β
I'm selfish, impatient and a little insecure. I make mistakes, I am out of control and at times hard to handle. But if you can't handle me at my worst, then you sure as hell don't deserve me at my best.
β
β
Marilyn Monroe
β
You know you're in love when you can't fall asleep because reality is finally better than your dreams.
β
β
Dr. Seuss
β
I'm not upset that you lied to me, I'm upset that from now on I can't believe you.
β
β
Friedrich Nietzsche
β
If you can't explain it to a six year old, you don't understand it yourself.
β
β
Albert Einstein
β
Never trust anyone who has not brought a book with them.
β
β
Lemony Snicket (Horseradish: Bitter Truths You Can't Avoid)
β
Love is like the wind, you can't see it but you can feel it.
β
β
Nicholas Sparks (A Walk to Remember)
β
Here's to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They're not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can't do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.
β
β
Steve Jobs
β
It is what you read when you don't have to that determines what you will be when you can't help it.
β
β
Oscar Wilde
β
I love mankind ... it's people I can't stand!!
β
β
Charles M. Schulz
β
Just when you think it can't get any worse, it can. And just when you think it can't get any better, it can.
β
β
Nicholas Sparks (At First Sight (Jeremy Marsh & Lexie Darnell, #2))
β
Be nice to nerds. You may end up working for them. We all could.
β
β
Charles J. Sykes (Dumbing Down Our Kids: Why American Children Feel Good About Themselves But Can't Read, Write or Add)
β
What you're supposed to do when you don't like a thing is change it. If you can't change it, change the way you think about it. Don't complain.
β
β
Maya Angelou (Wouldn't Take Nothing for My Journey Now)
β
You can't live your life for other people. You've got to do what's right for you, even if it hurts some people you love.
β
β
Nicholas Sparks (The Notebook (The Notebook, #1))
β
I can't give you a sure-fire formula for success, but I can give you a formula for failure: try to please everybody all the time.
β
β
Herbert Bayard Swope
β
I don't want to be a man," said Jace. "I want to be an angst-ridden teenager who can't confront his own inner demons and takes it out verbally on other people instead."
"Well," said Luke, "you're doing a fantastic job.
β
β
Cassandra Clare (City of Ashes (The Mortal Instruments, #2))
β
You can't force love, I realized. It's there or it isn't. If it's not there, you've got to be able to admit it. If it is there, you've got to do whatever it takes to protect the ones you love.
β
β
Richelle Mead (Frostbite (Vampire Academy, #2))
β
You can't stay in your corner of the Forest waiting for others to come to you. You have to go to them sometimes.
β
β
A.A. Milne (Winnie-the-Pooh (Winnie-the-Pooh, #1))
β
Whether you think you can, or you think you can't--you're right.
β
β
Henry Ford
β
Faith is taking the first step even when you can't see the whole staircase.
β
β
Martin Luther King Jr.
β
I want to stand as close to the edge as I can without going over. Out on the edge you see all kinds of things you can't see from the center.
β
β
Kurt Vonnegut Jr. (Player Piano)
β
The best index to a person's character is how he treats people who can't do him any good, and how he treats people who can't fight back.
β
β
Abigail Van Buren
β
Courage is the most important of all the virtues because without courage, you can't practice any other virtue consistently.
β
β
Maya Angelou
β
I can't imagine a man really enjoying a book and reading it only once.
β
β
C.S. Lewis
β
If you can't fly then run, if you can't run then walk, if you can't walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward.
β
β
Martin Luther King Jr.
β
I generally avoid temptation unless I can't resist it.
β
β
Mae West
β
Everyone should be able to do one card trick, tell two jokes, and recite three poems, in case they are ever trapped in an elevator.
β
β
Lemony Snicket (Horseradish: Bitter Truths You Can't Avoid)
β
I can feel Peeta press his forehead into my temple and he asks, 'So now that you've got me, what are you going to do with me?' I turn into him. 'Put you somewhere you can't get hurt.
