“
The moment we stepped out into the hall, Cam's apartment door flung open. Ollie appeared, a cellphone in one hand and Raphael wiggling in the other. "Smile!" he shouted as he snapped a picture on his phone. "It's like my two kids are going to prom.
”
”
J. Lynn (Wait for You (Wait for You, #1))
“
What colour are your eyes?
Olly (O): blue
Madeline (M): Be more specific please
O: jesus. girls. ocean blue
M: Atlantic or Pacific
O: atlantic. What colour are yours?
M: Chocolate brown.
O: More specific please
M: 75% cacao butter, dark chocolate brown
O: hehe. nice
”
”
Nicola Yoon (Everything, Everything)
“
In my head I know I've been in love before, but it doesn't feel like it. Being in love with you is better than the first time. It feels like the first time and the last time and the only time all at once.
”
”
Nicola Yoon (Everything, Everything)
“
Maybe we can't predict everything, but we can predict some things. For example, I am certainly going to fall in love with Olly. It's almost certainly going to be a disaster
”
”
Nicola Yoon (Everything, Everything)
“
I read once that, on average, we replace the majority of our cells every seven years. Even more amazing: we change the upper layers of our skin every two weeks. If all the cells in our body did this, we’d be immortal. But some of our cells, like the ones in our brains, don’t renew. They age, and age us. In two weeks my skin will have no memory of Olly’s hand on mine, but my brain will remember. We can have immortality or the memory of touch. But we can’t have both.
”
”
Nicola Yoon (Everything, Everything)
“
If my life were a book and you read it backward, nothing would change. Today is the same as yesterday. Tomorrow will be the same as today. In the book of Maddy, all the chapters are the same.
Until Olly.
”
”
Nicola Yoon (Everything, Everything)
“
The only thing I know for sure is that this, being here with Olly, being able to love him and be loved by him, is everything.
”
”
Nicola Yoon (Everything, Everything)
“
But a description of a tree is not a tree, and a thousand paper kisses will never equal the feel of Olly's lips against mine.
”
”
Nicola Yoon (Everything, Everything)
“
I take a slow sip of lukewarm coffee, reopen the book, and read the words scribbled in red ink near the top: Everyone needs an olly-olly-oxen-free.
”
”
Jay Asher (Thirteen Reasons Why)
“
Ready or not, here I come
I'm so tired of this dumb game of hide and seek
Olly olly oxen free
Show yourself, you're scaring me
Come out, come out, where ever you are
You've taken this thing way too far
”
”
Sonya Sones (Stop Pretending: What Happened When My Big Sister Went Crazy)
“
And you're a bad boy?" I asked.
Ollie's grin was contagious. "Oh, I'm a bad, bad boy."
Cam shot his friend a look. "Yeah, as in bad at spelling, math, english, cleaning up after yourself, talking to people, and I could go on.
”
”
J. Lynn (Wait for You (Wait for You, #1))
“
Life is a mystery to be lived not a problem to be solved
”
”
Clive Ollies
“
We are lips and arms and legs and bodies entangled. He raises himself above me and we are wordless, and then we are joined and moving silently. We are joined and I know all of the secrets of the universe.
”
”
Nicola Yoon (Everything, Everything)
“
Ollie looks back at me with that universal dog wisdom, then promptly goes back to sleep.
”
”
Marie Lu (Legend (Legend, #1))
“
She’s cute, you know?” Ollie bent forward and picked up the last slice of pizza and stood. “Only she could pass out in the presence of our awesomeness.”
I laughed softly. “It was too much for her. She was overwhelmed.
”
”
J. Lynn (Trust in Me (Wait for You, #1.5))
“
You might get to know characters in books, Ollie thought, but getting to know a human was an entirely different thing.
”
”
Katherine Arden (Small Spaces (Small Spaces, #1))
“
I’ve made so many mistakes in my life. So many. But you, Ollie? You’re the first thing I’ve done right.
”
”
Becka Mack (Consider Me (Playing For Keeps, #1))
“
I really don’t think you could appear any badder, Ollie.” He huffed as he kicked up his legs onto the coffee table.
“At least I know ‘badder’ isn't a word.” Jase smirked.
