Ester

“A man can stand up”
― Esther Forbes, Johnny Tremain

“Tolerance is not a Sapiens trademark. In modern times, a small difference in skin colour, dialect or religion has been enough to prompt one group of Sapiens to set about exterminating another group. Would ancient Sapiens have been more tolerant towards an entirely different human species? It may well be that when Sapiens encountered Neanderthals, the result was the first and most significant ethnic-cleansing campaign in history.”
― Yuval Noah Harari, Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind

“God help me, he thought. God help all us poor wretches who could create and find we must lose our hearts for it because we cannot afford to spend our time at it. (“Mad House”)”
― Richard Matheson, Collected Stories, Vol. 1

“You get tough like me and you don't get hurt. You look out for yourself and nothin' can touch you...”
― S.E. Hinton, The Outsiders