J.M. Barrie

To live would be an awfully big adventure.

This is a line from the tale, Peter Pan. Considered a masterpiece since its first appearance on stage in 1904, Peter Pan is J.M. Barrie's most famous work and arguably the greatest of all children's Stories. Barrie (1860-1937) was a Scottish author and dramatist.

Dead Poets Society

No matter what anybody tells you, words and ideas can change the world.

Dead Poets Society is a 1989 film directed by Peter Weir. Set in 1959 at a conservative and autocratic boys prep school, it tells the story of an English teacher who inspires his students to change their lives of conformity through his teaching of poetry and literature. The movie stars Robin Williams.

Truman Capote

You know what's wrong with you, Miss Whoever-you-are? You're Chicken, you've got no guts. You're afraid to stick out your chin and say, "Okay, life's a fact, people do fall in love, people do belong to each other, because that's the only chance anybody has for real happiness." You call yourself a free spirit, a "wild thing," and you're terrified somebody's gonna stick you in a cage. Well baby, you're already in that cage. You built it yourself. And it's not bounded in the west by Tulip, Texas, or in the east by Somali-land. It's wherever you go. Because no matter where you run, you just end up running into yourself.

This quote is said by the character of Paul Varjak in Truman Capote's Play, Breakfast at Tiffany's. Capote (1934-1984) was an American writer whose short stories, novels, plays, and non-fiction are considered literary classics. At least 20 films and television drama have been produced from Capote's stories, the most famous of which was Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961) which starred Audrey Hepburn.

Lewis Carroll

That's just the trouble with me, I give very good advice, but I very seldom follow it.

Lewis Carroll, the pen name of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (1832-1898), was an English author, mathematician, and photographer who gained international reputation for his fantastic logic, fantasy, and word play. His most known works include Alice in Wonderland and it's sequel, Through the Looking Glass.

Jack Kerouac

Ah life is a gate, a way, a path to Paradise anyway, why not live for fun and love or some sort of girl by a fireside; why not go to your desire and laugh.

Kerouac (1922-1969) was an American novelist, write, poet, and artist from Lowell, Massachusetts. He is amongst the best of the writers known as the Beat Generation. Though his work received little acclaim during his life, today, it is considered important and influential. It has inspired the works of many other and movements such as New Journalism.

What A Girl Wants

Why are you trying so hard to fit in when you were born to stand out?

This is a line from the 2003 movie, What A Girl Wants. Amanda Bynes stars as an American teenager who learns that her father is a wealthy British politician. She is eager to find him and become a part of his family but she realizes she must risk causing a scandal for his campaign or conform her identity to his society's expected standard.

Almost Famous

Never take it seriously, you never get hurt. Never get hurt, you can always have fun. And if you ever get lonely, you just go to the record store and visit all your friends.

This is said by the character of Penny Lane in the movie Almost Famous. The movie is a semi-autobiographical coming-of-age story about a fifteen year old boy on assignment from Rolling Stone Magazine. The main character, WIlliam Miller, tours with a late 60's rock band while conducting interviews for his story and learns about life as a rock star and as an adult.