I wish I could write a beautiful book to break those hearts that are soon to cease to exist: a book of faith and small neat worlds and of people who live by the philosophies of popular songs.

Not many appreciate the ultimate power and potential usefulness of basic knowledge accumulated by obscure, unseen investigators who, in a lifetime of intensive study, may never see any practical use for their findings but who go on seeking answers to the unknown without thought of financial or practical gain.

Eugenie Clark

Immature artists imitate. Mature artists steal.

Lionel Trilling

The ability to be in the present moment is a major component of mental wellness.

Abraham Maslow

He was not my boyfriend. On the other hand, he wasn't just a friend either. Instead, our relationship was elastic, stretching between those two extremes depending on who else was around, how much either of us had to drink, and other varying factors. This was exactly what I wanted, as commitments had never really been my thing. And it wasn't like it was hard, either. The only trick was never giving more than you were willing to lose.

Sarah Dessen

Whenever you discuss politics, it is always better to use individual names rather then the term neocon.

David Frum

As a poet there is only one political duty, and that is to defend one's language against corruption. When it is corrupted, people lose faith in what they hear and this leads to violence.

W. H. Auden

Jack's doctors have told him he is crazy but, the truth is, it's the Voices who are crazy, not him.

Jennifer Daydreamer

The way for a young man to rise is to improve himself in every way he can, never suspecting that anybody wishes to hinder him.

Abraham Lincoln

The more we have the less we own.

Meister Eckhart

There never comes a point where a theory can be said to be true. The most that one can claim for any theory is that it has shared the successes of all its rivals and that it has passed at least one test which they have failed.

Sir Alfred Jules Ayer

To abandon oneself to principles is really to die - and to die for an impossible love which is the contrary of love.

Albert Camus

Altogether, Olympia thinks the sight of herself satisfactory, but not beautiful: a smile is missing, a certain light about the eyes. For how very different a woman will look when she has happiness, Olympia knows, when her beauty emanates from a sense of well-being or from knowing herself to be greatly loved. Even a plain woman will attract the eye if she is happy, while the most elaborately coiffed and bejeweled woman in a room, if she cannot summon contentment, will seem to be merely decorative.

Anita Shreve