“
Women waste so much time wearing no perfume. As for me, in every step that I have taken in life, I have been accompanied by an exquisite perfume!
”
”
C. JoyBell C.
“
God dances with the outcast.
”
”
Steven James (How to Smell Like God: True Stories Burning With the Scent of Heaven)
“
This isn’t lust. Lust wants, does the obvious, and pads back into the forest. Love is greedier. Love wants round-the-clock care; protection; rings, vows, joint accounts; scented candles on birthdays; life insurance. Babies. Love’s a dictator.
”
”
David Mitchell (The Bone Clocks)
“
For me,
you are fresh water
that falls from trees
when it has stopped raining. For me,
you are cinnamon that lingers
on the tongue and gives
bitter words
sweetening.
For me, you are the scent of
violins and vision
of valleys
smiling.
And still,
for me, your loveliness never ends.
It traverses
the world
and finds its
way back to me.
Only
me.
”
”
Kamand Kojouri
“
Scent is such a powerful tool of attraction, that if a woman has this tool perfectly tuned, she needs no other. I will forgive her a large nose, a cleft lip, even crossed-eyes; and I’ll bathe in the jouissance of her intoxicating odour.
”
”
Roman Payne
“
Gloomy room
immersed in a scent
of modern cowards
filled with
shapeless creatures
sitting in silence
because they have
nothing to say
Fake plastic faces
with a grimace
of disappointment
painted on them
Are we stuck on hold
expecting our turn
in a waiting room
of so-called
lost generation?
”
”
Annette Dabrowska (Train to the Edge of the Moon)
“
I can't over-emphasize how important an exquisite perfume is, to be wrapped and cradled in an enchanting scent upon your skin is a magic all on its own! The notes in that precious liquid will remind you that you love yourself and will tell other people that they ought to love you because you know that you're worth it. The love affair created by a good perfume between you and other people, you and nature, you and yourself, you and your memories and anticipations and hopes and dreams; it is all too beautiful a thing!
”
”
C. JoyBell C.
“
Ô, Muse of the Heart’s Passion,
let me relive my Love’s memory,
to remember her body, so brave and so free,
and the sound of my Dreameress singing to me,
and the scent of my Dreameress sleeping by me,
Ô, sing, sweet Muse, my soliloquy!
”
”
Roman Payne
“
I’m barely human. I’m more like a creature; to me, everything gives off a scent! Thoughts, moments, feelings, movements, words left unsaid, words barely spoken; they all have a distinct sense, distinct fragrances! Both a smell and a touch! To inhale is to capture, to experience! I can perceive and I can “touch” in so many odd ways! And so I am made up of all these scents, all these feelings! An illumination of nerve endings!
”
”
C. JoyBell C.
“
Louie found the raft offered an unlikely intellectual refuge. He had never recognized how noisy the civilized world was. Here, drifting in almost total silence, with no scents other than the singed odor of the raft, no flavors on his tongue, nothing moving but the slow porcession of shark fins, every vista empty save water and sky, his time unvaried and unbroken, his mind was freed of an encumbrance that civilization had imposed on it. In his head, he could roam anywhere, and he found that his mind was quick and clear, his imagination unfettered and supple. He could stay with a thought for hours, turning it about.
”
”
Laura Hillenbrand (Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience and Redemption)
“
What a strange thing it is to wake up to a milk-white overcast June morning! The sun is hidden by a thick cotton blanket of clouds, and the air is vapor-filled and hazy with a concentration of blooming scent.
The world is somnolent and cool, in a temporary reprieve from the normal heat and radiance.
But the sensation of illusion is strong. Because the sun can break through the clouds at any moment . . .
What a soft thoughtful time.
In this illusory gloom, like a night-blooming flower, let your imagination bloom in a riot of color.
”
”
Vera Nazarian (The Perpetual Calendar of Inspiration)
“
I want to be intoxicated by the darkened ether of midnight, running through my fingers as sparkling stardust. I crave the taste of the ocean's salty tears, as her temperamental tides crash and break against the rocks. I yearn for the sweet scent of sun on my skin and the earthy musk of dirt giving way under my bare feet. I want to lay naked in golden fields, as i gaze up at an endless sky, dreaming my dreams, as Mother Nature's love washes over me like spiritual sunshine.
”
”
Jaeda DeWalt
“
Time is a funny thing, it can give and it can take away; and a single moment in time can truly change one’s life forever!
The best kind of love is unexpected, unexplainable, undeniable, and unimaginable.
Your sweet scent will forever be with me, reminding me of the love we once shared. I will breathe in the memories until we meet again.
Before you act on what you have been told, consider your source. It may simply be assumption on their part, and that can be far from fact.
Why stand back and wait for someone to fail when you can stand up and offer your support?
Love is when the sound of your partner’s snoring lulls you to sleep, and it acts as a reminder that they are there by your side.
Building a wall around your heart is a voluntary imprisonment to which only you have the key. Open your heart to life’s possibilities!
”
”
Donna L. Jones
“
From his soft fur, golden and brown,
Goes out so sweet a scent, one night
I might have been embalmed in it
By giving him one little pet.
He is my household's guardian soul;
He judges, he presides, inspires
All matters in his royal realm;
Might he be fairy? or a god?
When my eyes, to this cat I love
Drawn as by a magnet's force,
Turn tamely back upon that appeal,
And when I look within myself,
I notice with astonishment
The fire of his opal eyes,
Clear beacons glowing, living jewels,
Taking my measure, steadily.
”
”
Charles Baudelaire (Les Fleurs du Mal)
“
What seas what shores what grey rocks and what islands
What water lapping the bow
And scent of pine and the woodthrush singing through the fog
What images return
O my daughter
”
”
T.S. Eliot (The Complete Poems and Plays)
“
I thought of myself mixing the fragrance of a certain day – the heavy musk of the hillside after the rain with the lightness of fresh blossoms doused in the downpour. I thought of each little bottle as the essence of a happy day or a sad one. I mixed the scent of a lonely moment – sandalwood and bergamot lingering over a rich, peppery base.
”
”
Sara Sheridan (The Secret Mandarin)
“
Warm familiar scents drift softly from the oven,
And imprint forever upon our hearts
That this is home
and that we are loved.
”
”
Arlene Stafford-Wilson (Lanark County Calendar)
“
Perfume is the scent that pours out of a flower's soul when crushed.
”
”
Matshona Dhliwayo
“
I love the song of the mockingbird,
Bird of four hundred voices,
I love the color of jade
And the intoxicating scent of flowers,
But more than all I love my brother, man.
”
”
Nezahualcóyotl
“
A miscreant with coiffed, scented hair, a slender waist, the hips of a woman and the chest of a Prussian officer, with a finely tied cravat, by all girls admired. ~ [introduction of character Montparnasse]
”
”
Victor Hugo (Les Misérables)
“
If you can think of your lover in six senses, then I'd say you're nailed. They've got themselves wrapped around your heart. And your cock. (...) Six senses? (...) Sight, sound, taste, scent, touch, and the other, that thing you can't figure out that means everything.
”
”
C.M. Stunich (Losing Me, Finding You (Triple M, #1))
“
Every story begins somewhere, some in the rain of forgotten yesterdays and some in the scent of autumn leaves...
