“
Page after page she read
She cried and laughed
She swore and cheered
She fell in love with simple characters
She loathed imaginary enemies
She read and read saying one more chapter
She fell asleep with the books in her grasp
She got lost in the words and escaped the world
”
”
N.S.
“
There is a vast mythology surrounding meat, but all the myths are in one way or another related to what I refer to as the Three Ns of Justification: eating meat is normal, natural, and necessary. The Three Ns have been invoked to justify all exploitative systems, from African slavery to the Nazi Holocaust. When an ideology is in its prime, these myths rarely come under scrutiny. However, when the system finally collapses, the Three Ns are recognized as ludicrous.
”
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Melanie Joy (Why We Love Dogs, Eat Pigs, and Wear Cows: An Introduction to Carnism)
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I know when you look at me, you see everything that went wrong, but when I look at you?” He licks his lips. “Violet, when I look at you, I still see the love of my life.
”
”
N.S. Perkins (The Infinity Between Us)
“
You’ll never get what you want if you don’t work for it. Nothing in this world comes for free, and the best thing you can do for yourself is work your butt off for what you believe in. Fight, tooth and nail, for the people you love.
”
”
N.S. Perkins (A Risk on Forever)
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Don’t waste your time being angry when you could be in love.
”
”
N.S. Perkins (The Infinity Between Us)
“
Dopamine isn’t the pleasure molecule, after all. It’s the anticipation molecule. To enjoy the things we have, as opposed to the things that are only possible, our brains must transition from future-oriented dopamine to present-oriented chemicals, a collection of neurotransmitters we call the Here and Now molecules, or the H&Ns. Most people have heard of the H&Ns. They include serotonin, oxytocin, endorphins (your brain’s version of morphine), and a class of chemicals called endocannabinoids (your brain’s version of marijuana). As opposed to the pleasure of anticipation via dopamine, these chemicals give us pleasure from sensation and emotion. In fact, one of the endocannabinoid molecules is called anandamide, named after a Sanskrit word that means joy, bliss, and delight.
”
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Daniel Z. Lieberman (The Molecule of More: How a Single Chemical in Your Brain Drives Love, Sex, and Creativity―and Will Determine the Fate of the Human Race)
“
She’s in every place I visit, in all the love songs I listen to. She’s in the chocolate-cherry ice cream I eat and the 2000s movies I watch and the Jeep I still drive and the thunderstorms outside my window and the quotes I read about love and pain and beauty and heartache.
”
”
N.S. Perkins (The Infinity Between Us)
“
Thou hadst: whom hast thou then or what to accuse, But Heav’ns free Love dealt equally to all? Be then his Love accurst, since love or hate, To me alike, it deals eternal woe. Nay
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John Milton (Paradise Lost: An Annotated Bibliography (Paradise series Book 1))
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I don't care that you don't love yourself enough to believe I'd be lucky to be with you. We'll work on that, and in the meantime, I'll love you enough for the both of us.
”
”
N.S. Perkins (Where Time Stands Still (Evermore #1))
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He hadn’t come to see her. He’d arrived by mistake and wanted to get far away without further ado. Once upon a time, they’d shared a rare, special love. She remembered it and regretted losing it, even if he didn’t.
”
”
Sara Daniel (One Night with the Groom)
“
Have I ever told you about my passion for romance novels? I’ve always considered myself a hopeless romantic. Reading about love blooming, especially between two people reluctant to it, has always been one of my favorite things in the world. I liked to read about people getting closer and connections being created. I loved to long for a first kiss and dread the eventual fights in the couple’s future.
”
”
N.S. Perkins (A Risk on Forever)
“
I’m in love with this man. Again.
Not that I fully ever fell out of love with him. I thought at some point that my feelings had disappeared, but apparently, they were only hibernating. And while our years apart were their winter, Will is their spring, his laughter the fresh flowers and his grins the thawing of the ice.
”
”
N.S. Perkins (The Infinity Between Us)
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Spending my whole life loving Addy wouldn't be long enough.
”
”
N.S. Perkins (A Risk on Forever)
“
Maybe not all love stories need to last a lifetime. Maybe the most beautiful ones are the ones that develop despite the fact that they won’t.
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”
N.S. Perkins (Where Time Stands Still)
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I know so many people walked away from you in your life, and I promise I won’t be one of them. You’re my one love.
