“You don't want to peak in high school. If you do, the rest of your life is a disaster.”

“All those men who end up disappointing you. After a while, you don't even want to have feelings anymore. You just want to get on with your life.”

“When you're alone, it's easier," she said a little wistfully. "You can do what you want. You don't have to go home.”

“- I don't want to be a writer so I can write about my life. I want to be a writer to escape from it. + Then you shouldn't be a writer.”

“I feel sick.It’s one thing to write for the school newspaper. But New York is on a whole different level. It’s a mountain, with a few successful people like Bernard at the top, and a mad of dreamers and strivers like me at the bottom.And then there are people like Viktor, who aren’t afraid to tell you that you’ve never going to reach that peak.”

“I know I have to do the right thing. And the sooner you do the right thing, the better. You get it over with, and you don't have to worry about it anymore. But who does that in real life? Instead, you procrastinate and think about it and put it off and think about it some more until that one little pebble grows into a giant block inside your head.”

“then why sell?" James had asked. "have to," Redmond said. "if I want to get married and have children and live in this city, I have to." "since when do you want to get married and have kids?" James asked. "since now. Life gets boring when you're middle-aged. You can't keep doing the same thing. You look like an asshole. You ever notice that?" Redmond had asked.”