literary thought

"A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies. The man who never reads lives only one."—George R. R. Martin

[literarythought]

Grief orbits the heart. Some days the circle is greater. Those are the good days. You have room to move and dance and breathe. Some days the circle is tighter. Those are the hard ones. — Steven Rowley, "The Guncle"

[literarythought]

Reading taught me that a man's life is his own responsibility, his own creation. Blaming others is a waste of time. No one can make you happy if you're determined to be miserable.

Daniel Black, Don’t Cry For Me

[literarythought]

I understood, finally, that blood ties people biologically, but not emotionally.

Daniel Black, Don’t Cry For Me

[literarythought]

Just remember that, although we were flawed, we were marvelous, too.

Daniel Black, Don’t Cry For Me

[literarythought]

Your love was enough.

Daniel Black, Don’t Cry For Me

[literarythought]

Years later, I realized I had prayed the wrong prayer. I should've asked God to send me to you, but I didn't. So I spent years waiting for you—while you've spent a lifetime waiting for me.

Daniel Black, Don’t Cry For Me

[literarythought]

I've spent a lifetime wondering if she would've loved me. But of course she would've. She was my mother.

Daniel Black, Don’t Cry For Me

[literarythought]

Grandma would've been proud, I thought. She'd wanted a high school graduate in the family, and now there was a college grad, too. She'd heard—and believed—that education could provide a better life than the one she'd had, and she'd wanted someone in the family to experience it. From the looks of things, it would be you.

Daniel Black, Don’t Cry For Me

[literarythought]

The day Esau died, a part of me died with him. If church folks are right, I'll see him soon and I'll be happy again. If they're wrong, I'll have no peace in eternity. No peace at all.

Daniel Black, Don’t Cry For Me

[literarythought]

'You promised me You'd heal him! I told You I'd do anything You want. I thought prayer changes things?' It didn't that day. I've never forgiven God. I never will."

Daniel Black, Don’t Cry For Me

[literarythought]

'I do not mind some infidelity, my dear. If it is respectfully done. And one does not leave evidence.' The way he said it, I realized he had slept with people outside our marriage, and I wondered if any woman was ever really safe from men like Max and Don. I thought of how many women out there thought they could prevent their husbands from cheating if only they were as gorgeous as Evelyn Hugo. But it never stopped any man I loved.

Taylor Jenkins Reid, The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo

[literarythought]

'What am I going to do without you?' This loaded question is the reason I didn't want anyone to know I was dying. There are questions I can't answer. I cannot tell you how you will survive without me. I cannot tell you how to mourn me.

Adam Silvera, They Both Die At The End

[literarythought]

Which Jane Austen book I should read first? Pride and Prejudice or Emma?

I'll be frank—I've only ever read Pride and Prejudice, so I'm not quite the best judge for this. I think either way you couldn't go wrong!

[literarythought]

And as hard as this choice is, we break the pattern before the pattern breaks us.

Colleen Hoover, It Ends With Us

[literarythought]

Just because we didn't end up on the same wave, doesn't mean we aren't still a part of the same ocean.

Colleen Hoover, It Ends With Us

[literarythought]

I think about how sometimes, no matter how convinced you are that your life will turn out a certain way, all that certainty can be washed away with a simple change in tide.

Colleen Hoover, It Ends With Us

[literarythought]

No matter how we choose to live, we both die at the end.

Adam Silvera, They Both Die at the End