- the weight of feathers, anna-marie mclemore
- "cluck knew the shape of her. he knew her hands. he'd seen her set them on her hips." (p. 58)
- "having her there made him look at the birds a little less. when she was watching, he could watch her. he could study how her skin and her eyes and hair were all gradations of the same color, lighter to darker. the only parts of her face that broke the sequence was the pink on her lips and the deep red on her cheek, like crushed raspberries. if he stopped thinking of how much it must have hurt her, that patch on her cheek was beautiful." (p. 141)
- "she wouldn't have caught cluck's laughs if she hadn't been so close to him. they were short, quiet, the same low pitch as the air pulling past the cab. they intertwined with lace's, her hands still sparking with the feeling of him giving her the wheel like she knew how to hold it." (p. 145)
- "she took a lock of his hair between her fingers. it felt slick as the barbs of a feather, smooth, ready for rain. he shut his eyes as though he felt it, like the blue-black of his hair was living, as full of blood and nerves as his skin." (p. 145)
- "the relief of her tail going from dax's hands to cluck's was so sharp it was almost pain." (p. 147)
- "the relief was so perfect it made her escamas sore. it bubbled up through her, spilling out of her, making her kiss cluck's cheek. he ignored it, took it as the same kind of teasing as her shoving his arm. so she kissed him on the mouth to make him understand, lightly, just enough to feel the fine grain of his lips, a little chapped by dust and wind." (p. 150)
- "'you're beautiful,' he said... 'you don't have to say that,' she said...'i know i don't have to say it,' he said. he stopped himself from saying the word 'beautiful' again. 'it's just true.'" (p. 152-153)
- "he closed his eyes and held her hand there, kissed her thumb and took it lightly between his teeth, holding onto it. it trembled the veins that held her heart, that feeling of his teeth on her thumb pad and fingernail." (p. 174)
- "but he must not have felt in his palms how anchored and still he made her. he left the smallest space between their lips and whispered again, 'i've got you,' like he thought she might not know." (p. 222)
- "'no, there's nowhere i want to be more than where you are.'" (p. 237)
- "lace would gather up those bits of him before they got swept up and thrown out. how he climbed trees quick as a feral cat. the black salt smell of his hair and sweat. the way his wrecked hand moved over her body. how the sun and water dripped off his back, how warm it stayed even in the river." (p. 258)
- transcendent kingdom, yaa gyasi
- "my mother used to say, 'you should have seen the way the chin chin man smiled at nana.' his entire face was in on it." (p. 15)
- emily of new moon, l. m. montgomery
- "he smiled up at her his old, beautiful smile, with the love behind it, that emily always found so sweet." (p. 3)
- "oh, how she loved him! there was no other father like him in all the world – there never could have been – so tender, so understanding, so wonderful! they had always been such chums – they had loved each other so much – it couldn't be that they were to be separated." (p. 12)
- "in our tiny garden – everything we had was small except our love and our happiness – it was dark and blossomy." (p. 15)
- "'we'll stay together to the very end, then, little emily-child. we won't be parted for a minute.'" (p. 17)
- "'i don't want to learn sense and be done a world of good to,' cried emily with a quivering lip. 'i – i want somebody to love me.'" (p. 21)
- the pull of the stars, emma donoghue
- "'you said i was a tonic, julia. indispensable. didn't you put balm on my hands when you didn't even know me? gave me your comb. and a birthday as well. when i broke the thermometer, you said it was your own fault! you've taught me so much in two days. made me your helper, your runner. made me matter.'" (p. 249)
- "i let the kiss happen. never before, never this way. like a pearly moon in my mouth, huge, overwhelming, the brightness." (p. 250)
- "'oh, my treasure,' i said. (taking her hands.) 'the sweet weight of you on the day you were born – imagine.'" (p. 251)
- "no matter how cold we got, she and i didn't stir from that spot. every so often our mouths were speaking so close, they stopped for a while and kissed. i was so happy i thought i'd burst, and in the moments between the kissing i was almost more so. when had that spark between us first caught, glowed, begun to singe?" (p. 252)
- in other lands, sarah rees brennan
- "elliot put down some of his bags on the big tabletop and knelt down, then gave her a quick kiss on the cheek, near her pink-painted lips. she smelled like grass and perfume. he hesitated as he did it – he'd never kissed a mother-type person before, and he wasn't certain that she wasn't making a joke, that she didn't really mean him to – but she didn't seem to be joking." (p. 123)
- "she leaned down, close enough to kiss but not quite kissing yet, and her dark hair fell down all around him so the dying night was veiled and the only starshine was her eyes." (p. 173)
- "'and i want to be with him,' said elliot. 'in this time of emotional turmoil, that is.'" (p. 355)
- "for a moment, elliot thought that he would throw away the treaty and everything the treaty meant, if only he could make luke feel better." (p. 370)
- "luke was obviously a long way from relaxed, the muscles of his shoulders knotted and the feathers in his wings trembling as if caught in an upward draft of wind. elliot put a hand on the back of luke's neck absentmindedly." (p. 372)
- "'stay here where i can see you,' luke said, absently palming the back of elliot's head. 'i'll be in the air. i'll see if anyone approaches and i'll deal with them. don't go anywhere.'" (p. 376)
- "'there you are,' she said, patting him down, searching for any sign of injury, as he cradled her blood-streaked face in his hands and studied for any sign of the same." (p. 377)
- "'don't worry about it,' elliot said at last. 'luke and serene take care of me.' 'of course we do,' said serene, smacking a kiss on elliot's cheek. 'and we always will.'" (p. 378)
- "'you are exceptional, and exceptionally dear to me,' said serene, and elliot could not help smiling.'" (p. 378)
- "'i'll give luke your love, shall i?' 'he knows he always has my love,' said serene. 'so should you, by now. go tell him something he does not know.'" (p. 431)
- blanca & roja, anna-marie mclemore
- "so blanca del cisne became the star that drew me closer, whether i was a wolf cub or a clearing of blue chicory or whatever part of the forest would have me." (p. 67)
- "'i would have been there,' page said. 'whatever it was, i would have been there.'" (p. 208)
- "i laughed. it sounded slight and worn out, but she was still the girl who made me laugh, even now." (p. 215)
- "she was the girl i wanted, and the girl who knew me. she was the girl who let me choose, because she demanded no choice of me." (p. 224)
- "i wanted as much of her as she'd give me. i'd keep all of it." (p. 246)
- cemetery boys, aiden thomas
- "'i kind of made a mess of things, huh?' yadriel said... 'yeah,' julian agreed very matter-of-factly, not malicious or even teasing. 'but now your mess is my mess, too.' he tilted his head toward yadriel and spoke softly. 'it's bound to be easier if we're both cleaning it up, right?'" (p. 193)
- "yadriel hadn't known it could be that painless and simple for someone to see him as he was." (p. 193)
- "but julian's bad jokes, easy smile, and nonchalance seemed to suck all the stress out of the situation. or at the very least, dilute it." (p. 208)
- "'yads?' his name was so soft and sweet coming from julian's lips." (p. 244)
- catherine house, elisabeth thomas
- "viktória squeezed my shoulder, suddenly, with kindness. my throat seized. i hadn't been touched that way, so gently, in a long time." (p. 97)
