John Steinbeck

• "And this I believe: that the free, exploring mind of the individual human is the most valuable thing in the world. And this I would fight for: the freedom of the mind to take any direction it wishes, undirected. And this I must fight against: any idea, religion, or government which limits or destroys the individual. This is what I am and what I am about. I can understand why a system built on a pattern must try to destroy the free mind, for that is the one thing which can by inspection destroy such a system. Surely I can understand this, and I hate it and I will fight against it to preserve the one thing that seperates us from the uncreative beasts. If the glory can be killed, we are lost."
• "It has always seemed strange to me... the things we admire in men, kindness and generosity, openness, honesty, understanding and feeling, are the concomitants of failure in our system. And those traits we detest, sharpness, greed, acquisitiveness, meanness, egotism and self-interest, are the traits of success. And while men admire the quality of the first they love the produce of the second."
• "Man is the only kind of varmint sets his own trap, baits it, then steps in it."
• "The impulse of the American woman to geld her husband and castrate her sons is very strong.
• "Timshel. Thou Mayest."

Paulo Coelho

• "Stop turning on your emotional television to watch the same program over and over again, the one that shows how much you suffered from a certain loss: that is only poisoning you, nothing else."
• "We can never judge the lives of others, because each person knows only their own pain and renunciation. It's one thing to feel that you are on the right path, but it's another to think that yours is the only path."
• "Love is a trap. When it appears, we see only its light, not its shadows."
• "You can become blind by seeing each day as a similar one. Each day is a different one, each day brings a miracle of its own. It's just a matter of paying attention to this miracle."
• "Maktub. It is written."

Ayn Rand

• "A desire presupposes the possibility of action to achieve it; action presupposes a goal which is worth achieving."
• "Achievement of your happiness is the only moral purpose of your life, and that happiness, not pain or mindless self-indulgence, is the proof of your moral integrity, since it is the proof and the result of your loyalty to the achievement of your values."
• "I swear, by my life and my love of it, that I will never live for the sake of another man, nor ask another man to live for mine."
• "It only stands to reason that where there's sacrifice, there's someone collecting the sacrificial offerings. Where there's service, there is someone being served. The man who speaks to you of sacrifice is speaking of slaves and masters, and intends to be the master."
• "The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren't enough criminals, one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws."
• "The question isn't who is going to let me; it's who is going to stop me."

J.D. Salinger

• "All morons hate it when you call them a moron."
• "It's funny. All you have to do is say something nobody understands and they'll do practically anything you want them to."
• "You take somebody that cries their goddamn eyes out over phoney stuff in the movies, and nine times out of ten they're mean bastards at heart."

Marcus Aurelius

• "Anything in any way beautiful derives its beauty from itself and asks nothing beyond itself. Praise is no part of it, for nothing is made worse or better by praise."
• "Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth."
• "How much time he saves who does not look to see what his neighbor says or does or thinks."
• "Never let the future disturb you. You will meet it, if you have to, with the same weapons of reason which today arm you against the present."
• "The art of living is more like wrestling than dancing."
• "Tomorrow is nothing, today is too late; the good lived yesterday."