”
”
N.S. Perkins (Where Happiness Begins (Evermore #3))
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Honey, you’re impossible not to love.
”
”
N.S. Perkins (Where Happiness Begins (Evermore #3))
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It’s been three years and eight months since I’ve seen her last. I need to move on. I know I do. But Amy, she’s all of my daydreams. Not a moment goes by when I don’t think to myself, “Fuck, do I love her.” She’s in every place I visit, in all the love songs I listen to. She’s in the chocolate-cherry ice cream I eat and the 2000s movies I watch and the Jeep I still drive and the thunderstorms outside my window and the quotes I read about love and pain and beauty and heartache. She’s ruined summer for me.
”
”
N.S. Perkins (The Infinity Between Us)
“
Does it serve any purpose to ungild the crown of Louis XIV, to scrape the coat of arms of Henry IV? We scoff at M. de Vaublanc for erasing the N’s from the bridge of Jena! What was it that he did? What are we doing? Bouvines belongs to us as well as Marengo. The fleurs-de-lys are ours as well as the N’s. That is our patrimony. To what purpose shall we diminish it? We must not deny our country in the past any more than in the present. Why not accept the whole of history? Why not love the whole of France?” It
”
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Victor Hugo (Les Misérables)
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never let the world ruin your heart of gold. No matter how much pain you go through, no matter what is thrown your way, no matter how people treat you, just don’t lose it. You might want to give it up for some bad people, but they’re not worth it. With love and empathy, you can never lose.
”
”
N.S. Perkins (A Risk on Forever)
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It may be true that the law can’t change the heart, but it can restrain the heartless. It may be true that the law can’t make a man love me, but it can restrain him from lynching me, and I think that’s pretty important also. (Martin Luther King, Jr., Address to Ohio Northern University, 1968)
”
”
Ryan N.S. Topping (The Elements of Rhetoric -- How to Write and Speak Clearly and Persuasively: A Guide for Students, Teachers, Politicians & Preachers)
“
Comus.
The Star that bids the Shepherd fold,
Now the top of Heav'n doth hold,
And the gilded Car of Day, [ 95 ]
His glowing Axle doth allay
In the steep Atlantick stream,
And the slope Sun his upward beam
Shoots against the dusky Pole,
Pacing toward the other gole [ 100 ]
Of his Chamber in the East.
Mean while welcom Joy, and Feast,
Midnight shout, and revelry,
Tipsie dance and Jollity.
Braid your Locks with rosie Twine [ 105 ]
Dropping odours, dropping Wine.
Rigor now is gone to bed,
And Advice with scrupulous head,
Strict Age, and sowre Severity,
With their grave Saws in slumber ly. [ 110 ]
We that are of purer fire
Imitate the Starry Quire,
Who in their nightly watchfull Sphears,
Lead in swift round the Months and Years.
The Sounds, and Seas with all their finny drove [ 115 ]
Now to the Moon in wavering Morrice move,
And on the Tawny Sands and Shelves,
Trip the pert Fairies and the dapper Elves;
By dimpled Brook, and Fountain brim,
The Wood-Nymphs deckt with Daisies trim, [ 120 ]
Their merry wakes and pastimes keep:
What hath night to do with sleep?
Night hath better sweets to prove,
Venus now wakes, and wak'ns Love.
Com let us our rights begin, [ 125 ]
Tis onely day-light that makes Sin,
Which these dun shades will ne're report.
Hail Goddesse of Nocturnal sport
Dark vaild Cotytto, t' whom the secret flame
Of mid-night Torches burns; mysterious Dame [ 130 ]
That ne're art call'd, but when the Dragon woom
Of Stygian darknes spets her thickest gloom,
And makes one blot of all the ayr,
Stay thy cloudy Ebon chair,
Wherin thou rid'st with Hecat', and befriend [ 135 ]
Us thy vow'd Priests, till utmost end
Of all thy dues be done, and none left out,
Ere the blabbing Eastern scout,
The nice Morn on th' Indian steep
From her cabin'd loop hole peep, [ 140 ]
And to the tel-tale Sun discry
Our conceal'd Solemnity.
Com, knit hands, and beat the ground,
In a light fantastick round.
”
”
John Milton (Comus and Some Shorter Poems of Milton: Harrap's English Classics)
“
I’m in love with this man. Again. Not that I fully ever fell out of love with him. I thought at some point that my feelings had disappeared, but apparently, they were only hibernating. And while our years apart were their winter, Will is their spring, his laughter the fresh flowers and his grins the thawing of the ice.