- "i wondered if i would remember the feeling after catherine. the feeling of seeing a friend – someone i knew and who knew me, too, someone who cared about me – walking in through a door or waving from across a hall or bending to whisper in another friend's ear." (p. 159)
- silver in the wood, emily tesh
- "'the bed's big enough to share, surely.' he gave tobias a smile." (p. 13)
- "'tobias – mr finch that is,' said silver, and then he smiled an irrepressible, dimpled smile and said, 'in fact, no, tobias. it's so good to see you. i missed you.'" (p. 98)
- "'at this rate maybe i really will manage to charm you someday. i've been trying for so long. since we first met in that rainstorm, do you recall? you helped me take my coat off, and i was sure the moment i saw you that i'd found the wild man of greenhollow. it seemed like the luckiest stroke of my life.'" (p. 100)
- "'he'll need you.' 'you won't, though.' 'no,' she said patiently, 'because i'm not a people. but i will still love you.' 'you as well, my dear,' tobias said, after a moment when his throat felt too thick to speak. 'you as well.'" (p. 104)
- a discovery of witches, deborah harkness
- "'i can't conceive of what you would have to do to make me hate you, matthew. i love you like a brother, and i will until i draw my last breath.'" (p. 108)
- legendborn, tracy deonn
- "the affection – and fear – on his face, all for me, makes my head swim." (p. 177)
- "'nick!' i stop, which is a bad idea, because he runs right into me, and i can feel the press of him against my back, his shoulders shaking with laughter. he steps away after a second and i swat at where i think he is in the darkness - my hands hits air, hits air, then lands on his chest with a hard thwack. he's still laughing, but traps my fingers between his and, before i can say a word, drops a soft kiss on my knuckles." (p. 191)
- "'that thing you just did. that thing you do,' he says, his eyes filled with humor – and a shadow of hurt. 'tell yourself i'm just teasing. it's okay to be nervous, but please don't dismiss the idea that i like you, b.'" (p. 214)
- "when nick stands in front of me, my stomach leaps up somewhere near my lungs. even covered in paint, even ten feet away, his face sends a wave of relief through me. if nick's here, i'll be all right." (p. 257)
- scavenge the stars, tara sim
- "why was it that whenever he spoke to her, he felt as if different parts of himself broke open?" (p. 247)
- "she checked to make sure the tattoo at her wrist was covered by her sleeve, but some part of her didn't mind if cayo saw. in fact, she wanted him to see it, to share a bit of who she truly was." (p. 254)
- "she turned to find cayo smiling at her drawings. the softness of that smile was like a kick to the chest, and when his eyes met hers, she stood rooted to the spot." (p. 254)
- "what design had the gods woven to keep bringing this boy back into her life in unlikely ways? amaya didn't understand it, this push and pull, this interlocking of fates." (p. 258)
- "he looked at his sister, wanting to tear apart the world and remake it for her, a world where she was healthy and happy and nothing bad could ever touch her." (p. 264-265)
- drowned country, emily tesh
- "he turned now to give tobias a brilliant smile, unforced, uncalculated, entirely sincere. it was not that it no longer hurt to look at him. the queer ache endured, as it had continuously from the moment he'd set eyes on tobias again and found him larger than memory, sterner and kinder and more ordinary and entirely himself. by god, how silver had loved the man!" (p. 78)
- "what a shock it was, after months of flirtation that might as well have been aimed at an amiable wall. what an astounding, delightful shock, to find oneself sincerely admired, and wanted, and liked - and by such a sober and immovable rock of a man as tobias finch!" (p. 81)
- "'i like to hear you talk,' tobias said. 'your voice. always did.'" (p. 104)
- "there had to be something he could say that was both i loved you, i love you, doesn't that damned well matter? and also so what if i lied, so what if i was selfish - what is love if not selfish - so what if i needed you – i still need you." (p. 109)
- "silver opened and closed his hands a few times. he would have liked to take hold of tobias just then; to feel for himself the warmth coming back into his chilled fingers." (p. 116)
- "'you,' tobias said, when they parted, and he touched the side of silver's face, his ear, his hair. silver understood that you to mean my dear, or sweetheart, or - all the things tobias could never quite say." (p. 146)
- "silver turned towards him and said, 'my dear – my dearest –" and kissed him. it had only been meant as a quick expression of affection, but tobias took the kiss and made it tender." (p. 152)
- "'well, then. since it seems there's no other option,' silver said, to tobias's little smile and the growing brightness of joy in his eyes, 'i hope you don't mind if we share.'" (p. 153)
- freshwater, akwaeke emezi
- "ada meant every world to me." (p. 61)
- "'i love you. i would do whatever for you to be there in my life.'" (p. 91)
- "but i loved him and that made him more than human to me. love is transformative in that way. like small gods, it can bring out the prophet in you." (p. 94)
- "'my mother thinks my palms are rough,' she said... ewan ran his thumb over her life line. 'no,' he said, looking at her as if she was wedding crystal. 'they're very soft.'" (p. 96)
- the starless sea, erin morgenstern
- "'i thought i'd dreamed you.'" (p. 288)
- "'i was looking for mirabel but i couldn't find her and then i got lost so i started looking for something familiar and i found you.' 'am i familiar?' dorian says and zachary wants to say yes, you are the most familiar and i don't understand how." (p. 289)
- "'how long ago was that?' dorian asks. 'four days? five? a week? it feels longer.' zachary looks at him wordlessly, without a proper answer. he thinks it might be a week, or a lifetime, or a moment. he thinks i feel like i have known you forever but he doesn't say it and so they only hold each other's gaze, not needing to say anything." (p. 297)
- "dorian reaches up and turns zachary's face to his own, tangling his fingers in zachary's hair. so quietly zachary can barely hear him against the continuing clamor, dorian says, 'i need you to know that what i feel for you is real. because i think you feel the same. i have lost a lot of things and i don't want to lose this, too.'" (p. 312)
- "'thank you for seeing me when other people looked through me like i was a ghost.'" (p. 356)
- "'i thought i'd lost you,' he says. dorian takes his arm again, pulling him closer, leaning his forehead against zachary's. he feels warm yet cold and real yet not real, all at once. this person is a place zachary could lose himself in, and never wish to be found." (p. 415)
- the gilded wolves, roshani chokshi
- "it seemed the world couldn't help but want to be near her...every beam of light, pair of eyes, atom of air. maybe that's why sometimes he couldn't breathe around her." (p. 54)
- "'you are real, my girl, for you are loved.'" (p. 102)
- the death of vivek oji, akwaeke emezi
- "chika had never seen his brother look so tender, the way his long fingers trembled, the love and pride simmering in his eyes." (p. 4)
- "osita wished, much later, that he'd told vivek the truth then, that he was so beautiful it made the air around him dull." (p. 11)
- "kavita had been without a mother for so long, her love for ahunna was tactile and rich with childlike affection, a hundred thousand touches." (p. 13)
- "i didn't tell him how it had felt when she gasped my name into my ear, her fingers digging into my back – like in that moment i was a whole entire world." (p. 31)
- "'osita,' he said, and his voice was a stream of memory, my oldest friend." (p. 120)
- "i didn't care. i didn't care. i would do it again, all of it, for him, always for him." (p. 128)
