner (The Sound and the Fury)

"It is better to be alone, she figures, than to be with someone who can't see who you are. It is better to lead than to follow. It is better to speak up than stay silent. It is better to open doors than to shut them on people.

She will not be simple and sweet. She will not be what people tell her to be. That Bunny Rabbit is dead.
"
— E. Lockhart (The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks)

"She will not be simple and sweet.
She will not be what people tell her she should be."
— E. Lockhart (The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks)

"You must always look with both of your eyes and listen with both of your ears. He says this is a very big world and there are many many things you could miss if you are not careful. There are remarkable things all the time, right in front of us, but our eyes have like the clouds over the sun and our lives are paler and poorer if we do not see them for what they are. If nobody speaks of remarkable things, how can they be called remarkable?"
— Jon McGregor (If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things)

"If you listen, you can hear it.
The city, it sings.
If you stand quietly, at the foot of a garden, in the middle of the street, on the roof of a house.
It's clearest at night, when the sound cuts more sharply across the surface of things, when the song reaches out to a place inside you.
It's a wordless song, for the most, but it's a song all the same, and nobody hearing it could doubt what it sings. And the song sings the loudest when you pick out each note."
— Jon McGregor (If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things)

"I've measured out my life in coffee spoons."
— T.S. Eliot

"We read to know that we are not alone."
— C.S. Lewis

"You can never get a cup of tea large enough or a book long enough to suit me."
— C.S. Lewis

"A children's story that can only be enjoyed by children is not a good children's story in the slightest."
— C.S. Lewis

"There was a boy called Eustace Clarence Scrubb, and he almost deserved it."
— C.S. Lewis (The Voyage of the "Dawn Treader")

"To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,
To the last syllable of recorded time;
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player,
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.

Act 5, scene 5, 19–28 "
— William Shakespeare (Macbeth)

"My ambition is handicapped by laziness"
— Charles Bukowski (Factotum)

"it seemed to me that I had never met
another person on earth
as discouraging to my happiness
as my father.
and it appeared that I had
the same effect upon
him."
— Charles Bukowski (You Get So Alone at Times That It Just Makes Sense)

"if you get married they think you're
finished
and if you are without a woman they think you're
incomplete."
— Charles Bukowski

"The more crap you believe, the better off you are."
— Charles Bukowski

"Do you hate people?

I don't hate them...I just feel better when they're not around."
— Charles Bukowski (The Movie: Barfly)

"I say too much of what, he says too much of everything, too much stuff, too many places, too much information, too many people, too much of things for there to be too much of, there is too much to know and I don't know where to begin but I want to try."
— Jon McGregor

"Sometimes people are beautiful.
Not in looks.
Not in what they say.
Just in what they are."
— Markus Zusak (I Am the Messenger)

"It kills me sometimes, how people die."
— Markus Zusak (The Book Thief)

"...there would be punishment and pain, and there would be happiness, too. That was writing."
— Markus Zusak

"'...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)

"I am a badass, and I recognize that you, too, are a badass"
— 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

" "I don't want to be a man," said Jace. "I want to be an angst-ridden teeenager who can't confront his own inner demons and takes it out verbally on other people instead."
"Well," said Luke, "you're doing a vantastic job.""
— Cassandra Clare (City of Ashes)

""I am a man" he told her,"and men do not consume pink beverages. Get thee gone woman, and bring me something brown"
-Jace Wayland"
— Cassandra Clare (City of Glass)

"Mom. I have something to tell you. I’m undead. Now, I know you may have some preconceived notions about the undead. I know you may not be comfortable with the idea of me being undead. But I’m here to tell you that undead are just like you and me…Well, okay. Possibly more like me than you.
-Simon"
— Cassandra Clare (City of Ashes)

"'It wouldn't be my move,' Jace agreed. 'First the candy and flowers, then the apology letters, then the ravenous demon hordes. In that order.'

-Jace"
— Cassandra Clare (City of Bones)

"If you were half as funny as you thought you were, you would be twice as funny as you are."
— Cassandra Clare (City of Bones)

""So what's with the 'hey' thing,", she asked, as Simon manuevered the car onto the FDR parkway, the highway that ran along the East River.
"What 'hey' thing?" he replied...
"The 'hey' thing that guys always do. Like when you saw Jace and Alec, you said 'hey,' and they said 'hey' back. What's wrong with 'hello'?"
She thought she saw a muscle twitch in his cheek. "'Hello' is girly," he informed her. "Real men are terse. Laconic."
"So the more manly you are, the less you say?"
"Right." Simon nodded..."That's why when major badasses greet each other in movies, they don't say anything. They just nod. The nod means, 'I am a badass, and I recognize that you, too, are a badass,' but they don't say anything because they're Wolverine and Magneto and it would mess up their vibe to explain."
"I have no idea what you're talking about," said Jace, from the backseat.
"Good," Clary said."
— Cassandra Clare

"Usually I'm remarkably good natured. Try me on a day that doesn't end in y.
-Jace"
— Cassandra Clare

""I figured all your classes were stuff like Slaughter 101 and Beheading for Beginners."
Jace flipped a page. "Very funny, Fray."
-Jace and Clary"
— Cassandra Clare (City of Bones)

"Stephanie Meyers: Her vampires are sparkly. Which I think we can all agree is wrong."
— Christopher Moore

""Nobody's perfect. Well, there was this one guy, but we killed him....""
— Christopher Moore (Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal)

"There's some heinous fuckery goin' on mon."
— Christopher Moore (Fluke: Or, I Know Why the Winged Whale Sings)

"Blessed are the dumbfucks."
— Christopher Moore (Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal)

"If you think anyone is sane you just don't know enough about them."
— Christopher Moore (Practical Demonkeeping)

"She's so small, yet she contains so much evil."
— Christopher Moore (Fluke: Or, I Know Why the Winged Whale Sings)

"She knew it should bother her more, being evil and all, but after she put on a little mascara and some lipstick and poured herself another cup of blood-laced coffee, she found that she was okay with it."
— Christopher Moore (You Suck: A Love Story)

"In the beginning the Universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move."
— Douglas Adams (The Restaurant at the End of the Universe)