People are usually afraid of change because they fear the unknown. But the single greatest constant of history is that everything changes.

Homo Deus: A History of Tomorrow

Yuval Noah Harari

To gaze into another person’s face is to do two things: to recognize their humanity, and to assert your own.

Someone Knows My Name

Lawrence Hill

If the rules are such that you can’t make progress, then you have to fight the rules.

Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future

Ashlee Vance

There was a hunger in her, and girls were not supposed to be hungry. They were supposed to nibble sparingly when at the table, and their minds were supposed to be satisfied with a slim diet too. A few stale lessons from tired governesses, dull walks, unthinking pastimes. But it was not enough. All knowledge - any knowledge - called to Faith, and there was a delicious, poisonous pleasure in stealing it unseen.

The Lie Tree

Frances Harding

We should be remembered for the things we do. The things we do are the most important things of all. They are more important than what we say or what we look like. The things we do outlast our mortality. The things we do are like monuments that people build to honor heroes after they've died. They're like the pyramids that the Egyptians built to honor the pharaohs. Only instead of being made of stone, they're made out of the memories people have of you. That's why your deeds are like your monuments. Built with memories instead of with stone.

Wonder

R.J. Palacio

Happiness comes from living as you need to, as you want to.

Year of Yes: How to Dance It Out, Stand In the Sun and Be Your Own Person

Shonda Rhimes

Do not tell secrets to those whose faith and silence you have not already tested.

Life After Life

Kate Atkinson

The history that happens underneath our noses ought to be the clearest, and yet it’s the most deliquescent. We live in time, it bounds us and defines us, and time is supposed to measure history, isn’t it? But if we can’t understand time, can’t grasp its mysteries of pace and progress, what chance do we have with history—even our own small, personal, largely undocumented piece of it?

The Sense of An Ending

Julian Barnes

Feeling ready to do something doesn’t mean feeling certain you’ll succeed, though of course that’s what you’re hoping to do. Truly being ready means understanding what could go wrong—and having a plan to deal with it.

An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth

Chris Hadfield

So many problems, however infinitely varied they appear, turn out to be matters of money. I can't tell you how much this offends me.

We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves

Karen Joy Fowler

I think there should be a rule that everyone in the world should get a standing ovation at least once in their lives.

Wonder

R.J. Palacio

Morality doesn’t mean ‘following divine commands’. It means ‘reducing suffering’. Hence in order to act morally, you don’t need to believe in any myth or story. You just need to develop a deep appreciation of suffering.

21 Lessons for the 21st Century

Yuval Noah Harari