It was miraculous. It was almost no trick at all, he saw, to turn vice into virtue and slander into truth, impotence into abstinence, arrogance into humility, plunder into philanthropy, thievery into honor, blasphemy into wisdom, brutality into patriotism, and sadism into justice. Anybody could do it; it required no brains at all. It merely required no character.
From Catch-22 by Joseph Heller.
Actually that’s my secret — I can’t even talk about you to anybody because I don’t want any more people to know how wonderful you are.
From Tender is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald.
I can’t help detesting my relations. I suppose it comes from the fact that none of us can stand other people having the same faults as ourselves.
From The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde.
This failure to act is far and away the most reprehensible thing I have ever done, the low point in my career as a human being. Not only did it allow a killer to walk free, but it also had the insidious effect of forcing me to confront my own moral weakness, to recognize that I had never been the person I had thought I was, that I was less good, less strong, less brave than I had imagined myself to be. Horrid, implacable truths.
From Invisible by Paul Auster.
Always retain the ability to walk away, without sentimentality, from a situation that felt unmanageable. That was a basic rule of survival. Don’t lift a finger for a lost cause.
From The Girl Who Played With Fire by Stieg Larsson.
“You cannot pass,” he said. The orcs stood still, and a dead silence fell. “I am a servant of the Secret Fire, wielder of the flame of Anor. You cannot pass. The dark fire will not avail you, flame of Udun. Go back to the Shadow! You cannot pass.”
From The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien.
Your pretty empire took so long to build, now, with a snap of history’s fingers, down it goes.
From V for Vendetta by Alan Moore.
When somebody walks out, it leaves a hole in you. Some people fill it up, the good and the bad, and get on that way. Some people leave it open, maybe long enough to heal, maybe too long, picking at it now and then so it doesn’t heal all the way.
From Chasing Fire by Nora Roberts.
A little rudeness and disrespect can elevate a meaningless interaction to a battle of wills and add drama to an otherwise dull day.
From The Complete Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson.
Come on. Tell me. Tell me the truth, Frank. Remember that? We used to live by it. And you know what’s so good about the truth? Everyone knows what it is no matter how long they’ve lived without it. No one forgets the truth, Frank, they just get better at lying.
From the script of Revolutionary Road, directed by Sam Mendes. Based on the novel of the same name, written by Richard Yates.
“She’s cinematic and I’m a fucking sitcom.”
From Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist by David Levithan.
They had come to the end of what they could talk about. Beyond that point there was nothing: the random thoughts of men who knew nothing.
From City of Glass by Paul Auster.
And I am a hard woman,—impossible to put off.
From Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë.
We cling to our fairy tales until the price for believing in them becomes too high.
From Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs.
“Welcome to Fight Club. The first rule of Fight Club is: you do not talk about Fight Club. The second rule of Fight Club is: you DO NOT talk about Fight Club! Third rule of Fight Club: if someone yells ‘stop!’, goes limp, or taps out, the fight is over. Fourth rule: only two guys to a fight. Fifth rule: one fight at a time, fellas. Sixth rule: the fights are bare knuckle. No shirt, no shoes, no weapons. Seventh rule: fights will go on as long as they have to. And the eighth and final rule: if this is your first time at Fight Club, you have to fight.”
From Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk.
