i think ... that sometimes we don't feel the things that we are. but others can feel them. i feel your strength ...

Failing to catch me at first keep encouraged,

Missing me one place search another,

I stop somewhere waiting for you.

-"Song of Myself" by Walt Whitman

"What on earth did you do with your hands when the one thing they wanted to hold was suddenly, gruesomely gone?"

-from Passion (Fallen #3) by Lauren Kate

"Her life didn't have to be out of her hands. She could shape her own destiny. Somehow. She didn't have it all figured out yet, but she could feel a solution drawing nearer. How else would she have found herself here in the first place? How else would she have known now that it was time to move on?"

-from Passion (Fallen #3) by Lauren Kate

"The past is important for all the information and wisdom it holds. But you can get lost in it. You've got to learn to keep the knowledge of the past with you as you pursue the present."

-from Rapture (Fallen #4) by Lauren Kate

"You said a curse is only a curse if I allowed myself to be cursed by it. You said ... I had it in my power to free myself of any curse -- that curses were preludes to blessings."

-from Rapture (Fallen #4) by Lauren Kate

"This was the very first time she and Daniel had met on Earth ... Neither recognized the other. Yet they were already, instantly, in love."

-from Rapture (Fallen #4) by Lauren Kate

"'Imagine how lonely it was, in a Hell of my own making, stranded at the altar, the greatest fool of all time, enduring seven thousand years of agony.' 'Stop,' she whispered. 'You have to stop loving me. Because I stopped loving you.'"

-from Rapture (Fallen #4) by Lauren Kate

"'I thought that what I felt for you was right,' Luce said. 'I loved you until it hurt me, until our love was consumed by your pride and rage. The thing you called love made me disappear. So I had to stop loving you ... Your love diminished me. I never meant to hurt you. I only meant to stop you from hurting me.'"

-from Rapture (Fallen #4) by Lauren Kate

"She didn't have to explain herself to Po, and he explained himself to her without her having to ask. She'd never known a person with whom she could communicate so freely -- so unused was she to the phenomenon of friendship."
-from Graceling (Graceling Realm #1) by Kristin Cashore

"Giddon's hope bewildered her. She couldn't fathom his foolishness, to fall in love with her, and she still didn't entirely believe it to be true."
-from Graceling (Graceling Realm #1) by Kristin Cashore

"She hadn't asked for a person whose absence, if she woke in the middle of the night, would distress her -- not because of the protection he would then fail to give, but simply because she wished his company. She hadn't asked for a person whose company she wished."
-from Graceling (Graceling Realm #1) by Kristin Cashore


"'Will you forgive me if I take my strength from yous?' 'You may always have whatever strength I have. But you're the strong one, Fire. Right now I don't feel strong.' 'I think,' she said, 'that sometimes we don't feel the things that we are. But others can feel them. I feel your strength.'"
-from Fire (Graceling Realm #2) by Kristin Cashore

"She didn't know what she thought, she needed more time than they did, she couldn't always be rushing ahead the way they were, and it frustrated her to look back and realize that she'd let herself be pushed into something."
-from Bitterblue (Graceling Realm #3) by Kristin Cashore

"What was it about the dark that made her question things she'd never questioned before in the day?"
-from Bitterblue (Graceling Realm #3) by Kristin Cashore

"The more I see and hear, the more I realize how much I don't know. I want to know everything."
-from Bitterblue (Graceling Realm #3) by Kristin Cashore

"'But that's how memory works,' Bitterblue said quietly. 'Things disappear without your permission, then come back again without your permission.' And sometimes, they come back incomplete and warped."
-from Bitterblue (Graceling Realm #3) by Kristin Cashore

"Fine ... I'll go meet your friend the compulsive liar. I'm sure we'll get along smashingly."
-from Bitterblue (Graceling Realm #3) by Kristin Cashore

"Every configuration of people is an entirely new universe unto itself."
-from Bitterblue (Graceling Realm #3) by Kristin Cashore


"She also wondered if going to see something that was no longer there was a good idea -- and if that mattered, when it came to a person's heart."
-from Bitterblue (Graceling Realm #3) by Kristin Cashore

it's hard to dance with the devil on your back, so shake him off ...

Regrets collect like old friends
Here to relive your darkest moments
I can see no way, I can see no way
And all of the ghouls come out to play
And every demon wants his pound of flesh
But I like to keep some things to myself
I like to keep my issues drawn,
It's always darkest before the dawn
And I've been a fool and I've been blind
I can never leave the past behind
I can see no way, I can see no way
I'm always dragging that horse around
And our love is pastured, such a mournful sound
Tonight I'm gonna bury that horse in the ground
'Cause I like to keep my issues drawn
It's always darkest before the dawn
Shake it out, shake it out,
Shake it out, shake it out, whoa ...
And it's hard to dance with the devil on your back,
So shake him off
And I am done with my graceless heart
So tonight, I'm gonna cut it out and restart
'Cause I like to keep my issues drawn
It's always darkest before the dawn ...
And given half the chance, would I take any of it back?
It's a fine romance, but it's left me so undone
It's always darkest before the dawn
And I'm damned if I do and I'm damned if I don't
So here's to drinks in the dark, at the end of my rope
And I'm ready to suffer and I'm ready to hope
It's a shot in the dark aimed right at my throat ...
But what the hell, I'm gonna let it happen to me
-from "Shake It Out" by Florence and the Machine

we don't receive wisdom; we must discover it for ourselves after a journey no one can take for us or spare us ...

"We don't receive wisdom; we must discover it for ourselves after a journey that no one can take for us or spare us."
-Marcel Proust

"Therefore, you can never lose hope -- hatikva -- because if you keep hope alive, it will keep you alive."
-from City of Lost Souls (Mortal Instruments #5) by Cassandra Clare

"Adversity tests one's strength of character. In difficult times, in dark times, some people shine."
-from City of Lost Souls (Mortal Instruments #5) by Cassandra Clare

"Bar none, the Old English D is just as classic as it gets."
-Brennan Boesch

"Don't let them reduce you to that ... Don't let them define how you see yourself, or your place here. And if you ever need someone to talk to, I'm not hard to find."
-from Fated (Soul Seekers #1) by Alyson Noel

"There are moments in life when everything pauses. The earth hesitates, the atmosphere stills, and time shrinks and folds onto itself."
-from Fated (Soul Seekers #1) by Alyson Noel

"From the moment I saw you, I knew you were different. ... Guess my instincts are good. Some things you just know without question."
-from Fated (Soul Seekers #1) by Alyson Noel

"You gotta adjust to the dark so the light can find you."
-from Fated (Soul Seekers #1) by Alyson Noel

"A seeker must learn to see in the dark -- relying on what she knows in her heart."
-from Fated (Soul Seekers #1) by Alyson Noel

"The two of us drawn to each other, bound by forces unseen. But before he can get to the words, I break free of the spell and make a mad limping dash."
-from Fated (Soul Seekers #1) by Alyson Noel

"[They] allowed me to be ripped apart so I could be rebuilt. And because of it, I am now bigger, better, and stronger than I ever thought possible."
-from Fated (Soul Seekers #1) by Alyson Noel

If by the time the bar closes,
You feel like falling down
I'll carry you home
Tonight
We are young,
So let's set the world on fire,
We can burn brighter
Than the sun
-"We Are Young" by Fun

I threw a wish in the well
Don't ask me I'll never tell
I look to you as it fell and now you're in my way
I trade my soul for a wish,
Pennies and dimes for a kiss,
I wasn't looking for this
But now you're in my way
Your stare was holding
Ripped jeans, skin was showing,
Hot night, wind was blowing
Where you think you're going baby?
Hey, I just met you,
And this is crazy
But here's my number
So call me, maybe
It's hard to look right at you, baby
But here's my number,
So call me, maybe ...
You took your time with call,
I took my time with the fall,
You gave me nothing at all,
But still you're still in my way
I beg and borrow and steal,
At first sight and it's real
I didn't know I would feel it
But it's in my way
-from "Call Me Maybe" by Carly Rae Jepsen

"No man chooses evil because it is evil. He only mistakes it for happiness, the good he seeks."
-Mary Wollstonecraft

"You would do anything save him, whatever it cost you, whatever you might owe to Hell or Heaven, would you not?"
-from City of Lost Souls (Mortal Instruments #5) by Cassandra Clare

"There are some people -- people the universe seems to have singled out for special destinies. Special favors and special torments. God knows we're all drawn toward what's beautiful and broken; I have been, but some people cannot be fixed. Or if they can be, it's only by love and sacrifice so great it destroys the giver."
-from City of Lost Souls (Mortal Instruments #5) by Cassandra Clare

"Nerd love. It is a beautiful thing, while also being an object mockery and hilarity for those of us who are more sophisticated."
-from City of Lost Souls (Mortal Instruments #5) by Cassandra Clare

"In a true partnership, the kind that lasts through the ages, there is an unspoken communion."
-from City of Lost Souls (Mortal Instruments #5) by Cassandra Clare

"I knew you were crazy. ... But I didn't realize you absolutely spectacularly out of your goddamned mind."
-from City of Lost Souls (Mortal Instruments #5) by Cassandra Clare

"Comforting someone when they were stricken with loss was something else. It meant commitment. It meant caring. It meant you wanted to ease their pain, and at the same time you were thanking God that whatever the bad thing was that had happened, it hadn't happened to them."
-from City of Lost Souls (Mortal Instruments #5) by Cassandra Clare

"I was in the dark ... There was nothing there but shadows, and I was a shadow. And then I heard your voice."
-from City of Lost Souls (Mortal Instruments #5) by Cassandra Clare

