Rick Yancey Quotes
'The 5th Wave' is sci-fi, but I tried very hard to ground the story in very human terms and in those universal themes that transcend genre. How do we define ourselves? What, exactly, does it mean to be human? What remains after everything we trust, everything we believe in and rely upon, has been stripped away?

Quotes to Explore
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I steer clear of books with ugly covers. And ones that are touted as 'sweeping,' 'tender' or 'universal.'
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It is not the mountain we conquer but ourselves.
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I have to be more universal than my projects, but no less innovative.
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We should always be aspiring to know more, and to better ourselves, and to improve ourselves. To improve ourselves, because that's how we improve the world around us, by working within us.
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We got ourselves into a position to win the game and we let ourselves down again. It's not good enough.
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I was an artist, but not a self-proclaimed great artist, just a common man who was working in a form of art which is universal.
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These [Arab] youth who have been inspired by universal values are idealistic enough to imagine a magnificent future and, at the same time, realistic enough to balance this kind of imagination and the process leading to it - not using violence, not trying to create chaos.
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The bottom line always remains the same: What is the basic humanity of the character? How do I make them resonate with the reader?
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There is a universal reality in ourselves that aligns us with a universal reality that is everywhere.
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If we never take a risk, we'll never know the parts of ourselves that would have emerged if we had.
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Poetry is finer and more philosophical than history; for poetry expresses the universal, and history only the particular.
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I think there might be some pressure released while I'm doing autobiographical work, but afterwards everything remains the same.
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Everything changes and nothing remains still.
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Things of this world are in so constant a flux, that nothing remains long in the same state.
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We ourselves possess Beauty when we are true to our own being; ugliness is in going over to another order.
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If Language is not correct, then what is said is not what is meant. If what is said is not what is meant, then what ought to be done, remains undone.
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But let us remember that we are dealing with infinities and indivisibles both of which transcend our finite understanding, the former on account of their magnitude, the latter because of their smallness.
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So long as man remains free he strives for nothing so incessantly and so painfully as to find someone to worship.
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We almost owe it to ourselves to go experiment in the consumer area.
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Then Saturday Night Live spawns... well, everything right down to American Pie 9, where all humor has to be irrelevant, which can get a little tiring.
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I make a distinction between manners and etiquette - manners as the principles, which are eternal and universal, etiquette as the particular rules which are arbitrary and different in different times, different situations, different cultures.
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I'm an internet junkie. There, I said it. That's the first step, right? I also have a thing for making lists. Oh man, nothing beats turning to a fresh, clean page in a notebook, taking out a nice pen, and starting a list. There's so much potential there. So much to do, so little time! So hey, why not spend some of that time making a list.
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It's not about money. The money will flow. It's about power and influence.
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'The 5th Wave' is sci-fi, but I tried very hard to ground the story in very human terms and in those universal themes that transcend genre. How do we define ourselves? What, exactly, does it mean to be human? What remains after everything we trust, everything we believe in and rely upon, has been stripped away?