“That’s about all you know.
”
”
J. Lynn (Trust in Me (Wait for You, #1.5))
“
Harriet smiled. "My name is Harriet."
"Do your friends call you Harry?"
"Not if they want to remain my friends."
"Harriet it is, then, and since we have to convince everyone we're... attached, you must call me Oliver."
She tilted her head. "Do your friends call you Ollie?"
"Not if they want to remain my friends.
”
”
Jen Turano (After a Fashion (A Class of Their Own, #1))
“
HE was standing across the street, staring at her with a look of shock and dismay. One look in Oliver's eyes and she knew he knew. But how? How could he have known? The'd been so careful to keep their love a secret. The grief etched all over his face was too much to bear. Schuyler felt the words catch in her throat as she crossed the stree to stand in front of him. "Ollie...it's not..." Oliver shot her a look of pure hatred, turned on his heel and began to run away. "OLIVER, please,let me explain..
”
”
Melissa de la Cruz (Revelations (Blue Bloods, #3))
“
Now would you do me a favor?' From somewhere inside me came this devastating assault to make me cry. But I withstood. I would not cry. I would merely indicate to Jennifer - by the affirmative nodding of my head - that I would be happy to do her any favor whatsoever.
'Would you please hold me very tight?' she asked.
I put my hand on her forearm - Christ, so thin - and gave it a little squeeze.
'No, Oliver,' she said, 'really hold me. Next to me.'I was very, very careful - of the tubes and things - as I got onto the bed with her and put my arms around her.
'Thanks, Ollie.'
Those were her last words.
”
”
Erich Segal (Love Story (Love Story, #1))
“
You’re spending a lot of time with this girl.”
“Whoa!” I stepped out of the shower, buck -ass naked, finding Ollie standing in the doorway of the bathroom. “What the hell, man?”
“What?” He shrugged. “Not like I haven’t seen your junk before.
”
”
J. Lynn (Trust in Me (Wait for You, #1.5))
“
You’re my favorite everything, Ollie.
”
”
Becka Mack (Consider Me (Playing For Keeps, #1))
“
I wanted to keep looking at her because I wanted to never take my eyes from her, but still I had to
lower my eyes, I was so ashamed that even now Jenny was reading my mind so perfectly.
'Listen, that's the only goddamn thing I'm asking, Ollie. Otherwise, I know you'll be okay.' That thing in my gut was stirring again, so I was afraid to even speak the word 'okay.' I just
looked mutely at Jenny.
”
”
Erich Segal (Love Story (Love Story, #1))
“
Am I getting braver, or just getting accustomed to being terrified?
”
”
Randy Alcorn (Deadline (Ollie Chandler #1))
“
It's supposed to be jolly, with mistletoe and holly... and other things ending in olly.
”
”
Terry Pratchett (Hogfather)
“
Olly: jesus. is there a girl on this planet who doesn't love mr.darcy
Madeline: All girls love Mr. Darcy?
Olly: are you kidding? even my sister loves darcy and she doesn't love anybody
Madeline: She must love somebody. I'm sure she loves you
Olly: what's so great about darcy?
Madeline: That's not a serious question
Olly: he's a snob
Madeline: But he overcomes it and eventually realizes that character matters more than class! He's a man open to learning life's lessons! Also, he's completely gorgeous and noble and brooding and poetic. Did I mention gorgeous? Also, he loves Elizabeth beyond all reason.
”
”
Nicola Yoon (Everything, Everything)
“
Messin with me, is like wearing cheese underwear down rat alley.
Ollie Chandler in Deception
”
”
Randy Alcorn
“
I'm trying to see Olly in his darkened room when the Bundt leaps from the sill and plunges to the ground.
I gasp. Did the cake just commit suicide?
”
”
Nicola Yoon (Everything, Everything)
“
What if I fall in love with you?” “Then I’ll fall with you, too, Ollie girl.
”
”
Becka Mack (Consider Me (Playing For Keeps, #1))
“
I was lost before you, Ollie, and I’d be lost without you. You’re my best friend.
