“
Somewhere beyond the sink-hole, past the magnolia, under the live oaks, a boy and a yearling ran side by side, and were gone forever.
”
”
Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings
“
I am convinced that most people do not grow up...We marry and dare to have children and call that growing up. I think what we do is mostly grow old. We carry accumulation of years in our bodies, and on our faces, but generally our real selves, the children inside, are innocent and shy as magnolias.
”
”
Maya Angelou (Letter to My Daughter)
“
To be beautiful means to be yourself.You don't need to be accepted by others. You need to accept yourself. When you are born a lotus flower, be a beautiful lotus flower, don't try to be a magnolia flower. If you crave acceptance and recognition and try to change yourself to fit what other people want you to be, you will suffer all your life. True happiness and true power lie in understanding yourself, accepting yourself, having confidence in yourself.
”
”
Thich Nhat Hanh (The Art of Power)
“
He laughs and for some reason it sounds like I'm ringing the doorbell of the home I grew up in.
”
”
Jessa Hastings (Magnolia Parks: The Long Way Home (Magnolia Parks Universe, #3))
“
Our eyes hold like our hands won’t. I love you, he blinks. Prove it, I sigh.
”
”
Jessa Hastings (Magnolia Parks (Magnolia Parks Universe, #1))
“
Painful things can still be beautiful things, in case you didn’t know.
”
”
Jessa Hastings (Magnolia Parks (Magnolia Parks Universe, #1))
“
In another life I reckon I could have loved you,' I tell her. She gives me a little smile back. 'In another life I would have let you-' Never you mind that I already love her in this one.
”
”
Jessa Hastings (Daisy Haites: The Great Undoing (Magnolia Parks Universe, #4))
“
Because she can only hate me how she hates me because she loves me how she loves me.
”
”
Jessa Hastings (Magnolia Parks (Magnolia Parks Universe, #1))
“
Margaret's voice, with its raspy twang, reminded her of magnolias and whiskey.
”
”
Deborah Leblanc (Toe to Toe (Nonie Broussard Ghost Tracker Series))
“
how many loves do you get in a lifetime? I remember wondering that. How many people will look at me like he does, not just like I’m the sun but like I’m the whole god damn universe.
”
”
Jessa Hastings (Magnolia Parks (Magnolia Parks Universe, #1))
“
I think I understand for a fleeting moment why everything that’s bad and painful and sad is worth it if you love someone, because I’ll remember how he’s looking at me now forever.
”
”
Jessa Hastings (Daisy Haites (Magnolia Parks Universe, #2))
“
and I love her in the dark. I mean, fuck it—I down and out love her in all spectrums of light, even the absence of it.
”
”
Jessa Hastings (Magnolia Parks (Magnolia Parks Universe, #1))
“
Don’t quit, and don’t give up. The reward is just around the corner. And in times of doubt or times of joy, listen for that still, small voice. Know that God has been there from the beginning—and he will be there until . . . The End.
”
”
Joanna Gaines (The Magnolia Story)
“
Everything wonderful, everything magical, everything painful, everything beautiful and spectacular and wretched and defining that has happened to me happened with him. And I hate him for that.
”
”
Jessa Hastings (Magnolia Parks (Magnolia Parks Universe, #1))
“
I feel in colour, strong tones that I hue down for the comfort of the pastelly inclined. Beige and magnolia and a hint of pink are what the well-decorated heart is wearing; who wants my blood red and vein-blue?
”
”
Jeanette Winterson (Gut Symmetries)
“
Scarlet O'Hara was not beautiful, but men seldom realized it when caught by her charm as the Tarleton twins were. In her face were too sharply blended the delicate features of her mother, a Coast aristocrat of French descent, and the heavy ones of her florid Irish father. But it was an arresting face, pointed of chin, square of jaw. Her eyes were pale green without a touch of hazel, starred with bristly black lashes and slightly tilted at the ends. Above them, her thick black brows slanted upward, cutting a startling oblique line in her magnolia-white skin-that skin so prized by Southern women and so carefully guarded with bonnets, veils and mittens against hot Georgia suns.