"If you don't say something to him, he's going to assume it's because you're not interested, and he'll give up. He needs you, Iz, and you need him. He just also needs you to be the one to say it."
-from City of Lost Souls (Mortal Instruments #5) by Cassandra Clare

"There are ways in which we're so alike. We're reckless. We don't think before we act. We'll do anything for the people we love. And I never thought how scary that was for the people who loved me and i saw you and it terrified me. How could I protect you if you wouldn't let me?"
-from City of Lost Souls (Mortal Instruments #5) by Cassandra Clare

You know, the bed feels warmer
Sleeping here alone
You know, I dream in color
And do the things I want
You think you got the best of me,
Think you had the last laugh,
Bet you think that everything good is gone,
Think you left me broken down,
Think that I'd come running back,
Baby, you don't know me,
'Cause your dead wrong
What doesn't kill you makes you stronger, stand a little taller
Doesn't mean I'm lonely 'cause I'm alone
What doesn't kill you makes a fighter,
Footsteps even lighter
Doesn't mean I'm over 'cause you're gone
You heard that I was starting over with someone new,
They told you I was moving on, over you
You didn't think that I'd come back,
I'd come back swinging,
You tried to break me but you see,
What doesn't kill you makes you stronger ...
Thanks to you, I got a new thing started
Thanks to you, I'm not the brokenhearted
Thanks to you, I'm finally thinking 'bout me
You know, in the end the day I left was just the beginning
-from "Stronger" by Kelly Clarkson

For you, there'll be no more crying,
For you, the sun will be shining,
And I feel that when I'm with you,
It's all right, I know it's right
To you, I'll give the world
To you, I'll never be cold
'Cause I feel that when I'm with you,
It's all right, I know it's right
And the songbirds are singing like they know the score
-from "Songbird" by Fleetwood Mac

if you're for real and not pretend, then i guess you can hang with me ...

This post is already ridiculously long, so I'll have more tomorrow from a couple books I've read and some of my current favorite songs. :)

You had a lot of crooks tryin' to steal your heart

Never really had luck, couldn't figure out how to love,

How to love

You had a lot of moments that didn't last forever

Now you're in the corner tryin' to put it all together

How to love, how to love,

When you was just a youngin' your looks were so precious

Now you're grown up so fly, so fly it's like a blessing

But you can't have a man look at you for five seconds

Without you being insecure ...

Oh, you had a lot of dreams that transformed in to visions

The fact that you saw the world affected all your decisions

But it wasn't your fault

Wasn't in your intentions ...

See, I just want you to know

That you deserve the best and you're beautiful

... And I want you to know you're far from the usual

-from "How to Love" by Lil' Wayne

If you're for real and not pretend

Then I guess you can hang with me

When my patience's wearing thin

And I'm ready to give in

Will you pick me up again?

Then I guess you can hang with me

And if you do right by me

I'm gonna do right by you

And if you keep it tight

I'm gonna confide in you

I know what's on your mind, 

There will be time for that, too,

If you hang with me ... 

When you see me drift astray

Out of touch and out of place

Will you tell me to my face?

Then I guess you can hang with me

-from "Hang With Me" by Robyn

"Since he knew things at the beginning, maybe at the end he knew things, too. That we had gone as far as chance would take us. That nothing is more sacred than youth or more hopeful than turning yourself over to someone and saying: 'I have this time, it is not a long time, but it is my best time and my best gift, and I give it to you.' When I revisit my youth, I revisit you."

-from Anthropology of An American Girl by Hilary Thayer Hamann

"The paradox of love is that to have it is to want to preserve it because it's perfect in the moment, but that preservation is impossible because the perfection is only ever an instant passed through. Love, like travel, is a series of moments that we immediately leave behind. Still, we try to hold on and embalm against all evidence and common sense, proclaiming our promises and plans. The more I loved him, the more I felt hope. But hope acknowledges uncertainty and so I also felt my first premonitions."
-from Wanderlust: An Affair with the Five Continents by Elizabeth Eaves

"Something about first love defies duplication. Before it, your heart is blank. Unwritten. After, the walls are left inscribed and graffitied. When it ends, no amount of scrubbing will purge the scrawled oaths and sketched images, but sooner or later, you find that there's space for someone else, between the words and in the margins."
-from Where You Are by Tamara Webber

Are you gonna kiss me or not?
Are we gonna do this or what?
I think you I like you a lot,
But you're 'bout to miss your shot
Are you gonna kiss me or not?
... I really think we got a shot
Are you gonna kiss me or not?
-from "Are You Gonna Kiss Me or Not?" by Thompson Square

There's a boy I know,
He's the one I dream of
Looks into my eyes
Takes me to the clouds above
Oh, I lose control
Can't seem to get enough, uh-huh,
When I wake from dreaming,
Tell me is it really love?
How will I know?
Don't trust your feelings
How will I know?
How will I know?
Love can be deceiving
How will I know?
How will I know if he really loves me?
I say a prayer with every heart beat
I fall in love whenever we meet
I'm asking you 'cause you know about these things
How will I know if he's thinking of me?
I try to phone, but I'm too shy can't speak,
Falling in love is all bittersweet
This love is strong,
Why do I feel weak?
-from "How Will I Know?" by Whitney Houston

"The glue of mutual need that bonded us so tightly together for all those years is melting away. Dark patches, not light, show the spaces between us. How can it be that today, in the face of 12's horrible demise, we are too angry to even speak to each other."
-from Mockingjay (Hunger Games Trilogy #3) by Suzanne Collins

"I drag myself out of nightmares each morning and find there's no relief in waking. ... Better not to give in to it. It takes ten times as long to put yourself back together as it does to fall apart."
-from Mockingjay (Hunger Games Trilogy #3) by Suzanne Collins

"My guess is that fearful events are the hardest to root out. They're the ones we naturally remember the best, after all."
-from Mockingjay (Hunger Games Trilogy #3) by Suzanne Collins

i make my own sunshine ...

"Look at what isn't there. It's the only way you might survive."
-from The Serpent's Shadow (Kane Chronicles #3) by Rick Riordan

"You can never be free of your shadow -- your sheut. All living beings have them. ... The sheut is not just a physical shadow. It's a magical projection -- the silhouette of the soul."
-from The Serpent's Shadow (Kane Chronicles #3) by Rick Riordan

"Knowledge of any value can't be given. It must be sought and earned."
-from The Serpent's Shadow (Kane Chronicles #3) by Rick Riordan

"I never liked being thwarted. Whenever I felt like something was impossible, I usually tried even harder out of sheer stubbornness."
-from The Serpent's Shadow (Kane Chronicles #3) by Rick Riordan

"Befriending psychopaths is one of our specialties."
-from The Serpent's Shadow (Kane Chronicles #3) by Rick Riordan

"Here's some free advice: Don't walk towards chaos."
-from The Serpent's Shadow (Kane Chronicles #3) by Rick Riordan

"Together, we tried to find calm in the chaos. I focused on the most peaceful, well-ordered moments of my life."
-from The Serpent's Shadow (Kane Chronicles #3) by Rick Riordan

"Funny how that works: sometimes you don't really understand something until you destroy it."
-from The Serpent's Shadow (Kane Chronicles #3) by Rick Riordan

"A person's shadow stood for his legacy, his impact on the world. Some people cast hardly any shadow at all. Some cast long, deep shadows that endured for centuries."
-from The Serpent's Shadow (Kane Chronicles #3) by Rick Riordan

"For what it's worth: trust your feelings. I can't promise that you'll never get hurt again, but I can promise you the risk is worth it."
-from The Serpent's Shadow (Kane Chronicles #3) by Rick Riordan

Everything is wonderful
Everything is great
Free as a bird singing outside my window pane
Got a fresh new start
It's a brand new day
And I've got lots of love to give away
It don't matter if it's raining, nothing can faze me
I make my own sunshine
And if you think you can break me,
Baby you're crazy
I make my own sunshine
-"I Make My Own Sunshine" by Alyssa Bonagura

"'The very first time I saw you,' Daniel continued, 'it wasn't any different than any other time I've seen you since. the world was newer, but you were just the same. It was--' 'Love at first sight.' That part she knew. He nodded. 'Just like always.'"
-from Torment (Fallen #2) by Lauren Kate

"When we summon Announcers, we're making a sort of wish. Not a wish for anything material, but a wish to better understand the world, our role in it, and what's to become of us."
-from Torment (Fallen #2) by Lauren Kate

"Sometimes beautiful things come into our lives out of nowhere. We can't always understand them, but we have to trust in them. I know you want to question everything, but sometime it pays to just have a little faith."
-from Torment (Fallen #2) by Lauren Kate

"If I could go back in time and talk to my twenty-year-old self, the first thing I would say is: 'Lose the perm.' Secondly I would say: "Relax. Really. Just relax. Don't sweat it.' I can't remember a time when I wasn't anxious and fearful that the parade would pass me by. And I was sure there was someone or something outside of myself with all the answers. I had a driving, anxiety-filled ambition. ... I wanted to belong and feel like I was valued and seen."
-from Happy Accidents by Jane Lynch

"As I look back, the road to where I am today has been a series of happy accidents I was either smart or stupid enough to take advantage of. I thought I had to have a plan, a strategy. Turns out I just had to be ready and willing to take chances, look at what's right in front of me, and put my heart into everything I do."
-from Happy Accidents by Jane Lynch

"We were all swept up in the electricity of putting on this show. We were more focused, disciplined, and committed than we had ever been in our young lives. We had all pitched in to build the set together, and showed up after school for rehearsals. When we finally performed, no one missed a line or a cue. We were a team, and we supported one another. Being a part of this group of fellow actors, feeling needed and valued and there for one another, was a high I would chase for the rest of my life."
-from Happy Accidents by Jane Lynch

