Young

“Human lives...are composed like music. Guided by his sense of beauty, an individual transforms a fortuitous occurrence... into a motif, which then assumes a permanent place in the composition of the individual's life”
― Milan Kundera, The Unbearable Lightness of Being

“The stories were always looking for a way to be told, to be brought to life through books and reading. That was how they crossed over from their world into ours.”
― John Connolly, The Book of Lost Things

“Most people are convinced that as long as they are not overtly forced to do something by an outside power, their decisions are theirs, and that if they want something, it is they who want it. But this is one of the great illusions we have about ourselves. A great number of our decisions are not really our own but are suggested to us from the outside; we have succeeded in persuading ourselves that it is we who have made the decision, whereas we have actually conformed with expectations of others, driven by the fear of isolation and by more direct threats to our life, freedom, and comfort.”
― Erich Fromm, Escape from Freedom

“The ghost's eyes clouded for a moment, by memory or regret. "Past speaks to the future," she said. "The present is already crumbling.”
― Ekaterina Sedia, The House of Discarded Dreams