”
”
Becka Mack (Consider Me (Playing For Keeps, #1))
“
are you sure you’re ok? Madeline: I feel brand-new. Olly: all from holding hands huh. imagine what a kiss would do Madeline: … Madeline: Friends don’t kiss, Olly. Olly: really good ones can
”
”
Nicola Yoon (Everything, Everything)
“
In two weeks my skin will have no memory of Olly’s hand on mine, but my brain will remember. We can have immortality or the memory of touch. But we can’t have both.
”
”
Nicola Yoon (Everything, Everything)
“
This is weird, Ollie. I… well, I almost like you right now.” “The feeling will pass.
”
”
Stephenie Meyer (The Chemist)
“
With Ollie, I’d found a safe place. I’d found refuge from the storm inside my head.
”
”
Nicole Fiorina (Stay With Me (Stay with Me, #1))
“
Who reads? Not that I begrudge my life in book. All I know about the world I've learned from them. But a description of a tree is not a tree, and a thousand paper kisses will never equal the feel of Olly's lips against mine.
”
”
Nicola Yoon (Everything, Everything)
“
Breathless, I gazed into his eyes. “I love you Ollie. No matter what happens, never forget that. I will always love you. You have a piece of my heart
forever.”
Beaming at me the tip of his nose touched mine as his forehead rested against my own. “I love you too Layla. You’ve had my heart since the
moment you looked up at me from the hallway floor. You always will.
”
”
Marie Coulson (Bound Together (Bound Together, #1))
“
Olly-olly-oxen-free
”
”
Jay Asher (Thirteen Reasons Why)
“
Madeline: Form of poetry.
Olly: that assumes that I have one
Madeline: You're not a heathen.
Olly: limericks
Madeline: You are a heathen. I'm going to pretend you didn't say that.
”
”
Nicola Yoon (Everything, Everything)
“
This is fucked up,” Olli sent to Kit. “There is no further up to which it might be fucked,” was his considered reply.
”
”
Adrian Tchaikovsky (Lords of Uncreation (The Final Architecture #3))
“
Before Ollie, I didn’t have pieces. He’d built them, broken them, and stolen them.
”
”
Nicole Fiorina (Stay With Me (Stay with Me, #1))
“
I want to read all the books that made you, Ollie Ollie UpandFree.
”
”
Leah Thomas (Because You'll Never Meet Me (Because You'll Never Meet Me, #1))
“
Because of you I've survived this long and gotten a chance to know my small part of the world. But it's not enough. It's not your fault. It's this impossible life. I'm not doing this just because of Olly. Or maybe I am. I don't know. I don't know how to explain it. It's Olly and it's not-Olly at the same time. It's like I can't look at the world in the old way anymore. I found this new part of myself when I met him and the new part doesn't know how to stay quiet and still and just observe.
”
”
Nicola Yoon (Everything, Everything)
“
Read the part where he was trusting his babies with you and John.” “The poor boy.” “Because that’s what Ollie, Shan, Tadhg, and Sean are,” I forced myself to continue. “They’re his babies, and something about you and your husband resonated with him.
”
”
Chloe Walsh (Redeeming 6 (Boys of Tommen, #4))
“
Mom. This didn’t happen to teach us all a lesson and help us to grow.” She darkened. “Ollie, that’s not what I meant and you know it.” “This isn’t beautiful. It’s ugly, and pointless.
”
”
Sophie Gonzales (Only Mostly Devastated)
“
Light is colder when there are parts of it missing.
”
”
Olli Jalonen
“
oh jesus. that is not a good joke Madeline: Made you smile though. Olly: yeah it did
”
”
Nicola Yoon (Everything, Everything)
“
I’m going to be really good at loving you, Ollie. I promise. Nobody will ever do it like I do.
”
”
Becka Mack (Consider Me (Playing For Keeps, #1))
“
This is how best to effect change. If you reiterate the same fears and the same sensible measures with proper augmentation enough times, even difficult decisions will begin to seem like the only justifiable solutions.
”
”
Olli Jalonen
“
The truth was, Ollie was my hell, but it wasn’t until now that I truly understood the meaning behind my own words. He was both the hero and villain in our love story, saving me only to ruin me.
”
”
Nicole Fiorina (Even When I'm Gone (Stay with Me, #2))
“
Ever since Olly came into my life there’ve been two Maddys: the one who lives through books and doesn’t want to die, and the one who lives and suspects that death will be a small price to pay for it.