”
”
Jayita Bhattacharjee
“
A rose’s beautiful scent is extracted only when it is crushed.
”
”
Matshona Dhliwayo
“
Over endless crystalline waves travelled the sparkling scent of triumph, of limitless possibilities, of strength and inspiration.
”
”
Jan Moran
“
Stories never told,
disappeared in the dawn mist
and sunset blaze.
Like a movie kiss,
not real,
but still overwhelms and entices lustfulness,
turns me into pleasure
and a connoisseur of love.
Flying to the heavens above
followed by the yearning hope
that you will always be close to me,
that you will not disperse when
we revel in one another.
Secrets to be kept in one of these terracotta walls
that fade away through the dusk,
feeling the scented candles of musk,
just you and I,
two rebels of love,
that challenge the logic, the meaning, and sense.
”
”
Tatjana Ostojic (Baghdad Nights)
“
I’d loved women who were old and who were young; those extra kilos and large rumps, and others so thin there was barely even skin to pinch, and every time I held them, I worried I would snap them in two. But for all of these: where they had merited my love was in their delicious smell. Scent is such a powerful tool of attraction, that if a woman has this tool perfectly tuned, she needs no other. I will forgive her a large nose, a cleft lip, even crossed-eyes; and I’ll bathe in the jouissance of her intoxicating odour.
”
”
Roman Payne
“
The wild. I have drunk it, deep and raw, and heard it's primal, unforgettable roar. We know it in our dreams, when our mind is off the leash, running wild. 'Outwardly, the equivalent of the unconscious is the wilderness: both of these terms meet, one step even further on, as one,' wrote Gary Snyder. 'It is in vain to dream of a wildness distinct from ourselves. There is none such,' wrote Thoreau. 'It is the bog in our brains and bowls, the primitive vigor of Nature in us, that inspires the dream.'
And as dreams are essential to the psyche, wildness is to life.
We are animal in our blood and in our skin. We were not born for pavements and escalators but for thunder and mud. More. We are animal not only in body but in spirit. Our minds are the minds of wild animals. Artists, who remember their wildness better than most, are animal artists, lifting their heads to sniff a quick wild scent in the air, and they know it unmistakably, they know the tug of wildness to be followed through your life is buckled by that strange and absolute obedience. ('You must have chaos in your soul to give birth to a dancing star,' wrote Nietzsche.) Children know it as magic and timeless play. Shamans of all sorts and inveterate misbehavers know it; those who cannot trammel themselves into a sensible job and life in the suburbs know it.
What is wild cannot be bought or sold, borrowed or copied. It is. Unmistakeable, unforgettable, unshamable, elemental as earth and ice, water, fire and air, a quitessence, pure spirit, resolving into no contituents. Don't waste your wildness: it is precious and necessary.
”
”
Jay Griffiths (Wild: An Elemental Journey)
“
When you savor life with your senses, every moment feels rich and meaningful. Think about how satisfying it feels to inhale the fresh scent of mown grass or slowly run your hand across a velvet pillow. These sensations are physically pleasurable, but they also provide opportunities for you to sync with your internal wisdom to help you create your ideal life.
”
”
Amy Masterman (Sacred Sensual Living: 40 Words for Praying with All Your Senses)
“
But how wonderful when the tale is told,
And the message that is meant for us
Opens like the scents of a mountain flower!
”
”
Mazisi Kunene
“
The night finds the flowers of light and seasons, the scent of life, for darkness sees the blossom of stars and spring comes to the fields of frost.
”
”
Jayita Bhattacharjee
“
Life is an extraordinary gift some people appear not to appreciate. In every breath and scent, every touch and sight we are gifted by new experience and the chance to feel the richness of experience. Every sound we hear, from the song of a bird to the harshness of an angry voice, is a miracle.
”
”
Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum (Flashes of Thought)
“
Every blade of grass
holds a headline.
Every tree base is a bulletin board.
You call it dawdling.
I call it research.
The Way isn’t a straight path.
It’s a thousand scent trails
braided into meaning.
”
”
G. Scott Graham (The Tao of Dogs (The Quiet Way))
“
In every single scenario that you step into, in life, it is like stepping into a body of water and you need to stop and really stand there to feel what's going on in that water— the temperature, the direction of the current, the particles in the water that brush up onto your skin, you need to close your eyes and inhale deeply to distinguish the scents that come from it. I have always done this, since I was a small girl, being aware of and feeling every atom that's in there. I'm a Water Bender. I bend the water; the water does not bend me.
”
”
C. JoyBell C.
“
Tomorrow she’d look up tattoo removal. They were doing big things with lasers now. When Cal was just a little more stable, she’d break up with him, gently, and then she’d begin her project of helping everybody she could help, and after that she’d head out on a great long journey to absolutely nowhere and write a gorgeous poem cycle steeped in heavenly lavender-scented closure and also utter despair, a poem cycle you could also actually ride for its aerobic benefits, and she’d pedal that fucker straight across the face of the earth until at some point she’d coast right off the edge, whereupon she’d giggle and say, “Oh, shit.
”
”
Sam Lipsyte
“
I pulled a dirty black sweatshirt from the laundry basket on my son’s floor and tried to drink in his scent, to savor the essence of my sweet boy. I inhaled it long and hard, wanting to permanently implant all of him in my brain, to make him last forever.
”
”
Shelley Ramsey (Grief: A Mama's Unwanted Journey)
“
The Louis XIII style in perfumery, composed of the elements dear to that period - orris-powder, musk, civet and myrtle-water, already known by the name of angel-water - was scarcely adequate to express the cavalierish graces, the rather crude colours of the time which certain sonnets by Saint-Amand have preserved for us. Later on, with the aid of myrrh and frankincense, the potent and austere scents of religion, it became almost possible to render the stately pomp of the age of Louis XIV, the pleonastic artifices of classical oratory, the ample, sustained, wordy style of Bossuet and the other masters of the pulpit. Later still, the blase, sophisticated graces of French society under Louis XV found their interpreters more easily in frangipane and marechale, which offered in a way the very synthesis of the period. And then, after the indifference and incuriosity of the First Empire, which used eau-de-Cologne and rosemary to excess, perfumery followed Victor Hugo and Gautier and went for inspiration to the lands of the sun; it composed its own Oriental verses, its own highly spiced salaams, discovered intonations and audacious antitheses, sorted out and revived forgotten nuances which it complicated, subtilized and paired off, and in short resolutely repudiated the voluntary decrepitude to which it had been reduced by its Malesherbes, its Boileaus, its Andrieux, its Baour-Lormians, the vulgar distillers of its poems.
