"Frankenstein" by Mary Shelley

Kindle edition here.

• "I felt my heart glow with an enthusiasm which elevates me to heaven, for nothing contributes so much to tranquilize the mind as a steady purpose - a point from on which the soul may fix its intellectual eye."
• "But I have one want which I have never yet been able to satisfy, and the absence of the object of which I now feel as a most severe evil. I have no friend . . .when I am glowing with enthusiasm of success, there will be none to participate my joy; if I am assailed by disappointment, no one will endeavour to sustain me in dejection. I shall commit my thoughts to paper, it is true; but that is a poor medium for the communication of feelings . . . I have no one near me, gentle yet courageous, possessed of a cultivated as well as of a capacious mind, whose tastes are like my own, to approve or amend my plans."
• "He is so gentle, yet so wise; his mind is so cultivated, and when he speaks, although his words are culled with the choicest art, yet they flow with rapidly and unparalleled eloquence."

"Sidelights on Relativity" by Albert Einstein

Kindle edition here.

• "One reason why mathematics enjoys special esteem, above all other sciences, is that its laws are absolutely certain and indisputable, while those of all other sciences are to some extent debatable and in constant danger of being overthrown by newly discovered facts."

• "Newton's theory is probably the greatest stride ever made in the effort towards the causal nexus of natural phenomena."

• "And yet this theory evoked a lively sense of discomfort among Newton's contemporaries, because it seemed to be in conflict with the principle springing from the rest of experience, that there can be reciprocal action only through contact, and not through immediate action at a distance."

"The Future of an Illusion" by Sigmund Freud

The Future of an Illusion (by Sigmund Freud) - the Kindle edition.

•  "The one person this publication may injure is myself."

•  "It is possible that cultural development lie ahead of us in which the satisfaction of yet other wishes, which are entirely permissible today, will appear just as unacceptable as cannibalism is today." 

• "It goes without saying that a civilization which leaves so large a number of its participants unsatisfied and drives them into revolt neither has nor deserves prospect of a lasting experience." 

• "scientific work is the only road which can lead us to a knowledge of reality outside ourselves. It is once again merely an illusion to expect anything from intuition and introspection; they can give us nothing but particulars about our own mental life, which are hard to interpret 

• "Civilization has little to fear from educated people and brainworkers."

• "But surely infantilism is destined to be surmounted. Men cannot remain children for ever; they must in the end go out into the 'hostile life'. We may call this 'education to reality'."

• "The voice of the intellect is a soft one, but it does not rest till it has gained a hearing." 

• "in the long run nothing can withstand reason and experience" 

• "No, our science is no illusion. But an illusion would be to suppose that what science cannot give us we can get elsewhere."

"Cat's Cradle" by Kurt Vonnegut

Kindle edition and paperback.

• "People have to talk about something just to keep their voice boxes in working order, so they'll have good voice boxes in case there's ever anything really meaningful to say."
• "The brainless serenity of charwomen and janitors working late at night came over us. In a messy world we were at least making our little corner clean."
• "Americans are forever searching for love in forms it never takes, in places it can never be."
• "You're looking at the world's champion mistakemaker"
• "All the true things I am about to tell you are shameless lies."
• "Anyone unable to understand how a useful religion can be found on lies, will not understant this book either."