“Nobody’s going to save you. No one’s going to cut you down, cut the thorns thick around you. No one’s going to storm the castle walls nor kiss awake your birth, climb down your hair, nor mount you onto the white steed. There is no one who will feed the yearning. Face it. You will have to do, do it yourself.”

“Mr. Thornton," said Margaret, shaking all over with her passion, "go down this instant, if you are not a coward. Go down and face them like a man. Save these poor strangers, whom you have decoyed here. Speak to your workmen as if they were human beings. Speak to them kindly. Don't let the soldiers come in and cut down poor-creatures who are driven mad. I see one there who is. If you have any courage or noble quality in you, go out and speak to them, man to man.”

“He leaned down and whispered to me: No matter how thin you get, no matter how short you cut your hair, it's still going to be you underneath. And he let go of my arm and walked back down the hall.”

“You're going to have to make your own fortune. You've been given a lot of challenge. No one is going to help you or save you. You're going to have to do it yourself.”

“Andrew Callaghan, put that girl down before you hurt her. No one’s going to touch her, but if you’re not going to take care of her, you can’t have her.”

“Trying to cut corners and get around rules makes [anyone] miserable. When you‘make yourself mind yourself,’ when you know you are going to do what you sayyou will do, you will know joy.”