"I had gone to great lengths to please people who never had any intention of pleasing me back or giving me what I wanted."
-from Happy Accidents by Jane Lynch

"All my life, I'd felt I was at the mercy of people and circumstances; I'd had the sense that life was happening to me. This book presented the jaw-dropping idea that I had the power to consciously choose how I see the world and the people around me, and that my life could be different if I made more powerful choices."
-from Happy Accidents by Jane Lynch

"What I came to know was that it was the shadow, the great unclaimed areas of the psyche, that my best work would come out of. If I feel proud of anything I've done in my acting career, it came from the stuff that is hard to look at; stuff that feels sticky and dark. These parts tend to want to stay far from the light of day, as they conjure fear or shame. ... I hadn't yet learned how valuable these places are creatively."
-from Happy Accidents by Jane Lynch

"I do enjoy the spotlight, but only for moments at a time, and I would prefer to have others in it with me. it's one thing when you're sharing performance anxiety with a group, and another when you're out there all by your lonesome."
-from Happy Accidents by Jane Lynch

"I didn't have time to think and let the fear stop me. I put my head down like a bull and barreled forward."
-from Happy Accidents by Jane Lynch

"I didn't know how to fall in love with an actual person, but boy could I create a great one in my imagination."
-from Happy Accidents by Jane Lynch

"After one evening with someone, even someone this wonderful, I had no business deciding I'd found my soul mate. And yet that was what I was feeling."
-from Happy Accidents by Jane Lynch

"The way I see it, these accidents of fate were actually my life taking care of me."
-from Happy Accidents by Jane Lynch

i hope this gets to you ...

I've been searching for a couple words
That could grow wings and fly like birds
And I know, of course, that it sounds absurd
But when you're in love, all the lines get blurred ...
Just imagine the world a little smaller tonight
And I hope this, I hope this gets to you
And I hope this, I hope this gets to you
... You think you feel my heart jumping through my chest
And when you look at me, it beats three times as fast
And all of this is passing us too quick for regrets
-"I Hope This Gets to You" by The Daylights

"It's amazing how close I have been, all this time, to my old life. And yet the distance that divides me from it is vast."
-from Pandemonium (Delirium Trilogy #2) by Lauren Oliver

"There are always choices. As long as we're still breathing, we can keep making choices and keep striving for our objectives. the choices aren't always ones we like, but I honestly believe that if we keep choosing, we can often get to where we need to be. If we stop choosing we have no chance. Accepting limitations isn't my first choice because it feels, to me, like it limits the options we can see."
-Melissa Marr

"I wonder if this is how people always get close: They heal each other's wounds; they repair the broken skin."
-from Pandemonium (Delirium Trilogy #2) by Lauren Oliver

"Whenever he came near, she could smell wildflowers, could hear the rustle of willow branches, as if she were sitting by a pond on one of those rare summer days: a taste of midsummer in the start of the frigid fall And she wanted to keep that taste, bask in it, roll in it until the warmth soaked into her very skin. It terrified her, the almost irresistible urge to get closer to him ... He terrified her."
-from Wicked Lovely (Wicked Lovely #1) by Melissa Marr

"Beauty wasn't in the order, but in unplanned harmony."
-from Wicked Lovely (Wicked Lovely #1) by Melissa Marr

"Maybe you should slow down, so I can catch you."
-from Wicked Lovely (Wicked Lovely #1) by Melissa Marr

"She'd been resisting the need to reach out to him since they first met. It wasn't logical but it was definitely there."
-from Wicked Lovely (Wicked Lovely #1) by Melissa Marr

"I give you my vow of honor ... And from this day forward, your wishes shall be my own as often as I am able."
-from Wicked Lovely (Wicked Lovely #1) by Melissa Marr


"To all the people who've been in the abyss and found (or are finding) a way to reach solid ground -- you're proof that the seemingly impossible can happen."
-Melissa Marr's dedication from Ink Exchange (Wicked Lovely #2)


"The things you do when you're desperate aren't who you are."
-from Ink Exchange (Wicked Lovely #2) by Melissa Marr


"Just be you -- strong and honest. The rest falls into place if you do that. It always has. It always will. Remember that. No matter what happens over centuries ahead of you, remember to be honest with yourself. And if you fail, forgive yourself. You'll make mistakes. The whole world is new."
-from Fragile Eternity (Wicked Lovely #3) by Melissa Marr

"Better to take a chance on forever than wonder 'what if' later."
-from Fragile Eternity (Wicked Lovely #3) by Melissa Marr

"Sometimes, things just need a little attention and time to grow."
-from Fragile Eternity (Wicked Lovely #3) by Melissa Marr

"To be remade means someone giving you of themselves."
-from Fragile Eternity (Wicked Lovely #3) by Melissa Marr

"Some choices can be traps. Do you honestly think that staying the course just because you once thought it was right is wise? There are other choices."
-from Radiant Shadows (Wicked Lovely #4) by Melissa Marr

"I need to belong to one person, who belongs only to me."
-from Darkest Mercy (Wicked Lovely #5) by Melissa Marr

"I want to be loved; I want to be consumed by it."
-from Darkest Mercy (Wicked Lovely #5) by Melissa Marr

"She spotted a lone dandelion, and it crossed her mind that a younger Luce would have pounced on it and then made a wish and blown. But this Luce's wishes felt too heavy for something so light."
-from Fallen (Fallen #1) by Lauren Kate

"People are here because they've got baggage. I'm talking curbside-check-in, pay-the-fine-'cause-it's-over-fifty-pounds kind of baggage. Got it?"
-from Fallen (Fallen #1) by Lauren Kate

"This was precisely the kind of circular argument she did not want to engage in. Luce didn't want to play any games. She just wanted to be with him. Only, she had no idea why. Or how to go about it. Or really, what being with him would even mean. All she knew was that, despite everything, he was the one she thought about. The one she cared about. She'd thought if she could track every time they'd connected ... she might be able to find some reason."
-from Fallen (Fallen #1) by Lauren Kate

"She would tell him that she wasn't going to let fear drive her away, not this time, not anymore. Because she knew something, understood something that had taken her far too long to piece together. Something wild and strange made their past experiences together both more and less believable ... She hadn't understood what it meant, what it all added up to -- the pull she felt toward time, her dreams -- until now."
-from Fallen (Fallen #1) by Lauren Kate

and so lying underneath those stormy skies, she'd say 'oh, i know the sun must set to rise' ...

The first time ever I saw your face
I thought the sun rose in your eyes
And the moon and the stars
Were the gifts you gave
To the dark and endless skies
-"The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" originally by Roberta Flack (recently covered on Glee)

When she was just a girl
She expected the world
But it flew away from her reach
So she ran away in her sleep
And dreamed of para, para, paradise
Para, para, paradise
Para, para, paradise
Every time she closed her eyes ...
Life goes on, it gets so heavy,
The wheel breaks the butterfly
Every tear a waterfall
In the stormy night she'll close her eyes
In the stormy night away she'd fly
... And so lying underneath those stormy skies,
She'd say 'Oh, I know the sun must set to rise.'
-"Paradise" by Coldplay

Days like this I want to drive away
Pack my bags and watch your shadow fade
You chewed me up and spit me out
Like I was poison in your mouth
You took my light, you drained me down
That was then and this is now
Now look at me
... This is the part of me that you're never gonna ever take away from me
Throw your sticks and stones, throw your bombs and blows,
But you're not gonna break my soul
This is the part of me that you're never gonna ever take away from me, no ...
Now look at me I'm sparkling
A firework, a dancing flame
You'll never put me out again
I'm glowing, oh, whoa
You can keep that diamond ring
It don't mean nothing anyway
In fact you can keep everything,
Yeah, yeah -- except for me
-"Part of Me" by Katy Perry

I let it fall, my heart
And as it fell, you rose to claim it
It was dark and I was over
Until you kissed my lips and you saved me
My hands they're strong
But my knees were far to weak
To stand in your arms
Without falling to your feet
But there's a side to you that I never knew, never knew
All the things you'd say, they were never true, never true
And the games you played, you would always win, always win
-"Set Fire to the Rain" by Adele

Heart beats fast
Colors and promises
How to be brave?
How can I love when I'm afraid to fall?
Watching you stand alone
All of my doubt
Suddenly goes away somehow
One step closer
I have died everyday waiting for you
Darling don't be afraid I have loved you
For a thousand years
I'll love you for a thousand more
Time stand stills
Beauty in all she is
I will be brave
I will not let anything take away
What's standing in front of me
Every breath,
Every moment has come to this
One step closer ...
And all along, I believed I would find you
Time has brought your heart to me
And I have loved you for a thousand years
-"A Thousand Years" by Christina Perri

I've waited a hundred years
But I'd wait a million more for you ...
Though we're tethered to the story we must tell
When I saw you,
Well I knew we'd tell it well
Like a whisper, we will tame the vicious seas
Like a feather, bringing kingdoms to their knees
-"Turning Page" by Sleeping at Last

"Is this one of those guide books celebrities write for girls? Oh, hell no. I'm only marginally qualified to be giving advice at all. My body mass index is certainly not ideal, I frequently use my debit card to buy things that cost less than three dollars because I never have cash on me, ad my bedroom is so untidy it looks like vandals ransacked the Anthropologie sale section. I'm kind of a mess."
-from Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? by Mindy Kaling

"However, you should know that I disagree with a lot of traditional advice. For instance, they say that the best revenge is living well. I say it's acid in the face -- who will love them now? Another old saying is that revenge is a dish best served cold. But it feels best served piping hot, straight out of the oven of outrage. My opinion? Take care of revenge right away. Push, shove, scratch that person while they're still within arm's reach. Don't let them get away! Who knows when you'll have this opportunity again?"
-from Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? by Mindy Kaling