”
”
Joris-Karl Huysmans (Against Nature)
“
An awfulness was deep inside me, and I couldn't fight it; forced into submission and taken hostage by it, I could only just lie there, let it wash over me, and let myself be consumed by it. If I cooperate, maybe it won't stay too long; maybe it'll let me go free. But if I fight it, it might stay longer just to spite me. So I decided to let The Feeling inhabit me as long as it desired, while I lay still, cautious not to incite me, secretly hoping it would leave me soon and bother someone else, but outwardly, pretending to be its gracious host. The most discouraging element of what I felt was my inability to understand it. Usually when I was filled with an unpleasant feeling, I could make it go away, or at least tame it, by watching a light-hearted film or reading a good book or listening to a feel good album. But this feeling was different. I knew non of those distractions could rid me of it. But I knew nothing else. I couldn't even describe it. Is this depression? Maybe once you ask someone to describe depression, he can't find the words. Maybe I'm part of the official club now. I imagined myself in a room full of people where someone in the crowd, also suffering from depression, immediately noticed me-as if he detected the scent of his own kind-walked over, and looked into my eyes. He knew that I had The Feeling inside me because he, too, da The Feeling inside him. He didn't ask me to talk about it, because he understood that our type of suffering was ineffable. He only nodded at me, and I nodded back; and then, during our moment of silence, we both shared a sad smile of recognition, knowing that we only had each other in a room filled with people who would never understand us, because they didn't have The Feeling inside them.
”
”
Nick Miller (Isn't It Pretty To Think So?)
“
Every one of us, unconsciously, works out a personal philosophy of life, by which we are guided, inspired, and corrected, as time goes on. It is this philosophy by which we measure out our days, and by which we advertise to all about us the man, or woman, that we are... It takes but a brief time to scent the life philosophy of anyone. It is defined in the conversation, in the look of the eye, and in the general mien of the person. It has no hiding place. It's like the perfume of a flower -- unseen, but known almost instantly. It is the possession of the successful, and the happy. And it can be greatly embellished by the absorption of ideas and experiences of the useful of this earth.
”
”
George Matthew Adams
“
Poetry is the scent of a soul who longed to utter the deepest words but remained unuttered on the lips. It is then that the words are released as a scent on the pages..
”
”
Jayita Bhattacharjee
“
Do something which arouses happiness in your own bones.
”
”
Callre (Scent of an Undiscovered Writer)
“
After the leave-taking, there is the leaving. And once you have left, you discover the ten thousand things that you still carry - memories of touch, scent and sight.
”
”
Omair Ahmad (The Storyteller's Tale)
“
[...]completed to-do lists and sparkling, lemon-scented floors are wonderful when they appear [...], but that the most important thing of all is that my home to be a place of love.
”
”
Hallie Lord (On the Other Side of Fear: How I Found Peace)
“
A single scent takes you to unseen worlds with excitement on every level, to impossible landscapes painted with colors no one has ever seen.
”
”
Poncho Civeira (5 Breaths to Freedom)
“
Mums are plants which spread their scent to love, heal and lead.
”
”
Qamar Rafiq
“
They told me to wake up and smell the coffee, but I was too busy following the scent of my dreams.
”
”
Matshona Dhliwayo
“
A poet is a human blossoming with the scent of spring.
”
”
Jayita Bhattacharjee
“
The bell above the door chimed, and magic tingled at my fingertips. The scent of ink and freshly printed paper swirled invitingly in the air as I followed my parents in the bookstore.
”
”
Julie Abe (Eva Evergreen, Semi-Magical Witch (Eva Evergreen, #1))
“
The smell of hot coffee
is like a pleasant scent of the first rain
on dry earth; It is a product favoring Friendship, Love, Affection, and should always be consumed with someone else.
”
”
Ruchi Prabhu
“
Season by season, life unfolds.
When winter brings the feast of snow,
Joy is slain by the winds that blow,
but spring arrives and the scent floats,
for petal by petal, the primrose opens.
”
”
Jayita Bhattacharjee
“
She breathed in the scent of lemon blossoms, inspired by how their citrus sweetness mingled with fresh ocean air. Closing her eyes, she ran the tip of her tongue over her lips, tasting a faint saltiness in the moisture laden breeze. She imagined how dark, rich chocolate filled with the brightness of a lemon filling and dusted with chunky sea salt might taste. Delicious, she decided.
”
”
Jan Moran (The Chocolatier)
“
As the lilac-scented breeze carries the memories...there remains the lingering reminder of the times we hold in deep...for to love deeply and live deeply.... is to smell the fragrance of life.....
”
”
Jayita Bhattacharjee
“
O heart.... Keep speaking to this drunken breeze...Keep feeling the wild winds that carry the scent of flowers for to be a lover of earth is to be a visionary. Keep believing in the purest of feelings.
”
”
Jayita Bhattacharjee
“
O Lady.
You are the flower of God's garden
That God sent on earth to scent this world
You are the strength of God's Power.
That God Sent on earth to make humans strong
You are the dew of God's kindness
That God sent on earth to teach humanity
You are the masterpiece of his creation.
That God sent on earthTo make this world beautiful and worth living
Wishing you a very Happy Women's day
Thank you for making this world better.
Peace and love..
”
”
Mohammed Zaki Ansari ("Zaki's Gift Of Love")
“
Try telling the boy who’s just had his girlfriend’s name
cut into his arm that there’s slippage between the signifier
and the signified. Or better yet explain to the girl
who watched in the mirror as the tattoo artist stitched
the word for her father’s name (on earth as in heaven)
across her back that words aren’t made of flesh and blood,
that they don’t bite the skin. Language is the animal
we’ve trained to pick up the scent of meaning. It’s why
when the boy hears his father yelling at the door
he sends the dog that he’s kept hungry, that he’s kicked,
then loved, to attack the man, to show him that every word
has a consequence, that language, when used right, hurts.
”
”
Todd Davis
“
The waves leave, but their story remains, written on the shores. The flower goes to sleep, but the scent remains, floating in the breeze. What once was woven in love, leaves behind a poem, a song, or a dried rose between the pages. They are the memories of light.
Jayita Bhattacharjee
”
”
Jayita Bhattacharjee
“
Do you know a Ukraine night? No, you do not know a night in the Ukraine. Gaze your full on it. The moon shines in the midst of the sky; the immeasurable vault of heaven seems to have expanded to infinity; the earth is bathed in silver light; the air is warm, voluptuous, and redolent of innumerable sweet scents. Divine night! Magical night! Motionless, but inspired with divine breath, the forests stand, casting enormous shadows and wrapped in complete darkness. Calmly and placidly sleep the lakes surrounded by dark green thickets. The virginal groves of the hawthorns and cherry-trees stretch their roots timidly into the cool water; only now and then their leaves rustle slumber; but there is a mysterious breath upon the heights. One falls into a weird and unearthly mood, and silvery apparitions rise from the depths. Divine night! Magical night! Suddenly the woods, lakes, and steppes become alive. The nightingales of the Ukraine are singing, and it seems as though the moon itself were listening to their song. The village sleeps as though under a magic spell; the cottages shine in the moonlight against the darkness of the woods behind them. The songs grow silent, and all is still. Only here and there is a glimmer of light in some small window. Some families, sitting up late, are finishing their supper at the threshholds of their houses.
”
”
Nikolai Gogol (Village Evenings Near Dikanka and Mirgorod)
“
Bathing is not negotiable! So is brushing your teeth and washing your underwear, so that you always have a fresh inviting scent around you. People should want to be around you, not avoid you because of unfriendly odours coming out of your mouth, shoes or armpits. Do the best with what you have; even the old can be made clean and hygienic to improve your image.
