these words (are good) together

quotes & such

[thesewordstogether]

“Books had always been her solace; novels gave her the space to be bold, brave, beautiful, if only in her own imagination.”

― Kristin Hannah, The Four Winds

[thesewordstogether]

You can be broken, or broken open. That choice is yours.

― Erica Bauermeister, Joy for Beginners

[thesewordstogether]

“There should be a word for the microscopic spark of hope that you dare not entertain in case the mere act of acknowledging it will cause it to vanish, like trying to look at a photon. You can only sidle up to it, looking past it, walking past it, waiting for it to get big enough to face the world.”

— Terry Pratchett, Mort

[thesewordstogether]

Good Bones

Maggie Smith

Life is short, though I keep this from my children. Life is short, and I’ve shortened mine in a thousand delicious, ill-advised ways, a thousand deliciously ill-advised ways I’ll keep from my children. The world is at least fifty percent terrible, and that’s a conservative estimate, though I keep this from my children. For every bird there is a stone thrown at a bird. For every loved child, a child broken, bagged, sunk in a lake. Life is short and the world is at least half terrible, and for every kind stranger, there is one who would break you, though I keep this from my children. I am trying to sell them the world. Any decent realtor, walking you through a real shithole, chirps on about good bones: This place could be beautiful, right? You could make this place beautiful.

(Source)

[thesewordstogether]

“The books are to remind us what asses and fool we are. They’re Caesar’s praetorian guard, whispering as the parade roars down the avenue, “Remember, Caesar, thou art mortal.” Most of us can’t rush around, talking to everyone, know all the cities of the world, we haven’t time, money or that many friends. The things you’re looking for, Montag, are in the world, but the only way the average chap will ever see ninety-nine percent of them is in a book.”

—

[thesewordstogether]

It's good to be reminded that the world is full of stories that are, potentially, at least as painful as yours.

Stephanie Butland, The Lost for Words Bookshop

[thesewordstogether]

He shook his head. "These things frighten people. It's best not to talk about them."

"But, Dad, that's like . . . like ignoring a fire in the living room because we're all in the kitchen, and, besides, house fires are too scary to talk about."

Octavia E. Butler, Parable of the Sower

[lauraannegilman]

Ursula K. Le Guin, Acclaimed for Her Fantasy Fiction, Is Dead at 88

Ms. Le Guin brought literary elegance and a feminist sensibility to science fiction and fantasy tales, drawing millions of readers around the world.

A great voice - and a great teacher - is gone.  Her memory (and her works) for a blessing.

[s-leary]

“We live in capitalism. Its power seems inescapable. So did the divine right of kings. Any human power can be resisted and changed by human beings. Resistance and change often begin in art, and very often in our art, the art of words.”

[thesewordstogether]

If you can see a thing whole,“ he said, "it seems that it’s always beautiful. Planets, lives… . But close up, a world’s all dirt and rocks. And day to day, life’s a hard job, you get tired, you lose the pattern. You need distance, interval. The way to see how beautiful the earth is, is to see it as the moon. The way to see how beautiful life is, is from the vantage point of death.

Ursula K. Le Guin, The Dispossessed (via thesewordstogether)

[thesewordstogether]

The books are to remind us what asses and fool we are. They're Caesar's praetorian guard, whispering as the parade roars down the avenue, "Remember, Caesar, thou art mortal." Most of us can't rush around, talking to everyone, know all the cities of the world, we haven't time, money or that many friends. The things you're looking for, Montag, are in the world, but the only way the average chap will ever see ninety-nine percent of them is in a book.

[thesewordstogether]

I want to remind you of the undertow, of the specific gravity. American society has a remarkable ability to resist change, or to take whatever change has taken place and attempt to make it go away. Things are different for you than they were for us. [...] Don't underestimate how much antagonism there is toward women and how many people wish we could turn the clock back.

Nora Ephron, 1996 Commencement Speech at Wellesley College

[thesewordstogether]

But who can say what's best? That's why you need to grab whatever chance you have of happiness where you find it, and not worry about other people too much. My experience tells me that we get no more than two or three such chances in a life time, and if we let them go, we regret it for the rest of our lives.

Haruki Murakami, Norwegian Wood

[thesewordstogether]

She thinks before she acts. Or more properly, she thinks instead of acts. A character flaw, not a virtue.

Jenny Offill, Dept. of Speculation

[thesewordstogether]

The most it ever seems we know how to do with time, is to waste it.

Clare North, The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August

[thesewordstogether]

Is there a word for the moment you win tug-of-war? When the weight gives, and all that extra rope comes hurtling towards you, how even though you've won, you still end up with muddy knees and burns on your hands? Is there a word for that? I wish there was.

Sarah Kay, No Matter the Wreckage

[thesewordstogether]

Because you are defined not by life's imperfect moments, but by your reaction to them. And because there is joy in embracing - rather than running from - the utter absurdity of life.

Jenny Lawson, Let's Pretend This Never Happened: A Mostly True Memoir

[thesewordstogether]

If you only read the books that everyone else is reading, you can only think what everyone else is thinking.

Haruki Murakami, Norwegian Wood