Stephenie Meyer

I didn't know if there ever was a choice, really. I was already in too deep. Now that I knew - if I knew - I could do nothing about my secret. Because when I thought of him, of his voice, his hypnotic eyes, the magnetic force of his personality, I wanted nothing more than to be with him ... "

Stephenie Meyer

John Steinbeck

"But the Hebrew word, the word timshel—‘Thou mayest’— that gives a choice. It might be the most important word in the world. That says the way is open. That throws it right back on a man. For if ‘Thou mayest’—it is also true that ‘Thou mayest not.’"

John Steinbeck

Sylvia Plath

"I have the choice of being constantly active and happy or introspectively passive and sad. Or I can go mad by ricocheting in between."

Sylvia Plath

J.K. Rowling

"It is our choices, Harry, that show us who we truly are, far more than our abilities."

J.K. Rowling

H Jackson Brown Jr

• Never give up on anybody. Miracles happen every day.
• Be brave. Even if you're not, pretend to be. No one can tell the difference.
• Think big thoughts, but relish small pleasures.
• Overtip breakfast waitresses.
• Never deprive someone of hope; it might be all they have.
• Never resist a generous impulse.
• Become the most positive and enthusiastic person you know.
• Never go to bed with dirty dishes in the sink.
• Leave everything a little better than you found it.
• Call your mother.
• Accept a breath mint if someone offers you one.
• Love deeply and passionately. You might get hurt, but it's the only way to live life completely.
• Never drive while holding a cup of hot coffee between your knees.
• In disagreements, fight fairly. No name calling.
• Eat a piece of chocolate to cure bad breath from onions or garlic.
• Never remind someone of a kindness or act of generosity you have shown him or her.
• Bestow a favour and forget it.
• When you get really angry, stick your hands in your pockets.
• Accept the fact that regardless of how many times you're right, you will sometimes be wrong.
• Every once in a while ask yourself the question, If money weren't a consideration, what would I like to be doing?
• Never give anybody a fondue set or anything painted avocado green.
• Remember the 3 Rs: Respect for self; Respect for others; Responsibility for all your actions.
• Plant zucchini only if you have lots of friends.
• Take along a small gift for the host or hostess when you're a dinner guest. A book is a good choice.
• Never be photographed with a cocktail glass in your hand.
• Don't marry a woman who picks at her food.
• Take off the convention badge as soon as you leave the convention hall.
• Write a short note inside the front cover when giving a book as a gift.
• Never give a gift that's not beautifully wrapped.
• Don't think expensive equipment will make up for a lack of talent or practice.
• Learn to say "I love you" in French, Italian, and Swedish.
• When you are totally exhausted but have to keep going, wash your face and hands and put on clean socks and a clean shirt. You will feel remarkably refreshed.
• Life will sometimes hand you a magical moment. Savour it.
• Don't confuse comfort with happiness.
• Check for toilet paper before sitting down.
• Marry a woman you love to talk to. As you get older, her conversational skills will be as important as any other.
• Don't believe all you hear, spend all you have, or sleep all you want.
• Live a good, honourable life. Then when you get older and think back, you'll get to enjoy it a second time.
• Purchase one piece of original art each year, even if it's just a small oil painting by a high school student.
• Keep your private thoughts private.
• Don't do business with anyone who has a history of suing people.
• Never say anything uncomplimentary about your wife or children in the presence of others.
• Apologise immediately when you lose your temper, especially to children.
• Get organised. Know where you are headed. But if something wonderful and unexpected comes along, be flexible enough to follow it.
• Remember that nothing important ever happens until someone takes a chance.
• Never pick up anything off the floor of a cab.
• In disagreements with loved ones, deal with the current situation. Don't bring up the past.
• Leave change where a child can find it.
• Share your knowledge. It's a way to achieve immortality.
• When travelling the back roads, stop whenever you see a sign that reads "Honey for Sale."
• Don't outlive your money.
• When your dog dies, frame its collar and put it in a window facing west.
• Remember that great love and great achievements involve great risk.
• Judge your success by what you had to give up in order to get it.
• Let some things remain mysterious.
• Never eat a sugared doughnut when wearing a dark suit.
• Keep and file the best business letters you receive.
• Hire people more for their judgement than for their talents.
• Love someone who doesn't deserve it.
• Regardless of the situation, react with class.

H. Jackson Brown Jr

H. Jackson Brown Jr

"Approach love and cooking with reckless abandon"

H. Jackson Brown Jr

Ayn Rand

"Do not let your fire go out, spark by irreplaceable spark in the hopeless swaps of the not-quite, the not-yet, and the not-at-all. Do not let the hero in your soul perish in lonely frustration for the life you deserved and have never been able to reach. The world you desire can be won. It exists.. it is real.. it is possible.. it's yours."