β
β
Suzanne Collins (The Hunger Games (The Hunger Games, #1))
β
This life is what you make it. No matter what, you're going to mess up sometimes, it's a universal truth. But the good part is you get to decide how you're going to mess it up. Girls will be your friends - they'll act like it anyway. But just remember, some come, some go. The ones that stay with you through everything - they're your true best friends. Don't let go of them. Also remember, sisters make the best friends in the world. As for lovers, well, they'll come and go too. And baby, I hate to say it, most of them - actually pretty much all of them are going to break your heart, but you can't give up because if you give up, you'll never find your soulmate. You'll never find that half who makes you whole and that goes for everything. Just because you fail once, doesn't mean you're gonna fail at everything. Keep trying, hold on, and always, always, always believe in yourself, because if you don't, then who will, sweetie? So keep your head high, keep your chin up, and most importantly, keep smiling, because life's a beautiful thing and there's so much to smile about.
β
β
Marilyn Monroe
β
I think you still love me, but we canβt escape the fact that Iβm not enough for you. I knew this was going to happen. So Iβm not blaming you for falling in love with another woman. Iβm not angry, either. I should be, but Iβm not. I just feel pain. A lot of pain. I thought I could imagine how much this would hurt, but I was wrong.
β
β
Haruki Murakami (South of the Border, West of the Sun)
β
If writers wrote as carelessly as some people talk, then adhasdh asdglaseuyt[bn[ pasdlgkhasdfasdf.
β
β
Lemony Snicket (Horseradish: Bitter Truths You Can't Avoid)
β
I mean, if the relationship can't survive the long term, why on earth would it be worth my time and energy for the short term?
β
β
Nicholas Sparks (The Last Song)
β
But I donβt want to go among mad people," Alice remarked.
"Oh, you canβt help that," said the Cat: "weβre all mad here. Iβm mad. Youβre mad."
"How do you know Iβm mad?" said Alice.
"You must be," said the Cat, "or you wouldnβt have come here.
β
β
Lewis Carroll (Alice in Wonderland)
β
A good library will never be too neat, or too dusty, because somebody will always be in it, taking books off the shelves and staying up late reading them.
β
β
Lemony Snicket (Horseradish: Bitter Truths You Can't Avoid)
β
People are more difficult to work with than machines. And when you break a person, he can't be fixed.
β
β
Rick Riordan (The Battle of the Labyrinth (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, #4))
β
You can't be happy unless you're unhappy sometimes".
β
β
Lauren Oliver (Delirium (Delirium, #1))
β
Top 15 Things Money Canβt Buy
Time. Happiness. Inner Peace. Integrity. Love. Character. Manners. Health. Respect. Morals. Trust. Patience. Class. Common sense. Dignity.
β
β
Roy T. Bennett (The Light in the Heart)
β
When someone is crying, of course, the noble thing to do is to comfort them. But if someone is trying to hide their tears, it may also be noble to pretend you do not notice them.
β
β
Lemony Snicket (Horseradish: Bitter Truths You Can't Avoid)
β
You're not to be so blind with patriotism that you can't face reality. Wrong is wrong, no matter who does it or says it.
β
β
Malcolm X (By Any Means Necessary (Malcolm X Speeches and Writings) (Malcolm X Speeches & Writings))
β
Only once in your life, I truly believe, you find someone who can completely turn your world around. You tell them things that youβve never shared with another soul and they absorb everything you say and actually want to hear more. You share hopes for the future, dreams that will never come true, goals that were never achieved and the many disappointments life has thrown at you. When something wonderful happens, you canβt wait to tell them about it, knowing they will share in your excitement. They are not embarrassed to cry with you when you are hurting or laugh with you when you make a fool of yourself. Never do they hurt your feelings or make you feel like you are not good enough, but rather they build you up and show you the things about yourself that make you special and even beautiful. There is never any pressure, jealousy or competition but only a quiet calmness when they are around. You can be yourself and not worry about what they will think of you because they love you for who you are. The things that seem insignificant to most people such as a note, song or walk become invaluable treasures kept safe in your heart to cherish forever. Memories of your childhood come back and are so clear and vivid itβs like being young again. Colours seem brighter and more brilliant. Laughter seems part of daily life where before it was infrequent or didnβt exist at all. A phone call or two during the day helps to get you through a long dayβs work and always brings a smile to your face. In their presence, thereβs no need for continuous conversation, but you find youβre quite content in just having them nearby. Things that never interested you before become fascinating because you know they are important to this person who is so special to you. You think of this person on every occasion and in everything you do. Simple things bring them to mind like a pale blue sky, gentle wind or even a storm cloud on the horizon. You open your heart knowing that thereβs a chance it may be broken one day and in opening your heart, you experience a love and joy that you never dreamed possible. You find that being vulnerable is the only way to allow your heart to feel true pleasure thatβs so real it scares you. You find strength in knowing you have a true friend and possibly a soul mate who will remain loyal to the end. Life seems completely different, exciting and worthwhile. Your only hope and security is in knowing that they are a part of your life.
