I never felt isolated; I just liked being alone. I think that some people are good at being alone, and some people arent, and as a child, I really liked it.

You can take my heart, but I can't let you take my dog.

Don't try to follow in my footsteps. Make your own footsteps! No one else can tell the stories that are inside of you except for you.

Keeping libraries open, giving access to all children to all books is vital to our nation's sovereignty.

Reading is not just an escape. It is access to a better way of life.

Everybody had something horrible happen to them at one time or another in their life.

[On men:] ... you never know what they're like until you get them home and take them out of their packages.

As a Southerner, I love obstacles for my characters.

Everyone had a reason for everything they did, even if that reason was sometimes stupidity.

You didn't realize what was passing you by until you slowed down a little bit to get a better look.

People just make stupid mistakes. And they keep making them and keep making them, and suddenly they can't dig themselves out.

Truth has sharp teeth, so do not expect anything beautiful (to see) when it smiles to you.

The future belongs to the common man with uncommon determination.

Writing is very castrating in the moment. Fiction in general, it has no function, nobody asks for it.

A scientist ought to have a healthy disregard for coincidences.

Before I write a novel, images float around in my head that work like icons - they are meaningless in themselves, but serve as reminders.

They weren't crazy. They were tired of being locked up. Even I could see that.

I don't intend to be insensitive to the victims and their families but, at the same time, as an actor, it's our job, and we are obligated to portray the characters in the most realistic way possible.

I made fun of myself before everybody else could, so I always got the comic crowns: Freshman Fink, Sophomore Fairy, Junior Birdman. I got all three of them!

Few people who are born into Abnegation choose to leave it. When they do, we remember.