God Doesn't Need To Punish Us. He Just Grants Us A Long Enough Life To Punish Ourselves.

But I figure if the world were really right, humans would live life backward and do the first part last. They’d be all knowing in the beginning and innocent in the end. Then everybody could end their life on their momma or daddy’s stomach in a warm room, waiting for the soft morning light.

'The First Part Last' by Angela Johnson 

What I say is, a town isn't a town without a bookstore. It may call itself a town, but unless it's got a bookstore it knows it's not fooling a soul.

'American Gods' by Neil Gaiman 

It's life, that's all. There are no happy endings, just happy days, happy moments. The only real ending is death, and trust me, no one dies happy. And the price of not dying is that things change all the time, and the only thing you can count on is that there's not a thing you can do about it.

'How to talk to a widower' by Jonathan Tropper 

Once you are real you can't become unreal again. It lasts for always.

The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams

I wish we could go back in time and climb trees together again. I love you, Vera. I always will.

'Please Ignore Vera Dietz' by A.S. King

I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. It's when you know you're licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what. You rarely win, but sometimes you do.

'To Kill a Mockingbird' by Harper Lee

Still, despite all this, traveling is the great true love of my life. I have always felt, ever since I was sixteen years old and first went to Russia with my saved-up babysitting money, that to travel is worth any cost or sacrifice. I am loyal and constant in my love for travel, as I have not always been loyal and constant in my other loves. I feel about travel the way a happy new mother feels about her impossible, colicky, restless newborn baby - I just don't care what it puts me through. Because I adore it. Because it's mine. Because it looks exactly like me. It can barf all over me if it wants to - I just don't care.

'Eat, Pray, Love' by Elizabeth Gilbert

Taking something to pieces doesn’t spoil the whole when you put it back together. You can still love the effortlessness, even when you’ve noticed the effort.

‘How Not to be a Boy’ by Robert Webb