”
”
Margaret Mitchell (Gone with the Wind)
“
I would rather have thirty minutes of wonderful, than a lifetime of nothing special.
”
”
Robert Harling (Steel Magnolias)
“
It's the great undoing of my heart as I know it.
”
”
Jessa Hastings (Daisy Haites: The Great Undoing (Magnolia Parks Universe, #4))
“
I might cry later, at home, while watching Steel Magnolias and dressed like a homeless person. Sometimes I applied mascara before crying just to heighten the experience.
”
”
Penny Reid (Love Hacked (Knitting in the City, #3))
“
Can you die from a broken heart, do you know? And if I did and they cut me wide open, would I bleed loving him? When they lift my heart out of my chest cavity to weigh it, does it weigh the same as his top lip? Is his name carved into my third rib to the left? Bone of my bones, flesh of my flesh. He's killing me. Loving him is killing me too, and I'm afraid because how many loves really, do you get in a lifetime? How many chances do you give it before you let it go?
”
”
Jessa Hastings (Magnolia Parks (Magnolia Parks Universe, #1))
“
I told myself that I was going to live the rest of my life as if it were Saturday.
”
”
Chip Gaines (The Magnolia Story)
“
Daisy’s that feeling you get when you’re floating on your back in a pool and there’s so much fucking noise around you until you put your ears under and it all goes quiet. That’s how she feels to me.
”
”
Jessa Hastings (Daisy Haites (Magnolia Parks Universe, #2))
“
I’ll wear it like a badge of honour forever that he loved me first, that he loved me at all.
”
”
Jessa Hastings (Magnolia Parks: The Long Way Home (Magnolia Parks Universe, #3))
“
He’s a time bomb for me, do you see now? That he’ll hurt me. He’ll always hurt me. I’ll never be safe with him, even if I’m always safe next to him.
”
”
Jessa Hastings (Magnolia Parks (Magnolia Parks Universe, #1))
“
Like the magnolia tree,
She bends with the wind,
Trials and tribulation may weather her,
Yet, after the storm her beauty blooms,
See her standing there, like steel,
With her roots forever buried,
Deep in her Southern soil.
”
”
Nancy B. Brewer (Letters from Lizzie)
“
I always thought that the “thriving” would come when everything was perfect, and what I learned is that it’s actually down in the mess that things get good.
”
”
Joanna Gaines (The Magnolia Story)
“
The feel of him is my favourite feeling in the world, for all of history and all of time, write it down, ring the town bell and tell the scribes—I’ll wear it on my heart’s sleeve forever that I love him.
”
”
Jessa Hastings (Daisy Haites (Magnolia Parks Universe, #2))
“
What a mind fuck it is to comfort the person who just blew your whole heart open with a rifle.
”
”
Jessa Hastings (Magnolia Parks (Magnolia Parks Universe, #1))
“
No se me importa un pito que las mujeres
tengan los senos como magnolias o como pasas de higo;
un cutis de durazno o de papel de lija.
Le doy una importancia igual a cero,
al hecho de que amanezcan con un aliento afrodisíaco
o con un aliento insecticida.
Soy perfectamente capaz de sorportarles
una nariz que sacaría el primer premio
en una exposición de zanahorias;
¡pero eso sí! -y en esto soy irreductible- no les perdono,
bajo ningún pretexto, que no sepan volar.
Si no saben volar ¡pierden el tiempo las que pretendan seducirme!
”
”
Oliverio Girondo (Espantapájaros)
“
Laughter through tears is my favorite emotion." (Truvey Jones)
”
”
Robert Harling (Steel Magnolias)
“
Loving you was a good reason not to love anyone else.
”
”
Jessa Hastings (Daisy Haites (Magnolia Parks Universe, #2))
“
It’s up to us to choose contentment and thankfulness now—and to stop imagining that we have to have everything perfect before we’ll be happy.
