Peter Knapp

“At first he didn’t understand, but she pointed to her name and said, “I’m okay now, Jumpin’. Thank you, and thank Mabel for all you did for me.” He stared at her. In another time and place, an old black man and a young white woman might have hugged. But not there, not then. She covered his hand with hers, turned, and motored away. It was the first time she’d seen him speechless. She kept on buying gas and supplies from him but never accepted a handout from them again. And each time she came to his wharf, she saw her book propped up in the tiny window for all to see. As a father would have shown it. 32.”
― Delia Owens, Where the Crawdads Sing

“I am a scholar. My only monarch is truth.”
― Tad Williams, Into the Narrowdark

“Another thing to study," Natalie said, amused. "Will you ever be done?"

I smiled into the sun, one hand holding my bonnet against the firm grasp of the wind. "I should hope not. How dreadfully tedious that would be.”
― Marie Brennan, The Tropic of Serpents

“It's a wonderful feeling to have one's brain stretched and tested, to know both that one has knowledge, and that one is gaining more.”
― Marie Brennan, The Voyage of the Basilisk