The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett

A tall rangy man in his late twenties. He had a powerful intellect and a scornful manner and he lived in a permanent state of righteous indignation.

They are simple people, you have to do something to keep their attention.

When you are about to be turned down, go for a postponement.

Having faith in God did not mean sitting back and doing nothing. It meant believing that you would find success if you did your best honestly and energetically.

I never taught him to keep regular hours.

Building Kingsbridge was the most profoundly satisfying work he had ever done.

Perhaps greed will always outweigh wisdom in the councils of the mighty. Perhaps fear will always overcome compassion in the mind of a man with a sword in his hand.

With my body, I worship you.

Could the King do as he pleased or was he constrained? The power of the King was no absolute after all; he could be constrained by the will of the people.

The small boys came early to the hanging.

Philip stepped forward to whip the King. He was glad he had lived to see this. After today, he thought, the world will never be quite the same.

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon

Sammy found that, for the first time in years, he was able to avail himself of the help of a confederate.

Forget about what you are escaping from. Reserve your anxiety for what you are escaping to.

New York never seems more beautiful than to a young man who has just pulled off something he knows is gonna knock 'em dead.

He felt contented and hopeful and, in spite of having slept no more than four hours at a stretch in the last week, not in the least tired.

And since Cimmeria [maternal rule] fell into eternal darkness, men have been making a hash of things. War, famine, slavery.

There is only one sure means in life of ensuring that you are not ground into paste by disappointment, futility, and disillusion. And that is always to ensure to the utmost of your ability, that you are doing it solely for the money.

But lately she had been starting to experience strong, inarticulate feelings of longing, of a desire to be with Joe all the time, to inhabit his life and allow him to inhabit hers. To engage with him in some kind of joint enterprise, in a collaboration that would be their lives.

He was able to get anywhere from 18 to 36 news broadcasts every day, from all over the world, through naturally, like most of the world, he favored the BBC.

Tried to lull himself to sleep...by imagining he lay floating on a black raft, on a warm black lagoon, in the blackness of a moonless tropical night.

It seemed her destiny to live among men whose solutions were invariably more complicated or extreme than the problems they were intended to solve.

Drowning Ruth by Christina Schwartz

It all comes down to the shame associated with being unmarried and pregnant. Amanda comes home to hide her pregnancy, the night of the birth she tires to leave to escape a plan to give the baby to her sister. This results in a tragic accident when her toddler niece chases after her on the ice and her sister chases after her daughter. Sister, Mathilda, drowns. Amanda spins more lies all to hide the fact that the baby is hers. Things become more complicated as the children grow. The two girls meet at school and of course they become best friends. The baby's father moves to the neighborhood as a summer residence and his son eventually becomes friends with both girls. In order to prevent a potential marriage between half-siblings, Amanda finally tells all to her niece Ruth, that she raised as a daughter. Everything works out, although the family never escapes their oddness.

The Brief Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz

Telling Bell not to flaunt those curves would have been like asking the persecuted fat kid not to use his recently discovered mutant abilities.

They can't do what they want to do or be who they should be. I might have no one in the world but at least I'm free.

Success, after all, loves a witness; but failure can't exist withoutone.

Nothing more exhilarating than saving yourself by the simple act of waking.

Niggers who messed with Him had a habit of ending up with a bad case of the deads.

Travel light. She extended her arms to embrace her house, maybe the whole world.

The Beach by Alex Garland

"Better the devil you know" is a cliche I now despise. Hidden in the bushes, shivering with fright, I learned that if the devil you know is the guard of a drug plantation then all other devils pale in comparison.

Maybe to have a memory you need time for reflection, however brief, just to let the memory find a place to settle.

She had that American habit of frequently using one's name. It had the strange effect of being both disarmingly familiar and unnaturally forced.

On that trip I learned something very important. Escape through travel works.

When in Rom, do as the Romans. in the travelers ten commandments, that's number one. You don't march into a Hindu temp and start saying "why are you worshipping a cow?" You look around, take on board, adjust, accept.

Isn't there a saying that the only thing more dangerous than a man with a gun is a nervous man with a gun? If there isn't, there should be.