“
Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins. My sin, my soul. Lo-lee-ta: the tip of the tongue taking a trip of three steps down the palate to tap, at three, on the teeth. Lo. Lee. Ta. She was Lo, plain Lo, in the morning, standing four feet ten in one sock. She was Lola in slacks. She was Dolly at school. She was Dolores on the dotted line. But in my arms she was always Lolita. Did she have a precursor? She did, indeed she did. In point of fact, there might have been no Lolita at all had I not loved, one summer, an initial girl-child. In a princedom by the sea. Oh when? About as many years before Lolita was born as my age was that summer. You can always count on a murderer for a fancy prose style. Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, exhibit number one is what the seraphs, the misinformed, simple, noble-winged seraphs, envied. Look at this tangle of thorns.
”
”
Vladimir Nabokov (Lolita)
“
I draw him closer by his tie and whisper into his ear, "Cricket Bell, I have been in love with you for my entire life.
”
”
Stephanie Perkins (Lola and the Boy Next Door (Anna and the French Kiss, #2))
“
What just happened?"
"Your father invited the former love of your life in for pie."
"Yeah, that's what I thought.
”
”
Stephanie Perkins (Lola and the Boy Next Door (Anna and the French Kiss, #2))
“
I look at you, and I think about you, and ... I don't know. No one has ever confounded me the way you do.
”
”
Stephanie Perkins (Lola and the Boy Next Door (Anna and the French Kiss, #2))
“
No, I don't love Max anymore. But I don't want to give you this broken, empty me. I want you to have me when I'm full, when I can give something back to you. I don't have much to give right now.
”
”
Stephanie Perkins (Lola and the Boy Next Door (Anna and the French Kiss, #2))
“
I have fallen in love with you, and there is no future for us. That you burst into my life suddenly only a short time ago. That it's too fast, too soon, and you will leave the same way you came into my life. I'll turn around one day and you'll be gone.
”
”
Rachel Gibson (Lola Carlyle Reveals All)
“
It's become impossible to deny he means something to me.
”
”
Stephanie Perkins (Lola and the Boy Next Door (Anna and the French Kiss, #2))
“
When two people are in love, it’s supposed to work. It has to work. No matter how difficult the circumstances are.
”
”
Stephanie Perkins (Lola and the Boy Next Door (Anna and the French Kiss, #2))
“
Keep your head, heels and standards
high.
”
”
Lola Stark (Tattered Love (Needle's Kiss, #1))
“
You were just supposed to be a one night stand but you poked my eye, and kissed me sweet and listened to my car. Now, I kinda wanna keep you.
”
”
Lola Stark (Tattered Love (Needle's Kiss, #1))
“
She rests her hand on the ruffled costume beside her. “Just answer this one question. My brother never got over you. Did you ever get over him?”I swallow. “There are some people in life that you can’t get over.”
“Good.” Calliope stands and gives me a grim smile. “But break Cricket’s heart? I’ll break your face.
”
”
Stephanie Perkins (Lola and the Boy Next Door (Anna and the French Kiss, #2))
“
I slide my hand between our mouths, just in time. His lips
are soft against my palm. I slowly, slowly remove it. “No, I
don’t love Max anymore. But I don’t want to give you this
broken, empty me. I want you to have me when I’m full,
when I can give something back to you. I don’t have much to
give right now.”
Cricket’s limbs are still, but his chest is pounding hard
against my own. “But you’ll want me someday? That feeling
you once had for me … that hasn’t left either?”
Our hearts beat the same wild rhythm. They’re playing the
same song.
“It never left,” I say.
”
”
Stephanie Perkins (Lola and the Boy Next Door (Anna and the French Kiss, #2))
“
But it's a person's imperfections that make them perfect for someone else.
”
”
Stephanie Perkins (Lola and the Boy Next Door (Anna and the French Kiss, #2))
“
When I come back, the club is packed. There's hardly any standing room. Anna snagged a wooden bar stool, one of the few seats here. St. Clair stands close to her, facing her, and he smoothes the platinum stripe in her hair. She pulls him even closer by the top of his jeans, one finger tucked inside. It's an intimate gesture. I'm embarrassed to watch, but I can't look away.