”
”
Nicola Yoon (Everything, Everything)
“
Ollie-O was in a semicatatonic state, uttering nonsensical phrases like "This is not biodegradable - the downstream implications are enormous - the optics make for rough sledding - going forward -" before getting stuck on the words "epic fail," which he kept repeating.
”
”
Maria Semple (Where'd You Go, Bernadette)
“
Good for you Woods. You're not as dumb as you look. Come to think of it, no one's as dumb as you look.
”
”
Randy Alcorn (Deadline (Ollie Chandler #1))
“
In two weeks my skin will have no memory of Olly's hand on mine, but my brain will remember. We can have immortality or the memory of touch. But we can't have both.
”
”
Nicola Yoon (Everything, Everything)
“
the day I was getting ready to go and meet Ollie,
”
”
Zoe Sugg (Girl Online)
“
Back on the beach we dry off under a shady tree. I feel Olly’s eyes on me when he thinks I’m not noticing, but we are a mutual admiration society—I’m secretly ogling him, too.
”
”
Nicola Yoon (Everything, Everything)
“
I love you, Maddy.” “I love you, Olly. I loved you before I knew you.
”
”
Nicola Yoon (Everything, Everything)
“
I once told Olly that I knew my our heart better than I knew anything else, and it's still true. I know the places in my heart, but the names have all changed.
”
”
Nicola Yoon (Everything, Everything)
“
his dad seemed to love Olly and Kara and his mom a little less than he did before. And the less he seemed to love them, the more they tried to become more lovable.
”
”
Nicola Yoon (Everything, Everything)
“
There was no talking Ollie and her ilk into believing Vern and her ilk were actually people. They were collateral damage in a useless battle waged to attain more power.
”
”
Rivers Solomon (Sorrowland)
“
Mama, Ollie taught me how to play ‘Let It Go’ on guitar,” Crista piped up in a muffled voice as she pulled her pajama shirt over her head. Aunt Linda shot me a look that was half sheer terror, half witch hunt. The face of someone at peak Frozen saturation. I didn’t, I swear, I mouthed, making chopping motions by my neck.
”
”
Sophie Gonzales (Only Mostly Devastated)
“
Ollie Girl, I’ve made a lot of mistakes, lived my life a little too carelessly, in ways that people didn’t approve of. But I wouldn’t change a thing. Because I was waiting for you. Waiting for a love that would walk into my life and blow my whole world up. I want to celebrate every Valentine’s Day & birthday with you. Love, Carter
”
”
Becka Mack (Consider Me (Playing For Keeps, #1))
“
If poor doomed Olly’s a Radio 4 play, what am I?””
“You, Hugo,” she kisses my earlobe, “are a sordid, low-budget French film. The sort you’d stumble across on TV at night. You know you’ll regret it in the morning, but you keep watching anyway.
”
”
David Mitchell (The Bone Clocks)
“
Life has not been able to break me and it will not break you. Stand tall for you are loved, you are enough, you are able, and in the end we will survive.
”
”
Donna G. Bourgeois (Life with Ollie: The story of an only child of a single narcissistic parent)
“
He let out his breath like every bit of tension in his body seeped out with it. “I love you, too. I think I always did. I was just scared of what saying that might mean.” “And now you’re not?” “Not even a bit, Ollie.
”
”
Sophie Gonzales (Only Mostly Devastated)
“
All I’m doing when I’m away from you is counting down the minutes until we can be together again. There is no other option for me than a life with you. I know it’s soon, but I don’t need time to tell me what I already know, that a forever with you can’t come soon enough. Be my forever. Officially, because forever is all you’ve ever been to me. So… marry me, Ollie girl. Say yes.
”
”
Becka Mack (Consider Me (Playing For Keeps, #1))
“
Wehehehehell, if it isn’t Ollie-Ollie-oxidant-free..."
You can take…all the tea in China…put it in a big brown…bag for me.
He’s as sweet as tupelo honey; he’s an angel of the first degree.
Men with insight…men in granite…knights in armor bent on…chivalry.
