Elysian Quotes

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They told me to take a streetcar named Desire and then transfer to one called Cemeteries and ride six blocks and get off at - Elysian Fields!
Tennessee Williams (A Streetcar Named Desire)
Immortal amarant, a flower which once In paradise, fast by the tree of life, Began to bloom; but soon for man's offence To heaven removed, where first it grew, there grows, And flowers aloft, shading the fount of life, And where the river of bliss through midst of heaven Rolls o'er elysian flowers her amber stream: With these that never fade the spirits elect Bind their resplendent locks.
John Milton (Paradise Lost)
Rubbing noses with me, she laughed, and I swear the Elysian night sang with the sound of it.
Jovee Winters
Nothing remains but desire, and desire comes howling down Elysian Fields like a mistral.
Walker Percy (The Moviegoer)
Claire "The Elysian Fields Guest House? Why didn't he just call it the Vestibule to Hell?" Dean "Because that would be bad for business?" From Summon the Keeper
Tanya Huff
I long ago became convinced that the most reliable source for arcane and obscure and seemingly unobtainable information does not lie with the government or law enforcement agencies. Apparently neither the CIA nor the military intelligence apparatus inside the Pentagon had even a slight inkling of the Soviet Union's impending collapse, right up to the moment the Kremlin's leaders were trying to cut deals for their memoirs with New York publishers. Or, if a person really wishes a lesson in the subjective nature of official information, he can always call the IRS and ask for help with his tax forms, then call back a half hour later and ask the same questions to a different representative. So where do you go to find a researcher who is intelligent, imaginative, skilled in the use of computers, devoted to discovering the truth, and knowledgeable about science, technology, history, and literature, and who usually works for dirt and gets credit for nothing? After lunch I drove to the city library on Main and asked the reference librarian to find what she could on Junior Crudup.
James Lee Burke (Last Car to Elysian Fields (Dave Robicheaux, #13))
I saw thee once - only once - years ago: I must not say how many - but not many. It was a July midnight; and from out A full-orbed moon, that, like thine own soul, soaring, Sought a precipitate pathway up through heaven, There fell a silvery-silken veil of light, With quietude, and sultriness, and slumber, Upon the upturn'd faces of a thousand Roses that grew in an enchanted garden, Where no wind dared stir, unless on tiptoe - Fell on the upturn'd faces of these roses That gave out, in return for the love-light, Their odorous souls in an ecstatic death - Fell on the upturn'd faces of these roses That smiled and died in the parterre, enchanted By thee, and by the poetry of thy presence. Clad all in white, upon a violet bank I saw thee half reclining; while the moon Fell upon the upturn'd faces of the roses, And on thine own, upturn'd - alas, in sorrow! Was it not Fate, that, on this July midnight - Was it not Fate, (whose name is also Sorrow,) That bade me pause before that garden-gate, To breathe the incense of those slumbering roses? No footsteps stirred: the hated world all slept, Save only thee and me. (Oh, Heaven! - oh, G**! How my heart beats in coupling those two words!) Save only thee and me. I paused - I looked - And in an instant all things disappeared. (Ah, bear in mind the garden was enchanted!) The pearly lustre of the moon went out: The mossy banks and the meandering paths, The happy flowers and the repining trees, Were seen no more: the very roses' odors Died in the arms of the adoring airs. All - all expired save thee - save less than thou: Save only divine light in thine eyes - Save but the soul in thine uplifted eyes. I saw but them - they were the world to me. I saw but them - saw only them for hours - Saw only them until the moon went down. What wild heart-histories seemed to lie enwritten Upon those crystalline, celestial spheres! How dark a wo! yet how sublime a hope! How silently serene a sea of pride! How daring an ambition! yet how deep - How fathomless a capacity for love! But now, at length, dear Dian sank from sight, Into a western couch of thunder-cloud; And thou, a ghost, amid the entombing trees Didst glide away. Only thine eyes remained. They would not go - they never yet have gone. Lighting my lonely pathway home that night, They have not left me (as my hopes have) since. They follow me - they lead me through the years. They are my ministers - yet I their slave. Their office is to illumine and enkindle - My duty, to be saved by their bright fire, And purified in their electric fire, And sanctified in their elysian fire. They fill my soul with Beauty (which is Hope,) And are far up in Heaven - the stars I kneel to In the sad, silent watches of my night; While even in the meridian glare of day I see them still - two sweetly scintillant Venuses, unextinguished by the sun!
Edgar Allan Poe (The Raven and Other Poems)
Keeping up with him would require running, and there is no dignity in running after any man for any reason, injured or not.
Suzanne Johnson (Elysian Fields (Sentinels of New Orleans, #3))
See with your mind, Speak with your heart, Touch with your eyes, Love with your entire being.