- "vivek put his mouth to the top of my head. 'you're safe,' he murmured. 'it's just me. it's just you and me.'" (p. 129)
- "if i didn't love osita already, i would have for that evening alone. for coming to find me, for kissing sense into me. for breaking himself apart, trusting me with his secret." (p. 130)
- want, lynn steger strong
- "i look forward, always, to the next time her rough, warm hands grab hold of me." (p. 19)
- "the buzz of her hands on my neck was the closest that i'd come to joy in years." (p. 48)
- "i didn't mind because she loved me like that. she loved me most when, at night, she'd rub my back as i cried about whatever small thing made me cry that day and she could tell me my crying was allowed and important, that she'd be there no matter what." (p. 48)
- "i didn't want to spend long stretches of time without her." (p. 50)
- "she laughs and i love him in a million different ways from how i did when he hugged her, in a million different ways from how i loved him when she met him that first time years ago." (p. 145)
- an unkindness of ghosts, rivers solomon
- "'perhaps you think it's no small thing for you to burn away, but it would mean a great deal to me to lose you.'" (p. 62)
- "'you got to put in for reassignment,' pippi said. mabel shook her head as she caught her breath. 'i'm not spending my days away from you.'" (p. 71)
- "'it's good to see you,' theo said. 'our last meeting didn't go as i'd hoped. i haven't thought of much else but you since.'" (p. 81)
- the night circus, erin morgenstern
- "marco lifts his hand to brush a stray curl away from celia's face, tucking it behind her ear and stroking her cheek with his fingertips. her eyelids flutter closed and the rose petals around their feet begin to stir." (p. 230)
- "'i have done nothing for you. everything i have done, every change i made to that circus, every impossible feat and astounding sight, i have done for her.'" (p. 232)
- "'call me by my name,' he says. he has never heard her speak his name and holding her in his arms he suddenly craves the sound. 'please,' he adds when she hesitates. 'marco,' she says, her voice low and soft. the sound of his name on her tongue is even more intoxicating than he had imagined, and he leans in to taste it." (p. 263)
- "'how tempting it is to lose myself in you. to let go. to let you keep me from breaking chandeliers rather than constantly worrying about it, myself.'" (p. 263)
- "'the night of the anniversary party,' she says. 'the night you kissed me. i thought it that night. i didn't want to play anymore. i only wanted to be with you.'" (p. 264)
- "'i've tried,' marco says, cupping her face in his hands. 'i have tried to let you go and i cannot. i cannot stop thinking of you. i cannot stop dreaming about you. do you not feel the same for me?' 'i do,' celia says. 'i have you here, all around me.'" (p. 265)
- "'i keep looking for answers, for the right thing to do, and nothing's been clear except for you.'" (p. 269)
- "and before he can tell her to tell widget goodbye for him if need be, she leans forward and kisses him, not on the cheek, as she has a handful of times before, but on the lips, and bailey knows in that moment that he will follow her anywhere." (p. 270)
- "'i would have written you, myself, if i could put down in words everything i want to say to you. a sea of ink would not be enough.' 'but you built me dreams instead,' celia says, looking up at him. 'and i built you tents you hardly ever see. i have had so much of you around me always and i have been unable to give you anything in return that you can keep.'" (p. 293)
- horns, joe hill
- "'but merrin. merrin was the sweetest little thing. you couldn't hear her laugh without smiling.'" (p. 49)
- "he wanted merrin back - wanted to cry with his face buried in her lap and her fingers moving over the nape of his neck. all thoughts of peace were wrapped up in her. every restful memory seemed to include her: a breezy july afternoon, lying in the grass above the river. a rainy october, drinking cider with her in the living room, huddled together under a knitted blanket, merrin's cold nose against his ear." (p. 51)
- the forgotten garden, kate morton
- "'i knew you first, nellie, i've loved you longest.'" (p. 63)
- "it is strange to think upon a time when you were unknown to me, it seems we have always been a pair & the years at blackhurst before you arrived but a horrid waiting period." (p. 325)
- "'when i met eliza the world shifted. can't describe it better than that. like a magic spell, she was all i could think of.'" (p. 358)
- "'she was always the apple of my mum's eye. she used to say miss eliza was the only spark of life in a dead place.'" (p. 497)
- house of leaves, mark z. danielewski
- "even if i hadn't been starving, i would of eaten the world just to be with her. everything about her shimmered." (p. 105)
- mistborn: the final empire, brandon sanderson
- "'i think... i think given the choice between loving mare – betrayal included – and never knowing her, i'd choose love.'" (p. 285)
- "elend peeked up over his book. 'that's a stunning dress. it's almost as beautiful as you are.' vin froze, jaw hanging open slightly. elend smiled mischievously, then turned back to his book, eyes sparkling as if to indicate that he'd made the comment simply because he knew the reaction he'd get." (p. 291)
- the house in the cerulean sea, tj klune
- "linus flinched a little when mr. parnassus extended a hand. linus stared at it for a moment, then remembered himself. he took the offered hand in his own. the skin was cool and dry, and as the fingers wrapped around his own, linus felt a little curl of warmth in the back of his mind." (p. 93)
- "mr. parnassus sat back in his chair, looking across the table at linus. 'as for me, i learned that gifts come in all shapes and sizes, and when we expect them the least.'" (p. 105)
- "'do you mind?’ he asked, pointing at a stubby pencil on the desk. 'of course,' mr. parnassus said. 'what’s mine is yours.'" (p. 112)
- "'you’re very dear, linus baker. there’s a surface to you that’s hard but cracked. dig a little deeper, and there is all this life teeming wildly.'" (p. 190)
- "'you were… thinking about me?’ 'constantly.'" (p. 221)
- "'i see you for all that you are, and all the things you aren’t. come home. all i want you to do is come home.'" (p. 244)
- "'i meant what i said.’ arthur’s voice was hushed. 'about?’ 'liking you the way you are. i don’t know that i’ve ever thought that more about anyone i’ve ever met.'" (p. 248)
- "'you dear, dear man. how i adore you.” (p. 394)
- howl's moving castle, dianna wynne jones
- "'mari!' howl bawled in reply. 'how are you, cariad? been a good girl, then?' he and the little girl broke into a foreign language then, fast and loud. sophie could see they were very special to one another." (p. 205)
- "michael clutched at sophie. 'don't be afraid,' he said shakily. 'i'll keep you safe.'" (p. 264)
- the talisman, stephen king
- "even if speedy thought he was nuts; even if he laughed at jack. he would not laugh, jack secretly knew. they were old friends because one of the things jack understood about the old custodian was that he could say almost anything to him." (p. 11)
- "suddenly he wanted his mother - her dark blue eyes. he could not remember wanting her with such desperation since he had been very, very small." (p. 14)
- "they smiled at each other, and jack could not ever remember a need to cry so badly, or remember loving her so much." (p. 22)
- "his heart seemed to hurt so badly that he thought he would die from love for her and want of her... he wanted to be with her and hated speedy parker with a black completeness for ever having set his feet on this awful road west." (p. 166)
- "'thank you,' he said. it was a simple, almost offhand act of kindness, but jack found himself having to struggle from bursting into tears. 'thanks a lot, lori.'" (p. 168)
