Ripples on a pond cannot touch a bird hovering above it. - John C. Wright

Sometimes the best in people comes out during emergencies. Sometimes not.

What can you do?"
"I can bring you in dream to one who dreams of you."
"Will that help me?"
"No. But you will come, because you will hope that it will.

Quentin looked glum and shook his head. “Unleashing the appetites is not freedom, but another type of slavery. Freedom in the absence of virtue will destroy a country as quickly as any tyranny.”
Victor said, “Virtue imposed from without is not virtue at all, but merely prudence. A man who avoids lying merely because a law tells him to tell the truth will avoid telling the truth as soon as the law tells him to lie.”