”
”
Archibald Marwizi (Making Success Deliberate)
“
Georgia closed her eyes and concentrated on the sensations of the island--- the bracing, spicy scent of evergreen needles, the briny creaminess of an oyster still in its shell, the chewy, viscous luxury of Star's honey on the comb, the light acidity of a local cider. And then she cooked what she felt, that sense of wonder, the lightness and clean sea salt air. A sprinkle of salt, the crispness of fresh vegetables, the unctuous luxury of good olive oil.
”
”
Rachel Linden (Recipe for a Charmed Life)
“
Everything about the whimsical inn inspired curiosity instead of fear. In a third-floor bathing room, Evangeline found the most delightful copper tub, reminiscent of the clock in the hall. It had lovely jewelled handles and a faucet that could pout out different-coloured waters in a variety of scents:
Pink honeysuckle.
Lavender rose.
Green pine needle.
Silver rain.
She'd mixed the rain and honeysuckle, and now she smelled like a sweet and stormy day.
”
”
Stephanie Garber (The Ballad of Never After (Once Upon a Broken Heart, #2))
“
Here’s what happens when a single mom meets New York City’s hottest fireman…
“Then…seductively…as if he received instruction not from the FDNY’s training school but at Chippendale’s…he slowly inches each suspender off his bare shoulders.”
“You must know that exhilarating feeling of a man’s body on top of yours, all that power and muscle pressing you into the bed, the glorious taste of his tongue in your mouth, the manly scent that washes over you and makes you want to melt underneath him.”
“Let’s not forget about his nine inches of shapely fireman hose dangling so close in front of my face the scent launches me into a blissful fever.”
“Every place he touches contradicts his chosen profession, because instead of putting out a fire he surely starts one.”
“I’m so darn helpless in the arms of this powerful, young, ripped personification of New York’s Bravest that I feel myself about to erupt in the most earth shattering explosion since Mount Vesuvius last announced her presence.”
“I wonder if he could be enticed to show us a few maneuvers on the brass pole.”
“He orchestrates his own personal opera, inspiring high notes with kisses and licks along my elongated nipples, and deep moans with hands that caress my belly.”
“We are drawn uncontrollably to each other and have no power to resist, only the tremendous desire to experience everything in its most intense form.
”
”
Isabella Johns (My Hot Fireman (My Hot, #1))
“
You might even say there is a tree for every mood and every moment. When you have something precious to give to the universe, a song or a poem, you should first share it with a golden oak before anyone else. If you are feeling discouraged and defenceless, look for a Mediterranean cypress or a flowering horse chestnut. Both are strikingly resilient, and they will tell you about all the fires they have survived. And if you want to emerge stronger and kinder from your trials, find an aspen to learn from – a tree so tenacious it can fend off even the flames that aim to destroy it. If you are hurting and have no one willing to listen to you, it might do you good to spend time beside a sugar maple. If, on the other hand, you are suffering from excessive self-esteem, do pay a visit to a cherry tree and observe its blossoms, which, though undoubtedly pretty, are no less ephemeral than vainglory. By the time you leave, you might feel a bit more humble, more grounded. To reminisce about the past, seek out a holly to sit under; to dream about the future, choose a magnolia instead. And if it is friends and friendships on your mind, the most suitable companion would be a spruce or a ginkgo. When you arrive at a crossroads and don’t know which path to take, contemplating quietly by a sycamore might help. If you are an artist in need of inspiration, a blue jacaranda or a sweetly scented mimosa could stir your imagination. If it is renewal you are after, seek a wych elm, and if you have too many regrets, a weeping willow will offer solace. When you are in trouble or at your lowest point, and have no one in whom to confide, a hawthorn would be the right choice. There is a reason why hawthorns are home to fairies and known to protect pots of treasure. For wisdom, try a beech; for intelligence, a pine; for bravery, a rowan; for generosity, a hazel; for joy, a juniper; and for when you need to learn to let go of what you cannot control, a birch with its white-silver bark, peeling and shedding layers like old skins. Then again, if it’s love you’re after, or love you have lost, come to the fig, always the fig.
”
”
Elif Shafak (The Island of Missing Trees)
“
Rothbury inhaled the familiar lemon-tinged air wafting before him. He remained silent, ignoring the zing of awareness thrumming through him, and listened for the sound of footfalls instead.
Whoever had entered the room, it was definitely a young woman. He'd bet one of his prized Arabians on it, but it wasn't Cordelia. She smelled perpetually of pungent roses, which he had been partial to in the beginning of their short love affair, but which now merely reminded him that the woman connected to it was just as clingy and thorny as the flower itself.
But this scent- he inhaled deeply as it now surrounded him- inspired contentment, which was a miracle in itself, considering all he wanted to do presently was break free, find Lady Gilton, and throttle her elegant neck.
"Who's there?" Rothbury demanded, his tone firm but quiet. He pulled at the twisted silk binds holding his wrists together behind him, noting they were finally starting to tear. "Come now," he said in a tone he used on skittish horses. "Tell me who's there.
”
”
Olivia Parker (To Wed a Wicked Earl (Devine & Friends, #2))
“
They look like glittering golden cubes!"
"And they're melting across the chicken breasts?!"
"Wait a minute... OH! MORPHING FURIKAKE RICE!"
"WELL, WELL! WHAT HAVE WE HERE?!"
"The chicken's already savory and robust aroma...
... is growing even richer and stronger!"
"A Furikake topping? At a glance, these look like cubes of some variety of aspic..."
"The First and Second Seats were already over the moon about this dish."
"Are you saying it is now even more delicious?!"
"Aah! Unbelievable! Already the rich scent of roasted chicken tickles the nose!"
"Hmph..."
"This...?
This flavor! I can hardly believe it! The warmth of the chicken has caused the aspic cubes to begin melting into a thick jelly...
... adding new and luxuriant layers to both the flavor and the texture of the dish!
The salty savoriness of its flavor seeps quietly into the crispy rice crackers...
... while the scrambled-egg sauce is infused with an even more decadently creamy texture!
"The sheer perfect balance of the dish is positively divine! Flavors clash and meld, amplifying and accenting each other in complete harmony!
What creative originality! Who would have thought that one simple addition would add so much depth and complexity to the entire dish?!
”
”
Yūto Tsukuda (食戟のソーマ 30 [Shokugeki no Souma 30] (Food Wars: Shokugeki no Soma, #30))
“
He lay under the great bearskin and stared out of the window at the stars of spring, no longer frosty and metallic, but as if they had been new washed and had swollen with the moisture. It was a lovely evening, without rain or cloud. The sky between the stars was of the deepest and fullest velvet. Framed in the thick western window, Alderbaran and Betelgeuse were racing Sirius over the horizon, the hunting dog-star looking back to his master Orion, who had not yet heaved himself above the rim. In at the window came also the unfolding scent of benighted flowers, for the currants, the wild cherries, the plums and the hawthorn were already in bloom, and no less than five nightingales within earshot were holding a contest of beauty among the bowery, the looming trees...He watched out at the stars in a kind of trance. Soon it would be the summer again, when he could sleep on the battlements and watch these stars hovering as close as moths above his face and, in the Milky Way at least, with something of the mothy pollen. They would be at the same time so distant that unutterable thoughts of space and eternity would baffle themselves in his sighing breast, and he would imagine to himself how he was falling upward higher and higher among them, never reaching, never ending, leaving and losing everything in the tranquil speed of space.