He kisses her slowly and deeply. They don't care that anyone could watch. Or maybe they've forgotten they aren't alone. When they break apart, Anna says something that makes him fall into silly, boyish laughter. For some reason, that's the moment that makes me turn away. Something about their love is painful.
”
”
Stephanie Perkins (Lola and the Boy Next Door (Anna and the French Kiss, #2))
“
You make my vagina all melty,--wait no!--You make my belly all melty. My vaginas hot!
”
”
Lola Stark (Tattered Love (Needle's Kiss, #1))
“
Why did he do it?"
"For the same reason everyone makes mistakes. He fell in love.
”
”
Stephanie Perkins (Lola and the Boy Next Door (Anna and the French Kiss, #2))
“
The realization is surprising, but the one that follows stuns me even more.
I'm not in love with him anymore.
Instead, looking at him makes me feel...hollow.
”
”
Stephanie Perkins (Lola and the Boy Next Door (Anna and the French Kiss, #2))
“
I pull back, gasping for breath. Reeling. His breath is ragged, and I place my hands on his cheeks to steady him. "Is this okay?" I whisper. "Are you okay?"
His reply is anguished. Honest. "I love you.
”
”
Stephanie Perkins (Lola and the Boy Next Door (Anna and the French Kiss, #2))
“
This was my love, her love --torn, damaged, broken, ripped apart and put back together. This was our tattered love.
”
”
Lola Stark (Tattered Love (Needle's Kiss, #1))
“
I would praise the Lord above for a ticket to that ride.
”
”
Lola Stark (Tattered Love (Needle's Kiss, #1))
“
Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins.
My sin, my soul.
Lo-lee-ta: the tip of the tongue taking a trip of three steps down the palate to tap, at three, on the teeth.
Lo. Lee. Ta.
She was Lo, plain Lo, in the morning, standing four feet ten in one sock.
She was Lola in slacks.
She was Dolly at school.
She was Dolores on the dotted line.
But in my arms she was always Lolita.
”
”
Vladimir Nabokov (Lolita)
“
Got a pair just like those. Never seen 'em lookin' like that though." "Like what?" Sauntering away from her, I smirked. "Sexy as fuck.
”
”
Lola Stark (Tattered Love (Needle's Kiss, #1))
“
I don't have a choice but to want to do this, Lola. I'm in love with you.
”
”
Christina Lauren (Dark Wild Night (Wild Seasons, #3))
“
What scares you?"
She looked into his eyes and said, "That I have fallen in love with you, and there is no future for us. That you burst into my life suddenly only a short time ago. That it's too fast, too soon, and you will leave the same way you came into my life. I'll turn around one day and you'll be gone.
”
”
Rachel Gibson (Lola Carlyle Reveals All)
“
Do what makes you want to get out of bed every day. There’s no sense in doing something that makes your life mundane.
”
”
Lola Stark (Tattered Love (Needle's Kiss, #1))
“
My God, Mace was all man, the kind of man every warm-blooded woman would love to take home for the night, tie to her bed and let loose on. Sitting this close to him, my mind conjured up a long list of things I could do, just with my mouth.
”
”
Lola Stark (Tattered Love (Needle's Kiss, #1))
“
Scarlett Garcia fell at the feet of no gloriously delicious man!
”
”
Lola Stark (Tattered Love (Needle's Kiss, #1))
“
What the f~ck you're doing is pulling your head outta your ass and getting with the motherf~cking program, babe.
”
”
Lola Stark (Tattered Love (Needle's Kiss, #1))
“
Just so you know, now I know what she looks like, the next time I see her, I'm gonna kick her ass.
”
”
Lola Stark (Tattered Love (Needle's Kiss, #1))
“
Fine,' Aria conceded. 'But *I'll* carry her.' She grabbed the baby seeat from the back. A smell of baby powder wafted up to greet her, bringing a lump in her throat. Her father Byron, and his girlfriend, Meredith, had just had a baby, and she loved Lola with all her heart. If she looked too long at this baby, she might love her just as much.
”
”
Sara Shepard (Stunning (Pretty Little Liars, #11))
“
So why did he do it?"
Cricket rakes a hand through his hair. "For the same reason everyone makes mistakes. He fell in love.