”
”
Joanna Gaines (The Magnolia Story)
“
I am convinced that most people do not grow up. We find parking spaces and honor our credit cards. We marry and dare to have children and call that growing up. I think what we do is mostly grow old. We carry accumulation of years in our bodies and on our faces, but generally our real selves, the children inside, are still innocent and shy as magnolias.
We may act sophisticated and worldly but I believe we feel safest when we go inside ourselves and find home, a place where we belong and maybe the only place we really do.
”
”
Maya Angelou (Letter to My Daughter)
“
How's the weather over there Parks ?
”
”
Jessa Hastings (Magnolia Parks (Magnolia Parks Universe, #1))
“
Louisiana in September was like an obscene phone call from nature. The air--moist, sultry, secretive, and far from fresh--felt as if it were being exhaled into one's face. Sometimes it even sounded like heavy breathing. Honeysuckle, swamp flowers, magnolia, and the mystery smell of the river scented the atmosphere, amplifying the intrusion of organic sleaze. It was aphrodisiac and repressive, soft and violent at the same time. In New Orleans, in the French Quarter, miles from the barking lungs of alligators, the air maintained this quality of breath, although here it acquired a tinge of metallic halitosis, due to fumes expelled by tourist buses, trucks delivering Dixie beer, and, on Decatur Street, a mass-transit motor coach named Desire.
”
”
Tom Robbins (Jitterbug Perfume)
“
In the deepening spring of May, I had no choice but to recognize the trembling of my heart. It usually happened as the sun was going down. In the pale evening gloom, when the soft fragrance of magnolias hung in the air, my heart would swell without warning, and tremble, and lurch with a stab of pain. I would try clamping my eyes shut and gritting my teeth, and wait for it to pass. And it would pass –but slowly, taking its own time, and leaving a dull ache behind.
”
”
Haruki Murakami (Norwegian Wood)
“
How many loves do you get in a lifetime?
How many people do you get to call yours? There are all sorts of loves in this world, not all of them, but most of them are beautiful. Some are old, some noble, some brave. Others are dishonourable and weak and make you so by association. Some are a low whisper on a sombre night, some are maddening. Some you can’t ignore—they slow-burn inside of you, never quite going out completely but you’re too scared to dare try to fan that flame. Some loves you pretend you don’t feel, even when you can, even when you know you do, even if he’s the first thing you think of in the morning, even if he’s like a match in the darkened room of your heart—because loving something how you love him is a painful love that puts rocks in your pockets and melancholy in your eyeballs and if time has taught you anything it’s that it doesn’t matter. You’ll love him forever anyway.
”
”
Jessa Hastings (Magnolia Parks (Magnolia Parks Universe, #1))
“
You're Central Park at midnight.
”
”
Jessa Hastings (Daisy Haites: The Great Undoing (Magnolia Parks Universe, #4))
“
If this is what being loved by him on accident feels like, I can't imagine what it'd feel like to be loved on purpose.
”
”
Jessa Hastings (Daisy Haites: The Great Undoing (Magnolia Parks Universe, #4))
“
It was such a blessing to find myself thriving in the middle of the pain. Unless you find a way to do that, there's always going to be this fake illusion that once you get there--wherever "there" is for you--you'll be happy. But that's just not life. If you can't find happiness in the ugliness, you're not going to find it in beauty, either.
”
”
Joanna Gaines (The Magnolia Story)
“
April ended and May came along, but May was even worse than April. In the deepening spring of May, I had no choice but to recognize the trembling of my heart. It usually happened as the sun was going down. In the pale evening gloom, when the soft fragrance of magnolias hung in the air, my heart would swell without warning, and tremble, and lurch with a stab of pain. I would try clamping my eyes shut and gritting my teeth, and wait for it to pass. And it would pass....but slowly, taking its own time, and leaving a dull ache behind.
At those times I would write to Naoko. In my letters to her, I would describe only things that were touching or pleasant or beautiful: the fragrance of grasses, the caress of a spring breeze, the light of the moon, a movie I'd seen, a song I liked, a book that had moved me. I myself would be comforted by letters like this when I would reread what I had written. And I would feel that the world I lived in was a wonderful one. I wrote any number of letters like this, but from Naoko or Reiko I heart nothing.