- "richard gave him a smile that was wan, and terribly tired; yet there was enough sweet friendliness in it to both warm jack's heart and wrench it. 'i'm still glad you came,' richard said." (p. 455)
- "richard closed his eyes briefly, then looked into jack's own eyes with an expression of perfect trust." (p. 538)
- "he missed wolf with a particular and sharp poignancy, for the unfolding and deepening sunset summoned him up wholly, though jack could not have explained why. he wished he could take richard's hand. then he thought, well, why not? and moved his hand along the bench until he encountered his friend's rather grubby paw. he closed his fingers around it." (p. 542)
- the well of ascension, brandon sanderson
- "elend sat back. he felt a looming anxiety, and it was good to have vin next to him, arm around him, even if she didn't say much. sometimes, he felt stronger simply because of her presence." (p. 260)
- a wizard of earthsea, ursula k. le guin
- "ged stood dumb, his heart bewildered. he had come to love this man ogion who had healed him with a touch, and who had no anger: he loved him, and had not known it until now." (p. 28)
- "he took shelter under a great pendick-tree, and lying there wrapped in his cloak he thought of his old master ogion, who might still be on his autumn wanderings over the heights of gont, sleeping out with leafless branches for a roof and falling rain for housewalls. that made ged smile, for he found the thought of ogion always a comfort to him." (p. 56-57)
- "it was like a homecoming to ged, who had no home to which he could ever return. he was happy to see so many faces he knew, and happiest to see vetch come forward to greet him with a wide smile on his dark face. he had missed his friend this year more than he knew." (p. 58)
- "who knows a man's name, holds that man's life in his keeping. thus to ged, who had lost faith in himself, vetch had given that gift only a friend can give, the proof of unshaken, unshakable trust." (p. 82)
- "'i have walked with great wizards and have lived on the isle of the wise, but you are my true master, ogion.' he spoke with love, and with a somber joy." (p. 152)
- "often as he worked he sang softly. ged, still weary, listened, and as he grew sleepy he thought himself a child in the witch's hut in ten alders village, on a snowy night in the firelit dark, the air heavy with herb-scent and smoke, and his mind all adrift on dreams as he listened to the long soft singing of spells and deeds of heroes who fought against dark powers and won, or lost, on distant islands long ago." (p. 153)
- "'in trouble and from darkness you come, ged, yet your coming is joy to me.'" (p. 183)
- "they talked together late that night, and though always they came back to the bitter matter of what lay before ged, yet their pleasure in being together overrode all; for the love between them was strong and steadfast, unshaken by time or chance." (p. 189)
- beloved, toni morrison
- "'for a baby she throws a powerful spell,' said denver. 'no more powerful than the way i loved her,' sethe answered." (p. 5)
- "not even trying, he had become the kind of man who could walk into a house and make the women cry. because with him, in his presence, they could. there was something blessed in his manner." (p. 20)
- "'sethe, if i'm here with you, with denver, you can go anywhere you want. jump, if you want to, 'cause i'll catch you, girl. i'll catch you 'fore you fall. go as far inside as you need to, i'll hold your ankles. make sure you get back out. i'm not saying this because i need a place to stay. that's the last thing i need. i told you, i'm a walking man, but i been heading in this direction for seven years. walking all around this place. upstate, downstate, east, west; i been in territory ain't got no name, never staying nowhere long. but when i got here and sat out there on the porch, waiting for you, well, i knew it wasn't the place i was heading toward; it was you.'" (p. 55)
- "'no' is what she said. at least what she started out saying (what would her boss say if she took a day off?), but even when she said it she was thinking how much her eyes enjoyed looking in his face." (p. 56)
- "'but how will you know me? how will you know me? mark me, too,' i said. 'mark the mark on me too.'" (p. 73)
- "denver swallowed. 'don't,' she said. 'don't. you won't leave us, will you?' 'no. never. this is where i am.'" (p. 89)
- "baby suggs' long-distance love was equal to any skin-close love she had known." (p. 113)
- the tombs of atuan, ursula k. le guin
- "'you told me to show you something worth seeing. i show you yourself.'" (p. 106)
- "'i was dying of thirst when you gave me water, yet it was not the water alone that saved me. it was the strength of the hands that gave it.'" (p. 128)
- "'you are like a lantern swathed and covered, hidden away in a dark place. yet the light shines; they could not put out the light. they could not hide you. as i know the light, as i know you, i know your name, tenar.'" (p. 130)
- "'listen, tenar!' he said. 'i came here a thief, an enemy, armed against you; and you showed me mercy, and trusted me. and i have trusted you from the first time i saw your face, for one moment in the cave beneath the tombs, beautiful in darkness. you have proved your trust in me. i have made no return. i will give to you what i have to give.'" (p. 139)
- "'tenar, i go where i am sent. i follow my calling. it has not yet let me stay in any land for long. do you see that? i do what i must do. where i go, i must go alone. so long as you need me, i'll be with you in havnor. and if you ever need me again, call me. i will come. i would come from my grave if you called me, tenar!'" (p. 166)
- "'you were never made for cruelty and darkness; you were made to hold light, as a lamp burning holds and gives its light. i found the lamp unlit; i won't leave it on some desert island like a thing found and cast away. i'll take you to havnor and say to the princes of earthsea, 'look! in a place of darkness i found the light, her spirit. by her an old evil was brought to nothing. by her i was brought out of the grave. by her the broken was made whole, and where there was hatred there will be peace.'" (p. 177)
- the lightning thief, rick riordan
- "my mother can make me feel good just by walking into the room...when she looks at me, it's like she's seeing all the good things about me, none of the bad." (p. 32)
- the farthest shore, ursula k. le guin
- "he pushed arren lightly between the shoulder blades, a familiarity no one had ever taken before, and which the young prince would have resented from anyone else; but he felt the archmage's touch as a thrill of glory. for arren had fallen in love." (p. 9)
- "my father has the gift of wizardry, but i do not; perhaps it is indeed dying out of the world. yet i would stay near him, even if he lost his power and his art. even if i never saw him. even if he never said another word to me." (p. 23-24)
- "'no! but i fear –' 'fear what?' tears sprang to the boy's eyes. 'to fail you,' he said.'" (p. 34)
- "sparrowhawk had covered arren with blankets and given him water; he sat with his hand on the boy's shoulder when arren fell suddenly to weeping. sparrowhawk said nothing, but there was a gentleness, a steadiness, in the touch of his hand. comfort came slowly into arren: warmth, the soft motion of the boat, heart's ease." (p. 79)
- "'i was on guard, and i failed my guard. i tried to make up for it. you are the one i was guarding. you are the one that matters. i'm along to guard, or whatever you need – it's you who will lead us.'" (p. 81-82)
- "'i do not punish,' he had said, cold-voiced, to egre. neither did he reward. but he had come for arren in all haste across the sea, unleashing the power of his wizardry for his sake; and he would do so again. he was to be depended on. he was worth all the love arren had for him, and all the trust. for the fact was that he trusted arren." (p. 82-83)