”
”
Stephanie Perkins (Lola and the Boy Next Door (Anna and the French Kiss, #2))
“
Several yards away – closer to the cathedral’s legendary carved doorways – Anna and St. Clair are standing on top of Point Zéro. It’s been hand-brushed clear of its dusting of snow. Point Zéro is the bronze marker, a star, which designates the official centre of France. There are at least two superstitions about it. One is that anyone who stands on the star will return to France. The other is that you can use it to make a wish.
“Wait for it,” Josh says.
Lola stands straighter, excited. “No!”
“Yes,” Cricket says.
I’m the last one in the dark, until – suddenly – it happens. St. Clair removes something from his pocket. And then he gets down on one knee.
Anna’s entire body lights with shock and joy and love. She nods a vigorous yes. St. Clair places the ring on her finger. He stands, she throws her arms around him, and they kiss. He spins her in a circle. They kiss again. Deep, hungry, long. And then he turns to us and waves – with the biggest smile I’ve ever seen – clearly aware that we’ve been standing here the whole time.
”
”
Stephanie Perkins (Isla and the Happily Ever After (Anna and the French Kiss, #3))
“
The distance between us feels too close, too far, too close.
”
”
Stephanie Perkins (Lola and the Boy Next Door (Anna and the French Kiss, #2))
“
Wow, being in love sure sounds exhausting. - Lola
”
”
Connie Glynn (The Lost Princess)
“
Forget it." She turned to the closed door of the bathroom. "Forget I said anything. I take it back." Just as she pulled the door open, he was behind her, slamming it shut.
With one hand planted in front of her face, Max said next to her ear, "You can't take it back now."
"Yes, I can."
"No." He leaned his big body into her and shoved her against the door. "I heard you." His hot breath brushed her temple. "You love me Lola. I won't let you take it back. You can't ever take it back.
”
”
Rachel Gibson (Lola Carlyle Reveals All)
“
Even when he was gone, some fragment of his spirit lingered behind.
”
”
Stephanie Perkins (Lola and the Boy Next Door (Anna and the French Kiss, #2))
“
Did somebody forget to give you the ‘wrap it before you whack it’ talk? This is…this is big. What’re you thinking?” Mace asked.
”
”
Lola Stark (Conflicted Love (Needle's Kiss, #2))
“
I'm gonna take you right here on this table, Scar, so every time you're sitting here working, all you'll be able to think about is coming apart on my mouth.
”
”
Lola Stark (Tattered Love (Needle's Kiss, #1))
“
You have to fight for the people that you love.
You. Have. To. Fight.
”
”
Lola St. Vil (The Girl (Guardians #1))
“
She could already feel small waves of her juices fall from her newly-broken pussy, making a damp spot under her ass.
”
”
Lola Newmar (Loving Scarlett (Scarlett Rose and the 7 Longhorns #1))
“
God. I hate that man so much it feels a lot like love.
”
”
Lola King (Loving the Liar (Silver Falls University, #1))
“
Caden’s whisper is as loud as a scream. “I’m in love with you, Billie.
”
”
Lola King (Beautiful Fiend (North Shore, #1))
“
In the hall, Tina whisper hisses, "Retreat! Retreat!" The sounds of heels clip clopping follows before...
stumble crash bang
Mimi laughs her ass off and says, "We have a man down! I repeat. We are a man down!"
Lola laughs hard and yells out, "We're so bad at this! Best mission ever!
The sound of giggles and heels approach my room. I put an arm under my head to elevate it. I want to see what these goofballs are doing. Tina's first through the door and looks sheepish while rubbing her elbow. That is until she see Nat, Helena and Nina all sitting on my bed. Then she yells out, "Pajama party!" And literally throws herself on to my bed, hurt elbow forgotten. She belly flops onto my stomach, My body jolts upwards, the wind is knocked out of me and I groan. Tina looks up at me with wide eyes. She rushed out, "Ash, honey! I'm so sorry!" Then she rubs what she thinks is my stomach. Only its my cock.
Removing her hands from me, I tell her,
"Tina, I don't think Nik would like you in my bed rubbing my junk.
”
”
Belle Aurora (Love Thy Neighbour (Friend-Zoned, #2))
“
Don't you want to find your purpose?'