”
”
Haruki Murakami (Norwegian Wood)
“
Sometimes worrying about something is much worse than the actual thing you’re worrying about. So really, what’s the point in worrying?
”
”
Chip Gaines (The Magnolia Story)
“
If it wasn’t him, it would be you,” I tell him, for better and for worse. He blows some more air out of his mouth and catches my eye. “In another life, yeah?” I nod and offer him a weak smile. “I’ll meet you there.
”
”
Jessa Hastings (Magnolia Parks: Into the Dark (Magnolia Parks Universe, #5))
“
I know that some love is beautiful, and some is freeing, some unravels you, some love poisons you, some blinds you, some betters you, and some loves break you in invisible ways that no one else knows about until you have to stand up and the weight of your love crushes your bones.
”
”
Jessa Hastings (Magnolia Parks (Magnolia Parks Universe, #1))
“
Because if she loved herself more than she loves me, she’d have fucked off years ago. I don’t deserve all the chances she half-tries to give me.
”
”
Jessa Hastings (Magnolia Parks (Magnolia Parks Universe, #1))
“
If you can’t find happiness in the ugliness, you’re not going to find it in the beauty, either.
”
”
Chip Gaines (The Magnolia Story)
“
How many loves do you get in a lifetime? For me it's just the one. I've had more but as I float away there's only one I'm thinking of. He is what I'm thinking of. Not how he hurt me, not what he did to me, not what we've done to each other. Just him.
”
”
Jessa Hastings (Magnolia Parks: The Long Way Home (Magnolia Parks Universe, #3))
“
Kill your television!
”
”
Paul Thomas Anderson (Magnolia: The Shooting Script)
“
smile, It increases your face value
”
”
Robert Harling (Steel Magnolias)
“
Eternally sunny, then.”
“Oh—” He grimaces. “Can’t promise that. Storms always come, they have to — brings balance.
”
”
Jessa Hastings (Magnolia Parks: The Long Way Home (Magnolia Parks Universe, #3))
“
I wonder if we’ll ever not be like magnets… not be these two things that drift home to each other no matter what. If there is a way to break the spell, I don’t want to know a fucking thing about it.
”
”
Jessa Hastings (Magnolia Parks: The Long Way Home (Magnolia Parks Universe, #3))
“
He laughs from the back of his throat and I love it when he laughs at the things I say, I want to make him laugh forever but I can’t because he broke forever and still I fight the urge to kiss him anyway.
”
”
Jessa Hastings (Magnolia Parks (Magnolia Parks Universe, #1))
“
She pulls away from me and as she does, I slip my heart in her back pocket. That’s a lie. She already had it. But I give it to her again for good measure.
”
”
Jessa Hastings (Magnolia Parks: The Long Way Home (Magnolia Parks Universe, #3))
“
You’re all here to bury the smartest girl, the sharpest shooter in the whole wide world. But I’m burying my guiding light.
”
”
Jessa Hastings (Magnolia Parks: Into the Dark (Magnolia Parks Universe, #5))
“
Louie brought his new girlfriend over, and the nicest thing I can say about her is all her tattoos are spelled correctly.
”
”
Robert Harling (Steel Magnolias)
“
What are we then?” I ask defiantly, putting some distance between us which he crosses with one step anyway. He kisses my cheek. “Each other’s.
”
”
Jessa Hastings (Daisy Haites (Magnolia Parks Universe, #2))
“
Because loving him is the same thing as tossing the keys to my heart to a valet without a driver’s license. He’ll drive me off a cliff.
”
”
Jessa Hastings (Magnolia Parks (Magnolia Parks Universe, #1))
“
I remember it, like a physical punch in the gut, how much I loved him. Really loved him. To the bone, I loved him. Cut me and I'd bleed him. How much I needed him, still need him, would forever, always, never couldn't, even if I tried, needed him.
