β
The world is indeed full of peril, and in it there are many dark places; but still there is much that is fair, and though in all lands love is now mingled with grief, it grows perhaps the greater.
β
β
J.R.R. Tolkien (The Fellowship of the Ring (The Lord of the Rings, #1))
β
So comes snow after fire, and even dragons have their endings.
β
β
J.R.R. Tolkien (The Hobbit, or There and Back Again)
β
For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach.
β
β
J.R.R. Tolkien (The Return of the King (The Lord of the Rings, #3))
β
We all need to be mocked from time to time, lest we take ourselves too seriously.
β
β
George R.R. Martin
β
A bruise is a lesson... and each lesson makes us better.
β
β
George R.R. Martin (A Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire, #1))
β
Sometimes I think my head is so big because it is so full of dreams
β
β
R.J. Palacio (Wonder (Wonder, #1))
β
It is not our part to master all the tides of the world, but to do what is in us for the succour of those years wherein we are set, uprooting the evil in the fields that we know, so that those who live after may have clean earth to till. What weather they shall have is not ours to rule.
β
β
J.R.R. Tolkien (The Return of the King (The Lord of the Rings, #3))
β
The things we do outlast our mortality. The things we do are like monuments that people build to honor heroes after they've died. They're like the pyramids that the Egyptians built to honor the pharaohs. Only instead of being made of stone, they're made out of the memories people have of you.
β
β
R.J. Palacio (Wonder (Wonder, #1))
β
Γnen i-estel edain, ΓΊ-chebin estel anim.
(I gave Hope to the DΓΊnedain, I have kept none for myself.)
(Gilraen's linnod)
β
β
J.R.R. Tolkien (The Return of the King (The Lord of the Rings, #3))
β
It's not our job to toughen our children up to face a cruel and heartless world. It's our job to raise children who will make the world a little less cruel and heartless.
β
β
L.R. Knost (Two Thousand Kisses a Day: Gentle Parenting Through the Ages and Stages)
β
You canβt go back and make a new start, but you can start right now and make a brand new ending.
β
β
James R. Sherman (Rejection)
β
But in the end it's only a passing thing, this shadow; even darkness must pass.
β
β
J.R.R. Tolkien (The Lord of the Rings)
β
Grace is the face that love wears when it meets imperfection.
β
β
Joseph R. Cooke
β
The best way to measure how much you've grown isn't by inches or the number of laps you can now run around the track, or even your grade point average-- though those things are important, to be sure. It's what you've done with your time, how you've chosen to spend your days, and whom you've touched this year. That, to me, is the greatest measure of success.
β
β
R.J. Palacio (Wonder (Wonder, #1))
β
There's some good in this world, Mr. Frodo, and it's worth fighting for.
β
β
J.R.R. Tolkien
β
There, peeping among the cloud-wrack above a dark tor high up in the mountains, Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while. The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach.
β
β
J.R.R. Tolkien (The Return of the King (The Lord of the Rings, #3))
β
I don't love you. And I can kill anything.
β
β
R.F. Kuang (The Poppy War (The Poppy War, #1))
β
There are some things that it is better to begin than to refuse, even though the end may be dark.
β
β
J.R.R. Tolkien (The Two Towers (The Lord of the Rings, #2))
β
The treacherous are ever distrustful.
β
β
J.R.R. Tolkien (The Two Towers (The Lord of the Rings, #2))
β
Don't let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.
β
β
John Wooden
β
Do not be dismayed by the brokenness of the world. All things break. And all things can be mended. Not with time, as they say, but with intention. So go. Love intentionally, extravagantly, unconditionally. The broken world waits in darkness for the light that is you.
β
β
L.R. Knost
β
Today I plan to smile a lot, only so people who know me will be freaked the fuck out.
β
β
R.D. Ronald
β
I'm the biggest critic of my own work, but sometimes you nail a chapter so good that you have to take a step back and admire that bitch.
β
β
R.D. Ronald
β
Deeds will not be less valiant because they are unpraised.
β
β
J.R.R. Tolkien (The Lord of the Rings)
β
I will take the Ring", he said, "though I do not know the way.
β
β
J.R.R. Tolkien (The Fellowship of the Ring (The Lord of the Rings, #1))
β
If most of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world.