Lara glared at her. 'Right now my purpose is to get the hell out of here and then I'll figure the rest of it out the normal way; by drinking vodka. Or maybe I'll read Eat, Pray, Love all the way through...
”
”
Lola Salt (The Extraordinary Life of Lara Craft (not Croft))
“
Your guardian angel’s a man?” She gave me a little wry look, and for the first time in days, I saw a hint of the old Lola coming back to life. “Of course. I like to imagine he’s hopelessly in love with me, but we can never be together because it’s against the rules.
”
”
L.H. Cosway (Hearts of Fire (Hearts, #2))
“
It was amazing how a shape-shifter could spot their mate from their scent alone.
”
”
Lola Newmar (Loving Scarlett (Scarlett Rose and the 7 Longhorns #1))
“
You're his rainbow at the end of the storm.
”
”
Lola Stark (Tattered Love (Needle's Kiss, #1))
“
My mind was a constant tornado of thoughts, worries and confused-as-fuck feelings.
”
”
Lola Stark (Conflicted Love (Needle's Kiss, #2))
“
I didn't get jealous; that word shouldn't even be in my damn vocabulary, and it never had been before.
”
”
Lola Stark (Conflicted Love (Needle's Kiss, #2))
“
My heart sank. He really did think I didn't love him.
”
”
Lola Stark (Conflicted Love (Needle's Kiss, #2))
“
I was going to be sweet. So damn sweet she'd get a toothache.
”
”
Lola Stark (Conflicted Love (Needle's Kiss, #2))
“
So why did he do it?"
Cricket rakes a hand through his hair. "For the same reason everyone makes mistake. He fell in love.
”
”
Stephanie Perkins (Lola and the Boy Next Door (Anna and the French Kiss, #2))
“
And despite all that, she finds a way to forgive you. She finds a way to love you. Then you take that love and beat her to death with it.
”
”
Lola St. Vil (When Angels Break (The Noru, #4))
“
To all the women who smile when they want to scream. I got you, darling. Sit back And watch it all burn.
”
”
Lola King (Loving the Reaper (Silver Falls University, #2))
“
I don’t have a choice but to want to do this, Lola. I’m in love with you.
”
”
Christina Lauren (Dark Wild Night (Wild Seasons, #3))
“
Cricket tells a joke and turns to see if I'm laughing, if I think he's funny, and I want him to know that I do think he's funny, and I want him to know that I'm glad he's my friend, and I want him to know that he has the biggest heart of anyone I've ever known. And I want to press my palm against his chest to feel it beat, to prove he's really there.
But we cannot touch.
”
”
Stephanie Perkins (Lola and the Boy Next Door (Anna and the French Kiss, #2))
“
I tended to be skeptical of anything that couldn't be measured, written down, and independently verified across a series of double-blind tests. But this was hard data. Lola's heart beat fastest for me.
”
”
Max Barry (Machine Man)
“
I felt like I needed to do something special for her to show my appreciation. It wasn't like Hallmark had a card that read 'Thanks for destroying your vag with my spawn.' So I had to come up with something else.
”
”
Lola Stark (Conflicted Love (Needle's Kiss, #2))
“
I slowly, slowly remove it. "No, I don't love Max anymore. But I don't want to give you this broken, empty me. I want you to have me when I'm full, when I can give something back to you. I don't have much to give right now.
”
”
Stephanie Perkins (Lola and the Boy Next Door (Anna and the French Kiss, #2))
“
compersion – sometimes described as ‘the opposite of jealousy’, compersion is a feeling of joy or happiness in witnessing or hearing about a partner’s attraction or love for another person and/or relationship successes or wins.
”
”
Lola Phoenix (The Anxious Person’s Guide to Non-Monogamy: Your Guide to Open Relationships, Polyamory and Letting Go)
“
as she walked back to her husband, lola thought about lying on her expensive sheets and holding a baby - their baby - to her breast. to the baby, lola would smell like a mother, and the ridiculous chandelier would look like stars.
”
”
Amanda Eyre Ward (Love Stories in This Town: Stories)
“
she had to admit the essential difference between Iain and herself: he believed in the possibility of a carnation-strewn, uncomplicated life, and Lola did not. perhaps Iain had thought he could convince her, but grew weary of the endeavor.
