John Coffelt

“Then when I am sad and understand nothing anymore, I say to myself that it's better to die while you still want to live, than to die and want to die.”
― Erich Maria Remarque, Three Comrades

“People without hope not only don’t write novels, but what is more to the point, they don’t read them. They don’t take long looks at anything, because they lack the courage. The way to despair is to refuse to have any kind of experience, and the novel, of course, is a way to have experience.”
― Flannery O'Connor

“You mean...” Billy exclaimed at last, “you mean...” – his voice rose high and clear – “you mean...” – and he jumped to his feet, and standing there under the giant trees, pointed at himself, a small outraged boy named William Martin Quarrier, aged eight: “You mean I just came crashing down into Ma’s under-pants?”
― Peter Matthiessen, At Play in the Fields of the Lord

“It's no shame to be born stupid. Only to die stupid.”
― Erich Maria Remarque, Three Comrades