β
β
J.R.R. Tolkien (The Hobbit, or There and Back Again)
β
I realized then that even though I was a tiny speck in an infinite cosmos, a blip on the timeline of eternity, I was not without purpose.
β
β
R.J. Anderson (Ultraviolet (Ultraviolet, #1))
β
There's no point in wishing. We can't change anything about the past. We can only remember. We can only move forward.
β
β
Emily X.R. Pan (The Astonishing Color of After)
β
Change is not always growth, but growth is often rooted in change.
Drizzt Do'Urden
β
β
R.A. Salvatore
β
Criticism - however valid or intellectually engaging - tends to get in the way of a writer who has anything personal to say. A tightrope walker may require practice, but if he starts a theory of equilibrium he will lose grace (and probably fall off).
β
β
J.R.R. Tolkien (The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien)
β
If the world is to be healed through human efforts, I am convinced it will be by ordinary people, people whose love for this life is even greater than their fear.
β
β
Joanna Macy
β
It is wisdom to recognize necessity when all other courses have been weighed, though as folly it may appear to those who cling to false hope.
β
β
J.R.R. Tolkien (The Fellowship of the Ring (The Lord of the Rings, #1))
β
I belive I can fly, I believe I can touch the sky.
β
β
R. Kelly
β
This book is dedicated to those in life whom I have met and by virtue of those encounters, have helped to shape the content herein.
β
β
A.R. Merrydew (From The Pen Of An Aquarian: Love, hope and darker moments)
β
You would have made a fine warrior, you know that?"
I am one. Death is my enemy."
Yeah, it is, isn't it." God, it made such sense that he'd bonded with her. She was a fighter⦠like him. "Your scalpel's your dagger."
Yup.
β
β
J.R. Ward (Lover Unbound (Black Dagger Brotherhood, #5))
β
Peace of mind comes when we exercise our right to be honest, especially with ourselves.
β
β
Jack R. Rose (The Cedar Post: The Pristine American Dream)
β
We meet again, at the turn of the tide. A great storm is coming, but the tide has turned.
β
β
J.R.R. Tolkien (The Two Towers (The Lord of the Rings, #2))
β
If success or failure of this planet and of human beings depended on how I am and what I do... HOW WOULD I BE? WHAT WOULD I DO?
β
β
R. Buckminster Fuller
β
I'll get there, if I leave everything but my bones behind," said Sam. "And I'll carry Mr. Frodo up myself, if it breaks my back and heart.
β
β
J.R.R. Tolkien (The Return of the King (The Lord of the Rings, #3))
β
Just because it isn't perfect, doesn't mean it isn't awesome.
β
β
M.R. Mathias (The Sword and the Dragon (The Wardstone Trilogy, #1))
β
Saying someone can't be sad because someone else may have it worse is like saying someone can't be happy because someone else may have it better. ~Unknown
β
β
L.R. Knost
β
Greatness... lies not in being strong, but in the right use of strength... He is the greatest whose strength carries up the most hearts by the attraction of his own.
β
β
R.J. Palacio
β
Nothing is so much calculated to lead people to forsake sin as to take them by the hand and to watch over them in tenderness. When persons manifest the least kindness and love to me, O what pow'r it has over my mind.
β
β
Joseph Smith Jr.
β
The praise of the praiseworthy is above all rewards.
β
β
J.R.R. Tolkien (The Two Towers (The Lord of the Rings, #2))
β
Perhaps it is how we are made; perhaps words of truth reach us best through the heart, and stories and songs are the language of the heart
β
β
Stephen R. Lawhead (Merlin (The Pendragon Cycle, #2))
β
You are doing God's work. You are doing it wonderfully well. He is blessing you, and He will bless you, --even--no, -especially--when your days and your nights may be most challenging. Like the woman who anonymously, meekly, perhaps even with hesitation and some embarrassment, fought her way through the crowd just to touch the hem of the Master's garment, so Christ will say to the women who worry and wonder and weep over their responsibility as mothers, `Daughter, be of good comfort; thy faith hath made thee whole.' And it will make your children whole as well.
β
β
Jeffrey R. Holland
β
Pippin glanced in some wonder at the face now close beside his own, for the sound of that laugh had been gay and merry. Yet in the wizard's face he saw at first only lines of care and sorrow; though as he looked more intently he perceived that under all there was a great joy: a fountain of mirth enough to set a kingdom laughing, were it to gush forth.