Ayn Rand

Paulo Coelho

"It's the possibility of having a dream come true that makes life interesting."

Paulo Coelho

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

Part 1: DEATH AND CHOCOLATE

First the colors.
Then the humans.
That’s usually how I see things.
Or at least, how I try.

***HERE IS A SMALL FACT ***
You are going to die.

I am in all truthfulness attempting to be cheerful about this whole topic, though most people find themselves hindered in believing me, no matter my protestations. Please, trust me. I most definitely can be cheerful. I can be amiable. Agreeable. Affable. And that’s only the A’s. Just don’t ask me to be nice. Nice has nothing to do with me.

***Reaction to the ***
AFOREMENTIONED fact
Does this worry you?
I urge you–don’t be afraid.
I’m nothing if not fair.

–Of course, an introduction.

A beginning.

Where are my manners?

I could introduce myself properly, but it’s not really necessary. You will know me well enough and soon enough, depending on a diverse range of variables. It suffices to say that at some point in time, I will be standing over you, as genially as possible. Your soul will be in my arms. A color will be perched on my shoulder. I will carry you gently away.

At that moment, you will be lying there (I rarely find people standing up). You will be caked in your own body. There might be a discovery; a scream will dribble down the air. The only sound I’ll hear after that will be my own breathing, and the sound of the smell, of my footsteps.

The question is, what color will everything be at that moment when I come for you? What will the sky be saying?

Personally, I like a chocolate-colored sky. Dark, dark chocolate. People say it suits me. I do, however, try to enjoy every color I see–the whole spectrum. A billion or so flavors, none of them quite the same, and a sky to slowly suck on. It takes the edge off the stress. It helps me relax.

***A SMALL THEORY ***
People observe the colors of a day only at its beginnings and ends, but to me it’s quite clear that a day merges through a multitude of shades and intonations, with each passing moment.
A single hour can consist of thousands of different colors.

Waxy yellows, cloud-spat blues. Murky darknesses.
In my line of work, I make it a point to notice them.

As I’ve been alluding to, my one saving grace is distraction. It keeps me sane. It helps me cope, considering the length of time I’ve been performing this job. The trouble is, who could ever replace me? Who could step in while I take a break in your stock-standard resort-style vacation destination, whether it be tropical or of the ski trip variety? The answer, of course, is nobody, which has prompted me to make a conscious, deliberate decision–to make distraction my vacation. Needless to say, I vacation in increments. In colors.

Still, it’s possible that you might be asking, why does he even need a vacation? What does he need distraction from?

Which brings me to my next point.
It’s the leftover humans.
The survivors.

They’re the ones I can’t stand to look at, although on many occasions I still fail. I deliberately seek out the colors to keep my mind off them, but now and then, I witness the ones who are left behind, crumbling among the jigsaw puzzle of realization, despair, and surprise. They have punctured hearts. They have beaten lungs.

Which in turn brings me to the subject I am telling you about tonight, or today, or whatever the hour and color. It’s the story of one of those perpetual survivors–an expert at being left behind.

It’s just a small story really, about, among other things:
* A girl
* Some words
* An accordionist
* Some fanatical Germans
* A Jewish fist fighter
* And quite a lot of thievery …

Alexandra - Mongane Wally Serote

Were it possible to say,
Mother, I have seen more beautiful mothers,
A most loving mother,
And tell her there I will go,
Alexandra, I would have long gone from you.
But we have only one mother, none can replace,
Just as we have no choice to be born,
We can't choose mothers;
We fallout of them like we fallout of life to death.

And Alexandra,
My beginning was knotted to you,
Just like you knot my destiny.
You throb in my inside silences
You are silent in my heart-beat that's loud to me.
Alexandra often I've cried.
When I was thirsty my tongue tasted dust,
Dust burdening your nipples.
I cry Alexandra when I am thirsty.
Your breasts ooze the dirty waters of your dongas,
Waters diluted with the blood of my brothers, your children,
Who once chose dongas for death-beds.
Do you love me Alexandra, or what are you doing to me?

You frighten me, Mama,
You wear expressions like you would be nasty to me,
You frighten me, Mama,
When I lie on your breast to rest, something tells me,
You are bloody cruel.
Alexandra, hell
What have you done to me?
I have seen people but I feel like I'm not one,
Alexandra what are you doing to me?

I feel have sunk to such meekness!
I lie flat while others walk on me to far places.
I have gone from you, many times,
I come back.
Alexandra, I love you;
I know
When all these worlds became funny to me,
I silently waded back to you
And amid the rubble I lay,
Simple and black.

Mongane Wally Serote