B.J. Neblett (Elysian Dreams: Where the Past Meets the Present)
To Helen I saw thee once-once only-years ago; I must not say how many-but not many. It was a july midnight; and from out A full-orbed moon, that, like thine own soul, soaring, Sought a precipitate pathway up through heaven, There fell a silvery-silken veil of light, With quietude, and sultriness, and slumber Upon the upturn'd faces of a thousand Roses that grew in an enchanted garden, Where no wind dared to stir, unless on tiptoe- Fell on the upturn'd faces of these roses That gave out, in return for the love-light Thier odorous souls in an ecstatic death- Fell on the upturn'd faces of these roses That smiled and died in this parterre, enchanted by thee, by the poetry of thy prescence. Clad all in white, upon a violet bank I saw thee half reclining; while the moon Fell on the upturn'd faces of the roses And on thine own, upturn'd-alas, in sorrow! Was it not Fate that, on this july midnight- Was it not Fate (whose name is also sorrow) That bade me pause before that garden-gate, To breathe the incense of those slumbering roses? No footstep stirred; the hated world all slept, Save only thee and me. (Oh Heaven- oh, God! How my heart beats in coupling those two worlds!) Save only thee and me. I paused- I looked- And in an instant all things disappeared. (Ah, bear in mind this garden was enchanted!) The pearly lustre of the moon went out; The mossy banks and the meandering paths, The happy flowers and the repining trees, Were seen no more: the very roses' odors Died in the arms of the adoring airs. All- all expired save thee- save less than thou: Save only the divine light in thine eyes- Save but the soul in thine uplifted eyes. I saw but them- they were the world to me. I saw but them- saw only them for hours- Saw only them until the moon went down. What wild heart-histories seemed to lie enwritten Upon those crystalline, celestial spheres! How dark a woe! yet how sublime a hope! How silently serene a sea of pride! How daring an ambition!yet how deep- How fathomless a capacity for love! But now, at length, dear Dian sank from sight, Into western couch of thunder-cloud; And thou, a ghost, amid the entombing trees Didst glide away. Only thine eyes remained. They would not go- they never yet have gone. Lighting my lonely pathway home that night, They have not left me (as my hopes have) since. They follow me- they lead me through the years. They are my ministers- yet I thier slave Thier office is to illumine and enkindle- My duty, to be saved by thier bright light, And purified in thier electric fire, And sanctified in thier Elysian fire. They fill my soul with Beauty (which is Hope), And are far up in heaven- the stars I kneel to In the sad, silent watches of my night; While even in the meridian glare of day I see them still- two sweetly scintillant Venuses, unextinguished by the sun!
Edgar Allan Poe
In the common walks of life, with what delightful emotions does the youthful mind look forward to some anticipated scene of festivity! Imagination is busy sketching rose-tinted pictures of joy. In fancy, the voluptuous votary of fashion sees herself amid the festive throng, 'the observed of all observers.' Her graceful form, arrayed in snowy robes, is whirling through the mazes of the joyous dance; her eye is brightest, her step is lightest in the gay assembly. "In such delicious fancies time quickly glides by, and the welcome hour arrives for her entrance into the Elysian world, of which she has had such bright dreams. How fairy-like does everything appear to her enchanted vision! Each new scene is more charming than the last. But after a while she finds that beneath this goodly exterior, all is vanity, the flattery which once charmed her soul, now grates harshly upon her ear; the ball-room has lost its charms; and with wasted health and imbittered heart, she turns away with the conviction that earthly pleasures cannot satisfy the longings of the soul!
Mark Twain (The Adventures of Tom Sawyer)
The past is a hotel. You can visit any time; enjoy the view. But you can't live there. The cost is to high.
B.J. Neblett (Elysian Dreams: Where the Past Meets the Present)
Faith, to my mind, is a stiffening process, a sort of mental starch, which ought to be applied as sparingly as possible. I dislike the stuff. I do not believe in it, for its own sake, at all... My lawgivers are Erasmus and Montaigne, not Moses and St Paul. My temple stands not upon Mount Moriah but in the Elysian Field where even the immoral are admitted. My motto is 'Lord, I disbelieve — help thou my unbelief.
E.M. Forster
He had only just made the Elysian deadline; hanging onto the typescript until the last moment in case there was something still to be done; two sentences turned into one, one sentence broken into two, the substitution of a slightly resistant adjective to engender a moment’s reflection, in short, the joys of editing, all carried out without forgetting the art that disguises art.
Edward St. Aubyn (Lost for Words)
There is no Death! What seems so is transition; This life of mortal breath Is but a suburb of the life elysian, Whose portal we call Death. She is not dead,--the child of our affection,-- But gone unto that school Where she no longer needs our poor protection, And Christ himself doth rule. Excerpt from the poem "Resignation" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
In the stillness of my mind , I surrender to a place I call "my own"....Where everything that I see ,is real ,and every thing that I don't ,doesn't exist! Yet , in that very stillness I find my mind drifting in search of solace and when I open my eyes ,I find myself in the Elysian Fields of my existence !
BinYamin Gulzar
Your Divine Moment is the moment the fate between you and your Elysian Mate is decided. You will both be called under the night sky and be presented with the choice to seal your bond forever more. If you choose to stay together, your love will be branded on you, forming a ring of silver around your irises. But if you choose to part...
Caroline Peckham (Ruthless Fae (Zodiac Academy, #2))
Elysian Mates are the most unpredictable of all the Star Bonds,” Zenith started. “An Elysian Mate is your absolute perfect match. Your other half, your soul mate, your twin flame, your one true love. It has many names. But in Solaria we call it this. Your Elysian Mate is Star Bound to you somewhere in this world. And if you come into contact with each other, the Zodiac will draw you together like two ends of a rope bound to a turning wheel. And the more time you spend together, the more you will be pulled magnetically and inescapably toward one another. But...
Caroline Peckham (Ruthless Fae (Zodiac Academy, #2))
T IME'S a circumference Whereof the segment of our station seems A long straight line from nothing into naught. Therefore we say " progress, " " infinity " — Dull words whose object Hangs in the air of error and delights Our boyish minds ahunt for butterflies. For aspiration studies not the sky But looks for stars; the victories of faith Are soldiered none the less with certainties, And all the multitudinous armies decked With banners blown ahead and flute before March not to the desert or th' Elysian fields, But in the track of some discovery, The grip and cognizance of something true, Which won resolves a better distribution Between the dreaming mind and real truth. I cannot understand you. 'T is because You lean over my meaning's edge and feel A dizziness of the things I have not said.
Trumbull Stickney
They have not left me (as my hopes have) since; They follow me- they lead me through the years. They are my ministers- yet I their slave. Their office is to illumine and enkindle- My duty, to be saved by their bright light, And purified in their electric fire, And sanctified in their elysian fire.