β
β
J.R.R. Tolkien (The Lord of the Rings)
β
Independent will is our capacity to act. It gives us the power to transcend our paradigms, to swim upstream, to rewrite our scripts, to act based on principle rather than reacting based on emotion or circumstance.
β
β
Stephen R. Covey
β
What if nobody showed up at Armageddon?
β
β
C.R. Strahan
β
Remember Old Nan's stories, Bran. Remember the way she told them, the sound of her voice. So long as you do that, part of her will always be alive in you.
β
β
George R.R. Martin (A Storm of Swords (A Song of Ice and Fire, #3))
β
Perhaps ...
To R.A.L.
Perhaps some day the sun will shine again,
And I shall see that still the skies are blue,
And feel one more I do not live in vain,
Although bereft of you.
Perhaps the golden meadows at my feet,
Will make the sunny hours of spring seem gay,
And I shall find the white May-blossoms sweet,
Though You have passed away.
Perhaps the summer woods will shimmer bright,
And crimson roses once again be fair,
And autumn harvest fields a rich delight,
Although You are not there.
But though kind Time may many joys renew,
There is one greatest joy I shall not know
Again, because my heart for loss of You
Was broken, long ago.
β
β
Vera Brittain (Testament of Youth)
β
A just society is that society in which ascending sense of reverence and descending sense of contempt is dissolved into the creation of a compassionate society
β
β
B.R. Ambedkar (Annihilation of Caste)
β
Nunca olvides quΓ© eres, porque desde luego el mundo no lo va a olvidar. ConviΓ©rtelo en tu mejor arma, asΓ nunca serΓ‘ tu punto dΓ©bil. Γsalo como armadura y nadie podrΓ‘ utilizarlo para herirte.
β
β
George R.R. Martin (A Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire, #1))
β
Sunset found her squatting in the grass, groaning. Every stool was looser than the one before, and smelled fouler. By the time the moon came up, she was shitting brown water. The more she drank the more she shat, but the more she shat, the thirstier she grew.
β
β
George R.R. Martin
β
My mind does not change with the rising and setting of a few suns
β
β
J.R.R. Tolkien
β
Nobody is a villain in their own story. We're all the heroes of our own stories.
β
β
George R.R. Martin
β
To change the world takes time; to change yourself takes courage.
β
β
R.S. Lowel
β
No, no, my good knight, do not fear for me. The fire is mine. I am Daenerys Stormborn, daughter of dragons, bride of dragons, mother of dragons, don't you see? Don't you SEE?
β
β
George R.R. Martin (A Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire, #1))
β
Just because you don't see something doesn't mean it isn't there. The stars are always there.
β
β
R.C. Lewis (Spinning Starlight)
β
Not all that have fallen are vanquished.
β
β
J.R.R. Tolkien
β
Everyone who isn't us is an enemy." - Cersei
β
β
George R.R. Martin (A Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire, #1))
β
I believe it will have become evident why, for me, adjectives such as happy, contented, blissful, enjoyable, do not seem quite appropriate to any general description of this process I have called the good life, even though the person in this process would experience each one of these at the appropriate times. But adjectives which seem more generally fitting are adjectives such as enriching, exciting, rewarding, challenging, meaningful. This process of the good life is not, I am convinced, a life for the faint-fainthearted. It involves the stretching and growing of becoming more and more of one's potentialities. It involves the courage to be. It means launching oneself fully into the stream of life. Yet the deeply exciting thing about human beings is that when the individual is inwardly free, he chooses as the good life this process of becoming.
β
β
Carl R. Rogers (On Becoming a Person: A Therapist's View of Psychotherapy)
β
Even though Mr. Roo had been very hard on him, Mouse felt compassion and kindness...
β
β
Sophia R. Tyler (The Friendly Mouse)
β
Forth, and fear no darkness! Arise! Arise, Riders of Theoden! Spears shall be shaken,swords shall be splintered! A sword day...a red day...ere the sun rises! Ride now!...Ride now!...Ride! Ride to ruin and the world's ending! Death! "Death!" Death! "Death!" DEATH! "Death!" Forth, Eorlingas!!
