Scared isn't a good excuse. Scared is the excuse everyone has always used.

So she became impulsive, scared by her inaction into perpetual action. When the Eagle confronted her with the expulsion, maybe she blurted out Marya's name because it was the first that came to mind, because in that moment she didn't want to get expelled and she couldn't think past that moment. She was scared, sure. But more importantly, maybe she'd been scared of being paralyzed by fear again. ~Miles/Pudge on Alaska, pg 120-121

People believed in an afterlife because they couldn't bear not to.

Issac:"I dislike living in a world without Augustus Waters." Computer: "I don't understand-" Issac: "Me neither. Pause

I think all true stories are hopeful stories. I don't think there's any room for nihilism.

He missed that, too, and it hadn't even happened.

As I recall, you promised to CALL when you finished the book, not text.