Theodore Zillman

“Un uomo è la storia dei suoi respiri e pensieri, azioni, atomi e ferite, amori, indifferenze e antipatie; nonché della sua razza e nazione, del suolo che ha nutrito lui e i suoi avi, di pietre e sabbia dei suoi luoghi familiari, battaglie spente da tempo e conflitti di coscienza, di sorrisi di fanciulle e lento discorrere di vecchie, degli accidenti e dell'agire graduale della legge inesorabile, di tutto questo e altro ancora, una singola fiamma che obbedisce in tutto alle leggi che regolano il Fuoco stesso, e tuttavia è accesa e smorzata da un istante all'altro, e non può più essere riaccesa per tutti i secoli a venire.”
― Antonia S. Byatt

“This is starting to look less like a rescue mission and more like you going on a leisurely road trip with two hot chicks,” Nine grumbles.
Sarah rolls her eyes. I glare at Nine. “It’s not like that. You know we need you here, in case something happens.”
“Yeah, I’m backup,” he snorts. “Johnny, do I have to start dating you to get some action around here?”
Sarah winks at him. “It might help.”
Nine looks me over. “Ugh. Not worth it.”
― Pittacus Lore, The Fall of Five

“Here follows the substance of what I said, written out entirely for your benefit. Pay attention to it, or you will be all abroad, when we get deeper into the story. Clear your mind of the children, or the dinner, or the new bonnet, or what not. Try if you can't forget politics, horses, prices in the city and grievances at the club. I hope you won't take this freedom on my part amiss; it's only a way I have of appealing to a gentle reader. Lord! haven't I seen you with the greatest authors in your hands, and don't I know how ready your attention is to wander when it's a book that asks for it, instead of a person?”
― Wilkie Collins

“National boundaries are not evident when we view the Earth from space. Fanatical ethnic or religious or national chauvinisms are a little difficult to maintain when we see our planet as a fragile blue crescent fading to become an inconspicuous point of light against the bastion and citadel of the stars.”
― Carl Sagan, Cosmos