Maxwell Cooper > Maxwell's Quotes

“My recommendation: don’t be special; don’t be unique. Redefine your metrics in mundane and broad ways. Choose to measure yourself not as a rising star or an undiscovered genius. Choose to measure yourself not as some horrible victim or dismal failure. Instead, measure yourself by more mundane identities: a student, a partner, a friend, a creator.
The narrower and rarer the identity you choose for yourself, the more everything will seem to threaten you. For that reason, define yourself in the simplest and most ordinary ways possible.This often means giving up some grandiose ideas about yourself: that you’re uniquely intelligent, or spectacularly talented, or intimidatingly attractive, or especially victimized in ways other people could never imagine. This means giving up your sense of entitlement and your belief that you’re somehow owed something by this world.”
― Mark Manson, The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life

“He was like one of those pictures full of small errors, the kind you could only pick out by searching the image from every angle, and even then, a few always slipped by. On the surface, Eli seemed perfectly normal, but now and then Victor would catch a crack, a sideways glance, a moment when his roommate's face and his words, his look and his meaning, would not line up. Those fleeting slices fascinated Victor. It was like watching two people, one hiding in the other's skin. And their skin was always too dry, on the verge of cracking and showing the color of the thing beneath.”
― Victoria Schwab, Vicious

“Creativity is just connecting things. When you ask creative people how they did something, they feel a little guilty because they didn’t really do it, they just saw something.” (Steve Jobs)”
― Sönke Ahrens, How to Take Smart Notes

“Victor was naturally quiet, but even more so under pressure, which gave his peers the distinct impression he knew what he was doing, even when he didn't.”
― Victoria Schwab, Vicious

“I always hear people talk about 'dysfunctional families.' It annoys me, because it makes you think that somewhere there's this magical family where everyone gets along, and no one ever screams things they don't mean, and there's never a time when sharp objects should be hidden. Well, I'm sorry, but that family doesn't exist. And if you find some neighbors that seem to be the grinning model of 'function,' trust me - that's the family that will get arrested for smuggling arms in their SUV between soccer games.

The best you can really hope for is a family where everyone's problems, big and small, work together. Kind of like an orchestra where every instrument is out of tune, in exactly the same way, so you don't really notice.”
― Neal Shusterman, Antsy Does Time

“On ne sait pas ce qu'il faut faire pour se faire aimer: se montrer comme on est ou mentir. On balance entre les deux. On fait les deux d'ailleurs, au hasard un peu. On se fait comme on voudrait être, comme on croit qu'il faudrait paraître et puis on se dit "Ce n'est pas moi..." On cherche à se montrer à se montrer... à son pire... à déplaire...Qui sait si ce n'est pas le moyen de plaire?”
― Louis Aragon, Aurélien

“Andrew dug a finger in Neil's cheek and forcibly turned his head away. "Don't look at me like that. I am not your answer, and you sure as fuck aren't mine.”
― Nora Sakavic, The King's Men

“We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be.”
― Kurt Vonnegut, Mother Night

“Everybody enjoys what feels good. Everyone wants to live a carefree, happy, and easy life, to fall in love and have amazing sex and relationships, to look perfect and make money and be popular and well-respected and admired and a total baller to the point that people part like the Red Sea when they walk into the room. Everybody wants that. It’s easy to want that. A more interesting question, a question that most people never consider, is, “What pain do you want in your life? What are you willing to struggle for?” Because that seems to be a greater determinant of how our lives turn out. For”
― Mark Manson, The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life

“Who said 'please' that made you hate the word so much?"
Andrew gazed at him in silence for a minute. "I did.”
― Nora Sakavic, The King's Men

“The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existence. One cannot help but be in awe when he contemplates the mysteries of eternity, of life, of the marvelous structure of reality. It is enough if one tries merely to comprehend a little of this mystery each day.