Edgar Allan Poe
I want to wallow with you, I want to belong to you so you can access me at a moment’s notice and use me to satisfy your every need. I want to be your every need.
Payne Hawthorne (The Elysian)
We'd all mourn for a while, but at the end of the day we were a tough lot, and we'd survive.
Suzanne Johnson (Elysian Fields (Sentinels of New Orleans, #3))
They told me to take a street-car named Desire, and then transfer to one called Cemeteries and ride six blocks and get off at—Elysian Fields!
Tennessee Williams (A Streetcar Named Desire)
As Angelica opened up her eyes, she shuddered in fear at the massive animal that was holding her and fondling her body. I have been captured by a Bigfoot, she thought. The natives were right. There are Bigfoots in the jungles of Elysia. Her body stiffened as she tried to twist away and out of the imprisoning arms of the massive creature that was holding her capture.
Bella Swann (The Claiming of Angelica, the Supernatural Sleuth: Her Erotic Adventures in the Dangerous Elysian Jungle (Misadventures of Angelica, #1))
These kinds of mini-enterprises...prolonged the precious, Elysian period of childhood in a way I did not see in the US, where kids started hanging out at the mall and acted like teeny boppers from age 9 or 10.
Euny Hong (The Birth of Korean Cool: How One Nation is Conquering the World Through Pop Culture)
The beauty of cathedrals, churches, marriage, heaven and the Elysian fields will forever be ingrained in my head as the beauty these eyes lost the chance to see but the beauty of the poppy fields near the French countryside will forever be the one my eyes will never regret witnessing.
Aliza S (Poppy fields near the French countryside)
What are they doing here, these difficult young persons and their still more difficult guardians? This—this sacred Elysian garden of the great humanistic tradition of classic wisdom and classic art—must not be invaded by clamorous babes and agitated elders, must not be profaned either by the plaudits or the strictures of the unlettered mob. Somewhere in human life, and where should it be if not in the cloistered seclusion of noble literature?—there must be an escape from the importunities of such people and from the responsibilities of the ignorance they so jealously guard.
John Cowper Powys (Suspended judgments: Essays on books and sensations)
Her degree at least that of Princess, for she is my Queen and mistress; her beauty superhuman, for in her are realized all the impossible and chimerical attributes of beauty which poets give to their ladies; that her hair is gold; her forehead the Elysian fields; her eyebrows rainbows; her eyes suns; her cheeks roses; her lips coral; her teeth pearls; her neck alabaster; her breast marble; her hands ivory; she is white as snow; and those parts which modesty has veiled from human sight are such, I think and believe, that discreet reflection can extol them, but make no comparison.
Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra (Don Quijote de la Mancha)
Time means succession, and succession, change: Hence timelessness is bound to disarrange Schedules of sentiment. We give advice 570  To widower. He has been married twice: He meets his wives; both loved, both loving, both Jealous of one another. Time means growth, And growth means nothing in Elysian life.
Vladimir Nabokov (Pale Fire)
I arrived always at the same, disquieting place: the history of Western exploration in the New World in every quarter is a confrontation with an image of distant wealth. Gold, furs, timber, whales, the Elysian Fields, the control of trade routes to the Orient—it all had to be verified, acquired, processed, allocated, and defended. And these far-flung enterprises had to be profitable, or be made to seem profitable, or be financed until they were. The task was wild, extraordinary. And it was complicated by the fact that people were living in North America when we arrived. Their title to the wealth had to be extinguished.
Barry Lopez (Arctic Dreams)
As to her rank, she should be at the very least a princess, seeing that she is my lady and my queen. Her beauty is superhuman, for in it are realized all the impossible and chimerical attributes that poets are accustomed to give their fair ones. Her locks are golden, her brow the Elysian Fields, her eyebrows rainbows, her eyes suns, her cheeks roses, her lips coral, her teeth pearls, her neck alabaster, her bosom marble, her hands ivory, her complexion snow-white. As for those parts which modesty keeps covered from the human sight, it is my opinion that, discreetly considered, they are only to be extolled and not compared to any other.
Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra
She was mine. Destined to be mine by the stars. The girl who should have been my Elysian Mate and was so much more besides. I needed this. I needed her. I'd been like the moon without the light of the sun without her all this time. Cold and pale and void of life. But she lit me up and made me burn. And I never wanted to stop burning with her.
Caroline Peckham (Fated Throne (Zodiac Academy, #6))
The fight wasn’t over,” I said through gritted teeth. “I’d have won it.” Probably. “Right,” he said. “And something just flew past your window. It was oinking.
Suzanne Johnson (Elysian Fields (Sentinels of New Orleans, #3))
Don’t scream.” He took another step away and pressed his shoulders back. As he did, a set of white wings sprouted from his back.
Rebecca Queen (Elysian (A Celestian Novel, #1))
You stupid, irresponsible human,” Lorelei spit the words out like a curse. Kary had never heard the word “human” sound so bad. 
Rebecca Queen (Elysian (A Celestian Novel, #1))
Alarice,” he said. “It’s a pleasure to see you.” “Can’t say the sentiment’s returned.
Rebecca Queen (Elysian (A Celestian Novel, #1))
If she died today, she died making her brother proud. But she didn’t want to die.
Rebecca Queen (Elysian (A Celestian Novel, #1))
You could have me hanged,” Alarice offered. “If there are no witnesses, it never happened.
Rebecca Queen (Elysian (A Celestian Novel, #1))
It was funny to feel so at peace - enough to ponder such trivial things - when she was about to send hundreds of men to their demise, and while she too was facing death.