"There is no sunrise so beautiful that it is worth waking me up to see it."
-from Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? by Mindy Kaling

"Teenage girls, please don't worry about being super popular in high school, or being the best actress in high school,, or the best athlete. Not only do people not care about any of that the second you graduate, but when you get older if you refer to your successes in high school too much, it actually makes you look kind of pitiful, like some babbling old Tennessee Williams character with nothing else going on in her life. What I've noticed is that almost no one who was a big star in high school is also a big star later in life. For us overlooked kids, it's so wonderfully fair."
-from Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? by Mindy Kaling

"I just want ambitious teenagers to know it is totally fine to be quiet, observant kids. Besides being a delight to parents, you will find you have plenty of time later to catch up. ... Sit next to the class clown and study him. Then grow up, take everything you learned, and get paid to be a real-life clown, unlike whatever unexciting thing the actual high school class clown is doing now."
-from Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? by Mindy Kaling

"One friend with whom you have a lot in common is better than three with whom you struggle to find things to talk about. We never needed best friend gear because I guess with real friends you don't have to make it official. It just is."
-from Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? by Mindy Kaling

"I decided the odds were stacked against me, which strangely made me feel like I was going to get the job even more. Sports movies had brainwashed me into the believe that when the chips are down the most, that is when success is the most inevitable."
-from Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? by Mindy Kaling

"I'm the kind of person who would rather get my hopes up really high and watch them get dashed to pieces than wisely keep my expectations at bay and hope they are exceeded. This quality has made me a needy and theatrical friend, but has given me a spectacularly more dramatic emotional life."
-from Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? by Mindy Kaling

"That's one nice thing about being a dork about men: you can sometimes play it off as restrained and classy."
-from Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? by Mindy Kaling

"I will try to like your boyfriend five times. That is a fair number of ties to hang out with your boyfriend and withhold judgment."
-from Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? by Mindy Kaling

"As everyone knows, depressed people are some of the most boring people in the world. I know this because when I was depressed, people fled. Except my best friends. I will be there for you during your horrible break-up, or getting fired from your job, or if you're just having a bad couple of months or year. I will hate it and find you really tedious, but I promise I won't abandon you."
-from Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? by Mindy Kaling

"I will hate and re-like people for you. But you can't get mad if I can't keep track. Robby? Don't we hate him? No, we love him. Okay, okay. Sorry."
-from Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? by Mindy Kaling

"I know when you fall in love with someone that you will completely forget about me. That hurts my feelings, but it is okay. Please try to remember to text me, if you can, if you know I have something going on in my life."
-from Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? by Mindy Kaling

"Everyone has a moment when they discover they love Amy Poehler. For most people, it happened sometime during her run on Saturday Night Live. For some it was when she came back to the show in 2009, nine months' pregnant, and did that complicated, hard-core Sarah Palin rap on Weekend Update."
-from Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? by Mindy Kaling

"I have never had a one-night stand. According to every women's magazine and television program ever made, this is super-unforgivably lame, and it behooves me to go reclaim my groove on an all-girls party trip to an unincorporated island territory of the United States. Every romantic comedy I watch depicts our adorable heroine walking back sheepishly from a stranger's place in the morning with bedhead and her eyeliner all sexy and smudged. ... I just don't understand any of that at all. Here's why: In my mind, the sexiest thing in the world is feeling that you're wanted. The slightly nervous asking of your phone number. The text message asking you to dinner. The simple overture of wanting me can satisfy my ego for a good long time."
-from Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? by Mindy Kaling

"Don't you need to know something more about a guy than an evening's worth of conversation at a bar to make sex appealing?"
-from Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? by Mindy Kaling

"Fear is a pretty big turn-off. I'm talking about safety here. I don't even mean sexual health safety, like STDs. I mean good old-fashioned life-and-death safety. Here's what I can't wrap my brain around. I barely talk to strangers (a habit that I started as a child and that has served me well through my adulthood). So the idea of going to a stranger's house at night or having that stranger over to my house, sounds insanely dangerous. These fears have made it so that when my female friends talk to me about one-night stands, I'm an incredibly irritating listener.
-from Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? by Mindy Kaling

Excited Sexually Liberated Friend: So, then it was like 2 a.m. that same night, and he knocked on my apartment door. I was in my robe and nothing else --

Me: No underwear?

Excited Sexually Liberated Friend: No. I said 'nothing else.' ... So he knocked at the door --

Me: Wait! Sorry. I'm just realizing your doorman let him up without ever seeing him before? Doesn't that disturb you, that your doorman would just let any old person off the street up to your apartment? I would give my doorman a book of photos of accepted guests that he could reference, like a reference book --

Excited Sexually Liberated Friend: I'm doing fine with my doorman.

Me: I would have established a different procedure.

Excited Sexually Liberated Friend: Great, Mindy. Anyway, then I showed up around the place.

Me: The doorman? (off ESL Friend's annoyed look) The guy! The guy! Yes.

Excited Sexually Liberated Friend: He was into the way I decorated it. Really taking it in.

Me: He was casing the joint!

Excited Sexually Liberated Friend: No! He was not casing the joint! He was being sexy and sweet and making cute little jokes about family photos. And then he asked if he could see my bedroom.

Me: Your bedroom, so he could rape and murder you.
-from Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? by Mindy Kaling

"So, this is what I'm like: if you come over to my house, I need to know your first and last name. I need to have your phone number and a person whom we both know so you can't disappear forever in case you murder me. Ultimately, it comes down to this: How embarrassing would it be for me to be talking to a detective at a precinct after you tried to rape and murder me in my home, and not be able to tell him your name or any information about you because we were having a one-night stand? I've seen Law & Order: SVU. I know how it works."
-from Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? by Mindy Kaling

"A remarkable thin about me is that the time that elapses between a sad thought and a flood of tears is three or four seconds. I felt so foolish, having spent so much time (and money!) getting ready."
-from Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? by Mindy Kaling

"The secret I learned is that albums that remind me of my childhood happiness make me incredibly sad now. I only have perfect memories of singing along to Graceland with my parents on long car rides to Virginia Beach to visit my parents' friends. It's sort of my go-to stock image of my childhood, actually. I think it has something to do with knowing I'll never be able to go back to that time that makes me cry every time I listen to it."
-from Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? by Mindy Kaling

"I find it extremely impossible not to cry when I hear Stevie Nicks's 'Lansdslide,' especially the lyric: 'I've been afraid of changing, because I've built my life around you.' I think a good test to see if a human is actually a robot/android/cylon is to have them listen to this song lyric and study their reaction. If they don't cry, you should stab them through the heart. You will find a fusebox."
-from Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? by Mindy Kaling

"As my mom has said, when one person is unhappy, it usually means two people are unhappy but that one has not come to terms with it yet. Sandy hadn't realized how unhappy she was until he was gone. She told me that her husband's leaving her was the nicest gift he ever gave her, because she would have seen clearly enough to do it herself."
-from Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? by Mindy Kaling

"That's when the sun comes out again. I suddenly become super aware of what's going on around me, like it's all slowing down for me to encounter piece by piece."
-from Unearthly (Unearthly Book #1) by Cynthia Hand

"I take a step toward him, my mouth opening to call his name. Then I remember that I don't know it. Like always, it's as if he hears me anyway and starts to turn, and my heart skips a beat when I don't wake up but see his face now, his mouth curling up in a half smile as he jokes with the guy next to him. He glances up ad his eyes meet mine. The hallway melts away. It's only him and me now."
-from Unearthly (Unearthly Book #1) by Cynthia Hand

"I put my hand out to shake, a gesture he seems to find charming. He takes my hand, and it's like my vision and the real world clap together at this moment. He smiles this stunning, lopsided smile. He's real. His hand around mine is warm and confident, just the right amount of pressure. I'm instantly dizzy."
-from Unearthly (Unearthly Book #1) by Cynthia Hand

"I can't get out of that moment when I was in his head, feeling what he felt, hearing his thoughts as he kissed me. I can feel him loving me. And it kills me, that moment when I feel his love shift into fear. The third morning I wake up with tears streaming down my face, and when I stare up at the ceiling, wallowing in my misery, a thought occurs to me. He loves me. Inside his head, his every thought and reaction was born of love, love inside and out, crazy, irrational (and sure, a bit lustful) love. He loves me, and that's also what terrified him ... He doesn't know what I am, but he loves me. I sit up. Maybe I should have figured this out a long time ago. I shouldn't have needed to read his heart in order to see it."
-from Unearthly (Unearthly Book #1) by Cynthia Hand

"He's good to people, respectful. He doesn't cuss. He's kind. Thoughtful. ... He doesn't make a big deal about me being different."
-from Unearthly (Unearthly Book #1) by Cynthia Hand

"I've never been one of those girls, either, who dreamed of getting married never forced a boy to say vows with e on the playground or dressed up in bedsheets and pretended to walk down the aisle. When I was a kid I fashioned swords out of tree branches, and Jeffrey and I chased each other around the backyard yelling, 'Surrender or die!' Not that I was a tomboy. I liked the color purple and nail polish and sleepovers and writing my crush's name in the margins of my notebooks at school as much as any other girl. But I ever honestly considered being married. Being Mrs. Somebody. I guess I assumed that I'd get married eventually. It just seemed like it was too far away to worry about it."
-from Hallowed (Unearthly Book #2) by Cynthia Hand

"This is what happens when I stop watching the news. They call it arson. I wonder what the police would do if they found out who really did it. Uh, yes, officer, I believe the one who started the fire was about six foot three. Black hair. Amber eyes. Big, black wings. Residence: hell. Occupation: leader of the Watchers. Birth date: the dawn of time."
-from Hallowed (Unearthly Book #2) by Cynthia Hand