He’s as sweet as…tupelo honey; just like honey, baby…from the bee."
=> For those who read and liked "When Irish eyes are sparkling"
Can i have a musician here?
”
”
Tom Collins
“
Ollie I would never leave you," she whispered, and she knew she was telling the truth.
-Schuyler
”
”
Melissa de la Cruz (The Van Alen Legacy (Blue Bloods, #4))
“
I once told Olly that I knew my own heart better than I knew anything else, and it’s still true. I know the places in my heart, but the names have all changed.
”
”
Nicola Yoon (Everything, Everything)
“
Be more specific, please. Olly: jesus. girls. ocean blue
”
”
Nicola Yoon (Everything, Everything)
“
But a description of a tree is not a tree, and a thousand paper kisses will never equal the feel of Olly’s lips against mine.
”
”
Nicola Yoon (Everything, Everything)
“
What do I regret? That I went outside in the first place. That I saw and fell in love with the world. That I fell in love with Olly.
”
”
Nicola Yoon (Everything, Everything)
“
Olly’s glowing; if he was six inches tall and fluffy, Toys R Us would ship him by the thousands.
”
”
David Mitchell (The Bone Clocks)
“
Ollie looks back at me with that universal dog and wisdom, then promptly goes back to sleep.
”
”
Marie Lu
“
Everything’s different and the same. I’m still Maddy. Olly’s still Olly. But we’re both more somehow. I know him in a new way. And I feel known, too.
”
”
Nicola Yoon (Everything, Everything)
“
Sometimes we have to meet people where they are, Ollie. Honor their desires, regardless of out own.
”
”
Tess Hilmo (With a Name like Love)
“
Madeline: I'm not a princess.
Madeline: And I don't need rescuing.
Olly: that's ok. i'm not prince.
Madeline: You think I'm pretty?
Olly: for a fairytale ghost sky princess? definately
”
”
Nicola Yoon (Everything, Everything)
“
I caught him by the collar and dumped him into the nearest bin.
"That's where people like YOU belong!" I spat at him as his legs wiggled in the air. "In the garbage!" - Chapter 2: Miserable Torture
”
”
Aishabella Sheikh (Lavinia (Gift of Dreams #3))
“
His kid brother had been smart enough to make something of himself in the big world; Ollie himself might have been smart enough to stay ahead of the bank loans and the credit cards, but not much more.
”
”
Stephen King (Under the Dome)
“
Other than her homework, Ollie was carrying Captain Blood by Rafael Sabatini, a broken-spined paperback that she'd dug out of he dad's bookshelves. She mostly liked it. Peter Blood outsmarted everyone, which was a feature she liked in heroes, although she wished Peter were a girl, or the villain were a girl, or someone in the book besides his boat and his girlfriend (both named Arabella) were a girl.
”
”
Katherine Arden (Small Spaces (Small Spaces, #1))
“
Ollie though how her daddy once said sometimes people do things out of ignorance more than meanness. That's what Ollie took this woman to be - ignorant of God's love more than mean-spirited towards others.
”
”
Tess Hilmo (With a Name like Love)
“
The mistakes we regret the most are the ones we were too scared to make
”
”
Ollie Slaney
“
I hadn’t touched her, yet she drifted to me as if her body recognized mine was near. We are on the same wavelength. Same rhythm. This,” Ollie danced a finger across the nape of my neck, “This is the meaning of poetic.
”
”
Nicole Fiorina (Even When I'm Gone (Stay with Me, #2))
“
What turned babies, fragile and curious, into Shermans? Into Ollies? Into men who could not interact with a new thing without wanting to dominate it?
What order of events did Vern need to disrupt in the lives of the millions upon millions who woke up every morning proud to be Americans? What made someone love lies?
She saw that cursed flag on the hunter's T-shirt and wondered if he know about the glut of traumas that define this nation's founding. Had he fallen so in love with the myth of belonging that he thought the corpses of his imaginary foes were worthwhile sacrifices toward barbecues, megachurches, bandannas, and hot dogs?
The primary freedoms this nation protected were the ones to own and annihilate.
