We are the authors of our own fate-we write it each day with every one of our actions.

If Wells recognized any merit in [Henry] James, it was his undeniable talent for using very long sentences in order to say nothing at all. p. 516

...there are so many books left to read. For that reason alone it is worth going on living. Books make me happy, the help me escape from reality.

The most terrifying thing is sometimes not what we see, but rather what we are forced to imagine.

Why had his mother gone to the trouble of bringing him into the world if the most exciting moment in his life was having been made lame by a bayonet?

...the wrath of God pales beside that of man.

Time is a river sweeping away all that is born towards the darkest shore.

True literature should rouse the reader, unsettle him, change his view of the world, give him a resolute push over the cliff of self-knowledge

Striving to achieve a dream is never a waste of time.

I don't think traveling back in time on an empty stomach is a good idea.

The paths that we choose don't always take us where we want to go. Sometimes they take us where we need to go.

Creation is always an act of affirmation, a lust for life or activity, a restlessness accompanied by art. That art is what pleases and invigorates and mystifies me.

Your music hurts, the way sunshine hurts when you’ve existed for a long time in darkness.

My name is Zia Rashid.

A great work is made out of a combination of obedience and liberty.

Faith is the silver thread upon which the pearls of the graces are to be hung. Break that, and you have broken the string - the pearls lie scattered on the ground.

Our culture is just too comfortable in creating these kind of divisions between culture.

We need a transformation of the world economy and of how we use and share the Earth's resources. We are running out of time. We are truly at the point of no return.

If the English want a king, it is their business. If the Russians want communism, it is their business. If the Americans want our form of government, it is our business.

The true science and study of mankind is man.

Let thy hope of heaven master thy fear of death. Why shouldst thou be afraid to die, who hopest to live by dying!