Rebecca Queen (Elysian (A Celestian Novel, #1))
It’s your imagination,” she told herself, “you’re not turning into a demonic cat.
Rebecca Queen (Elysian (A Celestian Novel, #1))
She fell into their booth, right on the lap of a fallen angel. 
Rebecca Queen (Elysian (A Celestian Novel, #1))
Now he had come to know that Kary was utterly irresponsible. What else could explain her coming back relentlessly to the place that had almost led to her assassination?
Rebecca Queen (Elysian (A Celestian Novel, #1))
Kary burst out laughing out of the sheer annoyance. It was the better alternative between that and punching him in the face.
Rebecca Queen (Elysian (A Celestian Novel, #1))
the lack of faith in things unseen is perhaps the greatest ignorance, the greatest danger.
Addison Moore (Elysian (Celestra, #8 - Part One and Two))
We’re going to call him Mr. Adorable. No, we’re going to call him Snuggs,
James Lee Burke (Last Car to Elysian Fields (Dave Robicheaux, #13))
All their religious conceptions are outward and material. They say that God is of a bodily nature, and has a body in form like that of a man. Material, too, is their conception of eternal life. Ask to what place they are departing, or what hope they have, and they answer — “To another land better than this.” Divine men of old told of a happy life for happy souls, to be passed in the “isles of the blest,” or in the Elysian plains of which Homer speaks. Plato taught that the soul was immortal, and expressly calls the place where it is sent “earth." …They expect to see God with the bodily eye, to hear His voice with their ears, and to touch Him with sensible hands…If a race so craven and carnal can understand anything, let them give ear. Give up your outward vision and look upwards with your mind ; turn aside from the eye of the flesh and raise the eye of the soul : only so will you see God. And if you seek a guide, you must shun vagabonds and jugglers who recommend their phantoms ; you must not blaspheme as idols those who prove themselves to be gods, while you worship one who is not even an idol, but truly a dead man, and seek out a father like unto Him.
Celsus (The Fragments of Celsus)
Serena whirled, turning toward Lorelei, her eyes wild as she considered the second choice she had just been offered. Lorelei gave her a small nod.  She shifted to Kary, silently begging her younger sister to have mercy.  
Rebecca Queen (Elysian (A Celestian Novel, #1))
Here are some key attributes of the voice in my head. I suspect they will sound familiar. • It’s often fixated on the past and future, at the expense of whatever is happening right now. The voice loves to plan, plot, and scheme. It’s always making lists or rehearsing arguments or drafting tweets. One moment it has you fantasizing about some halcyon past or Elysian future. Another moment you’re ruing old mistakes or catastrophizing about some not-yet-arrived events. As Mark Twain is reputed to have said, “Some of the worst things in my life never even happened.” • The voice is insatiable. The default mental condition for too many human beings is dissatisfaction. Under the sway of the ego, nothing is good enough. We’re always on the hunt for the next dopamine hit. We hurl ourselves headlong from one cookie, one promotion, one party to the next, and yet a great many of us are never fully sated. How many meals, movies, and vacations have you enjoyed? And are you done yet? Of course not. • The voice is unrelievedly self-involved. We are all the stars of our own movies, whether we cast ourselves as hero, victim, black hat, or all three. True, we can get temporarily sucked into other people’s stories, but often as a means of comparing ourselves to them. Everything ultimately gets subordinated to the one plotline that matters: the Story of Me.
Jeff Warren (Meditation for Fidgety Skeptics: A 10% Happier How-To Book)
My past was nothing, my future was nothing, and I was nothing other than a quivering pile of useless flesh. He animated my corpse, cleansed my soul, and offered me forgiveness when I hadn’t yet apologized. He took and took and took as he slid himself deeper and deeper into my body, penetrating my soul. When he finally left me, spent and waning, he’d taken away all of my hurt and despair and had replaced it with a longing to please and serve, love and worship, fuck and suck, cook and clean, whatever he wanted, I craved to be. This man was now so deeply inside me I had no idea where he ended and I began, and I knew this transformation was for eternity. I was finally complete. ~Payne Hawthorne
Payne Hawthorne (The Elysian)
Time means succession, and succession, change: Hence timelessness is bound to disarrange Schedules of sentiment. We give advice 570  To widower. He has been married twice: He meets his wives; both loved, both loving, both Jealous of one another. Time means growth, And growth means nothing in Elysian life. Fondling a changeless child, the flax-haired wife Grieves on the brink of a remembered pond Full of a dreamy sky. And, also blond, But with a touch of tawny in the shade, Feet up, knees clasped, on a stone balustrade The other sits and raises a moist gaze 580  Toward the blue impenetrable haze. How to begin? Which first to kiss? What toy To give the babe? Does that small solemn boy Know of the head-on crash which on a wild March night killed both the mother and the child? And she, the second love, with instep bare In ballerina black, why does she wear The earrings from the other’s jewel case? And why does she avert her fierce young face?
Vladimir Nabokov (Pale Fire)
her rank must be at least that of a princess, since she is my queen and lady, and her beauty superhuman, since all the impossible and fanciful attributes of beauty which the poets apply to their ladies are verified in her; for her hairs are gold, her forehead Elysian fields, her eyebrows rainbows, her eyes suns, her cheeks roses, her lips coral, her teeth pearls, her neck alabaster, her bosom marble, her hands ivory, her fairness snow, and what modesty conceals from sight such,
Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra (Don Quixote: Complete)
Some people feel alone and lonely To think this world's perhaps the only Possible place where mankind clings-- They yearn for more unworldly things, But if in all the universe We're quite alone, we could do worse Than claim our own miraculous birth On this elysian planet, Earth, Where woods are green and warm and wet With trumpet vine and violet: The dew shines on the grass at dawn, A rabbit bounds across the lawn, And we can thank that lucky star That makes this heaven where we are.