β
β
Bob Marley
β
You can't measure the mutual affection of two human beings by the number of words they exchange.
β
β
Milan Kundera
β
Both Rowling and Meyer, theyβre speaking directly to young people. β¦ The real difference is that Jo Rowling is a terrific writer and Stephenie Meyer canβt write worth a darn. Sheβs not very good.
β
β
Stephen King
β
Money can't buy happiness, but it can make you awfully comfortable while you're being miserable.
β
β
Clare Boothe Luce
β
Every man I meet wants to protect me. I can't figure out what from.
β
β
Mae West
β
When I am with you, we stay up all night.
When you're not here, I can't go to sleep.
Praise God for those two insomnias!
And the difference between them.
β
β
Jalal ad-Din Muhammad ar-Rumi
β
Sometimes when I'm talking, my words can't keep up with my thoughts. I wonder why we think faster than we speak. Probably so we can think twice.
β
β
Bill Watterson
β
You can't depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus.
β
β
Mark Twain (A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court)
β
Our story has three parts: a beginning, a middle, and an end. And although this is the way all stories unfold, I still can't believe that ours didn't go on forever.
β
β
Nicholas Sparks (Dear John)
β
Most of all, I hate you because I think of you. Often. It's disgusting, and I can't stop.
β
β
Holly Black (The Cruel Prince (The Folk of the Air, #1))
β
One day you will kiss a man you can't breathe without, and find that breath is of little consequence.
β
β
Karen Marie Moning (Bloodfever (Fever, #2))
β
One thing you can't hide - is when you're crippled inside.
β
β
John Lennon
β
There are some things you can't share without ending up liking each other, and knocking out a twelve-foot mountain troll is one of them.
β
β
J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (Harry Potter, #1))
β
God can't give us peace and happiness apart from Himself because there is no such thing.
β
β
C.S. Lewis
β
You can't stop the future
You can't rewind the past
The only way to learn the secret
...is to press play.
β
β
Jay Asher (Thirteen Reasons Why)
β
Because you can't argue with all the fools in the world. It's easier to let them have their way, then trick them when they're not paying attention.
β
β
Christopher Paolini
β
Love can change a person the way a parent can change a baby- awkwardly, and often with a great deal of mess.
β
β
Lemony Snicket (Horseradish: Bitter Truths You Can't Avoid)
β
For those who believe in God, most of the big questions are answered. But for those of us who can't readily accept the God formula, the big answers don't remain stone-written. We adjust to new conditions and discoveries. We are pliable. Love need not be a command nor faith a dictum. I am my own god. We are here to unlearn the teachings of the church, state, and our educational system. We are here to drink beer. We are here to kill war. We are here to laugh at the odds and live our lives so well that Death will tremble to take us.
β
β
Charles Bukowski
β
Make your mistakes, take your chances, look silly, but keep on going. Donβt freeze up.
β
β
Thomas Wolfe (You Can't Go Home Again)
β
It's the questions we can't answer that teach us the most. They teach us how to think. If you give a man an answer, all he gains is a little fact. But give him a question and he'll look for his own answers.
β
β
Patrick Rothfuss (The Wise Manβs Fear (The Kingkiller Chronicle, #2))
β
It is a curious thing, the death of a loved one. We all know that our time in this world is limited, and that eventually all of us will end up underneath some sheet, never to wake up. And yet it is always a surprise when it happens to someone we know. It is like walking up the stairs to your bedroom in the dark, and thinking there is one more stair than there is. Your foot falls down, through the air, and there is a sickly moment of dark surprise as you try and readjust the way you thought of things.
