“Real optimism is not the pep talk you give yourself. It is earned through the labor involved in emotional housekeeping.”

“The trouble with giving yourself a pep talk is, that deep down you know it's all bullshit.”

“I glared at him. "Matt said he got a pep talk at his test. I don't rate a pep talk?""You want a pep talk?" He made a fist with one hand, then punched it through the air in a victorious motion. "Go get 'em. You've got twenty-eight minutes.""Dude, do not join the pep squad.”

“Drunken men give some of the best pep talks.”

“I am not talking about you being a spectator, I am talking about involvement. I am talking about involving yourself into life in such a way that you dissolve into it.”

“...I realized that even when people know the pep talk is phony, they still want to hear it. Maybe it was easier to believe a lie when somebody else was saying it rather than you saying it to yourself.”