—"Old Man's Advice to Youth: 'Never Lose a Holy Curiosity.'" LIFE Magazine (2 May 1955) p. 64”
― Albert Einstein

“For the first time he really felt that it was no use trying to save those who fundamentally would rather not be saved.”
― Kingsley Amis, Lucky Jim

“But luxury has never appealed to me, I like simple things, books, being alone, or with somebody who understands.”
― Daphne du Maurier

“Do you just want to get by? Or do you want to make me proud?”
― Patrick Rothfuss, The Name of the Wind

“I hate nothing more than doing things badly.”
― Patrick Rothfuss, The Name of the Wind

“He had a bright, reckless tenor that was always wandering off, looking for notes in the wrong places.”
― Patrick Rothfuss, The Name of the Wind

“I knew it to be good advice, and ignored it”
― Patrick Rothfuss, The Name of the Wind

“You do not know the first note of the music that moves me.”
― Patrick Rothfuss, The Name of the Wind

“Such an unexpected will to survive from someone who has nothing to live for.”
― Nora Sakavic, The Foxhole Court

“How does anyone lose against the Foxes with Andrew in your goal?"
"He's good, right? [...] Coach bribed Andrew into saving our collective asses with some really nice booze."
"Bribed?" Neil echoed.
"Andrew's good," Nicky said again, "but it doesn't really matter to him if we win or lose. You want him to care, you gotta give him incentive."
"He can't play like that and not care."
"Now you sound like Kevin. You'll find out the hard way, same as Kevin did. Kevin gave Andrew a lot of grief this spring [...]. Andrew walked off the court for an entire month. He said he'd break his own fingers if Coach made him play with Kevin again."
The thought of Andrew willingly destroying his talent made Neil's heart clench.
"But he's playing now." [...]
"Only because Kevin is. Kevin got back on the court with a racquet in his right hand, and Andrew wasn't far behind him. Up until then they were fighting like cats and dogs. Now look at them. They're practically trading friendship bracelets and I couldn't fit a crowbar between them if it'd save my life."
"But why?" Neil asked. "Andrew hates Kevin's obsession with Exy."
"The day they start making sense to you, let me know," Nicky said [...]. "I gave up trying to sort it all out weeks ago.”
― Nora Sakavic, The Foxhole Court

“How are you doing?" Neil drained both cups before answering. "I'm fine." Nicky fist-pumped in triumph. "Thank you for being so predictable, Neil. You just scored me ten bucks with two words.”
― Nora Sakavic, The Raven King

“Jean turned on Kevin and spoke in quick, furious French. "What the hell is this?" "His antagonism is a personality flaw we're learning to live with," Kevin said.”
― Nora Sakavic, The Raven King

“Andrew smiled around the mouth of his bottle. "Neil is a walking tragedy."
"You're a pretty pathetic sob story yourself," Wymack said.”
― Nora Sakavic, The Raven King

“Neil, you can use the girls' shower while we're busy." Neil stared at her. "What?" Dan frowned at him, so Matt explained. "There aren't stalls here." Neil had noticed, but he hadn't thought his teammates would. That they had, and that they were doing something about it, knocked the wind out of him. He tried to answer, but he didn't know what to say. The best he managed was, "Is that really okay?" "Kid, you're killing me," Nicky said. "Why do you always get that deer-in-headlights look when someone does something nice for you?”
― Nora Sakavic, The Raven King

“These kinds of secrets are not given out lightly. You know that. We calculate collateral damage and escape routes. We plan and brace for the reaction and fallout. But Luther did not tell. He chose to not believe me at all. And that's a thousand times worse, you see.”
― Nora Sakavic, The Raven King

“We've all got different experiences, but we're used to needing help. We're just not used to getting it. But you've got us now.”
― Nora Sakavic, The Raven King

“Andrew's grin was wide and savage as he mocked his own pain.”
― Nora Sakavic, The Raven King

“Is this thing safe?"
"Safe as life," Gansey replied.”
― Maggie Stiefvater, The Raven Boys

“When Gansey was polite, it made him powerful. When Adam was polite, he was giving power away.”
― Maggie Stiefvater, The Raven Boys

“From the passenger seat, Ronan began to swear at Adam. It was a long, involved swear, using every forbidden word possible, often in compound-word form. As Adam stared at his lap, penitent, he mused that there was something musical about Ronan when he swore, a careful and loving precision to the way he fit the words together, a black-painted poetry. It was far less hateful sounding than when he didn’t swear.
Ronan finished with, “For the love of … Parrish, take some care, this is not your mother’s 1971 Honda Civic.”
Adam lifted his head and said, “They didn’t start making the Civic until ’73.”
― Maggie Stiefvater, The Raven Boys