"We were nostalgic for a time that wasn't yet over."
-We Are Okay by Nina LaCour
"How could Margot say something like that?
What made sex so integral that people couldn't separate the emotional love they felt from one physical act?
Love shouldn't hinge solely on exposing your physical body to another person. Love was intangible. Universal. It was whatever someone wanted it to be and should be respected as such. For Alice, it was staying up late and talking about nothing and everything and anything because you didn't want to sleep - you'd miss them too much. It was catching yourself smiling at them because wow, how does this person exist?? before they caught you. It was the intimacy of shared secrets. The comfort of unconditional acceptance. It was a confidence in knowing no matter what happened that person would always be there for you."
-Let's Talk About Love by Claire Kann
What made sex so integral that people couldn't separate the emotional love they felt from one physical act?
Love shouldn't hinge solely on exposing your physical body to another person. Love was intangible. Universal. It was whatever someone wanted it to be and should be respected as such. For Alice, it was staying up late and talking about nothing and everything and anything because you didn't want to sleep - you'd miss them too much. It was catching yourself smiling at them because wow, how does this person exist?? before they caught you. It was the intimacy of shared secrets. The comfort of unconditional acceptance. It was a confidence in knowing no matter what happened that person would always be there for you."
-Let's Talk About Love by Claire Kann
"Nearly all marriages, even happy ones, are mistakes.
In the sense that almost certainly
(in a more perfect world, or even with a little more
care in this very imperfect one)
both partners might be found more suitable mates.
But the real soul-mate is the one you are actually married to."
-J.R.R. Tolkien
In the sense that almost certainly
(in a more perfect world, or even with a little more
care in this very imperfect one)
both partners might be found more suitable mates.
But the real soul-mate is the one you are actually married to."
-J.R.R. Tolkien
"leaving is not enough; you must
stay gone. train your heart
like a dog. change the locks
even on the house he's never
visited. you lucky, lucky girl.
you have an apartment
just your size. a bathtub
full of tea. a heart the size
of Arizona, but not nearly
so arid. don't wish away
your cracked past, your
crooked toes, your problems
are papier mache puppets
you made or bough because the vendor
at the market was so compelling you just
had to have them. you had to have him.
and you did. and now you pull down
the bridge between your houses,
you make him call before
he visits, you take a lover
for granted, you take
a lover who looks at you
like maybe you are magic. make
the first bottle you consume
in this place a relic. place it
on whatever altar you fashion
with a knife and five cranberries.
don't lose too much weight.
stupid girls are always trying
to disappear as revenge. and you
are not stupid. you loved a man
with more hands than a parade
of beggars, and here you stand. heart
like a four-poster bed. heart like a canvas.
heart leaking something so strong
they can smell it in the street."
-Frida Kahlo to Marty McConnell by Marty McConnell
stay gone. train your heart
like a dog. change the locks
even on the house he's never
visited. you lucky, lucky girl.
you have an apartment
just your size. a bathtub
full of tea. a heart the size
of Arizona, but not nearly
so arid. don't wish away
your cracked past, your
crooked toes, your problems
are papier mache puppets
you made or bough because the vendor
at the market was so compelling you just
had to have them. you had to have him.
and you did. and now you pull down
the bridge between your houses,
you make him call before
he visits, you take a lover
for granted, you take
a lover who looks at you
like maybe you are magic. make
the first bottle you consume
in this place a relic. place it
on whatever altar you fashion
with a knife and five cranberries.
don't lose too much weight.
stupid girls are always trying
to disappear as revenge. and you
are not stupid. you loved a man
with more hands than a parade
of beggars, and here you stand. heart
like a four-poster bed. heart like a canvas.
heart leaking something so strong
they can smell it in the street."
-Frida Kahlo to Marty McConnell by Marty McConnell
"Bod shrugged. 'So?' he said. 'It's only death. I mean, all fo my best friends are dead.'
'Yes.' Silas hesitated. 'They are. And they are, for the most part, done with the world. You are not. You're alive, Bod. That means you have infinite potential. You can do anything, make anything, dream anything. If you change the world, the world will change. Potential. Once you're dead, it's gone. Over. You've made what you've made, dreamed your dream, written your nam. You may be buried here, you may even walk. But that potential is finished."
-The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
'Yes.' Silas hesitated. 'They are. And they are, for the most part, done with the world. You are not. You're alive, Bod. That means you have infinite potential. You can do anything, make anything, dream anything. If you change the world, the world will change. Potential. Once you're dead, it's gone. Over. You've made what you've made, dreamed your dream, written your nam. You may be buried here, you may even walk. But that potential is finished."
-The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
"There's a Japanese phrase that I like: koi no yokan. It doesn't mean love at first sight. It's closer to love at second sight. It's the feeling when you meet someone that you're going to fall in love with them. Maybe you don't love them right away, but it's inevitable that you will."
-The Sun Is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon
-The Sun Is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon
"We each get just a few years to be perfect. That's what I'd been sold. To be young and smooth and decorative and collectible. I was missing my window, I could feel it pulling at my navel (my obsessively hidden, hated navel), and I scrabbled, desperate and frantic. Deep down, in my honest places, I knew it was already gone - I had stretch marks and cellulite long before twenty - but they tell you that if you hate yourself hard enough, you can grab a tail feather or two of perfection."
