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1 " Above all, don’t lie to yourself." – Fyodor Dostoyevsky, The Brothers Karamazov" I don’t want to die without any scars." – Chuck Palahniuk, Fight Club" Not all those who wander are lost." – J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring" It is our choices that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities." – J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" It is better to be hated for what you are than to be loved for what you are not." – André Gide, Autumn Leaves" If you’re making mistakes it means you’re out there doing something." – Neil Gaiman, Make Good Art" Even a stopped clock is right twice a day." – Paulo Coelho, Brida" If we wait until we’re ready, we’ll be waiting for the rest of our lives." – Lemony Snicket, The Ersatz Elevator" The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt." – Sylvia Plath, The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath" I dream. Sometimes I think that’s the only right thing to do." – Haruki Murakami, Sputnik Sweetheart" If you don’t imagine, nothing ever happens at all." – John Green, Paper Towns" Everything is possible. The impossible just takes longer." – Dan Brown, Digital Fortress" Fear is an illusion..." - Dark Templar, Starcraft 2 "
2 " The world was ersatz and actual, forged and faked, by ourselves and unseen others. Daring to attempt to absolutely sort fake from real was a folly that would call down tigers or hiccups to cure us of our recklessness. The effort was doomed, for it too much pointed past the intimate boundaries of our necessary fictions. "
― Jonathan Lethem , Chronic City
3 " This river is famed in atrocious song and verse; the most prevalent motif is one which attempts to make of the river an ersatz father figure. Actually, the Mississippi River is a treacherous and sinister body of water whose eddies and currents yearly claim many lives. I have never known anyone who would even venture to stick his toe in its polluted waters, which seethe with sewage, industrial waste, and deadly insecticides. Even the fish are dying. Therefore, the Mississippi as Father-God-Moses-Daddy-Phallus-Pops is an altogether false motif began, I would imagine, by that dreary fraud, Mark Twain. This failure to make contact with reality is, however, characteristic of almost all of America’s “art.” Any connection between American art and American nature is purely coincidental, but this is only because the nation as a whole has no contact with reality. That is only one of the reasons why I have always been forced to exist on the fringes of its society, consigned to the Limbo reserved for this who do know reality when they see it. "
― John Kennedy Toole , A Confederacy of Dunces
4 " Books make the best ersatz friendships. "
― Nenia Campbell , Locked and Loaded (The IMA, #3)
5 " Though he was not as dastardly as Esmé or Count Olaf or the hook-handed man, Jerome was still an ersatz guardian, because a real guardian is supposed to provide a home, with a place to sleep and something to wear, and all Jerome had given them in the end was " Good luck." Jerome reached the end of the block and turned left, and the Baudelaires were once again alone in the world. "
6 " I don't believe in twisting yourself into knots of excuses and explanations over the food you make. When one's hostess starts in with self-deprecations such as " Oh, I don't know how to cook...," or " Poor little me...," or " This may taste awful...," it is so dreadful to have to reassure her that everything is delicious and fine, whether it is or not. Besides, such admissions only draw attention to one's shortcomings (or self-perceived shortcomings), and make the other person think, " Yes, you're right, this really is an awful meal!" Maybe the cat has fallen into the stew, or the lettuce has frozen, or the cake has collapsed -- eh bien, tant pis! Usually one's cooking is better than one thinks it is. And if the food is truly vile, as my ersatz eggs Florentine surely were, then the cook must simply grit her teeth and bear it with a smile -- and learn from her mistakes. "