- "golden and supple, the boy played and basked in the water and the light until the sun touched the sea. and dark and spare, with the economy of gesture and the terse strength of age, the man swam, and kept the boat on course, and rigged up an awning of sailcloth, and watched the swimming boy and the flying fish with an impartial tenderness." (p. 88)
- "sparrowhawk's shoulder had been skillfully bandaged; he slept deeply and easily. when he woke up, his eyes were clear. he looked at arren and smiled the sweet, joyous smile that was always startling on his hard face. arren felt suddenly like weeping again. he put his hand on sparrowhawk's hand and said nothing." (p. 146)
- the haunting of hill house, shirley jackson
- "when they left, the little girl waved good-by to eleanor, and eleanor waved back, sitting in joyful loneliness to finish her coffee while the gay stream tumbled along below her." (p. 19)
- "i am the fourth person in this room; i am one of them; i belong." (p. 54)
- "behind her she could hear the murmur of their voices, edged sometimes with malice, sometimes rising in mockery, sometimes touched with a laughter almost of kinship, and she walked on dreamily, hearing them come behind." (p. 201)
- tehanu, ursula k. le guin
- "she threw out some chipped crockery and a leaky pan, but she handled them gently. she even put her cheek against a cracked plate as she took it out to the midden, for it was evidence of the old mage's illness this past year. austere he had been, living as plain as a poor farmer, but when his eyes were clear and his strength in him, he would never have used a broken plate or let a pan go unmended. these signs of his weakness grieved her, making her wish she had been with him to look after him." (p. 34)
- "'but i know him, moss. it's sparrowhawk.' saying the name, ged's use-name, released a tenderness in her, so that for the first time she thought and felt that this was he indeed, and that all the years since she had first seen him were their bond. she saw a light like a star in darkness, underground, long ago, and his face in the light. 'i know him, moss.' she smiled, and then smiled more broadly. 'he's the first man i ever saw,' she said." (p. 50)
- "'all changed!' the old man had whispered, dying, joyful. laying his hand on hers, giving her the gift, his name, giving it away." (p. 56)
- 'tenar,' he said without smiling, in pure recognition beyond emotion. and it gave her pure pleasure, like a sweet flavor or a flower, that there was still one man living who knew her name, and that was this man. she leaned forward and kissed his cheek." (p. 65)
- "later, falling asleep beside therru in the night, she thought, but i never kissed him before... no. nor had ogion ever kissed her, or she him. he had called her daughter, and had loved her, but had not touched her; and she, brought up as a solitary, untouched priestess, a holy thing, had not sought touch, or had not known she sought it. she would lean her forehead or her cheek for a moment on ogion's open hand, and he might stroke her hair, once, very lightly. and ged never even that. did i never think of it? she asked herself in a kind of incredulous awe. she did not know... her lips knew the slightly rough, dry, cool skin of his cheek near the mouth on the right side, and only that knowledge had importance, was of weight." (p. 66)
- "'i was terrified beyond terror: the faces, the voices, the colors, the towers and the flags and banners, the gold and silver and music, and all i knew was you – in the whole world all i knew was you, there by me as we walked.'" (p. 74)
- "then, after a glance round to be sure she was alone, with an almost guilty quickness, yet with the ceremony of enjoyment, of great pleasure, she laid her narrow, light-skinned hand along the side of the child's face where eye and cheek had been eaten away by fire, leaving slabbed, bald scar. under her touch that all was gone. the flesh was whole, a child's round, soft, sleeping face. it was as if her touch restored the truth... she bent down and kissed the scar, got up quietly, and went out of the house." (p. 80)
- "'he took me because you brought me to him. he wanted no prentice after you, and he never would have taken a girl but from you, at your asking. but he loved me. he did me honor. and i loved and honored him.'" (p. 103)
- "she realized that she had been listening for ged to come into the house from his roaming on the mountainside, that she was listening for the sound of his voice, that her body denied his absence." (p. 116)
- "tenar went to her and took her hands. surprised at the gesture, moss got up, drawing away a little; but tenar drew her forward and kissed her cheek. the older woman put up one hand and timidly touched tenar's hair, one caress, as ogion had used to do." (p. 120)
- "'it's just the sparks from my hair,' tenar said, a little taken aback. therru was smiling, and she did not know if she had ever seen the child smile before. therru reached out both her hands, the whole one and the burned, as if to touch and follow the flight of something around tenar's loose, floating hair." (p. 121)
- "'how could you frighten me so? how could you hide from me? oh, i was so angry!' she wept, and her tears fell on the child's face. 'oh therru, therru, therru, don't hide away from me!' a shudder went through the knotted limbs, and slowly they loosened. therru moved, and all at once clung to tenar, pushing her face into the hollow between tenar's breast and shoulder, clinging tighter, until she was clutching desperately." (p. 129)
- "presently tenar said, stroking therru's hair, 'he will never touch you, therru. understand me and believe me: he will never touch you again. he'll never see you again unless i'm with you, and then he must deal with me. do you understand, my dear, my precious, my beautiful?'" (p. 131)
- "'surely he'll come to you. only give him time. he was so badly hurt – everything taken from him – but when he spoke of you, when he said your name, oh, then i saw him for a moment as he was - as he will be again - all pride!'" (p. 160)
- "he rose at once. 'lady tenar, you say you fled from one enemy and found another; but i came seeking a friend, and found another.' she smiled at his wit and kindness. what a nice boy he is, she thought." (p. 161)
- "'dolphin,' lebannen answered, smiling at her. my son, my king, my dear boy, she thought. how i'd like to keep you nearby!" (p. 175)
- "they came to the village about midday. lark welcomed tenar and therru with a festivity of embraces, kisses, questions, and things to eat. lark's quiet husband and other villagers stopped by to greet tenar. she felt the happiness of homecoming." (p. 180)
- "'sparrowhawk's in your room,' therru informed her, coming back to the kitchen with eggs from the cool-room. 'i meant to tell you he was here – i'm sorry.' 'i know him,' therru said, washing her face and hands in the pantry. and when ged came in, heavy-eyed and unkempt, she went straight to him and put up her arms. 'therru,' he said, and took her up and held her. she clung to him briefly, then broke free." (p. 222)
- "'i have been patient with you for twenty-five years,' she said. she looked at him and began to laugh. 'come – come on, my dear – better late than never! i'm only an old woman... nothing is wasted, nothing is ever wasted. you taught me that.' she stood up, and he stood; she put out her hands, and he took them. they embraced, and their embrace became close. the held each other so fiercely, so dearly, that they stopped knowing anything but each other." (p. 226)
- "they lay in warmth and sweet silence. 'tell me something.' he murmured assent sleepily. 'how did you happen to hear what they were saying? hake and handy and the other one? how did you happen to be just there, just then?' he raised himself up on one elbow so he could look at her face. his own face was so open and vulnerable in its ease and fulfillment and tenderness that she had to reach up and touch his mouth, there where she had kissed it first, months ago, which led to his taking her into his arms again, and the conversation was not continued in words." (p. 227)
- "'don't cry,' said the child who did not cry, coming to her, touching her arm. 'did he hurt you?' "oh therru! let me hold you!' she sat down at the table with therru on her lap and in her arms, though the girl was getting big to be held, and had never learned how to do it easily. but tenar held her and wept, and therru bent her scarred face down against tenar's, till it was wet with tears." (p. 246)
- "'no, dear love,' ged said, catching her with both voice and hands – 'don't speak - don't say the evil word!' he was so urgent, so passionately earnest, that her anger turned right about into the love that was its source, and she cried, 'i wouldn't curse him, or this place! i didn't mean it! only it makes me so sorry, so ashamed! i am so sorry, ged!'" (p. 248)
- "ged stroked her hair, as he often did, with a light, slow, repeated caress that would make them both sleepy with loving pleasure." (p. 248)
- "as they prepared dinner, tenar said to ged and therru, 'i must go.' 'of course,' ged said. 'the three of us, if you like.' 'would you?' for the first time that day her face lightened, the storm cloud lifted. 'oh,' she said. 'that's – that's good – i didn't want to ask, i thought maybe – therru, would you like to go back to the little house, ogion's house, for a while?'" (p. 251)
- "he turned to her, and she said to him, 'i have loved you since i first saw you.' 'life-giver,' he said and leaned forward, kissing her breast and mouth. she held him a moment." (p. 255)
- the secret history, donna tartt
- "she was breathing hard, and deep circles of red burned high on her bright cheeks; in all my life i had never seen anyone so maddeningly beautiful as she was at the moment. i stood blinking stupidly at her, the blood pounding in my veins, and my carefully rehearsed plans for a goodbye kiss forgotten, when unexpectedly she flew up and threw her arms around me. her hoarse breath was loud in my ear and her cheek was like ice when she put it against mine a moment later; when i took her gloved hand, i felt the quick pulse of her slender wrist beneath my thumbs." (p. 111)
- "francis and the twins had asked me, rather insistently, my address in hampden. 'where are you living?' said charles in black ink. 'yes, where?' echoed camilla in red. (she used a particular morocco shade of ink that to me, missing her terribly, brought back in a rush of color all the thin, cheerful hoarseness of her voice.)" (p. 117)
- "it makes me smile, even today, to think of henry's calculated, formal english, the english of a well-educated foreigner, as compared with the marvelous fluency and self-assurance of his greek - quick, eloquent, remarkably witty." (p. 201)
- "all of a sudden i felt terribly upset. i was fond of francis and henry but it was unthinkable that anything should happen to the twins. i thought, with a pang, of how kind they had always been; of how sweet camilla was in those first awkward weeks and how charles had always had a way of showing up in my room, or turning to me in a crowd with tranquil assumption - heartwarming to me - that he and i were particular friends; of walks and car trips and dinners at their house; of their letters - frequently unacknowledged on my part - which had come so faithfully over the long winter months." (p. 204)
- "i sat on the side of the unmade bed, feet bare and collar loose, and thought how wonderful it would be if this really were a dream, if i could walk over to where she sat and put my hands on either side of her face and kiss her, on the eyelids, on the mouth, on the place at her temple where the honey-colored hair graded into silky gold." (p. 205)
- "to compound this - all these unpleasant recollections to the contrary - so much remained of the old bunny, the one i knew and loved. sometimes when i saw him at a distance - fists in pockets, whistling, bobbing along with his springy old walk - i would have a strong pang of affection mixed with regret. i forgave him, a hundred times over, and never on the basis of anything more than this; a look, a gesture, a certain tilt of his head." (p. 223)
- "'last night i was so upset i could hardly sleep,' he said. 'he's such a sweet boy, so silly; i'm really very fond of him. if anything should have happened to him i don't know if i could bear it.'" (p. 341)
- "we drank our tea. the lamplight was warm and the apartment still and snug. at home in bed, in my private abyss of longing, the scenes i dreamed of always began like this: drowsy srunken hour, the two of us alone, scenarios in which invariably she would brush against me as if by chance, or lean conveniently close, cheek touching mine, to point out a passage in a book; opportunities which i would seize, gently but manfully, as exordium to more violent pleasures." (p. 358)
- "she put down the book – ah, lovely, i thought helplessly, i loved her, i loved the very sight of her: she was wearing a cashmere sweater, soft gray-green, and her gray eyes had a luminous celadon tint." (p. 483)
- "'i loved him more than my own father,' he said. 'i loved him more than anyone in the world.'" (p. 519)
- "she looked older. cheeks a bit hollower. different hiar, cut very short. without realizing it, i had become to think of her, too, as a ghost: but to see her, wan but still beautiful, in the flesh, my heart gave such a glad and violent leap that i thought it would burst, i thought i would die, right there." (p. 551)
- wild seed, octavia butler
- "she was comfortably aware of doro nearby. if he had left the room in complete silence, she would have known, would have missed him. the room would have become colder." (p. 125)
- "'is it you?' she whispered, seeing the sharp-featured stranger. 'of course,' doro said, smiling. his voice, the knowledge that he was indeed doro, triggered tears. she went to him crying softly, looking for comfort in his arms." (p. 155)
- "you cannot know how i've loved you,' he said." (p. 207)
- "then margaret said, 'we're your weakness, aren't we? you could outrun him for a hundred more years if not for us.' 'i've never been content without my own around me,' anyanwu said. she met the girl's light brown eyes. 'why do you think i have all these children? i could have husbands and wives and lovers into the next century and never have a child. why should i have so many except that i want them and love them? if they were burdens too heavy for me, they would not be here. you would not be here.'" (p. 258)
- the grace year, kim liggett
- "i don't know her, but strangely enough, i know that i love her. it's not a love like my father has for my mother, it's protective and pure, the same way i felt about those robins i cared for last winter." (p. 6)
- "'no,' he whispers. 'because the tierney i know would never think that of me... wouldn't ask this of me... not now... not while i'm...' he pulls his hair back from his face in frustration. 'i only want what's best for you.'" (p. 29)
- "come winter, when i saw hans alone in the stable, practicing his braiding, his cold fingers deftly weaving in and out of the chestnut tail with the ribbon, i asked him about olga. what happened to her. a shadow passed over his face. as he walked toward me, he stroked his hand over his heart, again and again, as if he could somehow put it back together again, a tic he carries to this day." (p. 32)
- "she sits next to me, taking off the silver thimble, giving me a full view of her missing fingertip, the angry puckered skin. this rare show of intimacy brings fresh tears to my eyes." (p. 54)
- "'you don't have to change for me.'... 'you can keep your dreams,' he whispers. 'but i only dream of you.'" (p. 67)
- "sometimes, when i look at him, it feels like my rib cage is being pried apart, expanding for extra air - it hurts, but it's a feeling i'm not sure i want to let go of." (p. 247)