Walker Gibson (Come As You Are)
When a p-person dies, they g-go to the underworld where they’ll b-be judged on their lives and s-s-sent to either the Elysian F-Fields, which is like h-heaven, I sup-suppose. The river of for-forgetfulness, Lethe, where a soul d-drinks to forget their l-life, enabling them to be re-reborn. Or if a soul has l-lived a b-bad life, they’d be sent to T-Tartarus, which is like what y-you think of as Hell, the worst p-place p-possible. Hades r-rules over the whole thing, m-making sure it all g-goes r-right.
Tillie Cole (It Ain't Me, Babe (Hades Hangmen, #1))
Kary smiled despite herself. “Does that line work with all the girls?” “Would you believe I’ve never tried it before?” “I would say that’s another line,” she said with a raised eyebrow. “You could just start a normal conversation, you know?” “And talk about the weather?
Rebecca Queen (Elysian (A Celestian Novel, #1))
Wings like Ryan's, but these were black as well as white. Swords clashing with ear-splitting shrieks. Fires raging, consuming everything in their path. The clack-clack of heels on marble floors. The flashes of gowns and spinning to music. Two pairs of the same-colored eyes.
Rebecca Queen (Elysian (A Celestian Novel, #1))
Here are some key attributes of the voice in my head. I suspect they will sound familiar. • It’s often fixated on the past and future, at the expense of whatever is happening right now. The voice loves to plan, plot, and scheme. It’s always making lists or rehearsing arguments or drafting tweets. One moment it has you fantasizing about some halcyon past or Elysian future. Another moment you’re ruing old mistakes or catastrophizing about some not-yet-arrived events. As Mark Twain is reputed to have said, “Some of the worst things in my life never even happened.
Jeff Warren (Meditation for Fidgety Skeptics: A 10% Happier How-To Book)
Right. Well, I wouldn’t know.” Sophia dismissed it with a wave of her hand. “It’s not like you speak anything other than English with me.” “You only know five words in Spanish and they’re all insults.” “They’re the most necessary of the words.” Sophia shrugged and gave the green-eyed girl a playful glare.
Rebecca Queen (Elysian (A Celestian Novel, #1))
There we were last summer, having a picnic in a sylvan setting. Birds were singing, the atmosphere was full of soft colours; there were children in gay cotton frocks, their laughter filled the air. Elders sat in a kind of Elysian abstraction. I remember it so well. I remember a certain old lady who sat with her back against a tree, her profile to me. I sat desultorily conversing but gazing at that face which was gazing at her grandchildren. And there came to me out of that old face the face of the young woman she had been. I saw that she had been beautiful, bright and humorous - and it was all there still as she watched her grandchildren. Old age was merely a veil which a moment of vision could snatch off.
Adrian Bell (A Countryman's Spring Notebook)
her name is Dulcinea, her kingdom, Toboso, which is in La Mancha, her condition must be that of princess, at the very least, for she is my queen and lady, and her beauty is supernatural, for in it one finds the reality of all the impossible and chimerical aspects of beauty which poets attribute to their ladies: her tresses are gold, her forehead Elysian fields, her eyebrows the arches of heaven, her eyes suns, her cheeks roses, her lips coral, her teeth pearls, her neck alabaster, her bosom marble, her hands ivory, her skin white as snow, and the parts that modesty hides from human eyes are such, or so I believe and understand, that the most discerning consideration can only praise them but not compare them.
Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra (Don Quixote)
Only last Sunday, when poor wretches were gay—within the walls playing with children among the clipped trees and the statues in the Palace Garden; walking, a score abreast, in the Elysian Fields, made more Elysian by performing dogs and wooden horses; between whiles filtering (a few) through the gloomy Cathedral of Our Lady to say a word or two at the base of a pillar within flare of a rusty little gridiron-full of gusty little tapers; without the walls encompassing Paris with dancing, love-making, wine-drinking, tobacco-smoking, tomb-visiting, billiard card and domino playing, quack-doctoring, and much murderous refuse, animate and inanimate—only last Sunday, my Lady, in the desolation of Boredom and the clutch of Giant Despair, almost hated her own maid for being in spirits. She cannot, therefore, go too fast from Paris. Weariness of soul lies before her, as it lies behind—her Ariel has put a girdle of it round the whole earth, and it cannot be unclasped—but the imperfect remedy is always to fly from the last place where it has been experienced. Fling Paris back into the distance, then, exchanging it for endless avenues and cross-avenues of wintry trees! And, when next beheld, let it be some leagues away, with the Gate of the Star a white speck glittering in the sun, and the city a mere mound in a plain—two dark square towers rising out of it, and light and shadow descending on it aslant, like the angels in Jacob's dream!
Charles Dickens (Bleak House)
I cannot say positively whether my sweet enemy is pleased or not that the world should know I serve her; I can only say in answer to what has been so courteously asked of me, that her name is Dulcinea, her country El Toboso, a village of La Mancha, her rank must be at least that of a princess, since she is my queen and lady, and her beauty superhuman, since all the impossible and fanciful attributes of beauty which the poets apply to their ladies are verified in her; for her hairs are gold, her forehead Elysian fields, her eyebrows rainbows, her eyes suns, her cheeks roses, her lips coral, her teeth pearls, her neck alabaster, her bosom marble, her hands ivory, her fairness snow, and what modesty conceals from sight such, I think and imagine, as rational reflection can only extol, not compare.
Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra (Don Quixote)
The summer, in some climates, makes possible to man a sort of Elysian life. Fuel, except to cook his Food, is then unnecessary; the sun is his fire, and many of the fruits are sufficiently cooked by its rays; while Food generally is more various, and more easily obtained, and Clothing and Shelter are wholly or half unnecessary. At the present day, and in this country, as I find by my own experience, a few implements, a knife, an axe, a spade, a wheelbarrow, etc., and for the studious, lamplight, stationery, and access to a few books, rank next to necessaries, and can all be obtained at a trifling cost. Yet some, not wise, go to the other side of the globe, to barbarous and unhealthy regions, and devote themselves to trade for ten or twenty years, in order that they may live—that is, keep comfortably warm—and die in New England at last.
Henry David Thoreau (Walden)
You're wicked - nothing but a wicked woman! The scrawniest cat in the stable looks after her young better than you. Why don't you think of him? He's little . . . What does he know of the world and of death? What's he thinking while you're lying hrere like a statue, weeping and wailing? Anyone would think you were the first widow in the history of the world and that no one had ever lost a husband before. Well, you aren't. What you are is selfish and lazy, and if Hector can see you from the Elysian Fields, he'll be in torment at the way you're treating his child. His child. The moment he's dead, the moment he's no longer here, you change completely. Where's the old Andromache? I know it's not my place, but you've been the only mother I ever knew, and how do you think I feel, when you push me away and won't talk to me, and won't listen, and won't let me hold you when you cry? I feel useless and stupid and I wish I could leave this sad place and go back to the Blood Room. There at least they have the kind of wounds I know how to do something about . . .
Adèle Geras
Sic Vita I am a parcel of vain strivings tied By a chance bond together, Dangling this way and that, their links Were made so loose and wide, Methinks, For milder weather. A bunch of violets without their roots, And sorrel intermixed, Encircled by a wisp of straw Once coiled about their shoots, The law By which I'm fixed. A nosegay which Time clutched from out Those fair Elysian fields, With weeds and broken stems, in haste, Doth make the rabble rout That waste The day he yields. And here I bloom for a short hour unseen, Drinking my juices up, With no root in the land To keep my branches green, But stand In a bare cup. Some tender buds were left upon my stem In mimicry of life, But ah! the children will not know, Till time has withered them, The woe With which they're rife. But now I see I was not plucked for naught, And after in life's vase Of glass set while I might survive, But by a kind hand brought Alive To a strange place. That stock thus thinned will soon redeem its hours, And by another year, Such as God knows, with freer air, More fruits and fairer flowers Will bear, While I droop here.
Henry David Thoreau
The neural-channeling devices attached to your head allow access to the temporal lobe . . . you can have anything you’d like. You have but to imagine it. This is, for the time being, your Elysian Fields. Endorphins and oxytocins, the psychological roots for contentment and pleasure, are released in any manner of ways: drink, drugs, pain, exercise or . . . orgasm.
Cèsar Sanchez Zapata Cockaigne
Saturday, September 17, 2005: Today in New Orleans, a traffic light worked. Someone watered flowers. And anyone with the means to get online could have heard Dr. Joy’s voice wafting in the dry wind, a sound of grace, comfort and familiarity here in the saddest and loneliest place in the world.” Chris Rose, The Times-Picayune
Suzanne Johnson (Elysian Fields (Sentinels of New Orleans, #3))
I always hated it when TV reporters stuck a microphone in the faces of people who'd just lost a home or a loved one, wanting to know how they felt. They felt like shit. They hurt, and they didn't know how they were going to get through the night. They wanted to scream and cry and hit the guy with the microphone.
Suzanne Johnson (Elysian Fields (Sentinels of New Orleans, #3))
Elysian
Alexander McCall Smith (Fatty O'Leary's Dinner Party)
In the early centuries Rome’s dead had been cremated; now, usually, they were buried, though some obstinate conservatives preferred combustion. In either case, the remains were placed in a tomb that became an altar of worship upon which pious descendants periodically placed some flowers and a little food. Here, as in Greece and the Far East, the stability of morals and society was secured by the worship of ancestors and by the belief that somewhere their spirits survived and watched. If they were very great and good, the dead, in Hellenized Roman mythology, passed to the Elysian Fields, or the Islands of the Blessed; nearly all, however, descended into the earth, to the shadowy realm of Orcus and Pluto. Pluto, the Roman form of the Greek god Hades, was armed with a mallet to stun the dead; Orcus (our ogre) was the monster who then devoured the corpse. Because Pluto was the most exalted of the underground deities, and because the earth was the ultimate source of wealth and often the repository of accumulated food and goods, he was worshiped also as the god of riches and plutocrats; and his wife Proserpina—the strayed daughter of Ceres—became the goddess of the germinating corn. Sometimes the Roman Hell was conceived as a place of punishment;72 in most cases it was pictured as the abode of half-formless shades that had been men, not distinguished from one another by reward or punishment, but all equally suffering eternal darkness and final anonymity. There at last, said Lucian, one would find democracy.73
Will Durant (Caesar and Christ (Story of Civilization, #3))
Somewhere, a seabord cawed. Waves called from nearby, convincing her to dive in. To drown herself. But she refused them. At the end of a pleasant afternoon spent wandering up and down the beachfront, buffeted by an offshore change, she looked to the tangerine clouds in the sky and told them, 'Launch the Elysian Armada.