β
β
Lemony Snicket (Horseradish: Bitter Truths You Can't Avoid)
β
You like someone who can't like you back because unrequited love can be survived in a way that once-requited love cannot.
β
β
John Green (Will Grayson, Will Grayson)
β
I can't eat and I can't sleep. I'm not doing well in terms of being a functional human, you know?
β
β
Ned Vizzini (It's Kind of a Funny Story)
β
Ginny!" said Mr. Weasley, flabbergasted. "Haven't I taught you anything? What have I always told you? Never trust anything that can think for itself if you can't see where it keeps its brain?
β
β
J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Harry Potter, #2))
β
You can only become truly accomplished at something you love. Donβt make money your goal. Instead pursue the things you love doing and then do them so well that people canβt take their eyes off of you.
β
β
Maya Angelou
β
because nerds like us are allowed to be unironically enthusiastic about stuff. Nerds are allowed to love stuff, like jump-up-and-down-in-the-chair-canβt-control-yourself love it. Hank, when people call people nerds, mostly what theyβre saying is βyou like stuff.β Which is just not a good insult at all. Like, βyou are too enthusiastic about the miracle of human consciousnessβ.
β
β
John Green
β
Iβve been fighting to be who I am all my life. Whatβs the point of being who I am, if I canβt have the person who was worth all the fighting for?
β
β
Stephanie Lennox (I Don't Remember You)
β
There must be something in books, something we canβt imagine, to make a woman stay in a burning house; there must be something there. You donβt stay for nothing.
β
β
Ray Bradbury (Fahrenheit 451)
β
You can't wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club.
β
β
Jack London
β
The most important kind of freedom is to be what you really are. You trade in your reality for a role. You trade in your sense for an act. You give up your ability to feel, and in exchange, put on a mask. There can't be any large-scale revolution until there's a personal revolution, on an individual level. It's got to happen inside first.
β
β
Jim Morrison
β
Sometimes beautiful things come into our lives out of nowhere. We can't always understand them, but we have to trust in them. I know you want to question everything, but sometimes it pays to just have a little faith.
β
β
Lauren Kate (Torment (Fallen, #2))
β
I hope you find someone you can't live without.I really do. And I hope you never have to know what it's like to have to try and live without them.
β
β
Kiera Cass (The Selection (The Selection, #1))
β
I'm afraid that sometimes you'll play lonely games too. Games you can't win 'cause you'll play against you.
β
β
Dr. Seuss
β
I felt like crying but nothing came out. it was just a sort of sad sickness, sick sad, when you can't feel any worse. I think you know it. I think everybody knows it now and then. but I think I have known it pretty often, too often.
β
β
Charles Bukowski (Tales of Ordinary Madness)
β
History does not always repeat itself. Sometimes it just yells, 'Can't you remember anything I told you?' and lets fly with a club.
β
β
John W. Campbell Jr.
β
If books could have more, give more, be more, show more, they would still need readers who bring to them sound and smell and light and all the rest that canβt be in books.
The book needs you.
β
β
Gary Paulsen (The Winter Room)
β
I don't want to be married just to be married. I can't think of anything lonelier than spending the rest of my life with someone I can't talk to, or worse, someone I can't be silent with.
β
β
Mary Ann Shaffer (The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society)
β
You donβt know what goes on in anyoneβs life but your own. And when you mess with one part of a personβs life, youβre not messing with just that part. Unfortunately, you canβt be that precise and selective. When you mess with one part of a personβs life, youβre messing with their entire life. Everything. . . affects everything.
β
β
Jay Asher (Thirteen Reasons Why)
β
An Unbreakable Vow?" said Ron, looking stunned. "Nah, he canβt have.... Are you sure?"
"Yes Iβm sure," said Harry. "Why, what does it mean?"
"Well, you canβt break an Unbreakable Vow..."
"Iβd worked that much out for myself, funnily enough.
β
β
J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Harry Potter, #6))
β
It hurts to let go. Sometimes it seems the harder you try to hold on to something or someone the more it wants to get away. You feel like some kind of criminal for having felt, for having wanted. For having wanted to be wanted. It confuses you, because you think that your feelings were wrong and it makes you feel so small because it's so hard to keep it inside when you let it out and it doesn't coma back. You're left so alone that you can't explain. Damn, there's nothing like that, is there? I've been there and you have too. You're nodding your head.