"Nothing can ever truly separate you, not even death. Love binds you."
-from Hallowed (Unearthly Book #2) by Cynthia Hand

"I never got the whole love-triangle thing. You know, in movies or romance novels or what not, where there's one chick that all the guys are drooling over, even though you can't see anything particularly special about her. But oh, no, they both must have her. And she's like, oh dear, however will I choose? William is so sensitive, he understands me, he swept me off my feet, oh misery, blubber, blubber, but how can I go on living without Rafe and his devil-may-care ways and his dark ad only-a-little-abusive love? Upchuck. So unrealistic, I always thought. Joke's on me, I guess."
-from Hallowed (Unearthly Book #2) by Cynthia Hand

"Our thoughts and feelings are entwined ... Memories, images, desires, feelings You seem to have a knack with feelings. It will be stronger when you touch the person, skin to skin. And sometimes you might get an image or a specific sentence that they're thinking in the moment."
-from Hallowed (Unearthly Book #2) by Cynthia Hand

"We belong together. We're tow of a very rare kind. Meant to watch out for each other, meant to join hands, ad walk side by side, through fire, through death ... I feel like I'm falling from far up, plummeting to earth and at the same time, drowning in a deep pool, struggling upward toward the surface, my lugs bursting for air."
-from Hallowed (Unearthly Book #2) by Cynthia Hand

'Funny that it turned out to be a self-fulfilling prophecy, my dream. I drive myself crazy trying to figure out why Tucker isn't there .. Thinking there shouldn't be a force on earth that would keep hi away. But in the end, he's not there because I asked him not to be. That's what we call irony. The ache really gets me then. This is it. My destined time My gauntlet to run, and I was meant to do it without Tucker. It gets so bad I have trouble breathing. I stop to catch y breath. Someone takes my hand. Christian, as I knew it would be. ... And this, I realize, is the moment of decision, what my vision has been warning me about all this tie. I could break away now, pull y hand from his, tell him again that I don't need him. I could hold on to my anger, my frustration at this hopeless choice. Or I could accept him. I could face what's between us and move on. It's such a big decision to ask of me now. It's not really fair. But then, it never has been fair, this entire fiasco, from start to finish."
-from Hallowed (Unearthly Book #2) by Cynthia Hand

"I know that when I think about my future, I'm usually overwhelmed, knowing how much will be expected of me. I know the odds are that I'll fail many of the things I try. And it's a big deal. What if I figure out what my purpose is, my reason for being on this planet, only to fall short? What if I don't pass the test?"
-from Hallowed (Unearthly Book #2) by Cynthia Hand

"But then I think about what I've learned here in the last year, and i don't mean in my classes, but what I've learned from watching my friends face their futures and search for their purposes. I've learned that a storm isn't always just bad weather, and a fire can be the start of something new. I've found out that there are a lot more shades of gray in this world than I ever knew about. I've learned that sometimes, when you're afraid but you keep moving forward, that's the biggest kind of courage there is. And finally, I've learned that life isn't really about failure and success. It's about being present, in the moment when big things happen when everything changes, including yourself. So i would tell us, no matter how bright we think our futures are, it doesn't matter. Whether we go off to some fancy university or stay home and work. That doesn't define us. Our purpose on this earth is not a single event, an accomplishment we can check off a list. there is no test. No passing or failing. Only us, each moment shaping who we are, into what we will become. So I say forget about the future. Pay attention to now. This moment right now. Let go of expectations. Just be. Then you are free to become something great."
-from Hallowed (Unearthly Book #2) by Cynthia Hand

"English was my subject. And I was really good at writing. I could turn any essay I did into sounding I knew what I was talking about."
-Brennan Boesch

"You can't really be happy unless you're unhappy sometimes. You know that, right?"
-from Delirium (Delirium Book #1) by Lauren Oliver

"It's so strange how life works: you want something and you wait and wait and feel like ti's taking forever to come. Then it happens and it's over and all you want to do is curl back up in that moment before things changed."
-from Delirium (Delirium Book #1) by Lauren Oliver

"I've never been comfortable with my body like Hana and some of the other girls at St. Anne's, never gotten over the awkward feeling that I've been fitted together just a little wrong in some very key places. Like I've been sketched by an amateur artist: If you don't look too closely, it's all right, but start focusing and all the smudges and mistakes become really obvious."
-from Delirium (Delirium Book #1) by Lauren Oliver

"I've learned to get really good at this -- say one thing when I'm thinking about something else, act like I'm listening when I'm not, pretend to e calm and happy when really I'm freaking out. It's one of those skill you perfect as you get older."
-from Delirium (Delirium Book #1) by Lauren Oliver

"Sometimes I feel as though there are two mes, one coasting directly on top of the other: the superficial me, who nods when she's supposed to nod and says what she's supposed to say, and the other, deeper part, the part that worries and dreams. ... Most of the time they move along in sync and hardly notice the split, but sometimes it feels as though I'm two whole different people and could rip apart at any second."
-from Delirium (Delirium Book #1) by Lauren Oliver

"And maybe, after all, he really doesn't recognize me. We made eye contact for only a few seconds, and I'm sure to him I was only a blurry, in-between face, easy to forget. Not pretty. Not ugly, either. Just plain, like a thousand other faces you would see on the street. He, on the other hand, is most definitely not in-between."
-from Delirium (Delirium Book #1) by Lauren Oliver

"Is it even remotely, conceivably possible he was sending a message? Is it possible he was asking me to meet him? The idea makes me dizzy. I keep thinking, too, about the single word, directed low and quietly straight into my ear: gray. He was there; he saw me; he remembered me. So many questions crowd my braind at once, it's like one of the famous Portland fogs has swept up from the ocean and settled there, making it impossible to think normal, functional thoughts."
-from Delirium (Delirium Book #1) by Lauren Oliver

"I remind myself that I probably imagined the whole thing -- the message, the meeting up. ... He's probably already forgotten about the two girls he met at the lab complex today. He was probably just being nice earlier, making casual conversation. it's for the best. But no matter how may ties I repeat it, the strange, hollow feeling in my stomach doesn't go away. And ridiculous as it is, I can't shake the persistent, needling feeling that I've forgottne something, or missed something, or lost something forever."
-from Delirium (Delirium Book #1) by Lauren Oliver

"Sometimes I feel like she deserves a best friend who is just a little more special. Once Hana told me that she likes me because I'm for real -- because I really feel things. But that's the whole problem: how much I feel things."
-from Delirium (Delirium Book #1) by Lauren Oliver

"It was like she had dropped away for a second -- my best friend, my only real friend -- and in her place was a stranger. That's what's been happening all this time: Hana has been morphing into a stranger. A sharp blade of sadness goes through me, deep and quick. I guess it was bound to happen eventually. I've always known it would. Everyone you trust, everyone you think you can count on, will eventually disappoint you. When left to their own devices, people lie and keep secrets and change and disappear, some behind a different face or personality, some behind dense early morning fog, beyond a cliff."
-from Delirium (Delirium Book #1) by Lauren Oliver

"Most things, even the greatest movements on earth, have their beginnings in something small. An earthquake that shatters a city might begin with a tremor, a tremble, a breath. Music begins with a vibration. ... the second time my world exploded it was also because of a word. A word that worked its way out of my throat and danced onto and out of my lips before I could think about it or stop it. The question was: Will you meet me tomorrow? And the word was: Yes."
-from Delirium (Delirium Book #1) by Lauren Oliver

"Sometimes I feel like if you just watch things, just sit still and let the world exist in front of you -- sometimes I swear that just for a second time freezes and the world pauses in its tilt. Just for as second. And if you somehow found a way to live in that second, then you would live forever."
-from Delirium (Delirium Book #1) by Lauren Oliver

"I'll tell you another secret, this one for your own good. You may think the past has something to tell you. You may think that you should listen, should strain to make out its whispers, should bend over backward, stoop down low to hear its voice breathed up from the ground, from the dead places. You may think there's something in it for you, something to understand or make sense of. But iI know the truth: I know from the nights of coldness. I know the past will drag you backward ad down, have you snatching at whispers of the wind and the gibberish of trees rubbing together trying to decipher some code, trying to piece together what was broken. It's hopeless. That past is nothing but a weight. It will build inside of you like stone. Take it from me: If you hear the past speaking to you, feel it tugging at your back and running its fingers up your spine, the best thing to do -- the only thing -- run."
-from Delirium (Delirium Book #1) by Lauren Oliver

"'Why me?' I don't mean to ask it, but the words slide out. 'I'm nobody ...' I want to say, I'm nobody special, but the words dry up in my mouth. This is what I imagine it feels like to climb to the top of a mountain, where the air is so thin you can inhale and inhale and inhale and still feel like you can't take a breath. Alex doesn't answer and I realize he doesn't have an answer, just like I suspected -- there's no reason for it at all. he's picked me at random, as a joke, or because he knew I'd be too scared to tell on him."
-from Delirium (Delirium Book #1) by Lauren Oliver

"Love will turn the whole world into something greater than itself. Even the dump, shimmering in the heat, an enormous mound of scrap metal and melting plastic and stinking things, seems strange and miraculous, like some alien world transported to earth. In the morning light the seagulls perched on the roof of city hall look like they've been coated in thick white paint; as they light up against the pale blue sky I think I've never seen anything so sharp and clear and pretty in my life. Rainstorms are incredible: falling shards of glass, the air full of diamonds. The wind whisper's Alex's name and the ocean repeats it; the swaying trees make me think of dancing."
-from Delirium (Delirium Book #1) by Lauren Oliver

"Snapshots, moments, mere seconds: as fragile and beautiful and hopeless as a single butterfly, flapping on against a gathering wind."
-from Delirium (Delirium Book #1) by Lauren Oliver

"One of the strangest things about life is that it will chug on, blind and oblivious, even as your private world -- your little carved-out sphere -- is twisting and morphing, even breaking apart."
-from Delirium (Delirium Book #1) by Lauren Oliver

to this day, I do not understand what this boy was up to.

"I was walking home from middle school past a place called the World's Largest Aquarium -- which, legally, I don't know how they could call it that, because it was obviously an average-sized aquarium. Maybe I should start referring to myself as World's Tallest Man and see how that goes."
-from Bossypants by Tina Fey

"I took a job as the night box office manager at Summer Showtime because my eleventh-grade boyfriend said we'd have fun there. He promptly broke up with me to date a hot blonde dancer girl to whom he is now married, God bless us every one. I should have known he and I weren't going to make it when for my seventeenth birthday he gave me a box of microwave popcorn and a used battery tester. You know, to test batteries before I put them in my Walkman. Like you give someone when you're in love."
-from Bossypants by Tina Fey

"I don't remember how we first came to be making out in a car, but it was awesome so I kept doing it. Should it have been a 'red flag' to me that these incidents would only take place under the cover of night, in the back driveway behind my on-campus housing? Absolutely. Was it 'not great' that there was never any actual 'date' before these events and that it was a secret? Of course."
-from Bossypants by Tina Fey

"[He] would take a pretty date to the party while I attended with friends, and then he'd pick me up later for car sports. Sometimes we would just drive around. ... To this day, I do not understand what this boy was up to. Was it a control experiment to see how much boring nothingness I would put up with before we finally made out? Possibly."
-from Bossypants by Tina Fey

"I have a uniquely German capacity to vacillate between sentimentality and coldness."
-from Bossypants by Tina Fey

This next quote is also from Bossypants. It's Tina Fey's response to one of her negative fan mails ...

From Dlisted.com
Posted by Centaurious on Monday, 9/21/2009, 2:08 a.m.
"Tina Fey is an ugly, pear-shaped, bitchy, overrated troll."

Dear Centaurious,

First let me say how inspiring it is that you have learned to use a computer.

I had for our correspondence to be confrontational, but you have offended me deeply. To say that I'm an overrated troll, when you have never even seen me guard a bridge, is patently unfair. I'll leave it for others to say if I'm the best, but I am certainly one of the most dedicated trolls guarding bridges today. I always ask three questions, at least who of which are riddles.

As for "ugly, pear-shaped, and bitchy"? I prefer the terms "off-beat, business class-assed, and exhausted," but I'll take what I can get. There's no such thing as bad press!

Now go to bed, you crazy night owl! You have to be at NASA early in the morning. So they can look for your penis with the Hubble telescope.

Affectionately, 
Tina

"My ability to turn good news into anxiety is rivaled only by my ability to turn anxiety into chin acne."
-from Bossypants by Tina Fey

"My proudest moment as a child was the time I beat my uncle Pierre at Scrabble with the seven-letter word FARTING."
-from Bossypants by Tina Fey

"By the way, when Oprah Winfrey is suggesting you have overextended yourself, you need to examine your f***ing life."
-from Bossypants by Tina Fey

"You're an artist ... That means you see the world in ways that other people don't. It's your gift, to see the beauty and the horror in ordinary things. It doesn't make you crazy -- just different."
-from City of Bones (Mortal Instruments #1) by Cassandra Clare

"The only time people turned to watch her go by was when she hurtled past them as she fell downstairs."
-from City of Bones (Mortal Instruments #1) by Cassandra Clare

"Demons come from other worlds. They're interdimensional parasites. They come to a world and use it up. They can't build, just destroy -- they can't make, only use. They drain a place to ashes and when it's dead, they move on to the next one."
-from City of Bones (Mortal Instruments #1) by Cassandra Clare

"If you insisting on disavowing that which is ugly about what you do ... you will never learn from your mistakes."
-from City of Bones (Mortal Instruments #1) by Cassandra Clare

"To draw something is to try to capture it forever ... If you really love something, you never try to keep it the way it is forever. You have to let it be free to change."
-from City of Ashes (Mortal Instruments #2) by Cassandra Clare

"L'amor che move il sole e l'altre stelle. ... It means ... that love is the most powerful force in the world. That love can do anything."
-from City of Fallen Angels (Mortal Instruments #4) by Cassandra Clare

"She knew how breakups went from hearing other girls complain about them. First the pulling away, the gradual refusal to return notes or phone calls. The vague messages saying nothing was wrong, that the other person just wanted a little space. Then the speech about how 'It's not you, it's me.' Then the crying part. She'd never thought any of that would ever apply to her and Jace. What they had wasn't ordinary, or subject to the ordinary rules of relationships and breakups. They belonged to each other totally, and always would, that was that. But maybe everyone felt that way. Until the moment they realized they were just like everyone else, and everything they'd thought was real shattered apart."
-from City of Fallen Angels (Mortal Instruments #4) by Cassandra Clare

"Power is a magnet. It draws those who desire it."
-from City of Fallen Angels (Mortal Instruments #4) by Cassandra Clare

"I watch my brothers give their hearts away and I think, Don't you know better? Hearts are breakable. And I think even when you heal, you're never what you were before."
-from City of Fallen Angels (Mortal Instruments #4) by Cassandra Clare

"Set me as a seal upon thine heart, as a seal upon thine arm: for love is strong as death."
-Song of Solomon

"'All stories are true,' said Isabelle. This had been a tenet of her beliefs since she was a child. All Shadowhunters believed it. There was no one religion, no one truth -- no myth lacked meaning."
-from City of Fallen Angels (Mortal Instruments #4) by Cassandra Clare

"You love each other -- anyone can see that, looking at you -- that kind of love that can either burn down the world or raise it up in glory. No, she would never leave your side. Not while she thought you were in danger."
-from City of Fallen Angels (Mortal Instruments #4) by Cassandra Clare

when the student is ready, the teacher appears

"While we may judge things as good or bad, karma doesn't. It's a simple case of like gets like, the ultimate balancing act, nothing more, nothing less. And if you're determined to fix every situation you deem as bad, or difficult, or somehow unsavory, then you rob the person of their own chance to fix it, learn from it, or even grow from it. Some things, no matter how painful, happen for a reason. A reason you or I may not be able to glance at first sight, not without knowing a person's entire life story -- their cumulative past. And just to barge in and interfere, no matter how well-intentioned, would be robbing them of their journey."
-from Shadowland (The Immortals #3) by Alyson Noel

"Technology advances so quickly, making the familiar obsolete at an increasingly rapid pace. And while things like fashion may seem to advance and change, if you live long enough, you realize it's really just cyclical -- the readapting of old ideas made to seem new. But while everything around us seems to be in a constant state of flux, people at their very core remain exactly the same. All of us still seeking the things we've sought all along -- shelter, food, love, greater meaning ... A quest that's immune to evolution."
-from Shadowland (The Immortals #3) by Alyson Noel

"Ever hear the phrase 'when the student is ready the teacher appears?' ... We meet the people we're supposed to when the time is just right. And even though I'm sure I have plenty to learn from you, I'd really like to teach you something if you'll let me -- if you're open to learning."
-from Shadowland (The Immortals #3) by Alyson Noel

"'She visits you in your dreams, you know.' I roll my eyes, remembering that one crazy dream, and knowing no way was that her. But he just looks at me, nodding when he says 'Of course she does. They always do. It's the easiest way to get through.' I look at him, leaning against my car door, key in hand as my eyes travel his face. Knowing I should go, say good night and be on my way, but for some reason I'm unable to move. 'The subconscious mind takes over at night, freeing us of all the usual restrictions we put on ourselves, all the things we block out, telling ourselves it can't happen, that mystical things aren't really possible, when the truth is, the universe is magical, and mysterious, and much grander than it seems, with only the thinnest veil of energy separating us from them. I know it's confusing with the way they communicate in symbols -- and to be honest, I'm not sure how much of that is us, the way we rearrange information, or them, and the restrictions on just how much they're allowed to share. ... Just because you can't see something doesn't mean it doesn't exist.'"
-from Shadowland (The Immortals #3) by Alyson Noel

"'You can't steal her ... You can't own her either. Pets aren't possessions, they're not accessories you discard when you decide you no longer want them. They're living creatures that share our lives."
-from Dark Flame (The Immortals #4) by Alyson Noel

"'You know, for someone who needs help as often as I do, you'd think I'd e a little better at accepting it.' I roll my eyes and shake my head, the gesture directed at me, not her. She shrugs ... 'It's never easy for the stubborn.'"
-from Dark Flame (The Immortals #4) by Alyson Noel

"You must understand that all of this time you've been resisting in the very worst way ... And the thing about resistance, the irony of it is, you end up spending so much time and energy focusing on the things you're resisting, the things you don't want, that you end up attracting exactly those things. ... Everything is energy, right? ... So if your thoughts are energy, and energy, attracts, then all of the things you fear most -- well, you'er actually making them happen. You're manifesting them into existence simply by obsessing over them.. Or, more simply put, and, as it happens very apropos for you, alchemists said: As above, so below, as withing, so without. ... What it means is that what's inside us will also be found outside of us. That our inner states of consciousness, the thoughts that we focus on, will always be reflected in our outer lives. There's no escaping it, Ever, it just is. But what you failed to realize is that the magick isn't out there -- it's not in the hands of the goddess or the queen -- it's in here.' She thumps her fist against her chest."
-from Dark Flame (The Immortals #4) by Alyson Noel