- "i don't know what his favorite color is, his favorite hymn, if he prefers blueberries over boysenberries, but i know the way he clenches his jaw when he's thinking, the rise and fall of his chest right before he drifts to sleep, the sound of his footsteps on the forest floor, the smell of his skin - salt, musk, lake water, and pine. we come from completely different worlds, but i feel closer to him than i've ever felt to anyone." (p. 249)
- "'she's with me now.' ryker moves into his line of sight, breaking the fixation. 'the question is, are you?' he tightens his grip on the knife. 'i need to know right now where you stand.' 'with you,' anders whispers. 'i've always been with you, brother. till the end.'" (p. 265)
- "'why do you want this?' i ask, searching his face for answers. he traces his fingers down my braid, all the way to the end of the red silk ribbon. 'i want to see you with your hair down, with the sun on your face.'" (p. 270)
- "'i kissed her,' she says. 'like we've done a dozen times before. i wasn't asking her to do those things in the lithograph. all i was trying to do was tell her that i loved her.'" (p. 297)
- "'i've dreamed of you my whole life,' i say as i kiss her. 'you are wanted. you are loved.'" (p. 403)
- sky without stars, jessica brody & joanne rendell
- "alouette let out a sharp breath of relief. suddenly, he was her father again. his enormous shoulders, his kind smile, it all assembled back into something familiar. something she knew and loved. something that made sense." (p. 161)
- "'have you not been practicing your letters?' mabelle asked, and in that moment, chatine could finally see her as a governess. telling marcellus when it was time to go to sleep, tucking him into his soft downy bed, kissing him good night." (p. 257)
- wolf hall, hilary mantel
- "when the basin comes, she stands over him and works away, dabbing at his closed eye, working in small circles round and round at his hairline. her breathing is ragged and her free hand rests on his shoulder. she swears under her breath, and sometimes she cries, and rubs the back of his neck, whispering, 'there, hush, there,' as if it were he who were crying, though he isn't. he feels as if he is floating, and she is weighting him to earth; he would like to put his arms around her and his face in her apron, and rest there listening to her heartbeat." (p. 5)
- anne of green gables, l. m. montgomery
- "'oh, it seems so wonderful that i'm going to live with you and belong to you.'" (p. 18)
- "i used to say to them, 'oh, you poor little things! if you were out in a great big wood with other trees all around you and little mosses and junebells growing over your roots and a brook not far away and birds singing in your branches, you could grow, couldn't you? but you can't where you are. i know just exactly how you feel, little trees.' i felt sorry to leave them behind this morning. you do get so attached to things like that, don't you?'" (p. 22)
- "'it's the first thing i ever saw that couldn't be improved upon by imagination. it just satisfied me here' - she put one hand on her breast - 'it made a queer funny ache and yet it was a pleasant ache.'" (p. 26)
- "'good night, dear lake of shining waters. i always say good night to the things i love, just as i would to people. i think they like it. the water looks as if it was smiling at me.'" (p. 29)
- "'i hadn't any real idea what it looked like. but just as soon as i saw it i felt it was home. oh it seems as if i must be in a dream.'" (p. 30)
- "'what good would she be to us?' 'we might be some good to her,' said matthew suddenly and unexpectedly." (p. 40)
- "'oh, i don't mean just the tree; of course it's lovely – yes, it's radiantly lovely – it blooms as if it meant it – but i meant everything, the garden and the orchard and the brook and the woods, the whole big dear world. don't you feel as if you just loved the world on a morning like this?'" (p. 44)
- "'matthew is a most ridiculous man.' 'i think he's lovely,' said anne reproachfully. 'he is so very sympathetic. he didn't mind how much i talked – he seemed to like it. i felt that he was a kindred spirit as soon as ever i saw him.'" (p. 47)
- "during marilla's speech a sunrise had been dawning on anne's face. first the look of despair faded out; then came a faint flush of hope; her eyes grew deep and bright as morning stars." (p. 65)
- "when they arrived back at green gables that evening matthew met them in the lane. marilla from afar had noted him prowling along it, and guessed his motive. she was prepared for the relief she read in his face when he saw that she had at least brought anne back with her." (p. 66)
- "'only be as good and kind to her as you can be without spoiling her. i kind of think she's one of the sort you can do anything with if you only get her to love you.'" (p. 67-68)
- "'a – a what kind of a friend?' 'a bosom friend – an intimate friend, you know – a really kindred spirit to whom i can confide my inmost soul. i've dreamed of meeting her all my life." (p. 80)
- "'but don't let mrs barry hear you talking about your katie maurices and your violettas or she'll think you tell stories.' 'oh, i won't. i couldn't talk of them to everybody – their memories are too sacred for that. but i thought i'd like to have you know about them.'" (p. 82)
- "i wonder if diana is to be my bosom friend. i hope she will, and i shall love her very much. but i must never quite forget katie maurice and violetta. they would feeel so hurt if i did and i'd hate to hurt anybody's feelings, even a little bookcase-girl's or a little echo-girl's. i must be careful to remember them and send them a kiss every day.'" (p. 85)
- "'but still – i'd do anything for you – if you really want me to –' 'well now, of course i do. it's terrible lonesome downstairs without you.'" (p. 99)
- "anne suddenly came close to marilla and slipped her hand into the older woman's hard palm. 'it's lovely to be going home and know it's home,' she said. 'i love green gables already, and i never loved any place before. no place ever seemed like home. oh, marilla, i'm so happy. i could pray right now and not find it a bit hard.' something warm and pleasant welled up in marilla's heart at the touch of that thin little hand in her own – a throb of the maternity she had missed, perhaps." (p. 105)
- "anne's cup of happiness was full, and matthew caused it to overflow. he had just got home from a trip to the store at carmody, and he sheepishly produced a small parcel form his pocket and handed it to anne, with a deprecatory look at marilla. 'i heard you say you liked chocolate sweeties, so i got you some,' he said." (p. 122)
- "'dear me, it's only three weeks since she came, and it seems as if she's been here always. i can't imagine the place without her...i'm perfectly willing to own up that i'm glad i consented to keep the child and that i'm getting fond of her, but don't you rub it in, matthew cuthbert.'" (p. 122-123)
- "'oh, you dear good marilla. oh, you are so kind to me. oh, i'm so much obliged to you.' getting through with her 'ohs' anne cast herself into marilla's arms and rapturously kissed her sallow cheek. it was the first time in her whole life that childish lips had voluntarily touched marilla's face. again that sudden sensation of startling sweetness thrilled her. she was secretly vastly pleased at anne's impulsive caress." (p. 126)
- "'it's about diana,' sobbed anne luxuriously. 'i love diana so, marilla. i cannot ever live without her. but i know very well when we grow up that diana will get married and go away and leave me. and oh, what shall i do?'" (p. 165)
- "'poor little soul,' she murmured, lifting a loose curl of hair from the child's tear-stained face. then she bent down and kissed the flushed cheek on the pillow." (p. 181)