”
”
Rivers Solomon (Sorrowland)
“
So I turn and tug her against me, taking five more minutes to snuggle with my baby girl. I don’t open my eyes, but I smile when I feel Ollie’s quiet presence as he crawls in on the other side and presses his back against mine. I can hear the soft flick of the pages in his book as he turns them. It’s the coziest moment.
”
”
Elsie Silver (Wild Eyes (Rose Hill, #2))
“
Everyone always knows what they're doing," he says abruptly, still not looking up from his hands, the little plastic pot and the old tattoo and the new white dressing on his left wrist. "You know what you're doing, you got your work and your friends and everything and miserable headfucky little teenage girly boys think you're amazing and, I don't know, you might've saved my life, who knows? I might be dead if it weren't for you and Olly but people can't keep looking after me all the time cos that ain't healthy neither, that's just as bad as people not giving a fuck at all. And, like... I'm trying to sort my head out and be a proper grown-up and get my degree and go to work and look after them kids and make sure my dad ain't kicking my sister round the house like a football but it's just so hard all the time, and I know I ain't got no right to complain cos that's just life, ain't it? Everyone's the same, least I ain't got money worries or nothing. I just don't know what I'm doing, everything's too hard. I can try and try forever but I can't be good enough for no one so what the fuck's the point?
”
”
Richard Rider (17 Black and 29 Red (Stockholm Syndrome, #2))
“
Its not how strong you are, its how firm your footing is.
”
”
Clive Ollies
“
Dear God. This is what happens when you allow reading to the masses.
”
”
John Wiltshire (Ollie Always)
“
Write when inspired, write to inspire
”
”
Lia Golledge
“
But love’s not just the drug; it’s also the dealer. Love wants love in return, am I right, Olly? Like drugs, the highs look divine, and I envy the users. But when the side effects kick in—jealousy, the rages, grief, I think, Count me out. Elizabethans equated romantic love with insanity. Buddhists view it as a brat throwing a tantrum at the picnic of the calm mind.
”
”
David Mitchell (The Bone Clocks)
“
was going to pay the price. He was going to die. Then his fingers finally found the valve. At first it wouldn’t turn, and he realized he was trying to spin it the wrong way. He reversed his fingers and a rush of cool, blessed air gusted into the mask. Ollie lay under the potatoes, gasping. He jumped a little when the fire blew in the door at the top of the stairs; for a moment he could
”
”
Stephen King (Under the Dome)
“
And now my life doesn’t make sense anymore. I almost wish I hadn’t met him. How am I supposed to go back to my old life, my days stretching out before me with unending and brutal sameness? How am I supposed to go back to being The Girl Who Reads? Not that I begrudge my life in books. All I know about the world I’ve learned from them. But a description of a tree is not a tree, and a thousand paper kisses will never equal the feel of Olly’s lips against mine.
”
”
Nicola Yoon (Everything, Everything)
“
I often ask myself is how on earth is it that we empaths can survive under the domination of a narcissist? How is it that we do not become bitter and cruel as adults, with the role models
we survived under? How is it that being an empath stays with us and cannot be beaten down? We always get up again and keep on going, being an empath still. I also wonder, if I had not been so tightly wrapped up in my mother’s web and she had let me fly instead, what kind of person would I have been, then?
”
”
Donna G. Bourgeois (Life with Ollie: The story of an only child of a single narcissistic parent)
“
Do people call you Ollie?” Lola asked.
Oliver looked at her, completely dumbfounded by the possibility of this nickname. She may as well have asked him if people call him Garth, or Andrew, or Timothy.
“No,” he said flatly, and the only thing charming about him was the way his accent seemed to run through every vowel with one syllable. Lola’s eyebrow twitched in her single tell—mildly annoyed—and she lifted her flashing LED drink cup to her lips.
Lola wears mostly black, including her glossy dark hair, and has a tiny diamond pierced into her lip, but, even still, she’s never been able to pull off the full physical manifestation of the angry Riot Grrrl. With her perfect porcelain skin and the longest eyelashes in the world, she’s simply too delicate. But once she decides you’re an asshole, it no longer matters to her what you think. She gives good glare.
“The flower suits you,” she said, tilting her head to study him. “And you have pretty hands, kind of soft. Maybe we should call you Olive.”
He grunted out a dry laugh.