”
”
Jessa Hastings (Magnolia Parks (Magnolia Parks Universe, #1))
“
Have you ever looked at the bud of a magnolia flower? It’s a tight little pod that stays closed up for a long time on the end of its branch until one day, out of nowhere, it finally bursts open into this gigantic, gorgeous, fragrant flower that’s ten times bigger than the bud itself. It’s impossible to imagine that such a big beautiful thing could pop out of that tiny little bud. But it does.
”
”
Joanna Gaines (The Magnolia Story)
“
Let me be clear now then, Daisy—” Gives me a tall look. “I am fucked up in love with you.
”
”
Jessa Hastings (Daisy Haites: The Great Undoing (Magnolia Parks Universe, #4))
“
The only difference between us and the animals is our ability to accessorize!
”
”
Robert Harling (Steel Magnolias)
“
maybe this is how we’ll always be—stuck together, drifting back to each other if we somehow pull apart. I hope that’s what we’ll be like. I hope we’ll always find our way back.
”
”
Jessa Hastings (Magnolia Parks (Magnolia Parks Universe, #1))
“
I want it to smell of magnolias instead
of peanuts and I want my shoes to crunch on the same gravel that Lee's
boots crunched on. There's no beauty without poignancy and there's no
poignancy without the feeling that it's going, men, names, books,
houses--bound for dust--mortal--
”
”
F. Scott Fitzgerald (The Beautiful and Damned)
“
I always said, “When things come against us we can either turn on each other, or we can come together and turn on it.”
-Chip Gaines
”
”
Joanna Gaines (The Magnolia Story)
“
How many loves do we get in a lifetime? I really don't know anymore—my heart's racing so fast now and the dam is building—and there are all sorts of love in this world and mine is killing me, I think.
”
”
Jessa Hastings (Magnolia Parks (Magnolia Parks Universe, #1))
“
And I wonder what love is like for other people… Is love for everyone wordless exchanges and a million memories that fuck you up to the bone?
”
”
Jessa Hastings (Magnolia Parks (Magnolia Parks Universe, #1))
“
She could walk all over me, strangle me to death, and I wouldn’t notice. If the emerald eyes are out then I’m dying anyway.
”
”
Jessa Hastings (Magnolia Parks: The Long Way Home (Magnolia Parks Universe, #3))
“
I finally believed it was actually a beautiful thing to be unique and to be different.
”
”
Joanna Gaines (The Magnolia Story)
“
I can’t even look at him because I’m a flower and he’s the whole entire sun and he’ll wilt me away,
”
”
Jessa Hastings (Daisy Haites (Magnolia Parks Universe, #2))
“
What am I to you?” “Oh, I don’t know—” I give her a little shrug, stare straight ahead. Take a long sip before I look over at her. “Like, just—everything.
”
”
Jessa Hastings (Daisy Haites: The Great Undoing (The Magnolia Parks Universe, #4))
“
A love like ours—? Are you joking?” I give her the magic smile. “We’re what the poems are about
”
”
Jessa Hastings (Magnolia Parks: Into the Dark (Magnolia Parks Universe, #5))
“
Echoes through the ancient mountains around us and the Greek philosophers who waxed lyrical about true love and soulmates roll in their graves as I try for the billionth time to sever myself from mine.
”
”
Jessa Hastings (Magnolia Parks (Magnolia Parks Universe, #1))
“
I know your freckles too,” he tells me.
”
”
Jessa Hastings (Daisy Haites (Magnolia Parks Universe, #2))
“
She knows what she wants but won't compromise herself to get it. But she's feminine, like "Steel Magnolia" -- flowery on the outside, steel on the inside. She uses this very femininity to her own advantage. It isn't that she takes undue advantage of men, because she plays fair. She has one thing the nice girl doesn't: a presence of mind because she isn't swept away by a romantic fantasy. This presence of mind enables her to wield her power when it is necessary.
”
”
Sherry Argov (Why Men Love Bitches: From Doormat to Dreamgirl―A Woman's Guide to Holding Her Own in a Relationship)
“
and there are all sorts of love in this world and mine is killing me, I think.