β
β
J.R.R. Tolkien
β
Intelligence, Kant reminds, is not so much a result of genius, rather it is a consequence of a determination to use it.
β
β
Michael R. LeGault
β
leadership is communicating othersβ worth and potential so clearly that they are inspired to see it in themselves.
β
β
Stephen R. Covey (The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change)
β
Don't make yourself small.
Not for anyone.
If someone tells you
you're too much...
too loud, too sensitive,
too fierce, too caring,
too intellectual, too optimistic,
too realistic, too logical, too emotional...
just smile and move on, my friend.
Clearly, they aren't enough for you.
β
β
L.R. Knost
β
Sometimes your whole life could hinge on a fraction of an inch. Or the beat of nanosecond. Or the knock on a door.
Kind of made a male believe in the divine. It really did.
β
β
J.R. Ward (Lover Awakened (Black Dagger Brotherhood, #3))
β
Things are drawing towards the end now, unless I am mistaken. There is an unpleasant time just in front of you; but keep your heart up!
β
β
J.R.R. Tolkien (The Hobbit, or There and Back Again)
β
In this Music [the singing of the angels in harmony] the World was begun; for Iluvatar made visible the song of the Ainur,and they beheld it as a light in the darkness.
β
β
J.R.R. Tolkien (The Silmarillion)
β
The gods made our bodies as well as our souls, is it not so? They give us voices, so we might worship them with song. They give us hands, so we might build them temples. And they give us desire, so we might mate and worship them in that way.
β
β
George R.R. Martin (A Clash of Kings (A Song of Ice and Fire, #2))
β
In the pain, I imagine bliss.
My thoughts are like wind, rushing, curling into the depths of myself, expelling, dispelling darkness.
I imagine love, I imagine wind, I imagine gold hair and green eyes and whispers, laughter
I imagine
Me
extraordinary, unbroken the girl who shocked herself by surviving, the girl who loved herself through learning, the girl who respected her skin, understood her worth, found her strength
s t r o n g
s t r o n g e r
strongest
Imagine me
master of my own universe
I am everything I ever dreamed of
β
β
Tahereh Mafi (Imagine Me (Shatter Me, #6))
β
Oneβs options in this world are as vast as the horizon, which is technically a circle and thus infinitely broad. Yet we must choose each step we take with utmost caution, for the footprints we leave behind are as important as the path we will follow. Theyβre part of the same journey β our story.
β
β
Lori R. Lopez (Dance of the Chupacabras)
β
I don't know how to say it, but after last night I feel different. I seem to see ahead, in a kind of way. I know we are going to take a very long road, into darkness; but I know I can't turn back. It isn't right to see Elves now, nor dragons, nor mountains, that I want - I don't rightly know what I want: but I have something to do before the end, and it lies ahead, not in the Shire. I must see it through, sir, if you understand me.
β
β
J.R.R. Tolkien (The Fellowship of the Ring (The Lord of the Rings, #1))
β
The first job of a leaderβat work or at homeβis to inspire trust. Itβs to bring out the best in people by entrusting them with meaningful stewardships, and to create an environment in which high-trust interaction inspires creativity and possibility.
β
β
Stephen M.R. Covey (The Speed of Trust: The One Thing that Changes Everything)
β
And all the host laughed and wept, and in the midst of their merriment and tears the clear voice of the minstrel rose like silver and gold, and all men were hushed. And he sang to them, now in the Elven-tongue, now in the speech of the West, until their hearts, wounded with sweet words, overflowed, and their joy was like swords, and they passed in thought out to regions where pain and delight flow together and tears are the very wine of blessedness.
β
β
J.R.R. Tolkien
β
If we constantly focus only on the stones in our mortal path, we will
almost surely miss the beautiful flower or cool stream provided by the
loving Father who outlined our journey. Each day can bring more joy
than sorrow when our mortal and spiritual eyes are open to God's
goodness. Joy in the gospel is not something that begins only in the
next life. It is our privilege now, this very day. We must never allow
our burdens to obscure our blessings. There will always be more
blessings than burdens--even if some days it doesn't seem so. Jesus
said, "I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it
more abundantly." Enjoy those blessings right now. They are yours and
always will be.
