What motivates Montag, Clarisse, Mildred, Beatty, and Faber in the novel Fahrenheit 451?Please give me a quotation from the story that illustrates...

Fahrenheit 451 is a wonderful book,
and anything I can do to help you better understand it would be my
pleasure.

Your question deals with motivation, which in
essences asks "why do the people in the book do what they do."  I take it that you are
asking from a general standpoint, and not in relation to any particular part of the
book.  As such, let's take a
look.

1. Montag --
   What motivates this guy?  That's a difficult question to answer because Montag is the
   character who undergoes the most changes in the book.  What motivates him at the
   beginning, middle, and end changes.  Generally, if I had to put my opinion in, I would
   say that Montag is motivated by "truth."  His character has an inquiring mind, even if
   it is slow to get moving, and his actions in the story seem to be based around "getting
   to the bottom" of why books are banned and whether the life they are living is a proper
   one.  I like this as a quote about Montag: "You're not
   like the others. I've seen a few; I know. When I talk, you look at
   me. When I said something about the moon, you looked at the moon,
   last night. The others would never do that. The others would walk off and leave me
   talking. Or threaten me. No one has time any more for anyone
   else. You're one of the few who put up with me. That's why I think
   it's so strange you're a fireman, it just doesn't seem right for you,
   somehow."


2. Clarisse
   -- Clarisse would appear to be motivated by beauty, creativity, and an inquisitive
   nature.  She desires freedom of thought and expression and her lifestyle revolves around
   that.  As a quote about her, this is a good one: "She didn't want to know how
   a thing was done, but why. That can be embarrassing. You ask
   Why to a lot of things and you wind up very
   unhappy indeed, if you keep at it. The poor girl's better off
   dead."


3. Mildred --
   The character of Mildred is motivated to maintain the "status quo."  She
   likes the life she has (at least that is what she says...her subconscious may be saying
   otherwise) and doesn't like her husband rocking the boat.  At least on the dominant
   level, she wants things to keep going the way they are.  Here is a good quote for
   her...it isn't about her, but it is something she says that sums up
   her character pretty well: "She's nothing to me; she shouldn't have had books.
   It was her responsibility, she should have thought of that. I hate her. She's got you
   going and next thing you know we'll be out, no house, no job,
   nothing."


4. Beatty --
   Beatty is probably the most complex character in the book.  Like Faber,
   he is "ideologically motivated."  He does what he does in the book because he believes
   it serves a greater cause (in Beatty's case, he feels it is for the good of society.)
    Here is a quote from him that shows you what he is like: "She didn't want to
   know how a thing was done, but why. That can be embarrassing. You ask Why to a lot of
   things and you wind up very unhappy indeed, if you keep at it. The poor girl's better
   off dead." Incidentally, this quote also tells you more about Clarisse as
   well.


5. Faber --
   Faber, like Beatty, is motivated by ideology.  In his case, though, it is the idea of
   preserving knowledge contrary to the cultural norm. He is motivated by the love of
   knowledge and a feeling that the current social situation is wrong.  Unfortunately, he
   is also afraid: "So few want to be rebels anymore. And out of those few, most,
   like myself, scare
   easily."
   

Like all good
characters, this is just a quick sum-up of their
motivations.