“Relax. They’re not going to kill us. They’re going to TRY and kill us. And that is a very different thing.”

“When you start living the life of your dreams, there will always be obstacles, doubters, mistakes and setbacks along the way. But with hard work, perseverance and self-belief there is no limit to what you can achieve.”

“The knowledge that we consider knowledge proves itself in action. What we now mean by knowledge is information in action, information focused on results.”

“Cultivate an optimistic mind, use your imagination, always consider alternatives, and dare to believe that you can make possible what others think is impossible.”

“Surround yourself with people who believe in your dreams, encourage your ideas, support your ambitions, and bring out the best in you.”

“Reconnect to what makes you happy and brings you Joy. If there is something that used to make you happy which you have stopped doing, do it again. Seek to find deeper meaning and significance rather than living on the surface.”

“I would like [my readers] to better understand human beings and human life as a result of having read [my] stories. I’d like them to feel that this was an experience that made things better for them and an experience that gave them hope. I think that the kind of things that we talk about at this conference — fantasy very much so, science fiction, and even horror — the message that we’re sending is the reverse of the message sent by what is called “realistic fiction.” (I happen to think that realistic fiction is not, in fact, realistic, but that’s a side issue.) And what we are saying is that it doesn’t have to be like this: things can be different. Our society can be changed. Maybe it’s worse, maybe it’s better. Maybe it’s a higher civilization, maybe it’s a barbaric civilization. But it doesn’t have to be the way it is now. Things can change. And we’re also saying things can change for you in your life. Look at the difference between Severian the apprentice and Severian the Autarch [in The Book of the New Sun], for example. The difference beteween Silk as an augur and Silk as calde [in The Book of the Long Sun]. You see?We don’t always have to be this. There can be something else. We can stop doing the thing that we’re doing. Moms Mabley had a great line in some movie or other — she said, “You keep on doing what you been doing and you’re gonna keep on gettin’ what you been gettin’.” And we don’t have to keep on doing what we’ve been doing. We can do something else if we don’t like what we’re gettin’. I think a lot of the purpose of fiction ought to be to tell people that.”

“Here’s another poem,like all others before and after,dedicated to you.There isn’t anything left to be saidbut I will spend my lifetrying to put you into words.You who is every goodness,every optimismand hope.Your love is a better fate for methan anything I could wish for.If you are a part of me, then you’re the best part.And if you’re separate from me, then you are my destination.But I’ve become a weary traveller,so please,let us never be apart.”

“With no positivity, there is no hope; with no negativity, there is no improvement.”

“forsan et haec olim meminisse iuvabit.and perhaps it will be pleasing to have remembered these things one day”

“Success teaches us nothing; only failure teaches.”

“Just when normal life felt almost possible – when the world held some kind of order, meaning, even loveliness (the prismatic spray of light through an icicle; the stillness of a sunrise), some small thing would go awry and the veil of optimism was torn away, the barren world revealed. They learned, somehow, to wait those times out. There was no cure, no answer, no reparation.”

“We can become inspired to shape a higher, more ideal future, and when we do, miracles happen.”

“Thank goodness for the first snow, it was a reminder–no matter how old you became and how much you’d seen, things could still be new if you were willing to believe they still mattered.”

“Every problem has a gift for you in its hands” (Richard Bach). And if not every problem, then just about every one. Even spectacular sunsets are not possible without cloudy skies. Troubles bring a gift for those who choose to look. And since I can’t avoid my problems, why waste them? I should look for the gift. My life will be far, far richer for finding it.”