β
β
Jeffrey R. Holland
β
Why should a man be scorned, if, finding himself in prison, he tries to get out and go home? Or if, when he cannot do so, he thinks and talks about other topics than jailers and prison-walls? The world outside has not become less real because the prisoner cannot see it. In using Escape in this way the critics have chosen the wrong word, and, what is more, they are confusing, not always by sincere error, the Escape of the Prisoner with the Flight of the Deserter. just so a Party-spokesman might have labeled departure from the misery of the Fuhrer's or any other Reich and even criticism of it as treachery .... Not only do they confound the escape of the prisoner with the flight of the deserter; but they would seem to prefer the acquiescence of the "quisling" to the resistance of the patriot.
β
β
J.R.R. Tolkien (Tolkien On Fairy-stories)
β
Elder Neal A. Maxwell suggests that the prime reason the Savior personally acts as the gatekeeper of the celestial kingdom is not to exclude people, but to personally welcome and embrace those who have made it back home.
β
β
Tad R. Callister (The Infinite Atonement)
β
With time and perspective we recognize that such problems in life do come for a purpose, if only to allow the one who faces such despair to be convinced that he really does need divine strength beyond himself, that she really does need the offer of heavenβs hand. Those who feel no need for mercy usually never seek it and almost never bestow it. Those who have never had a heartache or a weakness or felt lonely or forsaken never have had to cry unto heaven for relief of such personal pain. Surely it is better to find the goodness of God and the grace of Christ, even at the price of despair, than to risk living our lives in a moral or material complacency that has never felt any need for faith or forgiveness, any need for redemption or relief.
β
β
Jeffrey R. Holland
β
There came a time in everyoneβs life when they realized that in spite of how hard theyβd been running from themselves, everywhere they went, there they were: Addictions and compulsions were nothing but marching bands of distraction, masking truths that were unpleasant, but ultimately undeniable.
β
β
J.R. Ward (Lover Reborn (Black Dagger Brotherhood, #10))
β
Supernatural is a dangerous and difficult word in any of its senses, looser or stricter. But to fairies it can hardly be applied, unless super is taken merely as a superlative prefix. For it is man who is, in contrast to fairies, supernatural; whereas they are natural, far more natural than he. Such is their doom.
β
β
J.R.R. Tolkien (Tolkien On Fairy-stories)
β
I testify that no one of us is less treasured or cherished of God than another. I testify that He loves each of usβinsecurities, anxieties, self-image, and all. He doesnβt measure our talents or our looks; He doesnβt measure our professions or our possessions. He cheers on every runner, calling out that the race is against sin, not against each other.
β
β
Jeffrey R. Holland
β
Attitude is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, than education, money, circumstances, than failures and success, than what other people think, say, or do. It is more important than appearance, ability, or skill. It will make or break a business, a home, a friendship, an organization. The remarkable thing is I have a choice every day of what my attitude will be. I cannot change my past. I cannot change the actions of others. I cannot change the inevitable. The only thing I can change is attitude. Life is ten percent what happens to me and ninety percent how I react to it.
β
β
Charles R. Swindoll
β
I look East, West, North, South, and I do not see Sauron; but I see that Saruman has many descendants. We Hobbits have against them no magic weapons. Yet, my gentlehobbits, I give you this toast: To the Hobbits. May they outlast the Sarumans and see spring again in the trees.
β
β
J.R.R. Tolkien
β
In that most burdensome moment of all human history, with blood appearing at every pore and an anguished cry upon His lips, Christ sought Him whom He had always soughtβHis Father. βAbba,β He cried, βPapa,β or from the lips of a younger child, βDaddy.β
This is such a personal moment it almost seems a sacrilege to cite it. A Son in unrelieved pain, a Father His only true source of strength, both of them staying the course, making it through the nightβtogether.
β
β
Jeffrey R. Holland
β
It's the same with the wound in our hearts. We need to give them our attention so that they can heal. Otherwise the wounds continue to cause us pain. Sometimes for a very long time. We're all going to get hurt. But here's the trick - they also serve an amazing purpose.
When our hearts are wounded that's when they open.
We grow through pain.
We grow through difficult situations.
That's why you have to embrace each and every difficult thing in your life.