-Shrill by Lindy West
-Shrill by Lindy West
"So, what do you do when you're too big, in a world where bigness is cast not only as aesthetically objectionable, but also as a moral failing? You fold yourself up like origami, you make yourself smaller in other ways, you take up less space with your personality, since you can't with your body. You diet. You starve, you run till you taste blood in your throat, you count out your almonds, you try to buy back your humanity with pounds of flesh."
-Shrill by Lindy West
-Shrill by Lindy West
"Before I can even answer her, Millie starts up again. 'Do you ever sense a little silver sliver of sadness around your happy memories?'
'I'm not sure what you mean...'
'I do. There's something about remembering that just isn't the same as the real thing. No matter how happy it makes you feel. When you remember something, you have to recognize that the moment will never happen again."
-Something in Between by Melissa de la Cruz
'I'm not sure what you mean...'
'I do. There's something about remembering that just isn't the same as the real thing. No matter how happy it makes you feel. When you remember something, you have to recognize that the moment will never happen again."
-Something in Between by Melissa de la Cruz
"But I don't like it, okay? I don't like how everything is changing. It's like when you're a kid, you think that things like the holidays are meant to show you how things always stay the same, how you have the same celebration year after year, and that's why it's so special. But the older you get, the more you realize that, yes, there are all these things that link you to the past, and you're using the same words and singing the same songs that have always been there for you, but each time, things have shifted, and you have to deal with that shift. Because maybe you don't notice it every single day. Maybe it's only on days like this."
-Twelve Days of Dash and Lily by David Leviathan
-Twelve Days of Dash and Lily by David Leviathan
"And I knew that there was something about me that Mrs. Quintana saw and loved. And even though I felt it was a beautiful thing, I also felt it was a weight. Not that she meant it to be a weight. But love was always something heavy for me. Something I had to carry."
-Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz
-Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz
"Parents forget what it's like to change so quickly, to feel completely yourself one minute, then the next minute it's like a total stranger wrapped themselves in your skin. But not Mom. Mom was like a mood meteorologist, always ahead of the curve, seemingly unfazed by my adolescent whims."
-Kids of Appetite by David Arnold
-Kids of Appetite by David Arnold
"Anyone who has actually been that sad can tell you that there's nothing beautiful or literary or mysterious about depression.
Depression is like a heaviness that you can't ever escape. It crushes down on you, making even the smallest things like tying your shoes or chewing on toast seem like a twenty-mile hike uphill. Depression is a party of you; it's in your bones and your blood. If I know anything about it, this is what I know: It's impossible to escape."
-My Heart and Other Black Holes by Jasmine Warga
Depression is like a heaviness that you can't ever escape. It crushes down on you, making even the smallest things like tying your shoes or chewing on toast seem like a twenty-mile hike uphill. Depression is a party of you; it's in your bones and your blood. If I know anything about it, this is what I know: It's impossible to escape."
-My Heart and Other Black Holes by Jasmine Warga
"There is was again. Fate. As a child, that word was often my only companion. It whispered to me from dark corners during lonely nights. It was the song of the birds in spring and the call of the wind through bare branches on a cold winter afternoon. Fate. Both my anguish and my solace. My escort and my cage."
-The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender by Leslye Walton
-The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender by Leslye Walton
"For a very long time, Viviane and Jack lived in that world people inhabit before love. Some people called that place friendship; others called it confusing. Viviane found it a pleasant place with an altitude that only occasionally made her nauseous."
-The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender by Leslye Walton
-The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender by Leslye Walton
"'So why does our writing matter, again?' they ask.
Because of the spirit, I say. Because of the heart. Writing and reading decrease our sense of isolation. They depend and widen and expand our sense of life: they feed the soul. When writers make us shake our heads with the exactness of their prose and their truths, and even make us laugh about ourselves or life, our buoyancy is restored. We are given a shot at dancing with, or at least clapping along with, the absurdity of life, instead of being squashed by it over and over again. It's like singing on a boat during a terrible storm at sea. You can't stop the raging storm, but singing can change the hearts and spirits of the people who are together on that ship."
-Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott
Because of the spirit, I say. Because of the heart. Writing and reading decrease our sense of isolation. They depend and widen and expand our sense of life: they feed the soul. When writers make us shake our heads with the exactness of their prose and their truths, and even make us laugh about ourselves or life, our buoyancy is restored. We are given a shot at dancing with, or at least clapping along with, the absurdity of life, instead of being squashed by it over and over again. It's like singing on a boat during a terrible storm at sea. You can't stop the raging storm, but singing can change the hearts and spirits of the people who are together on that ship."
-Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott
"Why Nathaniel? As in why did I fall in love with him?" I nodded. "Oh, I don't know. Why does anyone fall in love with anyone? I don't believe we each have some single special person waiting for us out there, if that's what you're getting at. I've been in love too many times over the years to buy into that old canard. It's more a question of timing, you know? As if we all have these elaborate locks inside our hearts that are constantly changing shape, and every once in a while, someone happens along with the perfect key. Love is nothing more than a fortuitous collision of circumstances. And then you discover you've ended up spending fifty years with someone."
-Thanks for the Trouble by Tommy Wallach
-Thanks for the Trouble by Tommy Wallach
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