”
”
Amanda Eyre Ward (Love Stories in This Town: Stories)
“
I really love Lola, and my mother, and I think that they love me, although we can't seem to get along with one another and maybe we never will. In a funny way maybe it's not important to get along, and more important just to love each other anyway.
”
”
Sally Rooney (Beautiful World, Where Are You)
“
The truth is that I really love Lola, and my mother, and I think that they love me, although we can't seem to get along with one another, and maybe we never will. In a funny way maybe it's not important to get along, and more important just to love each other anyway.
”
”
Sally Rooney (Beautiful World, Where Are You)
“
Damn, I wasn’t a woman and I wasn’t real stoked at the idea of my fun house turning into an escape hatch. I felt like I needed to do something special for her to show my appreciation. It wasn’t like Hallmark had a card that read ‘Thanks for destroying your vag with my spawn
”
”
Lola Stark (Conflicted Love (Needle's Kiss, #2))
“
Yesterday. Tonight. Tomorrow. In ten years. She’s mine.(...) Don’t test that, You don’t want to play with a man who would blow the world to pieces for her. (...) Because, tell me, if I’m willing to destroy myself for her, what makes you think I won’t destroy someone as insignificant as you?
”
”
Lola King (Loving the Liar (Silver Falls University, #1))
“
He used to tell her... that it was because Russia had left a chill in his bones. Lola Plum believed it, only because sometimes he'd get a very distant and apathetic look around his eyes and he'd sting her with some harsh truth. Always he apologized for it, but she had never blamed him, only the cold of his Russian heritage.
”
”
Shannon Noelle Long (Second Coming)
“
My dear Muna,” he started. “I love your spirit. But I would rather go back home and die fighting for something than die here in paradise doing nothing and listening to birdsong.
”
”
Lola Akinmade Åkerström (In Every Mirror She's Black)
“
We are a collision course to no where...
"Alchemy in the Dark
”
”
Lola Lawrence (Alchemy in the Dark: Poetry and Prose)
“
Remember, baby. The sun never stops shining above the clouds,” he whispers against my lips as we separate. “No matter what comes our way, I’ll never stop loving you.
”
”
Lola King (Beautiful Fiend (North Shore, #1))
“
divided lovers rarely meet but you and i bridged the distance
”
”
Lola Lawrence
“
My eyebrows drew together at the idea of a little girl. “My seed is strong, woman. It makes big healthy boys. With large penises.
”
”
Lola Stark (Conflicted Love (Needle's Kiss, #2))
“
It wasn't so much that Lola Plum believed she'd learned her lesson in love. Lola Plum was just realistic about life.
”
”
Shannon Noelle Long (Second Coming)
“
I did it because I love you. That doesn’t mean I’m good, it just means I’m weak.
”
”
Lola St. Vil (The Triplex (Guardians, #4))
“
taught us at an early age that love is pain. I
”
”
Lola St. Vil (The Triplex (Guardians, #4))
“
Her love will prove fatal to any man who dares to love her.
”
”
Alexandre Dumas fils
“
love can be painful. But real love? It beats any obstacle along the way. And it saves people who are beyond saving. People who the world has given up on. It can be redemption.” I
”
”
Lola St. Vil (Shattered Souls (The Toren #1))
“
She was broken, I think it’s because she loved too much and she was always blind to the fact that love too is sometimes broken.” — Robert M. Drake
”
”
Lola St. Vil (Cruel Mercy (The Toren #2))
“
Lola wondered how much time the woman had spent trying to outrun cute and reach pretty before she embraced who she was and made a fucking killing. Lola
”
”
Melissa Scrivner Love (Lola)
“
What was I supposed to do? Skip around in circles smiling and handing out candy canes while rainbows came out my ass?
”
”
Lola Stark (Conflicted Love (Needle's Kiss, #2))
“
Loving somebody changed people. It made them do stupid things. It made them change who they were and I'd seen it firsthand.
”
”
Lola Stark (Conflicted Love (Needle's Kiss, #2))
“
She was talking about dresses, and flowers and crap; something I never thought she'd do, but that's the proof: love made you forget who you were.
