as a man thinketh

• “calmness of mind is one of the beautiful jewels of wisdom. It is the result of long and patient effort in self control. Its presence is an indication of ripened experience, and of a more than ordinary knowledge of the laws and operations of thought.” - james allen
• “the more tranquil a man becomes, the greater is his success, his influence, his power for good.” - james allen

they both die at the end

• “maybe it’s better to have gotten it right and been happy for one day instead of living a lifetime of wrongs.” - adam silvera
• the seven husbands of evelyn hugo
  • “she wanted you to know this because loving celia st. james was perhaps her greatest political act.” - taylor jenkins reid

carnality

• “dostoesvky writes somewhere that shame at oneself is the root of all evil in human beings, and I think he is right on that point.” - lina wolff
• “everyone has a myriad of wounds inside them, and what is important is that you have something else inside you besides those wounds. little islands where you can find peace and rest and that you can stand on as you jump across the endless quagmire of disappointments life has to offer.” - lina wolff
• “patriarchy is a tree with deep roots; those roots are at least three millenia old. we all grow from that tree and we are all tied to it. to try and take us out of it would be to behave like the merchant in the Shakespeare play.” - lina wolff

the courage to be disliked

• “one cannot change what one is born with. but one can, under one’s own power, go about changing what use one makes of that equipment. so in that case, one simply has to focus on what one can change, rather that on what one cannot. this is what i call self-acceptance.” - ichiro kishimi

on earth we are briefly gorgeous

• “under the covers, we made friction of each other and fiction of everything else. - ocean vuong
• “did you know that people get rich off of sadness? i want to meet the millionaire of american sadness. i want to look him in the eye, shake his hand, and say ‘its been an honor to serve my country.’” ocean vuong

my years of rest and relaxation

• “no man is worth paying for.” - ottessa moshfegh

circe

• “some people are like constellations who only touch the earth for a season.” - madeline miller

this is how you lose the time war

• “at the end as at the start, and through all the in-betweens, i love you. - amal el-mohtar & max gladstone

atomic habits

• “being curious is better than being smart. being motivated and curious counts for more than being smart because it leads to action. being smart will never deliver resuts on its own because it doesn’t get you to act.” - james clear

to kill a mockingbird

• ‘i wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand.” - harper lee

pachinko

• “you want to see a bad man? make an ordinary man successful beyond his imagination. let’s see how good he is when he can do whatever he wants.” - min jin lee
• “the world judges girls harshly for improprieties - and even accidents. it’s wrong, but it is the way this sinful world works.” - min jin lee
• “all her life, sunja had heard this sentiment from other women, that they must suffer - suffer as girls, suffer as a wife, suffer as a mother - die suffering.” - min jin lee

paula

• “la abundancia esta al alcance de la mano, si uno sabe encontrarla.” - isabel allende
• “en la dimension del cosmos y en el trayecto de la historia somos insignificantes, despues de nuestra muerte todo sigue igual, como si jamas hubieramos existido, pero en la medida de nuestra precaria humanidad tu, paula, eres para mi mas importante que mi propia vida y que la suma de casi todas las vidas ajenas. cada dia mueren setenta millones de personas y nacen aun mas, sin embargo solo tu naciste, solo tu puedes morir. tu abuela ruega por ti a su dios cristiano, y yo lo hago a veces a una diosa pagana y sonriente que derrama bienes, una diosa que no sabe de castigos, sino de perdones, y le hablo con la esperanza de que me escuche desde el fondo de los tiempos y te ayude. ni tu abuela ni yo tenemos respuesta, estamos perdidas en este silencio abismal. pienso en mi bisabuela, en mi abuela clarividente, en mi madre, en ti, en mi nieta que nacera en mayo, una firme cadena femenina que se remonta hasta la primera mujer, la madre universal.” - isabel allende
• “lo imperdonable es que son las madres quienes se encargan de perpetuar y reforzar el sistema, criando hijos arrogantes e hijas serviciales; si se pusieran de acuerdo para hacerlo de otro modo, podrian terminar con el machismo en una generacion.” - isabel allende
• “que hay del otro lado de la vida? es solo noche silenciosa y soledad? que queda cuando no hay deseos, recuerdos, ni esperanza? que hay en la muerte?” - isabel allende
• “tal vez estamos en el mundo para buscar el amor, encontrarlo y perderlo, una y otra vez. con cada amor volveremos a nacer y con cada amor que termina se nos abre una herida. estoy llena de orgullosas cicatrices.” - isabel allende

the prophet

• on love: “when love beckons to you, follow him. […] as love crowns you so shall he crucify you. […] he kneads you until you’re pliant […] love possesses not nor would it be possessed; for love is sufficient unto love. love has no other desire but to fulfill itself. but if you love and must needs have desires, let these be your desires: to bleed willingly and joyfully.” - kahlil gibran
• on marriage: “you were born together, and together you shall be forevermore. […] but let there be spaces in your togetherness. […] you may give them your love but not your thoughts, for they have their own thoughts. you may house their bodies but not their souls.” - kahlil gibran
• on giving: “you give but little when you give of your possessions. it is when you give yourself that you truly give. for what are your possessions but things you keep and guard for fear you may need them tomorrow?” - kahlil gibran
• on religion: “who can separate his faith from his actions, or his belief from his occupations? […] all your hours are wings that beat through space from self to self. he who wears his morality but as his best garment were better naked. […] your daily life is your temple and your religion.” - kahlil gibran
• “to measure you by your smallest deed is to reckon the power of ocean by the frailty of its foam.” - kahlil gibran