β
β
Henry Rollins (The Portable Henry Rollins)
β
Religion has actually convinced people that there's an invisible man living in the sky who watches everything you do, every minute of every day. And the invisible man has a special list of ten things he does not want you to do. And if you do any of these ten things, he has a special place, full of fire and smoke and burning and torture and anguish, where he will send you to live and suffer and burn and choke and scream and cry forever and ever 'til the end of time!
But He loves you. He loves you, and He needs money! He always needs money! He's all-powerful, all-perfect, all-knowing, and all-wise, somehow just can't handle money!
β
β
George Carlin
β
Sometimes, you read a book and it fills you with this weird evangelical zeal, and you become convinced that the shattered world will never be put back together unless and until all living humans read the book. And then there are books like An Imperial Affliction, which you can't tell people about, books so special and rare and yours that advertising your affection feels like betrayal
β
β
John Green (The Fault in Our Stars)
β
Too many of us are hung up on what we don't have, can't have, or won't ever have. We spend too much energy being down, when we could use that same energy β if not less of it β doing, or at least trying to do, some of the things we really want to do.
β
β
Terry McMillan (Disappearing Acts)
β
Lost love is still love. It takes a different form, that's all. You can't see their smile or bring them food or tousle their hair or move them around a dance floor. But when those senses weaken another heightens. Memory. Memory becomes your partner. You nurture it. You hold it. You dance with it.
β
β
Mitch Albom
β
I like to see people reunited, I like to see people run to each other, I like the kissing and the crying, I like the impatience, the stories that the mouth can't tell fast enough, the ears that aren't big enough, the eyes that can't take in all of the change, I like the hugging, the bringing together, the end of missing someone.
β
β
Jonathan Safran Foer (Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close)
β
You will lose someone you canβt live without,and your heart will be badly broken, and the bad news is that you never completely get over the loss of your beloved. But this is also the good news. They live forever in your broken heart that doesnβt seal back up. And you come through. Itβs like having a broken leg that never heals perfectlyβthat still hurts when the weather gets cold, but you learn to dance with the limp.
β
β
Anne Lamott
β
Usually we walk around constantly believing ourselves. "I'm okay" we say. "I'm alright". But sometimes the truth arrives on you and you can't get it off. That's when you realize that sometimes it isn't even an answer--it's a question. Even now, I wonder how much of my life is convinced.
β
β
Markus Zusak (The Book Thief)
β
We can't be afraid of change. You may feel very secure in the pond that you are in, but if you never venture out of it, you will never know that there is such a thing as an ocean, a sea. Holding onto something that is good for you now, may be the very reason why you don't have something better.
β
β
C. JoyBell C.
β
I'm coming back into focus when Caesar asks him if he has a girlfriend back home. Peeta hesitates, then gives an unconvincing shake of his head.
Handsome lad like you. There must be some special girl. Come on, whatβs her name?" says Caesar.
Peeta sighs. "Well, there is this one girl. Iβve had a crush on her ever since I can remember. But Iβm pretty sure she didnβt know I was alive until the reaping."
Sounds of sympathy from the crowd. Unrequited love they can relate to.
She have another fellow?" asks Caesar.
I donβt know, but a lot of boys like her," says Peeta.
So, hereβs what you do. You win, you go home. She canβt turn you down then, eh?" says Caesar encouragingly.
I donβt think itβs going to work out. Winning...wonβt help in my case," says Peeta.
Why ever not?" says Caesar, mystified.
Peeta blushes beet red and stammers out. "Because...because...she came here with me.
β
β
Suzanne Collins (The Hunger Games (The Hunger Games, #1))
β
Really, the combination of the scabs and the ointment looks hideous. I can't help enjoying his distress.
"Poor Finnick. Is this the first time in your life you haven't looked pretty?" I say.
"It must be. The sensation's completely new. How have you managed it all these years?" he asks.
"Just avoid mirrors. You'll forget about it," I say.
"Not if I keep looking at you," he says.
