“When the well's nearly dry and you're not sure you have the strength to persevere, fill up on love and friendship, then take another step, and then another, until you reach your goal.”

“I long for the day when people embrace our common humanity and respect diversity.”

“The ultimate measure of a person is not her mistakes or accomplishments, but what she does with them.”

“Being kind, being compassionate, being respectful does not make you weak. More often, it's the harder path to take.”

“You know what I realized? No one else lives in my memories but me.”

“For whatever it's worth, I believe we're born imperfect, and perfection, whatever that may be, is unattainable by us mere humans.”

“I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat. We have before us an ordeal of the most grievous kind. We have before us many, many long months of struggle and of suffering. You ask, what...”

“His pen spoke more to her than he ever did.In the war of words, some are unwritten and some are unspoken.”

“How might I get over this? How would I be able to overlook the way he used to be with me? How could I overlook that his fingers touched my indiscernible soul before it twisted my nipples? How might...”

“If people knew how hard I had to work to gain my mastery, it would not seem so wonderful at all.”

“I worked out what would make me happy, and I worked out what I wanted to do, and I trained myself to do the job that would make those two things happen' 'You make it sound so simple.''It is simple,...”

“Does the work get easier once you know what you are doing?""Your lungs grow thick with stone dust and your eyes bleary from the sun and fragments thrown up by the chisel. You pour your lifeblood ou...”

“I built an idea in my head of the hero I wanted to be, a grab bag of traits from heroes, villains, and side characters. I did not have book role models, I had book blueprints.But there remained a h...”

“I am not always good and noble. I am the hero of this story, but I have my off moments.”

“Ethan: "You think I'm a hero?"Beth: "Yes."Ethan: "But lousy husband material?" Like that really mattered to him.Beth: "Don't sweat it. So was Superman.”