“And a really beautiful mouth,” I added. “Gentle. Like a woman’s.”
“Aw fuck off.” He was laughing outright by then.
”
”
Christina Lauren (Dirty Rowdy Thing (Wild Seasons, #2))
“
Empaths have to be careful not to internalize others’ feelings, as this can cause them to feel anxious, sad, or even depressed. It can leave the empath feeling drained or exhausted. They must learn to set boundaries so as not to let toxic people drain them dry.
”
”
Donna G. Bourgeois (Life with Ollie: The story of an only child of a single narcissistic parent)
“
No, this is serious, Ollie. So I'm watching this spider building its web in the corner of the window. First it does the main parts, then the little connector rods. It's like so careful and precise, right? And then just when it's done, Mrs. Halverson comes over and says, 'It's so stuffy in here I can hardly breathe. Let's have some air,' and opens the window. And boom, all the spider's work was gone." He paused. "Made me think, man, that was just like life."
I touched his cheek. "What do you mean, silly boy?"
"You work and work, and all it takes is one bitch to ruin everything."
Ollie stared ahead steadily and said, "I think it shows that sometimes for one person to keep breathing, something else has to stop.
”
”
Michele Jaffe (Rosebush)
“
I realized with fresh horror that new doors of perception were opening up inside.
New? Not so. OLD doors of perception.
The perception of a child who has not yet learned to protect itself by developing the tunnel vision that keeps out ninety percent of the universe. Children see everything their eyes happen upon, hear everything in their ears' range. But if life is the rise of consciousness…, then it is also the reduction of input. Terror is the widening of perspective and perception. The horror was in knowing I was swimming down to a place most of us leave when we get out of diapers and into training pants. I could see it on Ollie's face, too. When rationality begins to break down, the circuits of the human brain can overload. Axons grow bright and feverish. Hallucinations turn real: the quicksilver puddle at the point where perspective makes parallel lines seem to intersect is really there; the dead walk and talk; a rose begins to sing.
”
”
Stephen King (The Mist)
“
It is the sheer weight of the robot that makes us feel we are living in a ‘wooden world’. We can see for example that the moment Ouspensky or Ward returned from the mystical realm of perfect freedom and found themselves ‘back in the body’ they once again found themselves saddled with all their boring old habits and worries and neuroses, all their old sense of identity built up from the reactions of other people, and above all the dreary old heaviness, as if consciousness has turned into a leaden weight. This is the sensation that made the romantics feel that life is a kind of hell — or at the very least, purgatory. Yet we know enough about the robot to know that this feeling is as untrustworthy as the depression induced by a hangover. The trouble with living ‘on the robot’ is that he is a dead weight. He takes over only when our energies are low. So when I do something robotically I get no feedback of sudden delight. This in turn makes me feel that it was not worth doing. ‘Stan’ reacts by failing to send up energy and ‘Ollie’ experiences a sinking feeling. Living becomes even more robotic and the vicious circle effect is reinforced. Beyond a certain point we feel as if we are cut off from reality by a kind of glass wall: suddenly it seems self-evident that there is nothing new under the sun, that all human effort is vanity, that man is a useless passion and that life is a horrible joke devised by some demonic creator. This is the state I have decribed as ‘upside-downness’, the tendency to allow negative emotional judgements to usurp the place of objective rational judgements. Moreover this depressing state masquerades as the ‘voice of experience’, since it seems obvious that you ‘know’ more about an experience when you’ve had it a hundred times. This is the real cause of death in most human beings: they mistake the vicious circle effects of ‘upside-downness’ for the wisdom of age, and give up the struggle.
”
”
Colin Wilson (Beyond the Occult: Twenty Years' Research into the Paranormal)
“
Hey, Large,” Gabe says, flicking me with his towel. “Where you been all day?”
“I’ve been around.” I look over at Peter, but he won’t meet my eyes. “I saw you guys on the slopes.”
Darrell says, “Then why didn’t you holler at us? I wanted to show off my ollies for you.”
Teasingly I say, “Well, I called Peter’s name, but I guess he didn’t hear me.”
Peter finally looks me in the eyes. “Nope. I didn’t hear you.” His voice is cold and indifferent and so un-Peterlike, the smile fades from my face.