"That is a situation you cannot change. And your obsessing over it, and weaving all manner of spells, won't change that either. In fact, it'll only make it worse. By doing that, you've made him the focus of your universe, the exact result you didn't want, and trust me, Roman is well aware of this. He works hard to steal your focus, it's what every narcissist wants. So if you truly want to resolve this and get your  life back on track, then just stop. Stop focusing your energy on the things you don't want. Stop putting your energy into Roman. Just refuse to even go there ad see where that leads. ... My guess is, once he sees you happily adapting to your situation, living your life and enjoying yourselves despite your limitation, he'll grow bored of the game."
-from Dark Flame (The Immortals #4) by Alyson Noel

"You now about the yin yang symbol, right?' I nod. 'The outer circle represents everything, while the black and white parts represent the two energies that cause everything to happen.' I shrug. 'Oh, an they each contain a small seed of each other.' ... 'Exactly.' She nods. 'And believe me, people are no different. For example, let's say you have a girl, she's made a few mistakes ... and she's so down on herself, feeling so undeserving of all the love and support that's being offered, so sure she has to go it alone, make amends on her terms, her way, and ultimately becoming so obsessed with her tormentor, she ends up cutting off all those around her, so she has more time to concentrate on the one person she despises most, channeling all of her attention on him until, well, obviously I'm referring to you and you know how it ends ... my point is, each of us has a shadow of darkness, everyone single one of us, no exceptions. But when you focus so heavily on the dark side, well, we're back to the Law of Attraction again -- like attracts like."
-from Dark Flame (The Immortals #4) by Alyson Noel

"He's always ten steps ahead of me, and he basically sad the same thing you did, that the monster was me. It was pretty much his final taunt before I fled the scene."
-from Dark Flame (The Immortals #4) by Alyson Noel

"Everyone carries a shadow, ad the less it is embodied in the individual's conscious life, the blacker and denser it is ... The psychological rule says that when an inner situation is not made conscious, it happens outside as fate ... forms an unconscious snag, thwarting our most well-mean intentions ... and so on. ... Or so says Dr. Carl G. Jung. ... Whether or not we reach our full potential and fulfill our true destinies is up to us. It's completely of our own making. Remember what I said earlier -- as within, so without? What we think about, what we concentrate on, will always, always be reflected on the outside. So I ask you, what do you want to concentrate on? Who do you want to become from this point forward? How do you want to become from this point forward? How do you want your destiny to unfold? You've got a path, a purpose, and though I've no idea what is is, I've got this uncanny feeling it's something powerful and big. And though you've wandered a bit off course, if you'll let me, I can lead you back to the trail."
-from Dark Flame (The Immortals #4) by Alyson Noel

"Ava says I was addicted to negativity ... According to her, I was addicted to thinking about my fears, about all the bad things in my life. ... And by doing that, by focusing on all that, I actually ended up attracting all kinds of darkness and sadness."
-from Dark Flame (The Immortals #4) by Alyson Noel

"When it is the darkest, men see the stars."
-Ralph Waldo Emerson

"And believe it or not, I don't want my scars to disappear either. I like them. They're a part of me -- part of my history."
-from Night Star (The Immortals #5) by Alyson Noel

"Stepping outside and taking a long, deep breath, filling my lungs with warm salty air as I gaze up at a night sky filled with stars, one in particular that burns especially bright. One single start that manages to outshine all the rest, as though it's begging me to make a wish upon it. So I do. Gazing up at my very own star, asking for guidance, direction, for some kind of help -- and failing that, to at least provide some kind of nudge that'll push me towards the right one."
-from Night Star (The Immortals #5) by Alyson Noel

"You need to reframe how you see yourself and the choices you've made. ... What you view as these hug glaring mistakes -- well, they aren't mistakes at all. The reality is nothing like you've chosen to see it."
-from Dark Flame (The Immortals #4) by Alyson Noel

"It all comes down to your intention. When you put all of your focus on a problem, you just get more of the problem. But if you put your focus on being of help, then your energy is directed toward the help instead of the problem. ... Basically, whenever you're looking for a solution, you are feeling positive emotion -- and whenever you're looking at a problem, you're feeling negative emotion, which, as you know, never gets us anywhere. But once you take the focus off yourself and your wants, and instead turn it toward how getting what you want might also benefit someone else, well then, you can't help but succeed. ... That's the key behind success."
-from Night Star (The Immortals #5) by Alyson Noel

"True character is revealed by the way people react to the bigger challenges in life. And while I definitely agree with that, I also think the same can be said of how people handle power. I mean, I hate to say it, but I'm not all that surprised by the way Haven reacted. I think we all know she had it in her. We went all the way to elementary school, and as far as I can remember, she always had this really dark side. She was always driven by her jealousies and insecurities, and, I guess what I'm trying to say is, you didn't make her that way."
-from Night Star (The Immortals #5) by Alyson Noel

"The universe is patient ... Providing multiple opportunities for us to learn, to get it right."
-from Everlasting (The Immortals #6) by Alyson Noel

"It is the same with knowledge. The truth is revealed when you are ready to receive it, when you need it in order to move forward, to take the next step in your journey, to move on toward your destiny. You were not in need of that knowledge before, nor were you ready for it. And thus, you saw only that which you needed to know and not a single thing more. But now that you are ready the knowledge was revealed. Each step leads us to the next. It is as simple as that."
-from Everlasting (The Immortals #6) by Alyson Noel

"This is part of the test, hang on to the past, refuse to forget, no matter how scary it gets!' Not quite sure where that came from, but again, sensing it to be true. Knowing firsthand the mighty power of fear, having been ruled by it before. It's the opposite of faith. The opposite of trusting in the universe. The opposite of believing in one's higher self. Fear leaves you sweaty and shaky and insecure enough to question everything you know to be true. Fear makes you turn your back on what matters most. Resulting in rash decisions, false moves, and later, the unrelenting burden of regret. And if Damen and I are to get through this, move forward on our path, we'll have to beat this river and overcome this storm by doing whatever it takes to block it all out."
-from Everlasting (The Immortals #6) by Alyson Noel

"But no matter how treacherous the path may become, I will not cry uncle, I will not give up, and I will not even think about returning to where I came from. Even when it ultimately grows so narrow and steep it falls off into two bottomless chasms that yawn on either side, I'm committed to the journey. There will be no turning back."
-from Everlasting (The Immortals #6) by Alyson Noel

"Suddenly I know what it means when they say the universe is abundant -- that it offers us all that we need - that the only shortages that exist are the ones we create in our minds."
-from Everlasting (The Immortals #6) by Alyson Noel

"Dogs are a gift to mankind. They are happy and joyful and loyal by nature. They are pure, positive energy and teach by example. That is all that's required of them."
-from Radiance (Riley Bloom #1) by Alyson Noel

words are the source of all power

"Those who have songs, ballads, and stories written about them never die. Belief, worship, imagination -- we were born of the dreams and fears of mortals, and if we are remembered, even in some small way, we will always exist."
-from The Iron King (Iron Fey #1) by Julie Kagawa

"Glamour is fueled by the dreams and imagination of mortals."
-from "The Iron King" (Iron Fey #1) by Julie Kagawa
-from The Iron King (Iron Fey #1) by Julie Kagawa


"The Nevernever is dying, human. It grows smaller and smaller every decade. Too much progress, too much technology. Mortals are losing their faith in anything but science. Even the children of man are consumed by progress. They sneer at the old stories and are drawn to the newest gadgets, computers, or video games. They no longer believe in monsters or magic. As cities grow and technology takes over the world, belief and imagination fade away."
-from The Iron King (Iron Fey #1) by Julie Kagawa


"Emotions can be deadly weapons, and knowing your enemy's breaking point can be key to winning a battle. For example ... You would do anything to find your brother -- put yourself in danger, bargain with the enemy, give up your own freedom -- if it means saving him. You'd likely do the same for anyone else you care about. Your personal loyalty is your breaking point, and your enemies will certainly use it against you."
-from The Iron King (Iron Fey #1) by Julie Kagawa


"No matter how much I wanted a normal life, there would be a part of me that longed for this world, for the magic and wonder of it. It has seeped into my soul and shown me things I'd never thought existed. I couldn't be normal and ignorant ever again, knowing what was out there."
-from The Iron Daughter (Iron Fey #2) by Julie Kagawa


"I hate waiting. I hate standing around with nothing to do, cooling my heels until someone gives me the go-ahead move."
-from The Iron Daughter (Iron Fey #2) by Julie Kagawa


"I learned that love can transcend race and time, and that it can be beautiful and perfect and worth fighting for but also fragile and heartbreaking, and sometimes sacrifice is necessary. That sometimes it's you against the world, and there are no easy answers. That you have to know when to hold on ... and when to let go."
-from The Iron Queen (Iron Fey #3) by Julie Kagawa

"The more we're connected to our chosen someone, the more we can pick up on what they're feeling. It's instinctive, like breathing."
-from The Iron Queen (Iron Fey #3) by Julie Kagawa

"The far-future is a constantly changing wave, always in motion, never certain. The story changes with every breath. Every decision we make sends it down another path."
-from The Iron Queen (Iron Fey #3) by Julie Kagawa

"The memory burned like bile in my stomach, and I closed my eyes, wishing it didn't have to be this way. I loved Puck like a brother and a best friend. And yet, during a very dark period when I was confused and lonely and hurt, my affection for him had led me to do something stupid, something I shouldn't have done. I knew he loved me, and the fact that I'd taken advantage of his feelings made me disgusted with myself. I wished I knew how to fix it, but the barely concealed pain in Puck's eyes told me no amount of words would make it better."
-from The Iron Queen (Iron Fey #3) by Julie Kagawa

