“No one answered. You could hear the light buzzing over us. I love that sound. It means school isn't working, that the teachers are losing the battle.”

“Light travels faster than sound. Isn't that why people appear bright before you hear them speak? ”

“If we had better hearing, and could discern the descants of sea birds, the rhythmic tympani of schools of mollusks, or even the distant harmonics of midges hanging over meadows in the sun, the combined sound might lift us off our feet.”

“Unfortunately, there's no getting around it: people have to work for their happiness. We go into battle every day, and we have to work to be happy. It just isn't handed over to us, as much as we wish it was.”

“He has fought many battles with us" (Jace) By which you mean one battle" muttered Simon. "Two if you count the one I was a rat”

“I grew up hearing over and over, to the point of tedium, that "hard work" was the secret of success: "Work hard and you'll get ahead" or "It's hard work that got us where we are." No one ever said that you could work hard - harder even than you ever thought possible - and still find yourself sinking ever deeper into poverty and debt.”