Every accepted public quote

“I think it was the institution...I was trying to master it.”

“I feel like someone breathed new air into my lungs. I am not Abnegation. I am not Dauntless. I am Divergent.”

“Being self-critical is good; being self-hating is destructive. There's a very fine line there somewhere, and I walk it carefully.”

“Nobody sells books like J.K. Rowling. We have a rule in publishing: Never compare anything to 'Harry Potter' because it's like lightning in a bottle.”

“I don't want to hurt you or anybody so please forget about me. Just try. Find yourself a better friend.”

“A casual stroll through the lunatic asylum shows that faith does not prove anything.”

“Vipassana meditation is an ongoing creative purification process. Observation of the moment-to-moment experience cleanses the mental layers, one after another.”

“You can't measure the mutual affection of two human beings by the number of words they exchange.”

“Well, we all make mistakes, dear, so just put it behind you. We should regret our mistakes and learn from them, but never carry them forward into the future with us.”

“If you want to be happy, drop the past, drop the worries of the future, focus your energy to fulfill the dreams in your heart.”

“I feel like I look 16 sometimes, which is a bummer, because I would love to date older guys.”

“When things don't go according to plan, plan according to how things go.”

“You either have to write or you shouldn't be writing. That's all.”

“I love the idea that magic and witchcraft and battles between supernatural creatures could be raging all around us but just out of our sight.”

“Carl Sagan spoke fluently between biology and geology and astrophysics and physics. If you move fluently across those boundaries, you realize that science is everywhere; science is not somet...”

“Alas! You complain that your soul is out of tune. Then ask the Master to tune the heart-strings.”

“To refuse awards is another way of accepting them with more noise than is normal.”

“The human voice is the first and most natural musical instrument, also the most emotional.”

“He would continue to believe in it whatever the facts turned out to be, what else was the meaning of Belief?”

“Imagination is everything. It is the preview of life's coming attractions.”

“Every utopia - let's just stick with the literary ones - faces the same problem: What do you do with the people who don't fit in?”

“How is there freedom to choose if one does not learn how to choose?”

“Illegal aliens have always been a problem in the United States. Ask any Indian.”

“and he suddenly knew that if she killed herself, he would die. Maybe not immediately, maybe not with the same blinding rush of pain, but it would happen. You couldn't live for very long with...”

“I became an actor so I didn't have to be myself.”

“I was never academically driven in English, but, again, Tom Waits is a perfect example of an influence. He writes so immaculately and paints so perfectly a world and the characters within it...”

“All modern philosophizing is political, policed by governments, churches, academics, custom, fashion, and human cowardice, all off which limit it to a fake learnedness.”

“If you write a book about a bygone period that lies east of the Mississippi River, then it's a historical novel. If it's west of the Mississippi, it's a western, a different category. There'...”

“At times one remains faithful to a cause only because its opponents do not cease to be insipid.”

“I love inventing names, but I also collect unusual names, so that I can look through my notebook and choose one that suits a new character.”

“Having a low opinion of yourself is not 'modesty.' It's self-destruction. Holding your uniqueness in high regard is not 'egotism.' It's a necessary precondition to happiness and success.”

“For purposes of action nothing is more useful than narrowness of thought combined with energy of will.”

“The 'victim to victory' theory is that, if you listen to the radio, a large percentage of the hits are... about victim to victory, like, 'I'm having a terrible time.' And then the pre-chorus...”

“Wouldn't it be grand if we thought that theater could have that impact on the political life of a country?”

“Molecules dissolve and pass away, but consciousness survives the death of the matter on which it rides.”

“Do you think there's a difference? Between belonging with and belonging to?”

“I'm always wanting to spread as much positivity as possible, so I really try to keep that the case with my fans and with the campaigns that I do.”

“Literature is a luxury; fiction is a necessity.”

“And think not you can direct the course of love, for love, if it finds you worthy, directs your course.”

“I have faith that God will show you the answer. But you have to understand that sometimes it takes a while to be able to recognize what God wants you to do. That's how it often is. God's voi...”

“Fiery passion and intimacy are never sustained without deep love; love that makes your skin tingle when you smell her hair.”

“It is not fair to ask of others what you are not willing to do yourself.”

“The kind of fiction I'm trying to write is about telling the truth.”

“I enjoy the wild things, Call me at 3 am and tell me you're waiting at my door. Give me sunsets in different cities and road trips on dirt tracks not sighted on maps. Whiskey for breakfast &...”

“My grandma said - when I was really young and I'd sing along to the radio - why do you sing in an American accent? I guess it was because a lot of the music I was listening to had American v...”

“I've laid my friends bare.”

“When one tugs at a single thing in nature, he finds it attached to the rest of the world.”

“Never give a sword to a man who can't dance.”