β
β
James R. Doty (Into the Magic Shop: A Neurosurgeon's Quest to Discover the Mysteries of the Brain and the Secrets of the Heart)
β
I have in this War a burning private grudgeβwhich would probably make me a better soldier at 49 than I was at 22: against that ruddy little ignoramus Adolf Hitler (for the odd thing about demonic inspiration and impetus is that it in no way enhances the purely intellectual stature: it chiefly affects the mere will). Ruining, perverting, misapplying, and making for ever accursed, that noble northern spirit, a supreme contribution to Europe, which I have ever loved, and tried to present in its true light.
β
β
J.R.R. Tolkien (The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien)
β
no matter how u run away, no matter how can u pretend, no matter how scared u are
there is gona be the sense u have missed something, fallen heart feeling u mixed with in the
moments u should live, u will get used to that feeling, believe me when i tell u, this is crazy, some day ur life will be so
u r just warming up
β
β
Musad Elorbany
β
When you suffer, you are being conformed to the image of Jesus. When you pray, you are being made holy in the image of Jesus. When you quietly serve a person in need, you are being shaped into the image of Jesus. When you generously give, your heart is being remade into the image of Jesus, our Lord and Savior.
β
β
Allen R. Hunt (Confessions of a Mega Church Pastor: How I Discovered the Hidden Treasures of the Catholic Church)
β
I heard the universe as an oratorio sung by a master choir of stars, accompanied by the orchestra of the planets and the percussion of satellites and moons. The aria they performed was a song to break the heart, full of tragic dissonance and deferred hope, and yet somewhere beneath it all was a piercing refrain of glory, glory, glory. And I sensed that not only the grand movements of the cosmos, but everything that had happened in my life, was a part of that song. Even the hurts that seemed most senseless, the mistakes I would have done anything to erase--nothing could make those things good, but good could still come out of them all the same, and in the end the oratorio would be no less beautiful for it.
β
β
R.J. Anderson (Ultraviolet (Ultraviolet, #1))
β
Not cry. Fly.
βI canβt fly,β Bran said. βI canβt, I canβtβ¦β
How do you know? Have you ever tried?
The voice was high and thin. Bran looked around to see where it was coming from. A crow was spiraling down with him, just out of touch, following him as he fell. βHelp me,β he said.
Iβm trying, the crow repliedβ¦
The crow took to the air and flapped around Branβs hand.
βYou have wings,β Bran pointed out.
Maybe you do too.
Bran felt along his shoulders, groping for feathers.
There are different kinds of wings, the crow saidβ¦
Bran was falling faster than ever. The grey mists howled around him as he plunged toward the earth below. βWhat are you doing to me?β he asked the crow, tearful.
Teaching you how to fly.
βI canβt fly!β
Youβre flying right now.
βIβm falling!β
Every flight begins with a fall, the crow said. Look down.
β
β
George R.R. Martin (A Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire, #1))
β
And if I'm guilty of having gratuitous sex, then I'm also guilty of having gratuitous violence, and gratuitous feasting, and gratuitous description of clothes, and gratuitous heraldry, because very little of this is necessary to advance the plot. But my philosophy is that plot advancement is not what the experience of reading fiction is about. If all we care about is advancing the plot, why read novels? We can just read Cliffs Notes.
A novel for me is an immersive experience where I feel as if I have lived it and that I've tasted the food and experienced the sex and experienced the terror of battle. So I want all of the detail, all of the sensory thingsβwhether it's a good experience, or a bad experience, I want to put the reader through it. To that mind, detail is necessary, showing not telling is necessary, and nothing is gratuitous.
β
β
George R.R. Martin
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Love, he realized, was like the daggers he made in his forge: When you first got one it was shiny and new and the blade glinted bright in the light. Holding it against your palm, you were full of optimism for what it would be like in the field, and you couldn't wait to try it out. Except those first couple of nights out were usually awkward as you got used to it and it got used to you.
Over time, the steel lost its brand-new gleam, and the hilt became stained, and maybe you nicked the shit out of the thing a couple of times. What you got in return, however, saved your life: Once the pair of you were well acquainted, it became such a part of you that it was an extension of your own arm. It protected you and gave you a means to protect your brothers; it provided you with the confidnece and the power to face whatever came out of the night; and wherever you went, it stayed with you, right over your heart, always there when you needed it.
You had to keep the blade up, however. And rewrap the hilt from time to time. And double-check the weight.