”
”
TH White
“
Those who were leaving this world seemed to have the ability to see beauty restored to them. What most others overlook, the dying were able to see. The dewdrops on the spiderweb, the beauty of a mother’s scribbled notes in an old cookbook, the scent of damp earth after a rain – the dying understand that these tiny sensory experiences are what life is made of. Each moment is a precious doorway to experience love, curiosity, awe, reverence, hope, connection
”
”
Durga Mamidipalli (RISE TO THRIVE: 25 Inspirational Stories of Personal and Spiritual Transformation)
“
(Sorrow in the Heart of an Apple)
I clean up my old sorrow
Wrapped it in a clean and scented piece of cloth
Buried it under an apple tree
in our apple orchard in the village.
Seasons passed…
It seemed to me that everything was over
When the harvest season came again.
I forgot that I had wanted to forget about my sorrow
I forgot where I had buried it, too.
I picked an attractive red apple
That looked glorious and delicious.
From the first bite,
I immediately recognized
The taste of that same age-old sorrow.
I realized then that my buried sorrow
Had multiplied.
And here I am
Face to face with it again:
Here I am finding it
In the heart of every single apple!
”
”
Louis Yako
“
A great perfume can express the intangible, but essential, intentions of a designer and convey the constant, enduring, and driving identity of the fashion house. It was through Marc Rosen's advocacy that I came to realize that the greatest modern perfume bottles were an art reflecting art. They exist as design objects in their own right, but are directly responsive to the composition of the scents they hold. A perfume, based on a series of layers and combinations of scent and composed of "notes" in a system that is at once science and subjectivity, is dependent on the sensory and the intuitive. With evocative qualities that are an amalgam of references framing it conceptually, a perfume can inspire possibilities of representation through graphics and the form of its flacon. Perfume bottles reside at the intersection of aesthetics and technology. They are, at their most artful, the sculptural manifestations of the ideas, emotions, and poetry elicited by a fragrance.
”
”
Marc Rosen (Glamour Icons: Perfume Bottle Design by Marc Rosen)
“
Let us
Let us fall in love and be romantics once again,
Let us kiss our desires again and again,
Let me pursue my feelings in your beautiful eyes,
Let us dive into them and feel the love that lies beyond these eyes,
Let us wear our emotions all over us,
To feel the kiss of love all over us,
Let us become the daylight and spread everywhere,
Or maybe in that secret somewhere where your beauty is everywhere,
Let me love you now and love you forever,
And let your heart confess it has felt the kiss of the true lover,
My darling Irma, let our love be the only event in our lives,
And let us only grow being a part of our beautiful love lives,
Let you be the summer day that never ends,
And let all my beginnings in your beautiful eyes find their ends,
Let me belong to you just like the Moon belongs to the sky,
Let us create a world where there is only your and my love’s sky,
Let your feelings like the scent of the rose sink into my senses,
And then let us love each other with all our senses,
Let us reside in some quiet corner together,
Where there is only one sound, that of our two hearts beating together,
Let us travel together from our today into our every tomorrow,
And carry our love into every moment that represents every tomorrow,
Let us walk through the corridors of time,
And leave the essence of our love as our signature in every moment of time,
Then let me hold your hand and travel somewhere,
Because now with our love’s essence residing in time, you shall be everywhere, even in places called somewhere,
Let me say it again and again, that my heart beats for you,
And then let every moment of time echo with these words, “my darling Irma I love you!”
Let the drops of dew reflect your grace,
And then let every flower bear the beauty of just one beautiful face, and your grace,
Let the moments of time rain over you and me,
And then let me find you everywhere within me,
Finally let the night conceal us in its dark and mystical shades,
And let us transform into love’s most beautiful cascades, only bearing your and my shades,
Then let the river of love flow into the valley of promises,
And let me find you in beautiful roses and let us now fulfill our promises!
”
”
Javid Ahmad Tak (They Loved in 2075!)
“
I open my eyes and gaze softly at the room in front of me. Then I close them again. Once I’m anchored in bliss, it doesn’t matter whether my eyes are open or closed. I can maintain this expansive state of awareness either way. My intention is to take this awareness into my workday after meditation. I don’t want to think or act from anywhere else. After a while, I look down again at my body sitting in the chair. I realize I’ve been drifting, one with the light, basking in bliss, for a long time. My heart fills with joy and my eyes fill with tears, as I’m overwhelmed with gratitude. For my life, exactly the way it is. For every detail of what is. For everything that will happen in the future, no matter what it might be. I give thanks for all of it. I connect with everyone who’s meditating at this same time anywhere in the world. I open my eyes and look at the sunlight outside the room I’m meditating in. I’m aware of both time and space again. The forgotten cup of coffee in my hands is completely cold. Tears of gratitude flow down my cheeks. I look at my cup. The words printed on it read: Find Joy in the Journey. After we moved into the new house that replaced the one destroyed by fire, I went on a hunt for mugs printed with inspirational words; those bequeathed by the fire victims’ shelter with captions like Construction Equipment Dealer’s Association and My Dang Dog Also Drinks from My Cup didn’t echo the energy of the meditative state. I feel grateful for everything. My hands, with which I hold the coffee cup. My feet, with which I can walk. My breath, bringing life to my cells. My connection to the universe. The wonderful people in my life. I close my eyes and I am immediately in the light once again. I open them and the light remains. In a trance, I stand up and get a fresh cup of coffee. My wife has woken up and she comes into the room to get her morning cup of coffee. We embrace wordlessly. I bury my face in her hair and am enraptured by its scent. We gaze deeply into each other’s eyes and say nothing as she sits down to meditate too. When I close my eyes again, I’m back in Bliss Brain.
”
”
Dawson Church (Bliss Brain: The Neuroscience of Remodeling Your Brain for Resilience, Creativity, and Joy)
“
Purpose
Somebody said, real self awareness lies beyond thinking,
When the mind does not think,
But can eyes serve their purpose if they are always closed or open? No, their true purpose lies in blinking,
Even to realise we are not thinking we need to think,
So when they say silence is what offers inner peace,
I say without sounds, without voices, without music you experience a different form of silence,
Where you find not inner peace, but just your forsaken and unknown piece,
A piece that bears life’s no resonance,
So, you may meditate in silence, but let your mind be filled with voices,
Voices of love, voice of endless nature’s music,
Because it is only in death you shall experience eternal silence as it marks the end of all voices,
That is why death approaches silently, because it is only when you are alive that you can create and feel music,
So if they tell you to stop thinking and remain still!
