Tenth of December, by George Saunders

From across the woods, as if by common accord, birds left their trees and darted upward. I joined them, flew among them, they did not recognize me as something apart from them, and I was happy, so happy, because for the first time in years, and forever more, I had not killed, and never would.

*****

When they were first married, they used to fight. Say the most insane things. Afterward, sometimes there would be tears. Tears in bed? And then they would--Molly pressing her hot wet face against his hot wet face. They were sorry, they were saying with their bodies, they were accepting each other back, and that feeling, that feeling of being accepted back again and again, of someone's affection for you expanding to encompass whatever new flawed thing had just manifested in you, that was the deepest, dearest thing he'd ever--

A Natural History of Dragons: A Memoir by Lady Trent, by Marie Brennan

"Do you remember the Vystrani runt in the menagerie?"

"The albino? Of course." Lord Hilford's prize, and in so many ways, the reason both Jacob and I were here.

"You remind me of that dragon."

Now I sat up and twisted to face him, torn between outrage and hilarity. "I'm a pale, sexless runt?!"

He fended me off with his hands, laughter getting the better of him. "Not in the least. But Mr. Swargin always said it was surprisingly robust. I think if Hilford hadn't captured it, the creature would have lived a fine life somewhere in these mountains." Jacob sobered, hands sliding down my arms to grip my hands. "I don't want you to pine away, Isabella. If it's my job, as your husband, to take care of you, then I will do so--by giving you the life you need."

The Impossible Knife of Memory, by Laurie Halse Anderson

When I was with Finn, the world spun properly on its axis, and gravity worked. At home, the planet tilted so far on its side it was hard to tell which way was up. Dad felt it, too. He shuffled like an old man, as if the carpet under his feet was really a slick sheet of black ice.

13 Reasons Why, by Jay Asher

You don't know what goes on in anyone's life but your own. And when you mess with one part of a person's life, you're not messing with just that part. Unfortunately, you can't be that precise and selective. When you mess with one part of a person's life, you're messing with their entire life.

Everything...affects everything.

Hypberbole and a Half: Unfortunate Situations, Flawed Coping Mechanisms, Mayhem, and Other Things That Happened, by Allie Brosh

I don't like it when I can't control what reality is doing. Which is unfortunate because reality works independently of the things I want, and I have only a limited number of ways to influence it, none of which are guaranteed to work.
I still want to keep tabs on reality, though. Just in case it tries to do anything sneaky. It makes me feel like I'm contributing. The illusion of control makes the helplessness seem more palatable. And when that illusion is taken away, I panic.
Because, deep down, I know how pointless and helpless I am, and it scares me. I am an animal trapped in a horrifying, lawless environment, and I have no idea what it's going to do to me. It just DOES it to me.

Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan

his eyes have this crazy hope and crazy longing and ridiculous giddiness in them, and even though i think it's completely stupid and even though i am never going to feel the things that he feels, at the very least i don't mind the idea of kissing him and seeing what happens. he is starting to blush from what he's said, and he's actually too shy to lean down to me, so i find myself lifting to kiss him, keeping my eyes open because i want to see his surprise and see his happiness because there's no way for me to see or even feel my own.

*****

"I just think that if you don't say the honest thing, sometimes the honest thing never becomes true, you know, and I--" she says, but then I hold up my finger, because I need to hear the thing she just said, and she talks too fast for me to keep up. I keep holding up my hand, thinking if you don't say the honest thing, it never becomes true.

William Shakespeare's Star Wars: Verily, A New Hope, by Ian Doescher

R2-D2:
Around both humans and the droids I must
Be seen to make such errant beeps and squeaks
That they shall think me simple. Truly, though,
Although with sounds oblique I speak to them,
I clearly see how I shall play my part,
And how a vast rebellion shall succeed
By wit and wisdom of a simple droid.