Kate

“To be left alone on the tightrope of youthful unknowing is to experience the excruciating beauty of full freedom and the threat of eternal indecision. Few, if any, survive their teens. Most surrender to the vague but murderous pressure of adult conformity. It becomes easier to die and avoid conflict than to maintain a constant battle with the superior forces of maturity.”
― Maya Angelou, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

“My life amounts to no more than one drop in a limitless ocean. Yet what is any ocean, but a multitude of drops?”
― David Mitchell, Cloud Atlas

“For there is no folly of the beast of the earth which is not infinitely outdone by the madness of men.”
― Herman Melville

“And the most poignant thing was not Lolita's absence from my side, but the absence of her voice from the chorus.”
― Vladimir Nabokov, Lolita