Gabe and Darrell exchange looks like oooh and Gabe says to Peter, “We’re gonna head out to the hot tub,” and they trot off.
Peter and I are left standing in the lobby, neither of us saying anything. I finally ask, “Are you mad at me or something?”
“Why would I be mad?”
And then it’s back to quiet again.
I say, “You know, you’re the one who talked me into coming on this trip. The least you could do is talk to me.”
“The least you could do was sit next to me on the bus!” he bursts out.
My mouth hangs open. “Are you really that mad that I didn’t sit next to you on the bus?”
Peter lets out an impatient breath of air. “Lara Jean, when you’re dating someone, there are just…certain things you do, okay? Like sit next to each other on a school trip. That’s pretty much expected.”
“I just don’t see what the big deal is,” I say. How can he be this mad over such a tiny thing?
“Forget it.” He turns like he’s going to leave, and I grab his sweatshirt sleeve. I don’t want to be in a fight with him; I just want it to be fun and light the way it always is with us. I want him to at least still be my friend. Especially now that we’re at the end.
I say, “Come on, don’t be mad. I didn’t realize it was that big of a deal. I swear I’ll sit next to you on the way home, okay?”
He purses his lips. “But do you get why I was pissed?”
I nod back. “Mm-hmm.”
“All right then, you should know that you missed out on mocha sugar donuts.”
My mouth falls open. “How’d you get those? I thought the shop didn’t open that early!”
“I went out and got them last night specifically for the bus ride,” Peter says. “For you and me.
”
”
Jenny Han (To All the Boys I've Loved Before (To All the Boys I've Loved Before, #1))
“
Did you have a kid in your neighborhood who always hid so good, nobody could find him? We did. After a while we would give up on him and go off, leaving him to rot wherever he was. Sooner or later he would show up, all mad because we didn't keep looking for him. And we would get mad back because he wasn't playing the game the way it was supposed to be played.
There's hiding and there's finding, we'd say. And he'd say it was hide-and-seek, not hide-and-give-UP, and we'd all yell about who made the rules and who cared about who, anyway, and how we wouldn't play with him anymore if he didn't get it straight and who needed him anyhow, and things like that. Hide-and-seek-and-yell. No matter what, though, the next time he would hide too good again. He's probably still hidden somewhere, for all I know.
As I write this, the neighborhood game goes on, and there is a kid under a pile of leaves in the yard just under my window. He has been there a long time now, and everybody else is found and they are about to give up on him over at the base. I considered going out to the base and telling them where he is hiding. And I thought about setting the leaves on fire to drive him out. Finally, I just yelled, "GET FOUND, KID!" out the window. And scared him so bad he probably wet his pants and started crying and ran home to tell his mother. It's real hard to know how to be helpful sometimes.
A man I know found out last year he had terminal cancer. He was a doctor. And knew about dying, and he didn't want to make his family and friends suffer through that with him. So he kept his secret. And died. Everybody said how brave he was to bear his suffering in silence and not tell everybody, and so on and so forth. But privately his family and friends said how angry they were that he didn't need them, didn't trust their strength. And it hurt that he didn't say good-bye.
He hid too well. Getting found would have kept him in the game. Hide-and-seek, grown-up style. Wanting to hide. Needing to be sought. Confused about being found. "I don't want anyone to know." "What will people think?" "I don't want to bother anyone."
Better than hide-and-seek, I like the game called Sardines. In Sardines the person who is It goes and hides, and everybody goes looking for him. When you find him, you get in with him and hide there with him. Pretty soon everybody is hiding together, all stacked in a small space like puppies in a pile. And pretty soon somebody giggles and somebody laughs and everybody gets found.
Medieval theologians even described God in hide-and-seek terms, calling him Deus Absconditus. But me, I think old God is a Sardine player. And will be found the same way everybody gets found in Sardines - by the sound of laughter of those heaped together at the end.
"Olly-olly-oxen-free." The kids out in the street are hollering the cry that says "Come on in, wherever you are. It's a new game." And so say I. To all those who have hid too good. Get found, kid! Olly-olly-oxen-free.
”
”
Robert Fulghum (All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarden)