"We always hope for the easy fix: the one simple change that will erase a problem in a stroke. But few things in life work this way. Instead, success requires making a hundred small steps go right - one after the other, no slipups, no goofs, everyone pitching in."
— Atul Gawande (Better: A Surgeon's Notes on Performance)

"That was the tricky part. You poured inordinate amounts of time and attention and affection into your kids, but the result was indirect. You didn't point out a cat to your one-year-old and then watch him, minutes later, say 'Cat.' Instead, you pointed out a hundred cats to your one-year-old and then, one day, watched him point to a cat and say 'Mama.'"
— Katherine Center (Everyone Is Beautiful: A Novel)

"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)

"My reading list grows exponentially. Every time I read a book, it'll mention three other books I feel I have to read. It's like a particularly relentless series of pop-up ads."
— A.J. Jacobs (The Year of Living Biblically: One Man's Humble Quest to Follow the Bible As Literally As Possible)

"(Mason) took a swig of his drink and shuddered. 'Whoa - little too strong there bartender.' He scrunched his face. 'Oh shit, I am the bartender.""
— Martin Fillmore Clark (The Legal Limit)

"The Ten Worst Songs to Strip To: 1. That Midnight Oil song about aborigines"
— Diablo Cody (Candy Girl: A Year in the Life of an Unlikely Stripper)

"[Stephanie] That's not the point. I can't just let monkeys loose in Trenton.
[Lula] Why not? There's all kinds of crazy shit loose in Trenton."
— Janet Evanovich (Plum Spooky)