“I suppose the truth is that when it comes to
believing things without actual evidence,
we all incline to what we find most attractive.”

— Conway to Mallinson, Lost Horizon

“[Ralph] gave himself up to them now for the first time on the island; great shuddering spasms of grief that seemed to wrench his whole body…with filthy body, matted hair, and unwiped nose, Ralph wept for the end of innocence, the darkness of man’s heart, and the fall through the air of  the true, wise friend called Piggy.”

— Lord of the Flies

“There were two in paradise and the choice was offered to them: happiness without freedom, or freedom without happiness. No other choice…
They, fools that they were, chose freedom.”

— R-13 to D-503, We

“But I don’t want comfort. I want God, I want poetry, I want real danger, I want freedom, I want goodness. I want sin…Not to mention the right to grow old and ugly and impotent; the right to have syphilis and cancer; the right to have too little to eat;…the right to be tortured by unspeakable pains of every kind.”

— Savage to Mustapha Mond, Brave New World