”
”
N.S. Perkins
“
It’s not always easy to be with the one you love. I realize it now. You need to work for it. But once you do, you can spend every day of your life feeling the way I’m feeling right now.
Infinite.
”
”
N.S. Perkins
“
Dopamine isn’t the pleasure molecule, after all. It’s the anticipation molecule. To enjoy the things we have, as opposed to the things that are only possible, our brains must transition from future-oriented dopamine to present-oriented chemicals, a collection of neurotransmitters we call the Here and Now molecules, or the H&Ns. Most people have heard of the H&Ns. They include serotonin, oxytocin, endorphins (your brain’s version of morphine), and a class of chemicals called endocannabinoids (your brain’s version of marijuana). As opposed to the pleasure of anticipation via dopamine, these chemicals give us pleasure from sensation and emotion. In fact, one of the endocannabinoid molecules is called anandamide, named after a Sanskrit word that means joy, bliss, and delight. According to anthropologist Helen
”
”
Daniel Z. Lieberman (The Molecule of More: How a Single Chemical in Your Brain Drives Love, Sex, and Creativity―and Will Determine the Fate of the Human Race)
“
It’s not always easy to be with the one you love. I realize it now. You need to work for it. But once you do, you can spend every day of your life feeling the way I’m feeling right now. Infinite.
”
”
N.S. Perkins (The Infinity Between Us)
“
As I held her between my arms, it dawned on me: I wanted that type of love for her. I had no idea if she’d had boyfriends before, or if she’d ever been in love, but I wanted her to feel it. I wanted her to have it all.
”
”
N.S. Perkins (A Risk on Forever)
“
Do you love her?” “With every fiber of my being.
”
”
N.S. Perkins (A Risk on Forever)
“
Did I know why my little brother called his toy cars the names of 18th century historical figures? No. Did I love it? Absolutely.
”
”
N.S. Perkins (A Risk on Forever)
“
God, how can you not see I’m so in love with you I can hardly breathe?
”
”
N.S. Perkins (Where Time Stands Still)
“
could also promise to love and cherish you until death do us part, but I assume this is a given. So, instead, I’ll make you another promise I think you need to hear.” He takes a step forward, our bodies two magnets. Hands in mine, he murmurs, “I promise to remember everything.
”
”
N.S. Perkins (Where Time Stands Still)
“
I don’t care that you don’t love yourself enough to believe I’d be lucky to be with you.” A kiss is pressed to the crown of my hair. “We’ll work on that, and in the meantime, I’ll love you enough for the both of us.
”
”
N.S. Perkins (Where Time Stands Still)
“
First and foremost every Catholic educational institution is a place to encounter the living God who in Jesus Christ reveals his transforming love and truth.”67
”
”
Ryan N.S. Topping (The Case for Catholic Education: Why Parents, Teachers, and Politicians Should Reclaim the Principles of Catholic Pedagogy)
“
You don't have to do anything to be extraordinary. Just being you is enough. You're enough.
”
”
N.S. Perkins (The Infinity Between Us)
“
Sometimes, the best way to care for someone is to try your best and show them your love and support. The little mistakes don’t matter when your intentions are pure.
”
”
N.S. Perkins (A Risk on Forever)
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If you give it your all and try your best, the people you love won’t remember the mistake, but the effort you made to prevent it or to right your wrongs.
”
”
N.S. Perkins (A Risk on Forever)
“
Sometimes, the best way to care for someone is to try your best and show them your love and support.
”
”
N.S. Perkins (A Risk on Forever)
“
No one should feel like they need to beg for attention and love in a relationship. But how do you make that decision when you still hold so much love for the other person? How do you finally choose yourself over that all-consuming emotion?
”
”
N.S. Perkins (Our Final Love Song)
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A face I used to love so much it hurt contorts in confusion as he says, “Violet?
”
”
N.S. Perkins (The Infinity Between Us)
“
Five years later, and I still can't think of death without feeling like I'm going to be sick.
”
”
N.S. Perkins (The Infinity Between Us)
“
You can let me go all you want in the hope it’ll convince me to move on, but you’d be wrong to do that, because I can tell you I’ll never be able to love anyone the way I love you.
”
”
N.S. Perkins (Where Time Stands Still)