The Authorities™ (The Authorities, #1)

by Scott Meyer

Is cowardice a habit? And if it is, am I brave enough to break it?

Nobody will ever match your expectations. It’s easy to become disappointed in the people you meet, but really, you should be disappointed in the quality of your own expectations. Once you learn to let those expectations go, you’ll see that while the people you meet are never as cool as you expected them to be, they’re actually much cooler than you ever imagined.”

“Shard bin. Shardbin. Sounds like a Dutch word, doesn’t it?” Max said, “Perhaps to an American who doesn’t speak Dutch, and has never heard it spoken.”