- "it is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife." pride and prejudice, jane austen
- "what can you say about a twenty-five year old girl who died? that she was beautiful. and brilliant. that she loved mozart and bach. and the beatles. and me." love story, erich segal
- "lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins. my sin, my soul. lo-lee-ta: the tip of the tongue taking a trip of three steps down the palate to tap, at three, on the teeth. lo lee ta. she was lo, plain lo, in the morning, standing four feet ten in one sock. she was lola in slacks. she was dolly at school. she was dolores on the dotted line. but in my arms she was always lolita." lolita, vladimir nabokov
- "when he was nearly thirteen, my brother jem got his arm badly broken at the elbow. when it healed, and jem's fears of never being able to play football were assuaged, he was seldom self-conscious about his injury. his left arm was somewhat shorter than his right; when he stood or walked, the back of his hand was at right angles to his body, his thumb parallel to his thigh. he couldn't have cared less, so long as he could pass and punt." to kill a mockingbird, harper lee
- "a spectre is haunting europe — the spectre of communism. all the powers of old europe have entered into a holy alliance to exorcise this spectre." the communist manifesto, karl marx and friedrich engels
- "emma woodhouse, handsome, clever, and rich, with a comfortable home and happy disposition, seemed to unite some of the best blessings of existence; and had lived nearly twenty-one years in the world with very little to distress or vex her." emma, jane austen
- "it was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to heaven, we were all going direct the other way – in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only." a tale of two cities, charles dickens
- "it was a queer, sultry summer, the summer they electrocuted the rosenbergs, and i didn't know what i was doing in new york." the bell jar, sylvia plath
- "whether i shall turn out to be the hero of my own life, or whether that station will be held by anybody else, these pages must show." david copperfield, charles dickens
- "all happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." anna karenina, leo tolstoy
- "the snow in the mountains was melting and bunny had been dead for several weeks before we came to understand the gravity of our situation." the secret history, donna tartt
- "it was a bright cold day in april, and the clocks were striking thirteen." 1984, george orwell
- "there was no possibility of taking a walk that day." jane eyre, charlotte bronte
- "if you are interested in stories with happy endings, you would be better off reading some other books. in this book, not only is there no happy ending, there is no happy beginning and very few happy things in the middle." the bad beginning, lemony snicket
jun 26 2021 ∞
dec 11 2023 +