10 Quotes to Live By from the Novel Blackhorse Road by Merida Johns
1. Lucinda—Chapter 1: What defines a person are not one’s financial or physical attributes or beliefs. Instead, it’s the choices that one makes in surmounting life’s challenges.
2. Luci—Chapter 1: “Conformity may make life seem more comfortable. But blind obedience, in time, frustrates and disappoints us. It is conformity that robs us of our hope and deprives us of improving ourselves and creating a better and fairer world.”
3. Sam—Chapter 2: “You have three options when you hit a brick wall and can’t get what you want. You can be complacent and accept the situation and endure it. You can live in a fantasy world and pretend everything is fine. Or you can persist and find a way around the wall.”
4. Sam—Chapter 6: “Given the relevant facts and the chance to think things through, most people are smart, creative, and resourceful enough to make the right decisions.”
5. Luci—Chapter 14: Wallowing in self-pity is a waste of energy. Pessimism robs people of their freedom. It closes your mind to possibilities and opportunities. It makes you a victim of your own behavior.
6. Chris—Chapter 15: “. . . You know, there’s that old saying, ‘Better safe than sorry,’ but I like saying ‘Safe but sorry.’ I think my version is better. I don’t want to end my life, Luci, dwelling on all the should-haves or could-haves that I didn’t do because I was afraid.”
7. Barry—Chapter 15: “If you are going to get what you want in life, you have to have a contingency plan in your back pocket.”
8. Geneviève—Chapter 16: If you want to change people’s behavior, it’s best to give them a plausible option.
9. Geneviève—Chapter 17: “Live in the present, and you won’t be anxious or worried.”
10. Chris—Chapter 21: “You cannot contract out responsibility for exercising your conscience to religion, government, or other authority. To mindlessly follow authority thwarts one’s autonomy. After all is said and done, you are accountable for your choices. Those who believe that following the rules will excuse them from moral responsibility are living in fantasy land.”