Funny...all of that was well, duh when it came to weapons. Why hadn't it dawned on him that matings were the same?
(From the thoughts of Vishous)
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J.R. Ward (Lover Unleashed (Black Dagger Brotherhood, #9))
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Everybody Hurts
When the day is long and the night, the night is yours alone,
When you're sure you've had enough of this life, well hang on
Don't let yourself go, 'cause everybody cries and everybody hurts sometimes
Sometimes everything is wrong. Now it's time to sing along
When your day is night alone, (hold on, hold on)
If you feel like letting go, (hold on)
When you think you've had too much of this life, well hang on
'Cause everybody hurts. Take comfort in your friends
Everybody hurts. Don't throw your hand. Oh, no. Don't throw your hand
If you feel like you're alone, no, no, no, you are not alone
If you're on your own in this life, the days and nights are long,
When you think you've had too much of this life to hang on
Well, everybody hurts sometimes,
Everybody cries. And everybody hurts sometimes
And everybody hurts sometimes. So, hold on, hold on
Hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on
Everybody hurts. You are not alone
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R.E.M.
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A true home is one of the most sacred of places. It is a sanctuary into which men flee from the worldβs perils and alarms. It is a resting-place to which at close of day the weary retire to gather new strength for the battle and toils of tomorrow. It is the place where love learns its lessons, where life is schooled into discipline and strength, where character is molded.
Few things we can do in this world are so well worth doing as the making of a beautiful and happy home. He who does this builds a sanctuary for God and opens a fountain of blessing for men.
Far more than we know, do the strength and beauty of our lives depend upon the home in which we dwell. He who goes forth in the morning from a happy, loving, prayerful home, into the worldβs strife, temptation, struggle, and duty, is strong--inspired for noble and victorious living. The children who are brought up in a true home go out trained and equipped for lifeβs battles and tasks, carrying in their hearts a secret of strength which will make them brave and loyal to God, and will keep them pure in the worldβs severest temptations.
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J.R. Miller
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I would venture to say that approaching the Christian Story from this direction, it has long been my feeling (a joyous feeling) that God redeemed the corrupt makingcreatures, men, in a way fitting to this aspect, as to others, of their strange nature. The Gospels contain a fairy-story, or a story of a larger kind which embraces all the essence of fairy-stories. They contain many marvelsβpeculiarly artistic, beautiful, and moving: βmythicalβ in their perfect, self-contained significance; and among the marvels is the greatest and most complete conceivable eucatastrophe. But this story has entered History and the primary world; the desire and aspiration of sub-creation has been raised to the fulfillment of Creation. The Birth of Christ is the eucatastrophe of Manβs history. The Resurrection is the eucatastrophe of the story of the Incarnation. This story begins and ends in joy. It has pre-eminently the βinner consistency of realityβ. There is no tale ever told that men would rather find was true, and none which so many sceptical men have accepted as true on its own merits. For the Art of it has the supremely convincing tone of Primary Art, that is, of Creation. To reject it leads either to sadness or to wrath.
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J.R.R. Tolkien (Tolkien On Fairy-stories)
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This century will be called Darwin's century. He was one of the greatest men who ever touched this globe. He has explained more of the phenomena of life than all of the religious teachers. Write the name of Charles Darwin on the one hand and the name of every theologian who ever lived on the other, and from that name has come more light to the world than from all of those. His doctrine of evolution, his doctrine of the survival of the fittest, his doctrine of the origin of species, has removed in every thinking mind the last vestige of orthodox Christianity. He has not only stated, but he has demonstrated, that the inspired writer knew nothing of this world, nothing of the origin of man, nothing of geology, nothing of astronomy, nothing of nature; that the Bible is a book written by ignorance--at the instigation of fear. Think of the men who replied to him. Only a few years ago there was no person too ignorant to successfully answer Charles Darwin, and the more ignorant he was the more cheerfully he undertook the task. He was held up to the ridicule, the scorn and contempt of the Christian world, and yet when he died, England was proud to put his dust with that of her noblest and her grandest. Charles Darwin conquered the intellectual world, and his doctrines are now accepted facts. His light has broken in on some of the clergy, and the greatest man who to-day occupies the pulpit of one of the orthodox churches, Henry Ward Beecher, is a believer in the theories of Charles Darwin--a man of more genius than all the clergy of that entire church put together.