Grant Ganim (Ad Cunabula (The Void In-between, #2))
Elysian
Barry Eisler (Graveyard of Memories (John Rain, #8))
US Craft Brewery Sales to Anheuser-Busch InBev March 28, 2011: Goose Island Beer Co. (Chicago) February 5, 2014: Blue Point Brewing (Patchogue, New York) November 5, 2014: 10 Barrel Brewing (Bend, Oregon) January 23, 2015: Elysian Brewing (Seattle) September 23, 2015: Golden Road Brewing (Los Angeles) December 18, 2015: Four Peaks Brewing (Tempe, Arizona) December 22, 2015: Breckenridge Brewery (Littleton, Colorado) April 12, 2016: Devils Backbone Brewing (Roseland, Virginia) November 3, 2016: Karbach Brewing (Houston) May 3, 2017: Wicked Weed Brewing (Asheville, North Carolina)
Josh Noel (Barrel-Aged Stout and Selling Out: Goose Island, Anheuser-Busch, and How Craft Beer Became Big Business)
THERE IS NO DEATH! WHAT SEEMS SO IS TRANSITION; THIS LIFE OF MORTAL BREATH IS BUT A SUBURB OF THE LIFE ELYSIAN, WHOSE PORTAL WE CALL DEATH. —Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Eugene O'Kelly (Chasing Daylight: How My Forthcoming Death Transformed My Life)
In your care I will be released from my worries” (CIL 11.137). In a few brief sentences, this man’s colorful life, during which he passed from freedom to slavery to freedom and ultimately to prosperity, is memorialized. An aspect of life that these tombstones bring to light is the strong emotions that tied together spouses, family members, and friends. One grave marker records a husband’s grief for his young wife: “To the eternal memory of Blandina Martiola, a most blameless girl, who lived eighteen years, nine months, five days. Pompeius Catussa, a Sequanian citizen and a plasterer, dedicates this monument to his wife, who was incomparable and very kind to him. She lived with him five years, six months, eighteen days without any shadow of a fault. You who read this, go bathe in the baths of Apollo as I used to do with my wife. I wish I still could” (CIL 1.1983). The affection that some parents felt for their children is also reflected in these inscriptions: “Spirits who live in the underworld, lead innocent Magnilla through the groves and the Elysian Fields directly to your places of rest. She was snatched away in her eighth year by cruel fate while she was still enjoying the tender time of childhood. She was beautiful and sensitive, clever, elegant, sweet, and charming beyond her years. This poor child who was deprived of her life so quickly must be mourned with perpetual lament and tears” (CIL 6.21846). Some Romans seemed more concerned with ensuring that their bodies would lie undisturbed after death than with recording their accomplishments while alive. An inscription of this type states: “Gaius Tullius Hesper had this tomb built for himself, as a place where his bones might be laid. If anyone damages them or removes them from here, may he live in great physical pain for a long time, and when he dies, may the gods of the underworld deny entrance to his spirit” (CIL 6.36467). Some tombstones offer comments that perhaps preserve something of their authors’ temperaments. One terse inscription observes: “I was not. I was. I am not. I care not” (CIL 5.2893). Finally, a man who clearly enjoyed life left a tombstone that included the statement: “Baths, wine, and sex ruin our bodies. But what makes life worth living except baths, wine, and sex?” (CIL 6.15258). Perhaps one of the greatest values of these tombstones is the manner in which they record the actual feelings of individuals, and demonstrate the universality across time, cultures, and geography of basic emotions such as love, hate, jealousy, and pride. They also preserve one of the most complicated yet subtle characteristics of human beings—our enjoyment of humor. Many of the messages were plainly drafted to amuse and entertain the reader, and the fact that some of them can still do so after 2,000 years is one of the best testimonials to the humanity shared by the people of the ancient and the modern worlds.
Gregory S. Aldrete (The Long Shadow of Antiquity: What Have the Greeks and Romans Done for Us?)
Kismet was the first scientist to shine a clearer light on the Star Bond we know the least about. The Elysian Mate bond, whereby two soul mates find each other and are tested by the stars to show their devotion to one another. This seems to have little to no pattern. For example…” The Pisces constellation lit above us then Sagittarius followed.
Caroline Peckham (Vicious Fae (Ruthless Boys of the Zodiac, #3))
Set thee sail to faintest ballad sung; as cascading waves echo risen yester-’s dawn. Forging forth in fog’s tomorrows hung; through bygone shadow bearing sorrow’s spawn. Yet seen, flowing hither, 'til sprung; as far-flung passages unto its current drawn. Cast adrift amidst the whisp’ring sea; ere oar’s wake greets break of day’s incline. Neither isle to see nor fabulous tree; or sparrow’s flight, o’er sabulous shoreline. Hast not shelter or promis'd joy alee; ne'er yore star lights meet last ray’s shine. Lofty elysian orbs hearken eons spent; dead-reckon thy course ‒ by each glint amend. Faded blooms first wither to reorient; fated plumes doom verse whither 'twas penned. Oft gone awry 'fore new insights lent; through pallid night 'tis writ journey’s end. A mist veiled rose rouses vivid prose; all rhymes return astern to treasure therein. Crows alit in rows, hidden suns arose; ‘tis sublimely writ once upon a tale's begin. Whist muse's woes fill night's repose; wherein the voyager’s destiny abides in time.
Monte Souder
Kismet tried to answer just that by comparing other Star Bonds to the Elysian Mate bond. For example, Astral Adversaries – who are mortal enemies driven together by the stars to clash over and over – have been known to be asked a question of fate too.
Caroline Peckham (Vicious Fae (Ruthless Boys of the Zodiac, #3))
If you've been around Los Angeles much, you know that desolate, unlighted strip of highway, Chavez Ravine Road, that stretches from Adobe Street to Elysian Park. It's solitary and lonely enough in the daytime.
Richard S. Prather (Shell Scott PI Mystery Series, Volume Three)
There was power in names and knowing hers could change who she was in an instant.
Rebecca Queen (Elysian (A Celestian Novel, #1))
It infuriated Kary in a way to compare the Astraea she remembered with this girl. Astraea had been barely a teenager when she had marched into war beside her. She had been scared, but she had never been faint of heart. She had always done what was needed. This girl in front of her now — Serena — was missing Astraea’s tenacity.