β
β
Suzanne Collins (Catching Fire (The Hunger Games, #2))
β
A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE ....
enough money within her control to move out
and rent a place of her own even if she never wants
to or needs to...
A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE ....
something perfect to wear if the employer or date of her
dreams wants to see her in an hour...
A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE ...
a youth she's content to leave behind....
A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE ....
a past juicy enough that she's looking forward to
retelling it in her old age....
A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE .....
a set of screwdrivers, a cordless drill, and a black
lace bra...
A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE ....
one friend who always makes her laugh... and one who
lets her cry...
A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE ....
a good piece of furniture not previously owned by anyone
else in her family...
A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE ....
eight matching plates, wine glasses with stems, and a
recipe for a meal that will make her guests feel honored...
A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE ....
a feeling of control over her destiny...
EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW...
how to fall in love without losing herself..
EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW...
HOW TO QUIT A JOB,
BREAK UP WITH A LOVER,
AND CONFRONT A FRIEND WITHOUT RUINING THE FRIENDSHIP...
EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW...
when to try harder... and WHEN TO WALK AWAY...
EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW...
that she can't change the length of her calves,
the width of her hips, or the nature of her parents..
EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW...
that her childhood may not have been perfect...but it's over...
EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW...
what she would and wouldn't do for love or more...
EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW...
how to live alone... even if she doesn't like it...
EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW...
whom she can trust,
whom she can't,
and why she shouldn't
take it personally...
EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW...
where to go...
be it to her best friend's kitchen table...
or a charming inn in the woods...
when her soul needs soothing...
EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW...
what she can and can't accomplish in a day...
a month...and a year...
β
β
Pamela Redmond Satran
β
Itβs probably not just by chance that Iβm alone. It would be very hard for a man to live with me, unless heβs terribly strong. And if heβs stronger than I, Iβm the one who canβt live with him. β¦ Iβm neither smart nor stupid, but I donβt think Iβm a run-of-the-mill person. Iβve been in business without being a businesswoman, Iβve loved without being a woman made only for love. The two men Iβve loved, I think, will remember me, on earth or in heaven, because men always remember a woman who caused them concern and uneasiness. Iβve done my best, in regard to people and to life, without precepts, but with a taste for justice.
β
β
Coco Chanel
β
Name one hero who was happy."
I considered. Heracles went mad and killed his family; Theseus lost his bride and father; Jason's children and new wife were murdered by his old; Bellerophon killed the Chimera but was crippled by the fall from Pegasus' back.
"You can't." He was sitting up now, leaning forward.
"I can't."
"I know. They never let you be famous AND happy." He lifted an eyebrow. "I'll tell you a secret."
"Tell me." I loved it when he was like this.
"I'm going to be the first." He took my palm and held it to his. "Swear it."
"Why me?"
"Because you're the reason. Swear it."
"I swear it," I said, lost in the high color of his cheeks, the flame in his eyes.
"I swear it," he echoed.
We sat like that a moment, hands touching. He grinned.
"I feel like I could eat the world raw.
β
β
Madeline Miller (The Song of Achilles)
β
Isabelle drifted over, Jace a pace behind her. She was wearing a long black dress with boots and an even longer cutaway coat of soft green velvet, the color of moss. "I can't believe you did it!" she exclaimed. "How did you get Magnus to let Jace leave?"
"Traded him for Alec," Clary said.
Isabelle looked mildly alarmed. "Not permanently?"
"No," said Jace. "Just for a few hours. Unless I don't come back," he added thoughtfully. "In which case, maybe he does get to keep Alec. Think of it as a lease with an option to buy."
Isabelle looked dubious. "Mom and Dad won't be pleased if they find out."
"That you freed a possible criminal by trading away your brother to a warlock who looks like a gay Sonic the Hedgehog and dresses like the Child Catcher from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang?" Simon inquired. "No, probably not.
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Cassandra Clare (City of Ashes (The Mortal Instruments, #2))
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What is family? They were the people who claimed you. In good, in bad, in parts or in whole, they were the ones who showed up, who stayed in there, regardless. It wasn't just about blood relations or shared chromosomes, but something wider, bigger. We had many families over time. Our family of origin, the family we created, and the groups you moved through while all of this was happening: friends, lovers, sometimes even strangers. None of them perfect, and we couldn't expect them to be. You can't make any one person your world. The trick was to take what each could give you and build your world from it.