”
”
Jessa Hastings (Magnolia Parks (Magnolia Parks Universe, #1))
“
What am I to you?” I lean back into him, pursing my mouth at the question. “The oxygen mask”—I glance back at him—“that falls down from the ceiling of the planes.
”
”
Jessa Hastings (Magnolia Parks (Magnolia Parks Universe, #1))
“
Will you walk me down the aisle?” I ask him. “At the wedding?” He looks down at me and smiles a bit. “Honour of a lifetime.
”
”
Jessa Hastings (Magnolia Parks: Into the Dark (Magnolia Parks Universe, #5))
“
But he can't promise he won't hurt me so I don't know how to promise I'll stay.
”
”
Jessa Hastings (Magnolia Parks: The Long Way Home (Magnolia Parks Universe, #3))
“
I realized that my determination to make things perfect meant I was chasing an empty obsession all day long. Nothing was ever going to be perfect the way I had envisioned it in the past. Did I want to keep spending my energy on that effort, or did I want to step out of that obsession and to enjoy my kids, maybe allowing myself to get messy right along with them in the process? I chose the latter - and that made all the difference.
”
”
Joanna Gaines (The Magnolia Story)
“
The most beautiful boy in every room, the great love of my life—how many loves do you get in a lifetime? I remember wondering that. How many people will look at me like he does, not just like I’m the sun but like I’m the whole god damn universe.
”
”
Jessa Hastings (Magnolia Parks (Magnolia Parks Universe, #1))
“
At deception he means. Perhaps I am better than some, but every woman has a great deal of experience presenting herself as someone other than who she is, since no girl is ever everything the world wants her to be.
”
”
Sherry Thomas (The Magnolia Sword: A Ballad of Mulan)
“
How many loves do you get in a lifetime? That’s a question I’ve wondered before … If you ask The Sun, I’ve had far too many, and in some ways that’s true, I have. But actually, I’ve only had two great ones.
”
”
Jessa Hastings (Magnolia Parks: Into the Dark (Magnolia Parks Universe, #5))
“
She is the goddess in the Botticelli clam shell, her eyes are the waterlilies in Monet’s pond, she is the hand of God reaching down to mankind. Klimt’s kiss is a portrait of us and I’m gonna steal it. Take it, make it mine, make her mine too.
”
”
Jessa Hastings (Daisy Haites: The Great Undoing (Magnolia Parks Universe, #4))
“
The peace of Manderley. The quietude and the grace. Whoever lived within its walls, whatever trouble there was and strife, however much uneasiness and pain, no matter what tears were shed, what sorrows borne, the peace of Manderley could not be broken or the loveliness destroyed. The flowers that died would bloom again another year, the same birds build their nests, the same trees blossom. That old quiet moss smell would linger in the air, and the bees would come, and crickets, the herons build their nests in the deep dark woods. The butterflies would dance their merry jug across the lawns, and spiders spin foggy webs, and small startled rabbits who had no business to come trespassing poke their faces through the crowded shrubs. There would be lilac, and honeysuckle still, and the white magnolia buds unfolding slow and tight beneath the dining-room window. No one would ever hurt Manderley. It would lie always in its hollow like an enchanted thing, guarded by the woods, safe, secure, while the sea broke and ran and came again in the little shingle bays below.
”
”
Daphne du Maurier (Rebecca)
“
What do I have to show for this life? Her. It’s her. Loving her. That’s all I’ve got, and he’s saying I’ve not even fucking done that well. Everyone has markers for their life. Ways they remember certain things and times. Stakes in the ground. She’s mine. My whole life, all dotted with and by things I remember about her. She’s how I frame the world.
”
”
Jessa Hastings (Magnolia Parks: Into the Dark (Magnolia Parks Universe, #5))
“
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it’s not proud. It doesn’t dishonour others, it’s not self-seeking, it’s not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.
But it’s shit. It’s all a lie.