”
”
Lola Stark (Conflicted Love (Needle's Kiss, #2))
“
Get it together asshole; You can do this.
”
”
Lola Stark (Conflicted Love (Needle's Kiss, #2))
“
Cricket: I love you.
I didn't say it so you'd say it back. Please don't say it if you don't mean it. I can wait.
Lola: Cricket Bell, I have been in love with you for my entire life.
”
”
Stephanie Perkins (Lola and the Boy Next Door (Anna and the French Kiss, #2))
“
It's not like you ate Filipino food all the time. You loved Emperor's Way takeout, and the friendly Chinese girl there who you were too shy to ask but whose name tag said to call her Ming always gave you extra sauce for your orange chicken. The sweet potato pie from Butter was absolutely to die for, and it made you feel soft and warm the same way Lola's leche flan did. The youngest Manzano once handed you a delicious pastry without prompting or demanding payment before drifting away, seemingly lost in a world of her own. If this was a marketing strategy for their pastelería, it worked.
But you could tell that there were differences in the way they cooked and baked, that they took old and treasured recipes and put in their own unique, modern spin to them. Why couldn't you do the same?
”
”
Rin Chupeco (Hungry Hearts: 13 Tales of Food & Love)
“
The more the woman shows herself submissive, the quicker the man becomes bored and overbearing; but the crueler and more faithless she is, the more she mistreats him, the more frivolously she plays with him and the less mercy she shows, the more she excites the lust of the man and is loved and worshiped by him. It was like that in all eras – from Helen and Delilah to Catherine the Great and Lola Montez
”
”
Leopold von Sacher-Masoch (Venus in Furs)
“
Never forget that women who fight back get nothing out of it. They stand their ground against fear, threats, manipulation, not for themselves, but for all the other women around them. No woman has ever shouted that they’re fighting back because it’ll fix whatever they’ve endured. No. It’s always 'for other women out there.' And none of you men will ever know what that’s like. You don’t protect us. We protect ourselves.
”
”
Lola King (Loving the Reaper (Silver Falls University, #2))
“
There's a certain feeling that can only be compared to the same feeling one gets when they've been in the cold rain when it's dark at night and suddenly night gives way to dawn and sunlight filters through the clouds as they part. That's how his voice felt as it hit my ears, flowing through me like fresh air hitting my lungs. It felt like I was slowly sinking into a hot bubble bath after having been outside, naked in the cold.
”
”
Lola Mac Harlow (Love Me Without Being Told (Queen of Hearts,#1))
“
She showed you how to make her special adobo recipe- proper adobo, with soy sauce and vinegar and spices- and it tasted exquisite, better than any other grandmother would have made. She offered both meals for free to the carinderia's clientele that day, much to their delight. Sampling your casserole brought them no perceptible changes; eating Lola's adobo left them fresh, eager, and thrumming with energy, exhaustion falling away like a cloak.
”
”
Rin Chupeco (Hungry Hearts: 13 Tales of Food & Love)
“
He-the Monster-is now dating someone whose name begins with "L". I think her name is Lola or maybe, possibly, Lolita. (Tiptoeing off the tounge. How lovely. Lovely Lola Lolita) The Monster, everyone say is much better now. He doesn't drink (I'm not around) and he doesn't smoke (I'm not around) and he doesn't stay out all night and ring "L's" doorbell at 4:30 in the morning (drunk and smoky). He's older, wiser and unwilling to go backward into that great abyss that reads me.
”
”
Kathleen DeMarco (Cranberry Queen)
“
Fifteen is an appropriate age to test for seasoning. It is not a complicated ritual, but it is an unusual rite of passage and not for the fastidious. It's a prick of a finger. It's five drops of blood. It's drizzling the blood onto sinigang- a heady soup of tamarind broth, with a savory sourness enhanced by spinach and okra, tomatoes and corms, green peppers for zest. Lola Simeon prefers stewed pork, and so that was chopped into the broth, a perfect medley of lean meat and fat.
