I think any period in history can be adapted into interesting fiction, as long as you approach the actual history with respect.

The fact is unalterable, that a fellow-mortal with whose nature you are acquainted solely through the brief entrances and exits of a few imaginative weeks called courtship, may, when seen in the continuity of married companionship, be disclosed as something better or worse than what you have preconceived, but will certainly not appear altogether the same.

George Eliot

I don't know why people are afraid of lust. Then I can imagine that they are very afraid of me, for I have a great lust for everything. A lust for life, a lust for how the summer-heated street feels beneath my feet, a lust for the touch of another's skin on my skin...a lust for everything. I even lust after cake. Yes, I am very lusty and very scary.

C. JoyBell C.

Wrinkles should merely indicate where smiles have been.

Mark Twain

I'm passionate about everything, like my family and friends. Anybody I am talkin' to is gonna be bona fide real. There is no substitution for happiness. Period.

Suge Knight

All observations of life are harsh, because life is. I lament that fact, but I cannot change it.

Margaret Atwood

The bastard! He doesn't exist!

Samuel Beckett

Most of my arguments with musicians through the years have had more to do with their attitude about music, or their attitude about their own lives, or their personal responsibility. Music has never really been the big centerpiece of the fight.

Billy Corgan

As for me, except for an occasional heart attack, I feel as young as I ever did.

Robert Benchley

How many boys like him were out there in the ether, holding on to their big brothers and sisters who were still alive? How many husbands were floating between life and death, clinging to their wives in this world? And how may millions and millions of people were there in the world like Charlie who wouldn't let go of their loved ones when they're gone?

Ben Sherwood

The realisation that limitations are imaginary will make you strong and overpowering.

Stephen Richards

Perseverance is the most overrated of traits, if it is unaccompanied by talent; beating your head against a wall is more likely to produce a concussion in the head than a hole in the wall.

Sydney J. Harris

Genius (which means transcendent capacity of taking trouble, first of all).

Thomas Carlyle