Persons attempting to find a motive in this narrative will be prosecuted; persons attempting to find a moral in it will be banished; persons attempting to find a plot in it will be shot. By Order of the Author.

— Mark Twain, Tom Sawyer

We are funny creatures. We don’t see the stars as they are, so why do we love them? They are not small gold objects but endless fire.

— Saul Bellow, Henderson the Rain King

¿Qué es la vida? Un frenesí.
¿Qué es la vida? Una ilusión,
una sombra, una ficción,
y el mayor bien es pequeño;
que toda la vida es sueño,
y los sueños, sueños son.

— Calderon de la Barca, La vida es sueño

Cogito, ergo sum.

— Rene Descartes, Discourse of Method

Nobody is a prophet in their homeland.

— Saint Luke, IV, 24

Perfection is reached, not when there is nothing else to add, but when there is nothing else to take out.

— Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince

A compliment is something like a kiss through a veil.

— Victor Hugo, Saint Denis, Les Miserables