Just smile, let them hear your voices of laughter and let them envy you,
Because by forcing you into silence even before your time to die, they actually intend to kill,
The beautiful and thinking mind gifted by universe just to you, only to you,
And if silence and thoughtless existence were the true philosophy of the universe,
Then there would exist flowers and nothing else, no breeze to scatter their scents and no birds to sing,
In this universe nothing is purposeless or perverse,
Imagine a beautiful butterfly withouts its wing,
And a mind that does not think is like a butterfly without wings,
Like a flower garden never visited by breeze,
So sing aloud whenever your heart sings,
Because with your mind and heart it is you who you should first be able to please,
Let these silencers of your mind and its beautiful thoughts say whatever they wish to,
You just fly like a butterfly with wings and dance to the tunes of every beautiful voice,
Because mind is an instrument from which you can create whatever you wish to,
So listen to the voices, listen to the sounds, love someone true and confess this to her in your beautiful voice,
I wonder what silent love feels like where two hearts just beat but never communicate,
Always remember your mind just like your life, serves a perspicuous purpose,
But when your mind is silent it retires into the hinterland where nothing grows because it now has no thoughts to replicate,
And it is then your heart turns impervious to every feeling, to every voice, and you begin to surmise about reality too that has an obvious purpose!
”
”
Javid Ahmad Tak (They Loved in 2075!)
“
Winter rose
Finally after many days the sun rose,
And it turned lively, the stiff, but beautiful winter rose,
That will soon be covered in frost,
Where its scent and its radiant colour will be lost,
And its petals will kiss each other with a passionate compactness,
And lie suspended in this state with a beautiful aptness,
That humans fail to acquire,
Because we are a rose where every petal is a dichotomous desire,
So the rose of our life never achieves this beautiful compactness,
Because it tries to grow against the winter’s stillness,
And as it does so, its frost bitten petals fall apart and break into pieces,
Unlike the winter rose where it seems beauty reposes in peace in so many pieces,
Holding them together, for it believes in winter’s silence and its stillness,
That whispers to it silent songs of patience and its eventual fairness,
Like this winter rose I hold your memories together,
Though many might say I am a cold and insensitive lover,
But my love Irma, the petals of hope and love have a melancholic dichotomy of their own,
And like the beautiful winter rose your memories within me have grown,
Waiting, waiting for the winter silence to end,
Even if that means a million winter’s I have to defend,
So, let the winter rose be, and let the winter stay as long as it wants to,
For my mind and heart have entered into a beautiful hibernation, where no one wishes to be, but sometimes we have to!
”
”
Javid Ahmad Tak (They Loved in 2075!)
“
In a smell it all came back...that autumn rain ..the scent of a love that once was ripe..that immense hunger to touch the tender wound...for it is still so raw and fresh...Those quiet evenings still smell in the breeze ...Love letters..how they hold the memories of yesterday!...
”
”
Jayita Bhattacharjee
“
In a smell it all came back...that autumn rain, the scent of a love that once was ripe, that immense hunger to touch the tender wound for it is still so raw and fresh. Those quiet evenings still smell in the breeze ...Love letters..how they hold the memories of yesterday!...
”
”
Jayita Bhattacharjee
“
In a smell it all came back...that autumn rain, the scent of a love that once was ripe, that immense hunger to touch the tender wound for it is still so raw and fresh. The scent of the quiet evenings still smells in the breeze..Love letters..how they hold the memories of yesterday!..
”
”
Jayita Bhattacharjee
“
n a smell it all came back..that autumn rain, the scent of a love that once was ripe, that immense hunger to touch the tender wound for it is still so raw and fresh. The scent of those quiet evenings still smells in the breeze ...Love letters..how they hold the memories of yesterday!...
”
”
Jayita Bhattacharjee
“
To be hanged
He was in his cell,
Wondering about heaven and hell,
Because he was the one due to be hanged,
And throughout the night by old demons he was flanked and fanged,
He remembered everything, his every act,
That had turned him into the man whose conscience was never intact,
A victim of many vagaries and a flippant attitude,
Always surrounded by them in multitude,
But tonight, his last night, when he could dream, when he could imagine,
Think of a new hope maybe; and think of a new short battle that he could still win,
Because tomorrow by the afternoon he shall be dangling on the noose,
Which is already beginning to form a grip around his neck, though loose,
He imagined and conversed with his own mind,
And there he picked moments of happiness, whichever he could find,
And waited for the sun’s rays to enter his dark cell,
Where desires, wishes and hopes died and fell,
In their midst he held on to few moments of happiness, just a few,
To help him walk upto the noose and invent a form courage, totally new,
The sun’s rays gradually gathered in his dark cell and brightened it slowly,
As he looked at the walls hopelessly, but thoughtfully,
He looked perturbed but not demented or lost,
He knew it was the end of everything, his walk upto the gallows to be his steps last,
But he appeared to struggle with the invisible frost,
That had frozen his feelings and cast him in an emotional world where he was lost,
He was despondent, yes he was, you can say that,
But the man in him had not died yet, he had not allowed that,
So he walked with careful but slow steps towards the final knot that would seal everything for him,
And push him into the world where there will be nothing and noone except him,
For that is the tragedy of dying, you die alone, with no one but you,
But he had held on to his moments of happiness, as he approached the hangman, he asked him to do what he ought to do,
The look between the two, the one dying and the one to end life forever, was strange,
It was like a rose looking at its own scent, but looking at it, it felt it belonged to a different range,
Of emotions, of senses, of feelings, of every thought, and as the he let go of his moments of happiness,
The hangman covered his face and hanged him for the sake of justice, and then entered the moment of emotional stillness,
For he had executed a man whose body dangled on the rope,
A sight with which the hangman could not cope,
He turned his face around and then forced himself to be the hangman he is always meant to be,
Whereas the man who was just now hanged remained hanging forever in his memories, there now forever to be,
And in the dark cell where the sun’s rays still try to find him,
The man hangs on like the strange scent of the rose, in faint smells of the corners less bright and more dim!
”
”
Javid Ahmad Tak (They Loved in 2075!)
“
The light is meant to stay for the lotus lives encircled by murky waters as the essence penetrates the thick obscurity to fill the world. Despite the days it dwelled in the dark, it remained untouched by the murky bottom of the stream. No thick, heavy murk could dim the bloom's scent...and there streams the tender lotus light.
”
”
Jayita Bhattacharjee
“
Consider changing your scent and see how it affects your mood for the better. Here are some common scents and their effects on your system: Lavender promotes relaxation and restful sleep, reduces heart rate, and soothes muscle pain. Bergamot lowers cortisol (a stress hormone) and decreases depression. Vanilla reduces restlessness and promotes stress relief and relaxation. Orange gives you a dose of energy, reduces anxiety, and has been shown to help with PTSD symptoms. Lemon reduces stress and tension and eases depression and anxiety.
”
”
Zoe Shaw (A Year of Self-Care: Daily Practices and Inspiration for Caring for Yourself (A Year of Daily Reflections))
“
Kirra is an Australian-owned family business, now second generation! The family consists of Jakob Mohr, Katharina (Katja) Mohr, Sarah Jobst, and Bernhard Jobst. Each member of the family has brought in their own strengths, skills and passions into the business, which has built it into what it is today. Kirra was founded by Jakob and Katja Mohr in 2009 in the Upper North Shore of Sydney. Inspired by the scents of the rustic and pure Australian bush, Jakob and Katja asked themselves “Doesn’t Mother Nature already provide everything we need?” and “Why are there so many nasties in skin and hair care products? Are they really necessary? Surely, so many added chemicals can’t be good for us?”. They began to research and study how they can provide a more natural and friendlier option for their family and to the environment in which they lived.