”
”
Rin Chupeco (Hungry Hearts: 13 Tales of Food & Love)
“
I read once that you need two things to be happy. Any two of health, money and love. You can cover the absence of one with the other two. I drew comfort from this idea while I was fully bodied, employed, and unloved. It made me feel I wasn't missing much. But now I realized this was unmitigated bullshit, because health and money did not compare with love at all. I had a girl in a hospital bed who liked me and I didn't know where that might go but I could tell it was more important than low blood pressure. It mattered more than a new car. With Lola in the same building, I walked with a spring in my step. That was true literally. But I mean I was happy, happy on an axis I had previously known about only in theory. I was glad to be alive.
”
”
Max Barry (Machine Man)
“
If only I had met Molly sooner, when it was still possible to choose one road rather than another! Before that bitch Musyne and that little turd Lola crimped my enthusiasm! But it was too late to start being young again. I didn't believe in it any more! We grow old so quickly and, what's more, irremediably. You can tell by the way you start loving your misery in spite of yourself. Nature is stronger than we are, no two ways about it. She tries us in one particular mould, and we're never able to throw it off. I had started out as the restless type. Little by little, without realizing it, you begin to take your role and fate seriously, and, before you know it, it's too late to change. You're a hundred per cent restless, and it's set that way for good.
”
”
Louis-Ferdinand Céline (Journey to the End of the Night)
“
Look, I know love has nothing to do with your background or career, but seriously, when a director of marketing starts considering dates from janitors, something is wrong.” An electrician who works out regularly, loves to read, and enjoys Thai food—her favorite.
”
”
Lola Akinmade Åkerström (In Every Mirror She's Black)
“
Imagine this: A world where the quality of your life is not determined by how much money you have. You do not have to sell your labour to survive. Labour is not tied to capitalism, profit or wage. Borders do not exist; we are free to move without consequence. The nuclear family does not exist; children are raised collectively; reproduction takes on new meanings. In this world, the way we carry out dull domestic labour is transformed and nobody is forced to rely on their partner economically to survive. The principles of transformative justice are used to rectify harm. Critical and comprehensive sex education exists for all from an early age. We are liberated from the gender binary’s strangling grip and the demands it places on our bodies. Sex work does not exist because work does not exist. Education and transport are free, from cradle to grave. We are forced to reckon with and rectify histories of imperialism, colonial exploitation, and warfare collectively. We have freedom to, not just freedom from. Specialist mental health services and community care are integral to our societies. There is no “state” as we know it; nobody dies in “suspicious circumstances” at its hands; no person has to navigate sexism, racism, ableism or homophobia to survive. Detention centres do not exist. Prisons do not exist, nor do the police. The military and their weapons are disbanded across nations. Resources are reorganised to adequately address climate catastrophe. No person is without a home or loving community. We love one another, without possession or exploitation or extraction. We all have enough to eat well due to redistribution of wealth and resource. We all have the means and the environment to make art, if we so wish. All cultural gatekeepers are destroyed. Now imagine this vision not as utopian, but as something well within our reach.
”
”
Lola Olufemi (Feminism, Interrupted: Disrupting Power)
“
Everyone thinks you saved me the day you threw us off the tower. But the truth is you saved me way before that. Every time you smile, you save me. I’m surrounded by Guardians everyday but I didn’t encounter courage until I met you. I lived in the light but I didn’t find peace until I held you. And I never understood what it meant to love until I was loved by you.
”
”
Lola St. Vil (The Quo (Guardians, #5, part 1 of 2))
“
Ugh,” Turner groans from the kitchen. “That skinny tramp can go fuck herself. She doesn't stand a chance. Even if I wasn't fucking committed to marrying your ass making tiny Turner babies, she's a little below my usual standards.” Naomi's eyes narrow, and I can't hold back my smile. God, I love the shit out of these stupid assholes. I hope they buy a house down the street from me, so I can watch Naomi throwing Turner's stuff out on the lawn every other Christmas. I don't admit to myself that in that fantasy, Lola Saints is in the kitchen with nothing but an apron on.
”
”
C.M. Stunich (Tough Luck (Hard Rock Roots, #3))
“
If only I had met Molly sooner, when it was still possible to choose one road rather than another. Before that bitch Musyne and that little turd Lola crimped my enthusiasm. But it was too late to start being young again. I didn't believe in it anymore. We grow old so quickly and, what's more, irremediably. You can tell by the way you start loving your misery in spite of yourself. Nature is stronger than we are, no two ways about it. She tries us in one particular mold, and we're never able to throw it off. I had started out as the restless type. Little by little, without realizing it, you begin to take your role and fate seriously, and before you know it, it's too late to change. You're a hundred-percent restless, and it's set that way for good.