Rebecca Queen (Elysian (A Celestian Novel, #1))
pulled out into the Chavez Ravine Road, headed toward Elysian Park Avenue and Sunset Boulevard. We'd driven
Richard S. Prather (Shell Scott PI Mystery Series, Volume One)
You have become the highlight of my days,
Zavi James (Of Gods & Monsters (Elysian Gods, #1))
Elysian Way by Stewart Stafford An eviction deadline decree, A woodpecker broadcast, Winter, the incoming actor, About to enter a clean stage. The powder blue sky framed, Fall's aurum, russet and ochre, Dripping opalescent raindrops, A red wedding's spangled confetti. Leaves shushed and shimmered, In moving vertical waves of surf, Trees shrugged slowly to begin, The organic haircut of the ages. Leaves plunged, spun and floated, Fallen comrades littered the grass, Half-assed, surprise resurrections, As swirling spectral mini vortexes. © Stewart Stafford, 2022. All rights reserved
Stewart Stafford
His spirit was sweeping like the wind over Elysian Fields and flashing into point after point on celestial quail.
John Taintor Foote (Dumb Bell Of Brookfield)
I think the stars picked you for me, Blue. I think you’re my Elysian Mate.
Caroline Peckham (Shadow Princess (Zodiac Academy, #4))
Darcy Vega was available for comment, stating that ‘Lance is the most devoted, noble and selfless man I have ever met, and I am privileged to be his Elysian Mate’. She also said ‘he holds a value to me that’s worth more than the sun itself, and I will spend my entire life loving him as he deserves to be loved’.
Caroline Peckham (Heartless Sky (Zodiac Academy, #7))
He was the destroyer of me. The ruination of the girl I’d been and the creator of the woman I had become. He was my one true love, without any help or hinderance from the stars. He was more than my Elysian Mate. He was more than my equal. He was my end.
Caroline Peckham (Sorrow and Starlight (Zodiac Academy, #8))
You believe Gabriel Nox will become your Elysian Mate in time too?" he asked but it was more of a statement. "I love him just as fiercely as the others," I replied. "Silver rings or not. He's mine and I'm his.
Caroline Peckham (Warrior Fae (Ruthless Boys of the Zodiac, #5))
Elysian bliss is not for everyone, but for the few (pauci).
Bart D. Ehrman (Journeys to Heaven and Hell: Tours of the Afterlife in the Early Christian Tradition)
Maybe he was right about us being Elysian Mates, soul mates, true love…but then why did I feel such a pull to the other Kings of the school too?
Caroline Peckham (Savage Fae (Ruthless Boys of the Zodiac, #2))
A son cannot hide the truth from his mamma, and a girl’s eyes reveal her soul. So answer me this, Dolce Drago, why does a girl who has found her Elysian Mate stare at my son like he stands right at the centre of her world with her Leone?
Caroline Peckham (Warrior Fae (Ruthless Boys of the Zodiac, #5))
The few, so cleans’d, to these abodes repair,’ ” he finally said in a quiet voice. “ ‘And breathe, in ample fields, the soft Elysian air. Then are they happy, when by length of time, The scurf is worn away of each committed crime; No speck is left of their habitual stains, But the pure ether of the soul remains.
Brandon Sanderson (Defending Elysium (The Skyward Series))
Persephone is staring at herself in the mirror. Persephone is staring at her younger self in the mirror. A girl in a meadow. Like a ghost or a dream. Close enough to touch. Persephone drops her torches and reaches her hand through the mirror, feels the familiar breeze of the Elysian Fields, smells the flowers of the dead. She takes the girl’s hand. “You still have so much life in front of you,” Persephone says. She feels a tinge of jealousy but she doesn’t speak it. “You’re going to be amazing.” “It’s time for me to leave now, isn’t it?” the girl asks. Persephone nods solemnly. The girl sulks. She turns her back to the mirror, eyes searching for the path home. “One thing before you go,” Persephone says. She steps out into the sun, onto the field, wild hair and black robes billowing behind her. She pulls the girl tightly to her chest. I love you. And I miss you. And I will be missing you forever, girl.
Trista Mateer (Persephone Made Me Do It)
Or is it because he believes that God himself is present here at the corner of Elysian Fields and Bons Enfants?
Walker Percy (The Moviegoer)
Sophia raised an eyebrow at her. "Don't ever tell a psychologist about your dreams. They sound like they belong to a serial killer in the making.
Rebecca Queen (Elysian (A Celestian Novel, #1))
My Sanctuary (The Sonnet) Next to the sea of arabia, I laid my eyes on a fairytale. At her sight the continents vanished, At her voice all scores turned stale. I sat there at the back listening, As she stood up at the podium to speak. One distant glance was enough, And I forgot that I was a scientist. My native land had given me nothing but heartache, But the syllables of her lips caressed me as ointment. In a long time I felt at peace, without the rush of chase, My tired soul found sanctuary in her elysian presence. But mark me well, love is not about being the recipient, It's about caring even without the other's awareness.
Abhijit Naskar
In a long time I felt at peace, without the rush of chase, my tired soul found sanctuary in her elysian presence.
Abhijit Naskar
that their shades would find their way underground to a comfortable pitch in the Elysian Fields,
Paul Anthony Cartledge (Thermopylae: The Battle That Changed the World)
The human mind is not stubborn. It can be manipulated easily; all it needs is a slight glimpse of Elysian and an alpha to follow. It gets aligned to a cause and the herd starts following – following someone else’s dreams and aspirations.
Aparna Sinha (Ashvamedha)
He (the immigrant father) would walk by proxy in the Elysian fields of liberal learning.
H.W. Brands (American Colossus: The Triumph of Capitalism, 1865-1900)