beyond the story

• “maybe i made a mistake yesterday, but yesterday’s me is still me. today, i am who i am with all of my faults and my mistakes. tomorrow, i might be a tiny bit wiser, and that’ll be me too. these faults and mistakes are what i am, making up the brightest stars in the constellation of my life. i have come to love myself more for who i am, for who i was, and for who i hope to become.” - RM

the secret garder

• “one of the new things people began to find out in the last century was that thoughts - just mere thoughts - are as powerful as electric batteries- as good for one as sunlight is, or as bad for one as poison. to let a sad thought or a bad one get into your mind is as dangerous as letting a scarlet fever germ get into your body. if you let it stay there after it has got in, you may never get over it as long as you live.” - frances burnett

everything i know about love

• “therapy is a great big archeological dig on your psyche until you hit something.” - dolly alderton
• “more often than not, the love someone gives you will be a reflection of the love you give yourself. if you can’t treat yourself with kindness, care and patience, chances are someone else won’t either.” - dolly alderton
• “in short, you are having an existential crisis. you are realizing the mundanity of life. you are finally understanding how little point there is to anything. you are moving out of the realm of fantasy ‘when i grow up’ and adjusting to the reality that you’re there; it’s happening. and it wasn’t what you thought it might be. you are not who you thought you’d be.” - dolly alderton
• “you are the sum total of everything that has happened to you up until that last slurp of that cup of tea you just put down. how your parents hugged you, that thing your first boyfriend once said about your thighs - these are all bricks that have been laid from the soles of your feet up. your eccentricities, foibles and fuck-ups are a butterfly effect of things you saw on telly, things teachers said to you and the way people have looked at you since the first moment you opened your eyes. being a detective for your past - tracking back through all of it to get to the source with the help of a professional - can be incredibly useful and freeing.” - dolly alderton
• “I suddenly realized that we were on borrowed time, time is always borrowed, and that the lending agency exacts its premium precisely when we are least prepared to pay and need to borrow more.” - dolly alderton

if we were villains

• “If love be rough with you, be rought with love!
• Prick love for pricking, and you beat love down.
• Give me a case to put my visage in:
• A visor for a visor.” - m. l. rio
• “You can justify anything if you do it poetically enough.” - m. l. rio
• “Anything can feel like a punishment if it’s taught poorly.” - m. l. rio

babel

• “Power did not work against its own interest. Power could only be brought to heel by acts of defiance it could not ignore. With brute, unflinching force. With violence.” - r. f. kuang
• “Anger was a chokehold. Anger did not empower you. It sat on your chest; it squeezed your ribs until you felt trapped, suffocated, out of options. Anger simmered, then exploded. Anger was constriction, and the consequent rage a desperate attempt to breathe.” - r. f. kuang

our wives under the sea

• “Every couple, I think, enjoys its own mythology, recollections like notecards to guide you round an exhibition” - julia armfield

the silent patient

• we often mistake love for fireworks - for drama and dysfunction. But real love is very quiet, very still. It’s boring, if seen from the perspective of high drama. Love is deep and calm - and constant.” - alex michaelides

i want to die but i want to eat tteobokki

• "and like you said, people are complicated. they may seem perfect on the outside, but they could be doing terrible things in the dak. you can put them on a pedestal and end up being disappointed, try thinking this way: they're living and breathing human beings too. this will make you more generous towards yourself" - bake sae hee
• "if you have unrealistic standards, you will forever see yourself as inadequate, as someone who needs endless improvement." - bake sae hee
• "your mood is extremely important. it determines how you interpret the random events of life." - bake sae hee
• "i do want to be happy. i don't want others' emotions or behaviors dominating my mood, or negative thought processes imprisoning me in the land of extremes. i want to break down al lthese repetitive behaviors that keep me within the constrains of rules and moulds. i want to own my own life. to do everything i want to do, so i don't live a life of regret." - bake sae hee
• "i want to be the kind of person who can walk inside the vast darkness and find the one fragment of sunlight i can linger in for a long time. some day, i will." - bake sae hee

yellowface

• "twitter discourse never does anything - it's just an opportunity fo firebrands to wave their flags, declare their sides, and try to brandish some IQ points before anyone gets bored and moves on." - r. f. kuang
• "writing is the closest thing we have to magic. writing is creating something out of nothing. it's like opening doors to other lands. writing gives you power to shape your own world when the real one hurts too much." r. f. kuang
• "social media is such a tiny, insular space. once you close your screen, no one gives a fuck." - r. f. kuang