"Here was a new generation, shouting the old cries, learning the old creeds, through a revery of long days and nights; destined finally to go out into that dirty gray turmoil to follow love and pride; a new generation dedicated more than the last to the fear of poverty and the worship of success; grown up to find all Gods dead, all wars fought, all faiths in man shaken..."
— F. Scott Fitzgerald

"Is it better to be extremely happy for a short time, even if you lose it, than to be just ok for your whole life?"
— Audrey Niffenegger (The Time Traveler's Wife)

"I like to imagine that the world is one big machine. You know, machines never have any extra parts. They have the exact number and types of parts they need. So I figure if the entire world is a big machine, I have to be here for some reason, too. (p378)"
— Brian Selznick (The Invention of Hugo Cabret)

"At school, new ideas are thrust at you every day. Out in the world, you'll have to find your inner motivation to seek for new ideas on your own."
— Bill Watterson

"Even the finest sword plunged into salt water will eventually rust."
— Sun Tzu (The Art of War)

"Have you ever been in a conflict with someone who thought he was wrong. If you are not wrong, then you will be willing to consider how you might be mistaken."
— Arbinger Institute (The Anatomy of Peace: Resolving the Heart of Conflict)

"I like to imagine that the world is one big machine. You know, machines never have any extra parts. They have the exact number and types of parts they need. So I fugure if the entire world is a big machine, I have to be here for some reason, too(p378)."
— Hugo Cabret

"What work have I got to do, then?" said Will, but went on as once, "No, on second thought, don't tell me. I sahall decide what I do. If you say my work is fighting, or healing, or exploring, or whatever you might say, I'll always be thinking about it. And if I do end up doing that, I'll be resentful because I didn't have a choice, and if I don't do it, I'll feel guilty because I should. Whatever I do, I will choose it, no one else (p.496)"
— Philip Pullman (The Amber Spyglass)

"The temptation of the age is to look good without being good."
— Brennan Manning (The Ragamuffin Gospel: Good News for the Bedraggled, Beat-Up, and Burnt Out)

"Maybe sometimes we don't do the right thing because the wrong thing looks more dangerous, and we don't want to look scared, so we go and do the wrong thing just because it's dangerous. We're more concerned with not looking scared than with judging right. It's very hard.
p. 193"
— Philip Pullman (The Amber Spyglass)

"They Were all clad in the same uniform of misery and filth. For all of time, for all of eternity"
— James Riordan (War Song)

"some things you will think of yourself,...some things God will put into your mind"
— Homer (The Odyssey)

"If blue helmeted UN peacekeepers show up in your town or village and offer to protect you, run."
— Andrew Thomson (Emergency Sex)

""Get even,not mad""
— Lee Iacocca (Iacocca: An Autobiography)