”
”
Jessa Hastings (Magnolia Parks: The Long Way Home (Magnolia Parks Universe, #3))
“
I just sat there. I just held Shelby's hand. There was no noise, no tremble, just peace. Oh god. I realize as a woman how lucky I am. I was there when that wonderful creature drifted into my life and I was there when she drifted out. It was the most precious moment of my life.
”
”
Robert Harling (Steel Magnolias)
“
If you can't put magnolia on a wall then there are always a million other colors you can use, if you can't pay your phone bill then just write letters telling them. I'm not playing down the importance of these things, yes you need money for food, yes you need food to survive, but you also need sleep to have energy, to smile to be happy, and to be happy so you can laugh, just so you don't keel over with a heart attack. People forget they have options. And they forget that those things really don't matter. They should concentrate on what they have and not what they don't have. And by the way, wishing and dreaming doesn't mean concentrating on what you don't have, it's positive thinking that encourages hoping and believing, not whining and moaning.
”
”
Cecelia Ahern (If You Could See Me Now)
“
How had his life changed so much in one day?
He tipped his head to see her face. She’d changed everything.
She’d said tonight was just sex, but he’d had that countless times over his long existence. Enough to know what they’d just shared was something new.
And he suspected he’d never get enough.
”
”
Lisa Kessler (Magnolia Mystic (Sentinels of Savannah, #1))
“
Keegan rested his forearm on the wheel. “If the spell is fading, you could’ve grown old with this woman. She never had to know you were the Quartermaster on the Sea Dog when it sank in 1795.”
“All true.” Colton glanced over his shoulder toward the bow. “But every man she’s ever known has lied to her. I didn’t want to be another one.
”
”
Lisa Kessler (Magnolia Mystic (Sentinels of Savannah, #1))
“
and find what it is that inspires you, go and find what it is that you love, and go do that until it hurts. Don’t quit, and don’t give up. The reward is just around the corner. And in times of doubt or times of joy, listen for that still, small voice. Know that God has been there from the beginning—and he will be there until
”
”
Chip Gaines (The Magnolia Story)
“
You can love someone and not have it rule you, not have it dictate your every waking thought and decision. You can love someone and still retain your power and autonomy. You can love someone and have it just be there, a part of you, and still have a completely functional life. Even if it's a life without them. Doesn't sound much like any life I'm interested in, actually.
”
”
Jessa Hastings (Magnolia Parks: The Long Way Home (Magnolia Parks Universe, #3))
“
A hundred years from now, folks will look back at this time period and think, Wow, what an incredible moment it must’ve been to be alive. Syrian refugees, human trafficking, climate change—the whole world is out there waiting to be saved. And you’ll have a grand adventure doing it, even if only in what you consider a small, locally based way. You know, you already have as a teacher.
”
”
Ray Smith (The Magnolia That Bloomed Unseen)
“
He took her hand again, enjoying the spark of fire that lit through his bloodstream and led her through the fog toward River Street.
Seeing the usually bustling area empty was equally beautiful and haunting. It brought back memories of earlier days. Centuries before cell phones and email.
Back when his crew would drop anchor in the cloak of night and shanghai new crew members out of the pubs.
Lifetimes ago.
”
”
Lisa Kessler (Magnolia Mystic (Sentinels of Savannah, #1))
“
Mum used to say to me—when you pick who you want to be with, you have to imagine every part of life, every scenario. Good, bad, happy, sad, painful, beautiful—not just the person you want to do road trips with, but the person you want to be stuck in gridlock traffic with. Not just the person you want to have babies with, but the person you want to grieve with, the person you want next to you on the worst day of your life, at the funeral of someone you love, who's next to you? You don't need a fair-weather lover, you need the person that's going to stand next to you in their wellies, staring down the barrel of the storm.
”
”
Jessa Hastings (Daisy Haites: The Great Undoing (Magnolia Parks Universe, #4))
“
Then the world goes to black. We lock eyes. And this sheet of impenetrable glass slides up from the ground between us. We can’t touch and we can’t talk and there’s nothing to say anyway besides him screaming through the glass that he misses me and me screaming back that I miss him too and him screaming that he’s sorry and me screaming that it’s not enough. Our faces are frozen in what feels like hopeless love but couldn’t be, because I don’t love him anymore. I cannot.
