Each time we make a choice we are either moving toward freedom and prosperity or bondage and misery.

— Cameron C. Taylor

Educated people, of course, know that perception, cognition, language, and emotion are rooted in the brain. But it is still tempting to think of the brain as it was shown in old educational cartoons, as a control panel with gauges and levers operated by a user — the self, the soul, the ghost, the person, the “me.” But cognitive neuroscience is showing that the self, too, is just another network of brain systems. [C]cognitive neuroscientists have not only exorcised the ghost but have shown that the brain does not even have a part that does exactly what the ghost is supposed to do: review all the facts and make a decision for the rest of the brain to carry out. Each of us feels that there is a single “I” in control. But that is an illusion that the brain works hard to produce, like the impression that our visual fields are rich in detail from edge to edge. The brain does have supervisory systems in the prefrontal lobes and anterior cingulate cortex, which can push the buttons of behavior and override habits and urges. But those systems are gadgets with specific quirks and limitations; they are not implementations of the rational free agent traditionally identified with the soul or the self.

— Steven Pinker

Eleanor had heard talk of the rebellion that existed inside the city of Constance before. Most of the information she gathered was considered an old fairy tale by the public. There were a few stories here and there about people angered by their present living conditions, who had demanded that the center of Constance be held responsible for it. However, information was never passed between the five different sectors. Over the years the tales of the rebellion had become children’s bedtime stories, and people did not take them seriously.

— Ross Caligiuri

Eternity will not cause our memories to fade, it will force our hearts to accept the past.

— Ross Caligiuri

Even if it doesn't alter or change the end result even in the slightest... making decisions based on convictions that you believe in... and walking your own path... has its own merit and worth. There's something to be said for not having... even on regret.

— Tite Kubo

Every decision you make in life will stem from one of two options: love or fear. Choose love.

— Ross Caligiuri

Feeling that one has some leverage upon something, even by proxy or association, makes one a great deal more interested in it.

— CrimethInc.

God cries for us in the same way we cry for others. His tears most often spill over for the pain and suffering caused from the mortal misuse of a gift called agency. He will not revoke the gift. It was promised to us for the duration of our time on Earth. But He will hold each one of us accountable in the end for how we applied this power of agency.

— Richelle E. Goodrich

God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom always to tell the difference.' Among the things Billy Pilgrim could not change were the past, the present, and the future.

— Kurt Vonnegut Jr.

He loved me and didn't want me hurt. What was worse, he didn't even understand that I had the right to be hurt.

— Rosemary Sutcliff