Chapter 20 Quotes

“Stop thinking, and end your problems.
What difference between yes and no?
What difference between success and failure?
Must you value what others value,
avoid what others avoid?
How ridiculous!

Other people are excited,
as though they were at a parade.
I alone don't care,
I alone am expressionless,
like an infant before it can smile.

Other people have what they need;
I alone possess nothing.
I alone drift about,
like someone without a home.
I am like an idiot, my mind is so empty.

Other people are bright;
I alone am dark.
Other people are sharp;
I alone am dull.
Other people have purpose;
I alone don't know.
I drift like a wave on the ocean,
I blow as aimless as the wind.

I am different from ordinary people.
I drink from the Great Mother's breasts.”
― Lao-Tzu, Tao Te Ching

“Most people, in fact, will not take the trouble in finding out the truth, but are much more inclined to accept the first story they hear.”
― Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War

“It was a little sexy, Simon said. He felt much better, having fed, and couldn't help but poke at Alec a bit. It wasn't, said Alec. I had some feelings, said Simon.”
― Cassandra Clare, City of Heavenly Fire

“I didn't know that empty rationalization was part of your programming," said Ram.
"We would not be fit companions for human beings without it.”
― Orson Scott Card, Pathfinder

“In a story, you can turn to the front and being again and everyone lives once more.”
― Ally Condie, Reached

“is that what relationships become? A reduced version of the hurt, nothing else let in.”
― David Levithan, Will Grayson, Will Grayson

“Who reigns up high?
A dead man’s sigh
What sleeps below?
A crown of woe
That is the Tower:
Learn and cower.”
– Extract from ‘And So I Dreamt I Was Awake’, Sherehazad the Seer”
― ErraticErrata, So You Want to Be a Villain?

“and the HE stands up. if frenchy's could bottle him up and sell him as porn, they'd probably own half of chicago within a year. he's what would happen after nine months if abercrombie fucked fitch. he's like a movie star, an olympic swimmer, and america's next top male model all at once. he's wearing a silver shirt and pink pants. everything about him sparkles.
not my type at all. but...”
― David Levithan, Will Grayson, Will Grayson

“I looked at her speculatively. I saw that old Leonides’ acumen had not deserted him. The mantle of his responsibilities was already on Sophia’s shoulders”
― Agatha Christie, Crooked House

“Old Leonides had laid a burden upon her shoulders—he had been aware of that and she knew it herself. He had believed that her shoulders were strong enough to bear it, but just at this moment I felt unutterably sorry for her.”
― Agatha Christie, Crooked House

“His eyes went on and met the eyes of a man as old as himself, cold, legal eyes.”
― Agatha Christie, Destination Unknown

“His enthusiasm was of a contagious kind.”
― Agatha Christie, Destination Unknown

“There was no end to the darkness in that ravine. No end, and no beginning, either. It seemed to breathe, pulsing with whispers of faded memories, forgotten faces. Sometimes, it felt as though the darkness stared back at her--and the face it wore was her own.”
― Sarah J. Maas, Crown of Midnight