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Sarah Dessen (Lock and Key)
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He was gone, and I did not have time to tell him what I had just now realized: that I forgave him, and that she forgave us, and that we had to forgive to survive in the labyrinth. There were so many of us who would have to live with things done and things left undone that day. Things that did not go right, things that seemed okay at the time because we could not see the future. If only we could see the endless string of consequences that result from our smallest actions. But we canβt know better until knowing better is useless. And as I walked back to give Takumiβs note to the Colonel, I saw that I would never know. I would never know her well enough to know her thoughts in those last minutes, would never know if she left us on purpose. But the not-knowing would not keep me from caring, and I would always love Alaska Young, my crooked neighbor, with all my crooked heart.
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John Green (Looking for Alaska)
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Therefore, dear Sir, love your solitude and try to sing out with the pain it causes you. For those who are near you are far away... and this shows that the space around you is beginning to grow vast.... be happy about your growth, in which of course you can't take anyone with you, and be gentle with those who stay behind; be confident and calm in front of them and don't torment them with your doubts and don't frighten them with your faith or joy, which they wouldn't be able to comprehend. Seek out some simple and true feeling of what you have in common with them, which doesn't necessarily have to alter when you yourself change again and again; when you see them, love life in a form that is not your own and be indulgent toward those who are growing old, who are afraid of the aloneness that you trust.... and don't expect any understanding; but believe in a love that is being stored up for you like an inheritance, and have faith that in this love there is a strength and a blessing so large that you can travel as far as you wish without having to step outside it.
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Rainer Maria Rilke (Letters to a Young Poet)
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It's much easier to not know things sometimes. Things change and friends leave. And life doesn't stop for anybody. I wanted to laugh. Or maybe get mad. Or maybe shrug at how strange everybody was, especially me. I think the idea is that every person has to live for his or her own life and than make the choice to share it with other people. You can't just sit their and put everybody's lives ahead of yours and think that counts as love. You just can't. You have to do things. I'm going to do what I want to do. I'm going to be who I really am. And I'm going to figure out what that is. And we could all sit around and wonder and feel bad about each other and blame a lot of people for what they did or didn't do or what they didn't know. I don't know. I guess there could always be someone to blame. It's just different. Maybe it's good to put things in perspective, but sometimes, I think that the only perspective is to really be there. Because it's okay to feel things. I was really there. And that was enough to make me feel infinite. I feel infinite.
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Stephen Chbosky (The Perks of Being a Wallflower)
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The spell. Victor said you had to want me... to care about me... for it to work." When he didn't say anything, I tried to grip his shirt, but my fingers were too weak. "Did you? Did you want me?"
His words came out thickly. "Yes, Roza. I did want you. I still do. I wish... we could be together."
"Then why did you lie to me?"
We reached the clinic, and he managed to open the door while still holding me. As soon as he stepped inside, he began yelling for help.
"Why did you lie?" I murmured again.
Still holding me in his arms, he looked down at me. I could hear voices and footsteps getting closer.
"Because we can't be together."
"Because of the age thing, right?" I asked. "Because you're my mentor?"
His fingertip gently wiped away a tear that had escaped down my cheek. "That's part of it," he said. "But also... well, you and I will both be Lissa's gaurdians someday. I need to protect her at all cost. If a pack of Strogoi come, I need to throw my body between them and her."
I know that. Of course that's what you have to do." The black sparkles were dancing in front of my eyes again. I was fading out.
"No. If I let myself love you, I won't throw myself in front of her. I'll throw myself in front of you.
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Richelle Mead (Vampire Academy (Vampire Academy, #1))
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You think because he doesn't love you that you are worthless. You think that because he doesn't want you anymore that he is right -- that his judgement and opinion of you are correct. If he throws you out, then you are garbage. You think he belongs to you because you want to belong to him. Don't. It's a bad word, 'belong.' Especially when you put it with somebody you love. Love shouldn't be like that. Did you ever see the way the clouds love a mountain? They circle all around it; sometimes you can't even see the mountain for the clouds. But you know what? You go up top and what do you see? His head. The clouds never cover the head. His head pokes through, beacuse the clouds let him; they don't wrap him up. They let him keep his head up high, free, with nothing to hide him or bind him. You can't own a human being. You can't lose what you don't own. Suppose you did own him. Could you really love somebody who was absolutely nobody without you? You really want somebody like that? Somebody who falls apart when you walk out the door? You don't, do you? And neither does he. You're turning over your whole life to him. Your whole life, girl. And if it means so little to you that you can just give it away, hand it to him, then why should it mean any more to him? He can't value you more than you value yourself.
