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“...You’ve lost your faith amd you think I’m crudely flattering you; but how much have you lived so far? How much do you understand? He came up with a theory, and now he’s ashamed because it didn’t work…I regard you as one of those men who could have their guts cut out, who would stand and look at his torturers with a smile—provided he’s found faith, or God. Well, go and find it, and you will live…I know belief doesn’t come easily—but don’t be too clever about it, just give yourself directly to life, without reasoning; don’t worry—it will carry you straight to shore and set you on your feet…”
― Fyodor Dostoevsky, Crime and Punishment

“...and entered with seeming earnestness into the plans of my father, although they might only serve as the decorations of my tragedy.”
― Mary Shelley, Frankenstein

“And if he had to do it over, choose which Sren son had died—Hiero, who cared too much, or himself, who never cared enough—he'd choose himself, easily.”
― Vanessa Le, When Shadows Burn

“Sometimes, he wondered if that was when his parents had started resenting him…they’d named him Kiet. The way Halberrans pronounced it—flatly, with no intonation—meant “rarity” in the Renisian tongue. But, add a questioning lilt, an upward stroke above the e, and his name meant “disease”’.”
― Vanessa Le, When Shadows Burn