Quotes & Things

this is simply a junkyard of minds

[simplysemantics]

“If there is pain, nurse it, and if there is a flame, don't snuff it out, don't be brutal with it. Withdrawal can be a terrible thing when it keeps us awake at night, and watching others forget us sooner than we'd want to be forgotten is no better. We rip out so much of ourselves to be cured of things faster than we should that we go bankrupt by the age of thirty and have less to offer each time we start with someone new. But to feel nothing so as not to feel anything - what a waste! (p. 225)

—André Aciman, Call Me By Your Name (pg. 225)

[simplysemantics]

“We had the stars, you and I. And this is only given once.

—André Aciman, Call Me By Your Name

[simplysemantics]

“One time I wrote in my notebook, He loves me so much it might shatter me, which tastes different now.”

Brenna Twohy, Forgive Me My Salt

follow her @brennatwohy

[simplysemantics]

“She plucked a rose and held it to her face. She hated the way roses smelled, their sweetness too fragile. She wanted a garden of evergreens. A garden of stones. A garden of swords.”

—Kiersten White, And I Darken

[simplysemantics]

“i want to apologize to all the women i have called beautiful

before i’ve called them intelligent or brave

i am sorry i made it sound as though

something as simple as what you’re born with

is all you have to be proud of

when you have broken mountains with your wit

from now on i will say things like

you are resilient, or you are extraordinary

not because i don’t think you’re beautiful

but because i need you to know

you are more than that”

—Rupi Kaur

[simplysemantics]

“Your entire sense of self-worth is predicated upon your belief that you matter, that you matter to the universe. But you don’t. Because we are the ants.”

—Shaun David Hutchinson, We Are The Ants

[simplysemantics]

““The thought filled me with grief, grief for the dreams we'd shared, for the love I'd felt, for the hopeful girl I would never be again.”

—Leigh Bardugo, Shadow and Bone

[simplysemantics]

“Maybe love was superstition, a prayer we said to keep the truth of loneliness at bay.”

—Leigh Bardugo, Ruin and Rising

[simplysemantics]

“It had flaws, but what does that matter when it comes to matters of the heart? We love what we love. Reason does not enter into it. In many ways, unwise love is the truest love. Anyone can love a thing because. That's as easy as putting a penny in your pocket. But to love something despite. To know the flaws and love them too. That is rare and pure and perfect.”

—Patrick Rothfuss, The Wise Man’s Fear

[simplysemantics]

“Perhaps the greatest faculty our minds possess is the ability to cope with pain. Classic thinking teaches us of the four doors of the mind, which everyone moves through according to their need.

First is the door of sleep. Sleep offers us a retreat from the world and all its pain. Sleep marks passing time, giving us distance from the things that have hurt us. When a person is wounded they will often fall unconscious. Similarly, someone who hears traumatic news will often swoon or faint. This is the mind's way of protecting itself from pain by stepping through the first door.

Second is the door of forgetting. Some wounds are too deep to heal, or too deep to heal quickly. In addition, many memories are simply painful, and there is no healing to be done. The saying 'time heals all wounds' is false. Time heals most wounds. The rest are hidden behind this door.

Third is the door of madness. There are times when the mind is dealt such a blow it hides itself in insanity. While this may not seem beneficial, it is. There are times when reality is nothing but pain, and to escape that pain the mind must leave reality behind.

Last is the door of death. The final resort. Nothing can hurt us after we are dead, or so we have been told.”

—Patrick Rothfuss, The Name of The Wind

[simplysemantics]

“Of all the words of mice and men, the saddest are, ‘It might’ve been.’”

—Kurt Vonnegut

[simplysemantics]

“Everything was beautiful and nothing hurt.”

—Kurt Vonnegut, Slaughterhouse Five

[simplysemantics]

“There are all kinds of love in this world but never the same love twice.”

—F. Scott Fitzgerald

[simplysemantics]

“i am a museum full of art

but you had your eyes shut”

—Rupi Kaur, Milk and Honey

[simplysemantics]

“i want to apologize to all the women i have called beautiful

before i’ve called them intelligent or brave

i am sorry i made it sound as though

something as simple as what you’re born with

is all you have to be proud of

when you have broken mountains with your wit

from now on i will say things like

you are resilient, or you are extraordinary

not because i don’t think you’re beautiful

but because i need you to know

you are more than that”

—Rupi Kaur

[simplysemantics]

“I don't want to end up simply having visited this world.”

—Mary Oliver

[simplysemantics]

“You do not have to be good.

You do not have to walk on your knees

for a hundred miles through the desert, repenting.

You only have to let the soft animal of your body

love what it loves.”

—Mary Oliver