”
”
Kirra Pty Ltd
“
Use the power of scent in the bedroom to encourage rest and serenity as well as stoke love, romance, and passion
”
”
Amy Leigh Mercree (The Healing Home: A Room-by-Room Guide to Positive Vibes)
“
scent in the kitchen can stimulate appetite for healthy foods and lively conversation as well as mindful eating
”
”
Amy Leigh Mercree (The Healing Home: A Room-by-Room Guide to Positive Vibes)
“
Time heals all they say
That is the furthest from the truth
It only helps to keep things locked
It just takes a scent or scenery for the lock to be opened again.
”
”
Kabashe Pillay (A Broken Woman: From a child that was loved dearly into a teen that has lost her strength)
“
How autumn carries the scented memories. For everything that comes to an end, the unforgettables remain...
”
”
Jayita Bhattacharjee
“
The light is meant to stay for the lotus lives encircled by murky waters as the essence penetrates the thick obscurity to fill the world. Despite the days it dwelled in the dark, it remained untouched by the murky bottom of the stream. Neither thickness nor heaviness of the murk could dim the bloom's scent and there streams the tender lotus light.....
”
”
Jayita Bhattacharjee
“
Inspiration consists of two-sided communication. From one person, expression flows into sensitive ears, recognition to the eyes, tastes to the tongue, or as a scent to a nose. Information flows from the one who is touching to another being touched and into the mind of the recipient. This is communication.
”
”
Laura Bartnick (Being Creative)
“
A scented rose is a ruby mine.
”
”
Jayita Bhattacharjee
“
It's by recognizing our flaws that we can strengthen them, recognizing where flowers came from that we can hope not to burn down the only home we ever knew.
”
”
Monaristw
“
earching for that familiar person only makes you walk into the arms of grief....and there you smell the scent in the breeze over the alleys and desolate streets..where the leftover memories still remain. Grief does not go away from the closet or the drawers or the chair that now sits empty. Through the haunting emptiness, grief breaks into a river once again...
”
”
Jayita Bhattacharjee
“
You might even say there is a tree for every mood and every moment. When you have something precious to give to the universe, a song or a poem, you should first share it with a golden oak before anyone else. If you are feeling discouraged and defenceless, look for a Mediterranean cypress or a flowering horse chestnut. Both are strikingly resilient, and they will tell you about all the fires they have survived. And if you want to emerge stronger and kinder from your trials, find an aspen to learn from–a tree so tenacious it can fend off even the flames that aim to destroy it. If you are hurting and have no one willing to listen to you, it might do you good to spend time beside a sugar maple. If, on the other hand, you are suffering from excessive self-esteem, do pay a visit to a cherry tree and observe its blossoms, which, though undoubtedly pretty, are no less ephemeral than vainglory. By the time you leave, you might feel a bit more humble, more grounded. To reminisce about the past, seek out a holly to sit under; to dream about the future, choose a magnolia instead. And if it is friends and friendships on your mind, the most suitable companion would be a spruce or a ginkgo. When you arrive at a crossroads and don’t know which path to take, contemplating quietly by a sycamore might help. If you are an artist in need of inspiration, a blue jacaranda or a sweetly scented mimosa could stir your imagination. If it is renewal you are after, seek a wych elm, and if you have too many regrets, a weeping willow will offer solace. When you are in trouble or at your lowest point, and have no one in whom to confide, a hawthorn would be the right choice. There is a reason why hawthorns are home to fairies and known to protect pots of treasure. For wisdom, try a beech; for intelligence, a pine; for bravery, a rowan; for generosity, a hazel; for joy, a juniper; and for when you need to learn to let go of what you cannot control, a birch with its white-silver bark, peeling and shedding layers like old skins. Then again, if it’s love you’re after, or love you have lost, come to the fig, always the fig.
”
”
Elif Shafak (The Island of Missing Trees)
“
As to Orphism, it soon blended with the worship of the god Dionysus, who originated in Thrace, and who was worshipped there in the form of a bull. Dionysus was quickly accepted in seventh-century Greece, because he was exactly what the Greeks needed to complete their pantheon of gods; under the name Bacchus he became the god of wine, and his symbol was sometimes an enormous phallus. Frazer speaks of Thracian rites involving wild dances, thrilling music and tipsy excess, and notes that such goings-on were foreign to the clear rational nature of the Greeks. But the religion still spread like wildfire throughout Greece, especially among women—indicating, perhaps, a revolt against civilisation. It became a religion of orgies; women worked themselves into a frenzy and rushed about the hills, tearing to pieces any living creature they found. Euripides’ play The Bacchae tells how King Pentheus, who opposed the religion of Bacchus, was torn to pieces by a crowd of women, which included his mother and sisters, all in ‘Bacchic frenzy.’ In their ecstasy the worshippers of Bacchus became animals, and behaved like animals, killing living creatures and eating them raw.
The profound significance of all this was recognised by the philosopher Nietzsche, who declared himself a disciple of the god Dionysus. He spoke of the ‘blissful ecstasy that rises from the innermost depths of man,’ dissolving his sense of personality: in short, the sexual or magical ecstasy. He saw Dionysus as a fundamental principle of human existence; man’s need to throw off his personality, to burst the dream-bubble that surrounds him and to experience total, ecstatic affirmation of everything. In this sense, Dionysus is fundamentally the god, or patron saint, of magic. The spirit of Dionysus pervades all magic, especially the black magic of the later witch cults, with their orgiastic witch’s sabbaths so like the orgies of Dionysus’s female worshippers, even to the use of goats, the animal sacred to Dionysus. (Is it not also significant that Dionysus is a horned god, like the Christian devil?) The ‘scent of truth’ that made Ouspensky prefer books on magic to the ‘hard facts’ of daily journalism is the scent of Dionysian freedom, man’s sudden absurd glimpse of his godlike potentialities. It is also true that the spirit of Dionysus, pushed to new extremes through frustration and egomania, permeates the work of De Sade. As Philip Vellacot remarks of Dionysus in his introduction to The Bacchae: ‘But, though in the first half of the play there is some room for sympathy with Dionysus, this sympathy steadily diminishes until at the end of the play, his inhuman cruelty inspires nothing but horror.’ But this misses the point about Dionysus—that sympathy is hardly an emotion he would appreciate. He descends like a storm wind, scattering all human emotion.
”
”
Colin Wilson (The Occult)
“
In the tin-covered porch Mr Chawla had constructed at the rear of the house she had set up her outdoor kitchen, spilling over into a grassy patch of ground. Here rows of pickle jars matured in the sun like an army balanced upon the stone wall; roots lay, tortured and contorted, upon a cot as they dried; and tiny wild fruit, scorned by all but the birds, lay cut open, displaying purple-stained hearts. Ginger was buried underground so as to keep it fresh; lemon and pumpkin dried on the roof; all manner of things fermented in tightly sealed tins; chilli peppers and curry leaves hung from the branches of a tree, and so did buffalo curd, dripping from a cloth on its way to becoming paneer.