- "'indeed i will,' sobbed diana, 'and i'll never have another bosom friend - i don't want to have. i couldn't love anybody as i love you.' 'oh, diana,' cried anne, clasping her hands, 'do you love me?' 'why, of course i do. didn't you know that?' 'no.' anne drew a long breath. 'i thought you liked me, of course, but i never hoped you loved me. why, diana, i didn't think anybody could love me. nobody has loved me since i can remember. oh, this is wonderful! it's a ray of light which will for ever shine on the darkness of a path severed from thee, diana. oh, just say it once again.' 'i love you devotedly, anne,' said diana staunchly, 'and i always will, you may be sure of that.'" (p. 183)
- "charlie sloane's slate pencil, gloriously bedizened with striped red and yellow paper, costing two cents where ordinary pencils cost only one, which he sent up to her after dinner hour, met with a more favourable reception. anne was graciously pleased to accept it and rewarded the donor with a smile which exalted that infatuated youth straightway into the seventh heaven of delight." (p. 186-187)
- "'he's gone to harness the sorrel mare to go to carmody for the doctor,' said anne, who was hurrying on hood and jacket. 'i know it as well as if he'd said so. matthew and i are such kindred spirits i can read his thoughts without words at all.'" (p. 196)
- "'are you sorry you kept me, marilla?' 'no, i can't say i'm sorry,' said marilla, who sometime wondered how she could have lived before anne came to green gables." (p. 226-227)
- "at that moment marilla had a revelation. in the sudden stab of fear that pierced to her very heart she realized what anne had come to mean to her. she would have admitted that she liked anne – nay, that she was very fond of anne. but now she knew as she hurried wildly down the slope that anne was dearer to her than anything on earth." (p. 257)
- "marilla looked at her with a tenderness that would never have been suffered to reveal itself in any clearer light than that soft mingling of fireshine and shadow. the lesson of a love that should display itself easily in spoken word and open look was one marilla could never learn. but she had learned to love this sim, grey-eyed girl with an affection all the deeper and stronger from its very undemonstrativeness." (p. 331)
- "'why, anne, how you've grown!' she said, almost unbelievingly. a sigh followed on the words. marilla felt a queer regret over anne's inches. the child she had learned to love had vanished somehow here was this tall, serious-eyed girl of fifteen, with the thoughtful brows and the proudly poised little head, in her place. marilla loved the girl as much as she had loved the child, but she was conscious of a queer, sorrowful sense of loss." (p. 352)
- "'marilla!' anne sat down on marilla's gingham lap, took marilla's lined face between her hands, and looked gravely and tenderly into marilla's eyes. 'i'm not a bit changed - not really. i'm only just pruned down and branched out. the real me - back here - is just the same. it won't make a bit of difference where i go or how much i change outwardly; at heart i shall always be your little anne, who will love you and matthew and dear green gables more and better every day of her life.'" (p. 382-383)
- "anne laid her fresh young cheek against marilla's faded one, and reached out a hand to pat matthew's shoulder. marilla would have given much just then to have possessed anne's power of putting her feelings into words; but nature and habit had willed it otherwise, and she could only put her arms close around her girl and hold her tenderly to her heart, wishing that she need never let her go." (p. 383)
- "'anne has as many shades as a rainbow and every shade is the prettiest while it lasts. i don't know that she is as amusing as when she was a child, but she makes me love her and i like people who make me love them.'" (p. 395)
- "'we've got each other, anne. i don't know what i'd do if you weren't here - if you'd never come. oh, anne, i know i've been kind of strict and harsh with you maybe - but you mustn't think i didn't love you as well as matthew did, for all that. i want to tell you now when i can. it's never been easy for me to say things out of my heart, but at times like this it's easier. i love you as if you were my own flesh and blood and you've been my joy and comfort ever since you came to green gables.'" (p. 410)
- anne of avonlea, l. m. montgomery
- "in despair she finally threatened to whip him soundly when she got him home. whereupon davy climbed into her lap, regardless of the reins, flung his chubby arms about her neck and gave her a bear-like hug. 'i don't believe you mean it,' he said, smacking her wrinkled cheek affectionately. 'you don't look like a lady who'd whip a little boy just 'cause he couldn't keep still.'" (p. 58)
- "davy screwed his eyes tight shut and seemed to meditate on this for a time. then he crawled up and put his arms about anne's neck, snuggling his flushed little face down into her shoulder. 'anne, don't you like me a little bit, even if i ain't a good boy like paul?' 'indeed i do,' said anne sincerely. somehow, it was impossible to help liking davy." (p. 65)
- "'and i do love you, teacher,' she sobbed. 'it was all true, even if the minister wrote it first. i do love you with all my heart.'" (p. 90)
- "marilla passed her work-worn hand over the girl's glossy, tumbled hair with a wonderful tenderness." (p. 100)
- "'she never really laid up but just grew weaker and weaker all the time. jordan wouldn't have anybody to wait on her. he did it all himself and mother says he was as tender and gentle as a woman. every day he'd wrap her in a shawl and carry her out to the garden and she'd lie there on a bench quite happy.'" (p. 110)
- "everybody elsee in avonlea, except marilla, had already forgotten quiet, shy, unimportant matthew cuthbert; but his memory was still green in anne's heart and always would be. she could never forget the kind old man who had been the first to give her the love and sympathy her starved childhood had craved." (p. 125)
- "'now, teacher, please sit here; and i'll sit at your feet. may i lay my head against your knee? that's the way my little mother and i used to sit. oh, this is real splendid, i think.' 'now, i want to hear those thoughts which mary joe pronounces so queer,' said anne, patting the mop of curls at her side." (p. 166)
- "'i like dora because she's my sister but i like you because you're you.'" (p. 167)
- "'she looks just as music sounds, i think.'" (p. 189)
- "'but i could never care for anybody else and i didn't want to. i knew i would rather be an old maid for a thousand years than marry anybody other than stephen irving.'" (p. 203)
- "'you may kiss me if you like,' said paul gravely. miss lavendar stooped and kissed him. 'how did you know i wanted to?' she whispered. 'because you looked at me just as my little mother used to do when she wanted to kiss me. as a rule, i don't like to be kissed. boys don't. you know, miss lewis. but i think i rather like to have you kiss me.'" (p. 205)
- "mrs. rachel looked sharply at anne, but anne was bending over a sleepy davy nodding on the sofa and nothing was to be read in her face. she carried davy away, her oval girlish cheek pressed against his curly yellow head. as they went up the stairs davy flung a tired arm about anne's neck and gave her a warm hug and a sticky kiss." (p. 227)
- "'i shall never forget the thrill that went over me the day you told me you loved me... you don't know what your friendship meant to me. i want to thank you here and now, dear, for the warm and true affection you've always given me.' 'and always, always will,' sobbed diana. 'i shall never love anybody... any girl... half as well as i love you. and if i ever do marry and have a little girl of my own i'm going to name her anne.'" (p. 239)
- "gilbert wisely said nothing more; but in his silence he read the history of the next four years in the light of anne's remembered blush. four years of earnest, happy work... and then the guerdon of a useful knowledge gained and a sweet heart won." (p. 277)
jan 1 2021 ∞
dec 31 2021 +