Ruth

“As long as you kept running from birth until death, falling down, getting hurt, no matter how many times you suffered defeat, you got up and started running again. Personal happiness came from all the things and people you came across, ran into by chance along the way. Climber's high. Climbing with all your might, concentrating completely on moving up, never being distracted by the meaningless stuff around you.”
― Hideo Yokoyama, Seventeen

“Murder cases are like cancer cells. Once they get their hooks into you, the pain and misery just keep on spreading. Whether the killer gets caught or the investigation is brought to a successful conclusion doesn't make any difference; it's almost impossible to stop the advance of the disease.”
― Keigo Higashino, A Death in Tokyo

“In fact, I had time to be maddened by Christopher generally. He would keep calling me "Grant" in that superior way, and there were times when I wanted to hit him for it, or shout that it was only my alias, or - anyway he really annoyed me. Then he would say something that doubled me up with laughter and I discovered I liked him again. It was truly confusing.”
― Diana Wynne Jones, Conrad's Fate

“This search that you and I are embarked on, it’s a truly great project. Momentous. One of the most important in humanity’s history. The knowledge we seek isn’t something new. It’s old. Really old. Once upon a time people possessed it and they used it to do great things, miraculous things. They should have held on to it. They should have respected it. But they didn’t. They abandoned it for the sake of something they called progress. And it’s up to us to get it back.”
― Susanna Clarke, Piranesi