great quotes

"one of the greatest pains to human nature is the pain of a new idea."
-walter bagehot

"there is nothing more dreadful than the habit of doubt. doubt separates people. it is a poison that disintigrates friendships and breaks up pleasant relations. it is a thorn that irritates and hurts; it is a sword that kills."
- heart of a buddha

"sweating, aware of his too-rapid heartbeat, wondering how to fit clairvoyance and the other psychic phenomena into his previously uncomplicated view of life..."
the vision
by dean koontz

"when men are punished and persecuted for their achievements...men's achievements become scarce...at this point whispers of an evil unrecognized to the ears of men become deafening."
- illusions of liberty
by kurt colucci

"the purpose of life seems to be to acquaint a man with himself."
-ralph waldo emerson

"his childhood and young man's memories, kept fluid, were added to, grew as living memories do. but his war memories were congealed in stories that he told again and again, with the same words and gestures, in stereotyped phrases...this dark region in him, fate-ruled, where nothing was true but horror, was expressed inarticulately, in brief, bitter exclamations of rage, incredulity, betrayal."

"silence sucked. worry thrived in it."
- life expectancy
by dean koontz

"learn a language of another country and then you can go to that country: a place where the problems of your family will not follow. a language they do not speak."
- lucky
by alice sebold

"what's done is done! even if i didn't understand it, i just had to respect it and move the fuck on."
- harlem girl lost
by treasure e. blue

"i know how it feels to suffer, suffer only because we were born, born into a hellish world that no child need not see, nor have to bear. but here we are."
- harlem girl lost
by treasure e. blue

"there will be grumbling in Ghalas-at because of this. there will be shirkers. these will be punished, for without the help of all, all must perish."
- island of the blue dolphins
by scott o'dell

"you make lying poetry."
the darkest night of the year
by dean koontz

"the world always brings you kindling when you need it."
- the darkest night of the year
by dean koontz

"for if you keep quiet at this time, then relief and deliverance will come from elsewhere and you and your fathers house shall perish. and who knows whether you've risen to your royal position for just such a time as this."
-the bible

"crises precipitate change."
- virus by deltron 3030

"a lady just knows how to talk. it's not something she is taught. it is something within her, something inherently gentle and refined. she says nothing that offends or upsets. a lady speaks softly, kindly, and the world spreads out before her and fights to do her favors. if a woman is not a lady at birth, no amount of money or education can make her one. a lady just is."
- the great santini
by pat conroy

"the sword of war comes to the world for the delay of justice."
- the conspiracy club
by jonathan kellerman

"trading a paper clip for a house

Thinking big, Kyle MacDonald started small - with a paperclip, to be exact. he posted it on craigslist as a barter and got a fish-shaped pen for it. he then traded the pen for something better. one trade led to another and another, until MacDonald found himself the new owner of a 3-bedroom house."
-Five
(true story)

"to be nobody but yourself in a world which is doing its best day and night to make you like everybody else means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight, but never stop fighting!."
-e.e. cummings