”
”
Jessa Hastings (Magnolia Parks (Magnolia Parks Universe, #1))
“
Because my division watches immortals like your crew. It’s in the government’s best interest to keep tabs on people who could potentially be assets someday. Which is why I’m here.” He turned to Colton again. “I can use my contacts to locate the group holding the Holy Grail, but the American government can’t be tied to the recovery effort in any way.”
“So what are you sayin’?” Colton held his breath.
“I’m saying who better to steal it back than a band of pirates?
”
”
Lisa Kessler (Magnolia Mystic (Sentinels of Savannah, #1))
“
Paralytic
It happens. Will it go on? ----
My mind a rock,
No fingers to grip, no tongue,
My god the iron lung
That loves me, pumps
My two
Dust bags in and out,
Will not
Let me relapse
While the day outside glides by like ticker tape.
The night brings violets,
Tapestries of eyes,
Lights,
The soft anonymous
Talkers: 'You all right?'
The starched, inaccessible breast.
Dead egg, I lie
Whole
On a whole world I cannot touch,
At the white, tight
Drum of my sleeping couch
Photographs visit me ----
My wife, dead and flat, in 1920 furs,
Mouth full of pearls,
Two girls
As flat as she, who whisper 'We're your daughters.'
The still waters
Wrap my lips,
Eyes, nose and ears,
A clear
Cellophane I cannot crack.
On my bare back
I smile, a buddha, all
Wants, desire
Falling from me like rings
Hugging their lights.
The claw
Of the magnolia,
Drunk on its own scents,
Asks nothing of life.
”
”
Sylvia Plath (Ariel)
“
meander, v.
"...because when it all comes down to it, there's no such thing as a two-hit wonder. So it's better just to have that one song that everyone knows, instead of diluting it with a follow-up that only half succeeds. I mean, who really cares what Soft Cell's next single was, as long as we have 'Tainted Love'?"
I stop. You're still listening.
"Wait," I say. "What was I talking about? How did we get to 'Tainted Love'?"
"Let's see," you say, "I believe we started roughly at the Democratic gains in the South, then jumped back to the election of 1948, dipping briefly into northern constructions of the South, vis-a-vis Steel Magnolias, Birth of a Nation, Johnny Cash, and Fried Green Tomatoes. Which landed you on To Kill a Mockingbird, and how it is both Southern and universal, which -- correct me if I'm wrong -- got us to Harper Lee and her lack of a follow-up novel, intersected with the theory, probably wrong, that Truman Capote wrote the novel, then hopping over to literary one-hit wonders, and using musical one-hit wonders to make a point about their special place in our culture. I think."
"Thank you," I say. "That's wonderful.
”
”
David Levithan (The Lover's Dictionary)
“
Checking the address, he knocked on the door.
The door opened a crack. “We’re closed.”
He recognized those violet eyes. His throat went dry. “Oh. You again.”
Her eyes narrowed as she chuckled. “You must have women throwing themselves at you with lines like that. What are you doing here?”
“I came to see if Flynn Enterprises has made an offer to buy your property.” His gaze wandered against his better judgement. On his ship, she’d been wearing jeans and a t-shirt. Now her curves were covered by a quality replica of a pirate’s frock coat, complete with deck boots, a bandana covering her hair, and a single hoop earring. “Didn’t take you for a pirate earlier today.”
“You seriously came over here to talk to a stranger about private financial information, and then you have the balls to comment on her work attire?” She raised a brow.
“We’re hardly strangers.” He struggled to hold back a smile and offered his hand. “I don’t think I introduced myself earlier. I’m Colton. Colton Hayes.”
She looked at his hand and finally opened the door. “Skye Olson. And apparently I’m a glutton for punishment.
”
”
Lisa Kessler (Magnolia Mystic (Sentinels of Savannah, #1))