Young adult fiction gets a bad rap at times, but there’s more depth to it than you might realize. In the process of putting together my author business game plan for 2016, I got a little sidetracked researching inspiring quotes. To whet your appetite, here are ten quotes from young adult fiction to live by in 2016 that are validated by none other than prolific entrepreneur Henry Ford himself, a man who knew how to persevere more than most.
“You could rattle the stars,” she whispered. “You could do anything, if you only dared. And deep down, you know it, too. That’s what scares you most.”—Sarah J. Maas, Throne of Glass
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“Some walks you have to take alone.”—Suzanne Collins, Mockingjay
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“Don’t be afraid of death; be afraid of an unlived life. You don’t have to live forever, you just have to live.”—Natalie Babbit, Tuck Everlasting
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“It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live.”—J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
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“Life, with its rules, its obligations, and its freedoms, is like a sonnet: You’re given the form, but you have to write the sonnet yourself.”—Madeleine L’Engle, A Wrinkle In Time
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“Becoming fearless isn’t the point. That’s impossible. It’s learning how to control your fear, and how to be free from it.”—Veronica Roth, Divergent
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“Child, no one is ever ready for anything. I would never doom you to that. What sort of adventureless life would that be?”—Alethea Kontis, Enchanted
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“Maybe some people are just meant to be in the same story.”―Jandy Nelson, I’ll Give You the Sun
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“There’s no shame in fear, my father told me, what matters is how we face it.”—George R.R. Martin, A Clash of Kings
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“Isn’t it nice to think that tomorrow is a new day with no mistakes in it yet?”— Lucy Maud Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables.
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At the end of the day, young adult literature explores the same themes we all wrestle with, only from a teen’s perspective. Whether you gravitate to thriller, fantasy, adventure, dystopian or romance, find a quotable nugget from young adult literature this year and hold onto it as you live out your dreams.