One must look at the next step on the path ahead, rather than the mountain in the distance, or one would never reach one's goal.

It is not easy to be different, and even less so to be unique.

Facilis descensus Averno Noctes atque dies patet atri ianua Ditis Sed revocare gradum superasque evadere ad auras Hoc opus labor est

There is more to life than surviving.

Were you ever actually going to leave New York, or were you just saying that to get her to finally make a move?” “Clary,” said Luke, “I am shocked that you would suggest such a thing.

Will sat where he was, gazing at the silver bowl in front of him; a white rose was floating in it, and he seemed prepared to stare at it until it went under. In the Kitchen Bridget was still singing one of her awful sad songs; the lyrics drifted in through the door: "Twas on an evening fair I went to take the air, I heard a maid making her moan; Said, 'Saw ye my father? Or ye my mother? Or saw ye my brother John? Or saw ye the lad that I love best, And his name it is Sweet William?" I may murder her, Tessa thought. Let her make a song about that.

It's love, not the Battle of Thermopylae. You don't have to treat everything like it's a last stand.