Дубровский

“It was a question that had always haunted me and yet I could never answer it unequivocally. “Where are you from?” Why do people always ask this? What exactly do they expect to hear? They probably want to define a certain cultural frame of reference for themselves, and accordingly, place me in one of their pre-existing templates. This will allow us to carry on a conversation comfortably, but why does everyone think you want to go through this interrogation over and over again?”
― Dmitry Berkut, Clochard

“Because we don't know when we will die, we get to think of life as an inexhaustible well. Yet everything happens a certain number of times, and a very small number, really...How many more times will you watch the full moon rise? Perhaps twenty. And yet it all seems limitless.”
― Paul Bowles, The Sheltering Sky

“You never know what worse luck your bad luck has saved you from.”
― Cormac McCarthy, No Country for Old Men

“My message to you is this: pretend that you have free will. It's essential that you behave as if your decisions matter, even though you know they don't. The reality isn't important: what's important is your belief, and believing the lie is the only way to avoid a waking coma. Civilization now depends on self-deception. Perhaps it always has.”
― Ted Chiang, Exhalation