Top 150 A.G. Riddle Quotes (2025 Update)

1. “A healthy person has a hundred wishes, but a sick person has only one.”

— A.G. Riddle

2. “Our genes might control the possibilities, but epigenetics determines our destiny.”

— A.G. Riddle

3. “Today’s decisions are tomorrow’s reality.”

— A.G. Riddle

4. “To me, this is what great books are about, revealing our own lives in a way only stories can; we see ourselves in the characters, our own struggles and shortcomings, in a way that’s nonthreatening and nonjudgmental. We learn from the characters; we take those lessons and inspiration back to the real world. I believe that a good book leaves its readers better than they were before.”

— A.G. Riddle

5. “Maybe a man can’t escape his fate. No matter what you do, you can’t change what you really are, what’s deep down inside you, supposedly dead and buried but driving you all along.”

— A.G. Riddle

6. “There’s a big difference between a reason and an excuse. There’s a reason why Conner’s life was hard. And yours, too. But you never let it be an excuse. Responsibility is the difference. You took responsibility for your own actions.”

— A.G. Riddle

7. “The strongest friendships and the strongest relationships are forged in the hottest fires.”

— A.G. Riddle

8. “The human race is the biggest mass murderer of all time.”

— A.G. Riddle

9. “We attack whatever is different, anything we don’t understand, anything that might change our world, our environment, reduce our chances of survival. Racism, class warfare, sexism, east versus west, north and south, capitalism and communism, democracy and dictatorships, Islam and Christianity, Israel and Palestine, they’re all different faces of the same war: the war for a homogeneous human race, an end to our differences.”

— A.G. Riddle

10. “Courtesy is costless and benefits all involved.”

— A.G. Riddle

11. “Yes, it’s a lie, but the media repeated it, and a lie repeated becomes perception, and perception is reality.”

— A.G. Riddle

12. “True knowledge is earned, not given.”

— A.G. Riddle

13. “Last night I gave birth to a rhinoceros. Not just any rhino, mind you: a pregnant rhino, with twins. And three horns. Lots of horns. I birthed a double-pregnant, triple-horned rhino. That’s what it feels like, at least.”

— A.G. Riddle

14. “If you fly too high, the sun will melt your wings. If you fly too low, the sea’s dampness will weigh you down. The story rang true to Desmond. The market’s exuberance and implosion were in league with the allegory of Icarus, but so was life. People who flew too high – who lived beyond their means and ability – were bound for failure. As were those who never took a chance. Despite.”

— A.G. Riddle

15. “It was history repeating itself. The same players, playing out a different game, with the same end, on a different stage.”

— A.G. Riddle

16. “Sometimes there’s nothing left to do but enjoy the time you have left. There’s nothing wrong with that.”

— A.G. Riddle

17. “Survival of the fittest is a scientific fact, but it is a cruel ethic; the way of beasts, not a civilized society.”

— A.G. Riddle

18. “The worst thing you can do for a child is give him everything he wants. Humans should grow up a little hungry, struggle a little, be made to strive for something. That’s what builds character. Struggle reveals who we really are. That journey shows us what we want from this world.”

— A.G. Riddle

19. “I guess we’re all capable of evil, under the right circumstances.”

— A.G. Riddle

20. “Life is uncertain; in the end we control only a single thing: our own thoughts. He.”

— A.G. Riddle

21. “Religion is our desperate attempt to understand our world. And our past. We live in darkness, surrounded by mysteries. Where did we come from? What is our purpose? What will happen to us after we die? Religion also gives us something more: a code of conduct, a blueprint of right and wrong, a guide to human decency. Just like any other tool, it can be misused.”

— A.G. Riddle

22. “We call this quantum entity that links all humans the Origin Entity. Investigating its creation, our creation, is our great work. We call it ‘The Origin Mystery.’ We believe the Origin Entity exerts influence over the entire universe, that it is both the origin point and the final destination for human consciousness.”

— A.G. Riddle

23. “I wonder what the world would be like if we could all glimpse our future before every major decision. Maybe that’s what stories are for: so we can learn from people living similar lives, with similar troubles.”

— A.G. Riddle

24. “Sacrifice. The hardest part isn’t giving your life for the cause, it’s knowing what your sacrifice and decisions will do to those you love.”

— A.G. Riddle

25. “Dream big, work hard, live forever – that’s the promise we held out to the world that day.”

— A.G. Riddle

26. “Great marketing can sell an inferior product for a short time. Only a strong product can sell itself.”

— A.G. Riddle

27. “The sun dims and sometimes it goes out completely. But the sun always rises again. Time heals all wounds, but enduring those times is what defines us. We have to take care of ourselves during the winters of our lives. I hope you will.”

— A.G. Riddle

28. “The war is always the same, only the names and places change. There are demons upon this earth. They live in our hearts and minds.”

