Blanch Laurence

“Puff, puff, chug, chug, went the Little Blue Engine. “I think I can - I think I can - I think I can - I think I can - I think I can - I think I can - I think I can - I think I can - I think I can.”

[…]

“I thought I could. I thought I could. I thought I could.

I thought I could.

I thought I could.

I thought I could.”
― Watty Piper, The Little Engine That Could

“I have been a stranger here in my own land: All my life”
― Sophocles, Antigone

“It was the first time the name had ever been spoken as this child's name, for Omoro's people felt that each human being should be the first to know who he was.”
― Alex Haley

“The house was so proud of itself that you wanted to make a lot of noise as you passed, and maybe even throw a rock or two.”
― Natalie Babbitt, Tuck Everlasting