#iv

I like it when a flower or a little tuft of grass grows through a crack in the concrete. It's so fuckin' heroic. ↗

— George Carlin

#hero #heroism #individualism #individuality #nature

Perhaps, in retrospect, there would be little motivation even for malevolent extraterrestrials to attack the Earth; perhaps, after a preliminary survey, they might decide it is more expedient just to be patient for a little while and wait for us to self-destruct. ↗

— Carl Sagan

#motivational

Think before you speak. Read before you think. ↗

— Fran Lebowitz

#books #reader #reading #speaking #thinking

I've noticed that about your people, Doctor. You find it easier to understand the death of one than the death of a million. You speak about the objective hardness of the Vulcan heart, yet how little room there seems to be in yours. ↗

— Leonard Nimoy

#compassion #death #empathy #mourning #objectivity

It takes ten times as long to put yourself back together as it does to fall apart. ↗

— Suzanne Collins

#giving-in #time

The best way to not feel hopeless is to get up and do something. Don’t wait for good things to happen to you. If you go out and make some good things happen, you will fill the world with hope, you will fill yourself with hope. ↗

— Barack Obama

#helping-others #hope #initiative #just-do-it #proactivity

Oh, I wouldn't mind, Hazel Grace. It would be a privilege to have my heart broken by you. ↗

— John Green

#hazel #heartbreak #privilege #heart

Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter, and those who matter don't mind. ↗

— Bernard M. Baruch

#be-yourself #confidence #fitting-in #individuality #those-who-matter

America is the only country that went from barbarism to decadence without civilization in between. ↗

— Oscar Wilde

#barbarism #between #civilization #country #decadence

You think my first instinct is to protect you. Because you're small, or a girl, or a Stiff. But you're wrong." He leans his face close to mine and wraps his fingers around my chin. His hand smells like metal. When was the last time he held a gun, or a knife? My skin tingles at the point of contact, like he's transmitting electricity through his skin. "My first instinct is to push you until you break, just to see how hard I have to press." he says, his fingers squeezing at the word break. My body tenses at the edge in his voice, so I am coiled as tight as a spring, and I forget to breathe. His dark eyes lifting to mine, he adds, "But I resist it." "Why..." I swallow hard. "Why is that your first instinct?" "Fear doesn't shut you down; it wakes you up. I've seen it. It's fascinating." He releases me but doesn't pull away, his hand grazing my jaw, my neck. "Sometimes I just want to see it again. Want to see you awake. ↗

— Veronica Roth

#time