— A.G. Riddle

29. “The rate at which time passes changes throughout the universe, depending on gravity and velocity.”

— A.G. Riddle

30. “Life is a test we take every day. You must focus. You must be there for them when they need you.”

— A.G. Riddle

31. “Yes, it’s a lie, but the media repeated it, and a lie repeated becomes perception, and perception is reality. Perception is also very hard to change. When the plague went global, everyone wanted someone to blame.”

— A.G. Riddle

32. “He refused to think about it. Qian’s words echoed to him: “A mind that dwells in the past builds a prison it cannot escape. Control your mind, or it will control you, and you will never break through the walls it builds.” Milo.”

— A.G. Riddle

33. “This was the dark side of the human reality: with no conflict, no challenge, the fire within winks out and without the flame, society stagnates, slipping into a slow decline.”

— A.G. Riddle

34. “It’s always the same war. Only the names of the dead change. It’s always about one thing: which group of rich men get to divvy up the spoils.”

— A.G. Riddle

35. “The journey is the destination. Finding the answers for yourself, achieving understanding, is part of your journey.”

— A.G. Riddle

36. “While the world around him was changing, Ares was staying the same. He was truly a relic, a man out of time and out of touch. There were no battles left for him to fight, no great campaign, no reason to exist.”

— A.G. Riddle

37. “Pierce names her Katherine Warner. The others take new names: Patrick Pierce becomes Tom Warner, Mallory Craig becomes Howard Keegan, and Dieter Kane becomes Dorian Sloane.”

— A.G. Riddle

38. “Humans are actually reservoir hosts for countless bacteria and viruses that haven’t even been classified yet. About twenty percent of the genetic information in the nose doesn’t match any known or cataloged organism. In the gut, forty to fifty percent of all the DNA is from bacteria and viruses that have never been classified.”

— A.G. Riddle

39. “The piano keys represent the genome. We each get different keys, and the keys don’t change throughout our life: we die with the same piano keys, or genome, we’re born with. What changes is the sheet music: the epigenetics. That sheet of music determines what tune is played – what genes are expressed – and those genes determine our traits – everything from IQ to hair color.”

— A.G. Riddle

40. “I’m terrified. Even more terrified than this morning, when I thought he was going to roll over in bed, pinch me on the cheek, and say, “Fun times, Harp. Thanks for the memories.” Wink. “Catch ya later.”

— A.G. Riddle

41. “Why is it that we only appreciate things we’re at risk of losing?”

— A.G. Riddle

42. “It’s a lot less scary than the alternatives: an organized conspiracy or the worst possibility – a natural occurrence, something that could happen anywhere, anytime. All the alternatives are ongoing threats. The world doesn’t need an ongoing threat. They need a crazy lone gunman, presumed dead. Or better yet, captured and punished. The world is a desperate place; catching and killing a villain puts a win on the board and gives everyone a little more hope that we might get through this.”

— A.G. Riddle

43. “Mental work is like a vitamin a person needs every day. A muscle that otherwise atrophies with disuse.”

— A.G. Riddle

44. “As I said, gravity slows time down. The stronger the gravity, the slower time passes. So the closer to Earth you are, the slower time goes. If you get close enough to very, very strong gravity, say a black hole, time almost stands still. If you crossed the event horizon of a black hole in a spaceship, you would watch the entire fate of the universe unfold in the seconds before you were sucked into the center.”

— A.G. Riddle

45. “That’s what life is about: finding something you can do that no one else can, and working your hardest at it. It’s about finding someone you love like no one else, someone who loves you like no one else does.”

— A.G. Riddle

46. “The speed of light. It’s the universal constant. It never changes, no matter where you are.”

— A.G. Riddle

47. “He jerked the man into the dark corridor, and they set out again. Dorian was glad to be out of the humid, freakish place with the snakes and flying invisible birds, and who knew what else. He wanted to barricade the entrance, ensuring that nothing made it out, but there was no time.”

— A.G. Riddle

48. “There’s nothing left to do. No. It wasn’t entirely true. She was waiting for him. His bed was empty, but the house wasn’t. He could already smell breakfast cooking. He crept down the stairs, careful not to wake his.”

— A.G. Riddle

49. “The quintessential human trait: imagination, fiction, simulation. Powered by energy our brain could use.” “Yes. It’s what makes us completely different from any species before us on this planet. It has been the singular key to all of our progress. And it’s part of a pattern. It points to the path of our species.”

— A.G. Riddle

50. “David had spent the last fourteen days, while Kate was away, learning how to operate the ship’s systems. He was still learning them. Kate had enabled the voice command routines to help with any commands David couldn’t figure out. “Alpha, what is Dr. Warner’s location?” David asked. The disembodied computer voice of the Alpha Lander boomed into the small room. “That information is classified.” “Why?” “You are not a senior member of the research staff.”

— A.G. Riddle