"Let it be known -- from this day forth, I vow to protect Meghan Chase, daughter of the Summer King, with my sword, my honor, and my life. her desires are mine. Her wishes are mind. Should even the world stand against her, my blade will be at her side. And should it fail to protect her, let my own existence be forfeit. This I swear, on my honor, my True Name, and my life. From this day on ... I am yours."
-from The Iron Queen (Iron Fey #3) by Julie Kagawa

"I didn't need to touch him to feel him right beside me. He was part of my soul now, and that somehow made this all the more real."
-from The Iron Queen (Iron Fey #3) by Julie Kagawa


"Fairness means everyone gets what they need. And the only way to get what you need is to make it happen yourself."
-from The Red Pyramid (Kane Chronicles #1) by Rick Riordan

"'No mortal should dwell on these images.' 'But ...' Sadie blinked. 'They're only pictures, aren't they?' 'Memories,' Zia said, 'so powerful they could destroy your mind.'"
-from The Red Pyramid (Kane Chronicles #1) by Rick Riordan

"Conflicting stories can be equally true."
-from The Red Pyramid (Kane Chronicles #1) by Rick Riordan

"'The truth is harsh,' Anubis said. 'Spirits come to the Hall of Judgment all the time, and they cannot let go of their lies. They deny their faults, their true feelings, their mistakes ... right up until Ammit devours their souls for eternity. It takes strength and courage to admit the truth."
-from The Red Pyramid (Kane Chronicles #1) by Rick Riordan

"But chaos cannot be kept down forever. It grows. It seeps into the cracks of civilization, breaks down the edges. It cannot be kept in balance. That is simply its nature."
-from The Red Pyramid (Kane Chronicles #1) by Rick Riordan

"Every so often, I can sense some outside force tugging on my mind, trying to get to my attention. Or my soul will let me know it has some other place to go, some important scene it needs to show me."
-from The Throne of Fire (Kane Chronicles #2) by Rick Riordan


"The secret name is your darkest thoughts, your most embarrassing moments, your biggest dreams, your worst fears, all wrapped together. It's the sum of your experiences, even those you'd never want to share. Your secret name has power. It's also why you couldn't simply hear someone repeat a secret name and know how to use it. You had to know that person and understand their life. The more you understood the person, the more power their name could yield. You could only learn a secret name from the person himself -- or from the person closest to his heart."
-from The Throne of Fire (Kane Chronicles #2) by Rick Riordan

"When you rescue you somebody ... it complicates things. Don't get starry-eyed about somebody you can't have, especially if it blinds you to somebody who's really important."
-from The Throne of Fire (Kane Chronicles #2) by Rick Riordan

"Words are the source of all power. And names are more than just a collection of letters."
-from The Throne of Fire (Kane Chronicles #2) by Rick Riordan

"Mum had always told us science and magic weren't mutually exclusive. She'd called them two dialects of the same language."
-from The Throne of Fire (Kane Chronicles #2) by Rick Riordan

"Chaos is impatient. it's random. And above all it's selfish. It tears down everything just for the sake of change, feeding on itself in constant hunger. But Chaos can also be appealing. It temps you to believe that nothing matters except what you want."
-from The Throne of Fire (Kane Chronicles #2) by Rick Riordan


'So how are you handling your gift?' Ava asks, turning some cards, while leaving others face down. 'My what?' I peer at her wondering where she could possibly be going with this. 'Your psychic gift.' She smiles, nodding as thought it's a fact. 'I don't know what you're talking about.' I press my lips together and glance around the room. ... 'It's hard at first.' She nods. 'Believe me, I know. I was the first to know about my grandmothers passing. She came right into my room, stood at the foot of my bed, and waved good-bye. ... You an imagine how my parents reacted when I ran into the kitchen to tell them. ... It can feel so overwhelming, so isolating. But it doesn't have to. You don't have to hide under a hood, killing your eardrums with music you don't even like. There are ways to handle it, and I'd be happy to show you because, Ever, you don't have to live like that."
-from Evermore (The Immortals #1) by Alyson Noel

"Only love heals. Anger, guilt, and fear can only destroy and separate you from your true capabilities."
-from Evermore (The Immortals #1) by Alyson Noel

"You empowered yourself with your memories. You empowered yourself with love. It's like I said earlier -- thoughts create. And in your case, they created healing and strength."
-from Evermore (The Immortals #1) by Alyson Noel


"Every man has his own destiny; the only imperative is to follow it, to accept it, no matter where it leads him."
-Henry Miller

"I guess I should know enough about loss to realize that you never really stop missing someone -- you just learn to live around the huge gaping hole of their absence."
-from Blue Moon (The Immortals #2) by Alyson Noel

happiness takes as much practice as unhappiness does. it's by living that you live more. by waiting, you wait more ...

Part two ... :) More Sisterhood Everlasting, a Tigers quote or two, and some other lyrics and quotes. 

"Grief was like a newborn, and the first three moths were hard as hell, but by six months you'd recognized defeat, shifted your life around, and made room for it."
-from Sisterhood Everlasting (The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, Book 5) by Ann Brashares

"Somewhere she possessed the idea that if she was moving, the saddest images couldn't settle on her as heavily. It didn't really work. But being still was intolerable."
-from Sisterhood Everlasting (The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, Book 5) by Ann Brashares

"We are masters of the unsaid words, but slaves of those we let slip out."
-Winston Churchill

"'Someday,' he'd said ... The word has seemed like a precious gift at the time, a keepsake or an inheritance. She'd tucked it away and treasured it accordingly, waiting for the right time to cash it in."
-from Sisterhood Everlasting (The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, Book 5) by Ann Brashares

"Waiting and waiting. That was her thing. The word gave her an excuse to wait and do little else. The word wasn't so much a gift as a terminal virus with a long period of latency. In her hears eh thought he had meant it, but of course he hadn't. ... She had been pretending she'd more or less forgotten the whole episode, but she hadn't. She had still been a teenager at the time, he not much older, and that gave everybody an automatic out, didn't it? ... People said things they didn't mean all the time. Everybody else in the world seemed able to factor it in. But not Lena. Why did she believe the things people said? Why did she cling to them so literally? Why did she think she knew people when she clearly didn't? Why did she imagine that the world didn't change, when it did? Maybe because she didn't change. She believed what people said and she stayed the same."
-from Sisterhood Everlasting (The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, Book 5) by Ann Brashares

"I'll let you be in my dreams if I can be in yours."
-Bob Dylan

"It was a blessing and also a curse of handwritten letters that, unlike email, you couldn't obsessively reread what you'd written after you'd sent it. You couldn't attempt to unsend it. Once you'd sent it, it was gone. It was an object that no longer belonged to you, but belonged to your recipient to do with what he would. You tended to remember the feeling of what you'd said more than words. YOU gave the object away, and left yourself with the memory. That was what it was to give."
-from Sisterhood Everlasting (The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, Book 5) by Ann Brashares




"I think you need to make this decision on your own. I think you need to know what you want and try to get it. That's the only thing you can do. The other part is not in your control."
-from Sisterhood Everlasting (The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, Book 5) by Ann Brashares

"She had to have faith not just in trying, but in failing. Was she strong enough to fail? Was she strong enough not to?"
-from Sisterhood Everlasting (The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, Book 5) by Ann Brashares

"Maybe you think you'll be entitled to more happiness later by forgoing all of it now, but it doesn't work that way. Happiness takes as much practice as unhappiness does. It's by living that you live more. By waiting, you wait more. Every waiting day makes your life a little less. Every lonely take makes you a little smaller. Every day you put off your life makes you less capable of living it."
-from Sisterhood Everlasting (The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, Book 5) by Ann Brashares



"It was just one of those feelings you have. There’s rare times as an athlete where things start to slow down a little bit, and (you) just kind of seize the moment."
-Brennan Boesch

Not knowing when the dawn will come
I open every door.
-Emily Dickinson

"'You have been my friend,' replied Charlotte. 'That in itself is a tremendous thing.'"
-from Charlotte's Web by E.B. White

And you cannot go on
Indefinitely being just an ordnary
decent egg.
We must be hatched or go bad.
-C.S. Lewis

"I think of your many beautiful traits, but also your fitfulness. I've watched you go through dozens of jobs, apartments, phones, plants, and obsessions. You would think that a voracious girl as yourself would have gone through dozens of boyfriends, dozens of lovers, but it occurred to me the other day that you haven't. You've had only one. You told me once that Eric was your touchstone, and I've thought of it many times. It's natural to overlook and even sacrifice the things that belong to us most easily, most gracefully. So here's me asking you to please not make that mistake."
-from Sisterhood Everlasting (The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, Book 5) by Ann Brashares

 "(Her) suffering had been outside of their friendship, outside of their control. It didn't represent a failure of their bond. But (she) had kept it from them, and that represented a different kind of failure. She hadn't let them in at that darkest juncture in her life. They couldn't have prevented any of it, but they could have given her comfort and they hadn't. Why hadn't they? Why hadn't she let them? Because we aren't built for leaving, Carmen realized. (She) hadn't known how to leave them. There was no precedent."
-from Sisterhood Everlasting (The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, Book 5) by Ann Brashares

"I've got a heart that appears to have been broken open. I feel hopeful where I am."
-from Sisterhood Everlasting (The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, Book 5) by Ann Brashares

"But i know this. we're ready to move forward again in our way. Together or apart, no matter how apart, we live in one another. We go on together."
-from Sisterhood Everlasting (The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, Book 5) by Ann Brashares

It’s such a funny thing
How nothing’s funny when it’s you
You tell ‘em what you mean
But they keep whiting out the truth
It’s like a work of art
That never gets to see the light
Keep you beneath the stars
Won’t let you touch the sky ...
I'm no beauty queen,
I'm just beautiful me
You've got every right
To a beautiful life
-"Who Says" by Selena Gomez