”
”
Louis-Ferdinand Céline (Journey to the End of the Night)
“
But your lolas took offense at being called witches. That is an Amerikano term, they scoff, and that they live in the boroughs of an American city makes no difference to their biases. Mangkukulam was what they styled themselves as, a title still spoken of with fear in their motherland, with its suggestions of strange healing and old-world sorcery.
Nobody calls their place along Pepper Street Old Manila, either, save for the women and their frequent customers. It was a carinderia, a simple eatery folded into three food stalls; each manned by a mangkukulam, each offering unusual specialties:
Lola Teodora served kare-kare, a healthy medley of eggplant, okra, winged beans, chili peppers, oxtail, and tripe, all simmered in a rich peanut sauce and sprinkled generously with chopped crackling pork rinds. Lola Teodora was made of cumin, and her clients tiptoed into her stall, meek as mice and trembling besides, only to stride out half an hour later bursting at the seams with confidence.
But bagoong- the fermented-shrimp sauce served alongside the dish- was the real secret; for every pound of sardines you packed into the glass jars you added over three times that weight in salt and magic. In six months, the collected brine would turn reddish and pungent, the proper scent for courage.
unlike the other mangkukulam, Lola Teodora's meal had only one regular serving, no specials. No harm in encouraging a little bravery in everyone, she said, and with her careful preparations it would cause little harm, even if clients ate it all day long.
Lola Florabel was made of paprika and sold sisig: garlic, onions, chili peppers, and finely chopped vinegar-marinated pork and chicken liver, all served on a sizzling plate with a fried egg on top and calamansi for garnish. Sisig regular was one of the more popular dishes, though a few had blanched upon learning the meat was made from boiled pigs' cheeks and head.
”
”
Rin Chupeco (Hungry Hearts: 13 Tales of Food & Love)
“
We look to the stars. Backs on the grass. Danny rolls on his side. Props his head up with his left hand. ‘Hey, you still wanna know why I was crying on the bridge?’ he asks. ‘Yeah.’ He sits up. He’s breaking fragments of a twig between his fingers. ‘It’s a bit messed up.’ ‘It is?’ I sit up now, too. ‘Well, now I really wanna know.’ He tosses a bit of a twig over his feet. ‘Sometimes I go to the middle of that bridge and I look over the edge and I think about jumping off,’ he says. ‘Right,’ I say, wondering where he’s going with this. ‘But I’m not doing that in a sad, death way,’ he says. ‘I’m doing that in an alive way.’ ‘An alive way?’ I nod, trying my best to keep up. ‘I don’t think I’d ever jump, but sometimes I really think hard about it, and it terrifies me,’ he says. ‘And then it makes me feel alive. It makes me feel grateful. Because in that instant I feel like I’ve saved myself from certain death. I don’t know what part of me wants to jump, I can’t explain where it comes from, but it’s like some weird part of me always wants to die. I think that’s why I’m scared of heights. Like, have you ever been on one of those balconies in one of those high-rise apartments on the Gold Coast?’ ‘No,’ I say. ‘I live in a van.’ ‘Right,’ he says. ‘Sorry. Entitled dick.’ ‘You’re entitled to be.’ ‘Those Gold Coast apartments have balconies as high as the clouds, but the railings on the balconies don’t even go up past your belly button. You could trip over and that’d be it. Splat. I think some people get scared on those balconies because they are scared of the part of themselves that wants to die. For most of us it’s among the few times in our lives when we come so close to so easily being able to end it all, and we’re terrified by that voice in our heads screaming, “Don’t jump, arsehole,” and it’s like, what sort of crazy fuck has to even say that to themselves? So, sometimes when I’m on that bridge I think all that stuff, and then those thoughts are like reminders of how fucking beautiful it all is. The thought of dying reminds me why I love it all so much. I look at the river and the buildings and the lights and the moon and the stars and the people going past and I say these same words: “You’re so fucking lucky.
”
”
Trent Dalton (Lola in the Mirror)