Newly strong with muscles, wiry and tough despite her slenderness, Kulfi sliced and pounded, ground and smashed, cut and chopped in a chaos of ingredients and dishes. ‘Cumin, quail, mustard seeds, pomelo rind,’ she muttered as she cooked. ‘Fennel, coriander, sour mango. Pandanus flour, lichen and perfumed kewra. Colocassia leaves, custard apple, winter melon, bitter gourd. Khas root, sandalwood, ash gourd, fenugreek greens. Snake-gourd, banana flowers, spider leaf, lotus root …’
She was producing meals so intricate, they were cooked sometimes with a hundred ingredients, balanced precariously within a complicated and delicate mesh of spices – marvellous triumphs of the complex and delicate art of seasoning. A single grain of one thing, a bud of another, a moist fingertip dipped lightly into a small vial and then into the bubbling pot; a thimble full, a matchbox full, a coconut shell full of dark crimson and deep violet, of dusty yellow spice, the entire concoction simmered sometimes for a day or two on coals that emitted only a glimmer of faint heat or that roared like a furnace as she fanned them with a palm leaf. The meats were beaten to silk, so spiced and fragrant they clouded the senses; the sauces were full of strange hints and dark undercurrents, leaving you on firm ground one moment, dragging you under the next. There were dishes with an aftertaste that exploded upon you and left you gasping a whole half-hour after you’d eaten them. Some that were delicate, with a haunting flavour that teased like the memory of something you’d once known but could no longer put your finger on.
Pickled limes stuffed with cardamom and cumin, crepuscular creatures simmered upon the wood of a scented tree, small river fish baked in green coconuts, rice steamed with nasturtium flowers in the pale hollow of a bamboo stem, mushrooms red – and yellow-gilled, polka-dotted and striped. Desire filled Sampath as he waited for his meals. Spice-laden clouds billowed forth and the clashing cymbals of pots and pans declared the glory of the meal to come, scaring the birds from the trees about him.
”
”
Kiran Desai (Hullabaloo in the Guava Orchard)
“
Kulfi was beginning to feel a little tired of what she had been finding in the forest. She looked under a rock, by a tulip tree, along a stream. She needed a new ingredient, she thought, sniffing the air, something exciting and fresh to inspire her to an undiscovered dish, a new invention. She looked up into the sky.
Already she had cooked a pigeon and a sparrow, a woodpecker, a hoopoe, a magpie, a shrike, an oriole, a Himalayan nightingale, a parrot … She had cooked a squirrel, a porcupine, a mongoose, all the wildfowl that could be found in those parts, the small fish in the stream, the round-shelled snails that crisscrossed the leaves with silver, the grasshoppers that leapt and jumped, landing with loud raindrop-like plops upon the foliage.
Diligently, she searched for a new plant, a new berry, a new mushroom or lichen, fungus or flower, but everything about her looked familiar and dull. No new scents enlivened the air and she wandered farther and farther away.
”
”
Kiran Desai (Hullabaloo in the Guava Orchard)
“
Curaj am. Dar e atat de mare frica.
”
”
Giovanni Arpino (Scent of a Woman)
“
For God’s sake, Eve Windham, it was just a kiss under the mistletoe, probably inspired by your papa’s wassail more than anything else.” She had to put her hand on his arm while the feeling of the ground shifting beneath her feet swept over her. “My brothers said it was white rum.” “The occasional tot makes the holiday socializing less tedious. You really do not look well.” The last observation was grudging, almost worried. “I did not mean to swill from your glass, Deene. You should have stopped me.” They had to get to the coach. The night felt like it was closing in, and Deene’s voice—a perfect example of male aristocratic euphony—was swelling and shrinking in the oddest way. “I might have stopped you, except you downed the whole drink before I realized what was afoot, and then you were accosting me in the most passionate—” Eve clutched his arm and swayed into him, breathing shallowly through her mouth. “If you insist on arguing with me, my lord, I will be ill all over these bushes.” “Why didn’t you say so?” He slipped an arm around her waist and promenaded her down the steps. By the time they got to the garden gate, the nausea was subsiding, though Eve was leaning heavily on her escort. She had the notion that the scents of cedar and lavender coming from Deene’s jacket might have helped quiet her stomach. Deene ushered her through the gate, which put them on a quiet, mercifully dark side street. “How often do these headaches befall you?” “Too often. Sometimes I go for months between attacks, sometimes only days. The worst is when it hits on one side, subsides for a day, then strikes on the other.” Deene pulled one of his gloves off with his teeth, then used two fingers to give a piercing, three-blast whistle. “Sorry.” All the while he kept his arm around Eve’s waist, a solid, warm—and quite unexpected—bulwark against complete disability. “The coach will here in moments. Is there anything that helps?” “Absolute quiet, absolute dark, time.” Though her mother used to rub her neck, and that had helped the most. He said nothing more—Deene wasn’t stupid—and Eve just leaned on him. Her grandmother had apparently suffered from these same headaches, though neither Eve’s parents nor her siblings were afflicted. The clip-clop of hooves sounded like so much gunfire in Eve’s head, but it was the sound of privacy, so Eve tried to welcome it. Deene gave the coachy directions to the Windham mansion and climbed in after Eve. “Shall I sit beside you, my lady?” An odd little courtesy, that he would even ask. “Please. The less I move, the less uncomfortable I am.” He settled beside her and looped an arm around her shoulders. Without a single thought for dignity, skirmishes, or propriety, Eve laid her head on his shoulder, closed her eyes, and was grateful. ***
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Grace Burrowes (Lady Eve's Indiscretion (The Duke's Daughters, #4; Windham, #7))
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Search constantly for people, places, things, pictures, sounds, or scents that inspire you. Your most important responsibility is to keep yourself inspired always.
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Mensah Oteh
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I highly recommended running through grassy trails in the rain. There is a haven of serenity out in nature, the sound of raindrops and the scent of flowers, the feeling of the water along my skin. Even in the middle of a busy city and an insane world, there is beauty everywhere. All we have to do is pause long enough to notice.
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Jacqueline Simon Gunn
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Don’t ever lose your smile. Don’t ever let anything take away the joy from your laugh. You never know when the taste of laughter on the tongue or the scent of happiness in the air might save one’s life.
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Emory R. Frie (Wonderland (Realms #1))
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I highly recommend running through grassy trails in the rain. There is a haven of serenity out in nature, the sound of raindrops and the scent of flowers, the feeling of the water along my skin. Even in the middle of a busy city and an insane world, there is beauty everywhere. All we have to do is pause long enough to notice.
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Jacqueline Simon Gunn
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She lowered her arms but didn’t move out of his embrace. He should let go, back away, but her eyes were very wide and very blue. He slipped into them, bending his head toward hers, catching the scent of vanilla that whispered of fresh-baked cookies, a loving family, the home he’d never known.
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Regina Scott (Frontier Matchmaker Bride (Frontier Bachelors, 8))
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Lost
When my exit came, I left the highway and soon locked the front door behind me as I breathed in the familiar scent of home.
I knew I would have a scary story for my parents in the morning, and I knew a cell phone would soon be coming my way.
And I will always wonder…Did I see an angel?
-Jenny Snow
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Jack Canfield (Chicken Soup for the Soul: Angels Among Us: 101 Inspirational Stories of Miracles, Faith, and Answered Prayers)