L'essentiel est invisible pour les yeux.

Also runs kismet-at-the-library. No longer a student but still in that limbo whereby I don't know exactly what comes next yet; still a reader and polyglot. This is my safe space, where I gather everything that makes me feel good, that inspires me, that makes me laugh. Come say hi if you find it inspires you, too. <3

[m-l-rio]

Poetry comes from a place that no one commands and no one conquers. So I feel somewhat like a charlatan to accept an award for an activity which I do not command. In other words, if I knew where the good songs came from, I’d go there more often.

Leonard Cohen, acceptance address for the Prince of Asturias Award (via m-l-rio)

[gunandcoffee-deactivated2022012]

[dollsome-does-tumblr]

i just read a washington post article on romcoms aging poorly due to the pushiness (and oft-stalkery conduct) of the male characters therein, and it got me thinking about pride and prejudice, and specifically darcy saying, “one word from you will silence me on this subject forever.”

because, like, that’s the seldom-portrayed romantic dream in the patriarchal hellscape that is our world, isn’t it?

a dude being willing to say, “i understand if you don’t feel the same way about me, and i’ll leave you alone forever about this if my attention is unwanted.”

so simple, yet so wonderful in its basic human decency

[adulthoodisokay]

and dudes to this day wonder why women still swoon over darcy

[thathealeygirl]

Note also: Elizabeth turns down Darcy’s first proposal, and in the process, accuses him of doing some stuff he did not do (and also some stuff he totally did).

The next day, he surprises her on her walk. He hands her a letter, asks that she read it, and then takes off.

When this happened to me after I had turned someone down IN REAL LIFE, the letter contained a passionate argument to the tune of “actually you’re wrong and you do like me and you should go out with me” and it was creepy af.

Darcy’s letter to Elizabeth starts with: “Be not alarmed, Madam, on receiving this letter, by the apprehension of its containing any repetition of those sentiments, or renewal of those offers, which were last night so disgusting to you”. He goes on to set the record straight about the stuff he didn’t do (as well as the stuff he did) which is *actually relevant* to Elizabeth. And he, as promised, doesn’t romance her further.

It’s totally bizarre that even now, this can be considered unusually great dude behaviour.

[pluckyredhead]

Darcy’s first proposal: “You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you.”

Darcy’s second proposal: “One word from you will silence me on this subject forever.”

His whole arc in the book is about learning to consider other people’s feelings and not just his own, but the fact that it’s expressed via who gets to talk and who is told to shut up is so, so telling. The first time around, he imposes his voice on her whether she wants it or not. The second time, he asks how she feels, and in exchange, offers her the gift of his silence.

And yeah, the fact that dudes still! have! not! learned! this! lesson! is exhausting.

[ghost-of-bambi]

How surprising is it that Pride and Prejudice was written by a woman, when many romantic comedies are produced and directed by men?

Answer: not at all

[drsarcasticraspberry]

200 years later and the world is still full of guys who think they’re a Mr Darcy when they’re actually a Mr Collins.

[tzikeh]

200 years later and the world is still full of guys who think they’re a Mr Darcy when they’re actually a Ross Geller.

[drxgonfly]

Cosmos 1 & 2 (by yako ma)

[bironism]

And even if the answer is sometimes incomplete, the actual asking of the question, the vulnerability is itself heroic.

J R Watson, English Poetry of the Romantic Period

[wheredoesthegoodgo]

how-to-give-yourself-a-pep-talk-101

[luthienne]

“…only one thing is urgently needed: to attach oneself with unconditional purpose somewhere to nature, to what is strong, striving and bright, and to move forward without guile, even if that means in the least important, daily matters. Each time we tackle something with joy, each time we open our eyes toward a yet untouched distance we transform not only this and the next moment, but we also rearrange and gradually assimilate the past inside of us.”

— Rainer Maria Rilke, from a letter to Adelheid von der Marwitz, September 11, 1919

[upthespiralstaircase]

[ladyausten]

Feminism is an endeavor to change something very old, widespread, and deeply rooted in many, perhaps most, cultures around the world, innumerable institutions, and most households on Earth - and in our minds, where it all begins and ends.

- Rebecca Solnit, Men Explain Things to Me

[thewowsignal2026]

You are a daughter of kings, a shieldmaiden of Rohan. I do not think that would be your fate.

Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002, dir. Peter Jackson)

[weltenwellen]

when brené brown said “i want to experience your vulnerability but i don’t want to be vulnerable. vulnerability is courage in you and inadequacy in me. i’m drawn to your vulnerability but repelled by mine.”

[why-the-heck-not]

Reading Harry Potter in French and the fact that magic wand is “baguette magique” surprises me at every turn ‘cause I’m over here thinking about a magical french bread

[violentwavesofemotion-deactivat]

Don’t interpret, don’t give things more significance than they themselves take; don’t look at a sorrow from the outside, don’t appraise it and give it a big name: the “great sorrow”…, you don’t really know but that your heart has grown with it, that this great weariness is the growth of the heart,—patience, patience and do not judge in suffering, never judge; so long as it is upon one, one has no measure for it, one compares and exaggerates.

Rainer Maria Rilke, from a letter to Hanna Wolff written c. August 1912 (via violentwavesofemotion)

[tombliboos]

This postmodern bullshit that “avoiding the expected” and “shocking your audience” is more important than writing a good and coherent narrative has to die in a fire because it’s ruining storytelling.

[lunariteonthemoon]

“Let us return to Bear Island, Cousin.” The Mormonts.

[minyoongislaysme]

let people inspire you but don’t lose yourself in the process and try to be them. you will never be them you can only be you. so be you.

[carisi-rollins]

The Weapon™