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Toni Morrison
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Clary,
Despite everything, I can't bear the thought of this ring being lost forever, any more then I can bear the thought of leaving you forever. And though I have no choice about the one, at least I can choose about the other. I'm leaving you our family ring because you have as much right to it as I do.
I'm writing this watching the sun come up. You're asleep, dreams moving behind your restless eyelids. I wish I knew what you were thinking. I wish I could slip into your head and see the world the way you do. I wish I could see myself the way you do. But maybe I dont want to see that. Maybe it would make me feel even more than I already do that I'm perpetuating some kind of Great Lie on you, and I couldn't stand that.
I belong to you. You could do anything you wanted with me and I would let you. You could ask anything of me and I'd break myself trying to make you happy. My heart tells me this is the best and greatest feeling I have ever had. But my mind knows the difference between wanting what you can't have and wanting what you shouldn't want. And I shouldn't want you.
All night I've watched you sleeping, watched the moonlight come and go, casting its shadows across your face in black and white. I've never seen anything more beautiful. I think of the life we could have had if things were different, a life where this night is not a singular event, separate from everything else that's real, but every night. But things aren't different, and I can't look at you without feeling like I've tricked you into loving me.
The truth no one is willing to say out loud is that no one has a shot against Valentine but me. I can get close to him like no one else can. I can pretend I want to join him and he'll believe me, up until that last moment where I end it all, one way or another. I have something of Sebastian's; I can track him to where my father's hiding, and that's what I'm going to do. So I lied to you last night. I said I just wanted one night with you. But I want every night with you. And that's why I have to slip out of your window now, like a coward. Because if I had to tell you this to your face, I couldn't make myself go.
I don't blame you if you hate me, I wish you would. As long as I can still dream, I will dream of you.
_Jace
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Cassandra Clare (City of Glass (The Mortal Instruments, #3))
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When God Created Mothers"
When the Good Lord was creating mothers, He was into His sixth day of "overtime" when the angel appeared and said. "You're doing a lot of fiddling around on this one."
And God said, "Have you read the specs on this order?" She has to be completely washable, but not plastic. Have 180 moveable parts...all replaceable. Run on black coffee and leftovers. Have a lap that disappears when she stands up. A kiss that can cure anything from a broken leg to a disappointed love affair. And six pairs of hands."
The angel shook her head slowly and said. "Six pairs of hands.... no way."
It's not the hands that are causing me problems," God remarked, "it's the three pairs of eyes that mothers have to have."
That's on the standard model?" asked the angel. God nodded.
One pair that sees through closed doors when she asks, 'What are you kids doing in there?' when she already knows. Another here in the back of her head that sees what she shouldn't but what she has to know, and of course the ones here in front that can look at a child when he goofs up and say. 'I understand and I love you' without so much as uttering a word."
God," said the angel touching his sleeve gently, "Get some rest tomorrow...."
I can't," said God, "I'm so close to creating something so close to myself. Already I have one who heals herself when she is sick...can feed a family of six on one pound of hamburger...and can get a nine year old to stand under a shower."
The angel circled the model of a mother very slowly. "It's too soft," she sighed.
But tough!" said God excitedly. "You can imagine what this mother can do or endure."
Can it think?"
Not only can it think, but it can reason and compromise," said the Creator.
Finally, the angel bent over and ran her finger across the cheek.
There's a leak," she pronounced. "I told You that You were trying to put too much into this model."
It's not a leak," said the Lord, "It's a tear."
What's it for?"
It's for joy, sadness, disappointment, pain, loneliness, and pride."
You are a genius, " said the angel.
Somberly, God said, "I didn't put it there.
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Erma Bombeck (When God Created Mothers)