Evan Dell'Aquila

“There's a Chinese saying. 'When is the best time to plant a tree? Twenty years ago.' "
The Chinese engineer smiles. "Good one."
" 'When is the next best time? Now.' "
"Ah! Okay!" The smile turns real. Until today, he has never planted anything. But Now, that next best of times, is long, and rewrites everything.”
― Richard Powers, The Overstory

“Turn it," Thomas said, without smiling. "Play it again.”
― Esi Edugyan, Half Blood Blues

“The need for personal glory is like cigarette addiction: a habit that feels life-sustaining even as it kills you.”
― Jennifer Egan, The Candy House

“The more readily we make household names and the more numerous they become, the less are they worthy of our admiration... We can make a celebrity, but we can never make a hero. In a now-almost-forgotten sense, all heroes are self-made.”
― Daniel J. Boorstin, The Image: A Guide to Pseudo-Events in America