...The church teaches that man was created perfect, and that for six thousand years he has degenerated. Darwin demonstrated the falsity of this dogma. He shows that man has for thousands of ages steadily advanced; that the Garden of Eden is an ignorant myth; that the doctrine of original sin has no foundation in fact; that the atonement is an absurdity; that the serpent did not tempt, and that man did not 'fall.'
Charles Darwin destroyed the foundation of orthodox Christianity. There is nothing left but faith in what we know could not and did not happen. Religion and science are enemies. One is a superstition; the other is a fact. One rests upon the false, the other upon the true. One is the result of fear and faith, the other of investigation and reason.
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Robert G. Ingersoll (Lectures of Col. R.G. Ingersoll: Including His Letters On the Chinese God--Is Suicide a Sin?--The Right to One's Life--Etc. Etc. Etc, Volume 2)
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I began by saying that our history will be what we make it. If we go on as we are, then history will take its revenge, and retribution will not limp in catching up with us.
We are to a large extent an imitative society. If one or two or three corporations would undertake to devote just a small fraction of their advertising appropriation along the lines that I have suggested, the procedure would grow by contagion; the economic burden would be bearable, and there might ensue a most exciting adventure--exposure to ideas and the bringing of reality into the homes of the nation.
To those who say people wouldn't look; they wouldn't be interested; they're too complacent, indifferent and insulated, I can only reply: There is, in one reporter's opinion, considerable evidence against that contention. But even if they are right, what have they got to lose? Because if they are right, and this instrument is good for nothing but to entertain, amuse and insulate, then the tube is flickering now and we will soon see that the whole struggle is lost.
This instrument can teach, it can illuminate; yes, and it can even inspire. But it can do so only to the extent that humans are determined to use it to those ends. Otherwise it is merely wires and lights in a box. There is a great and perhaps decisive battle to be fought against ignorance, intolerance and indifference.
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Edward R. Murrow
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Ten Best Song to Strip
1. Any hip-swiveling R&B fuckjam. This category includes The Greatest Stripping Song of All Time: "Remix to Ignition" by R. Kelly.
2. "Purple Rain" by Prince, but you have to be really theatrical about it. Arch your back like Prince himself is daubing body glitter on your abdomen. Most effective in nearly empty, pathos-ridden juice bars.
3. "Honky Tonk Woman" by the Rolling Stones. Insta-attitude. Makes even the clumsiest troglodyte strut like Anita Pallenberg. (However, the Troggs will make you look like even more of a troglodyte, so avoid if possible.)
4. "Pour Some Sugar on Me" by Def Leppard. The Lep's shouted choruses and relentless programmed drums prove ideal for chicks who can really stomp. (Coincidence: I once saw a stripper who, like Rick Allen, had only one arm.)
5. "Amber" by 311. This fluid stoner anthem is a favorite of midnight tokers at strip joints everywhere. Mellow enough that even the most shitfaced dancer can make it through the song and back to her Graffix bong without breaking a sweat. Pass the Fritos Scoops, dude.
6. "Miserable" by Lit, but mostly because Pamela Anderson is in the video, and she's like Jesus for strippers (blonde, plastic, capable of parlaying a broken nail into a domestic battery charge, damaged liver). Alos, you can't go wrong stripping to a song that opens with the line "You make me come."
7. "Back Door Man" by The Doors. Almost too easy. The mere implication that you like it in the ass will thrill the average strip-club patron. Just get on all fours and crawl your way toward the down payment on that condo in Cozumel. (Unless, like most strippers, you'd rather blow your nest egg on tacky pimped-out SUVs and Coach purses.)
8. Back in Black" by AC/DC. Producer Mutt Lange wants you to strip. He does. He told me.
9. "I Touch Myself" by the Devinyls. Strip to this, and that guy at the tip rail with the bitch tits and the shop teacher glasses will actually believe that he alone has inspired you to masturbate. Take his money, then go masturbate and think about someone else.
10. "Hash Pipe" by Weezer. Sure, it smells of nerd. But River Cuomo is obsessed with Asian chicks and nose candy, and that's just the spirit you want to evoke in a strip club. I recommend busting out your most crunk pole tricks during this one.
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Diablo Cody