“What does all this mean finally, I kept asking like a college kid. Why does it make me want to cry? Maybe it’s that we are all outsiders, we are all making our own unusual way through a wilderness of
normality that is just a myth.”
― quote from Exit to Eden
“Elegance is really a kind of control.”
― quote from Exit to Eden
“You only hurt people when you tell them the truth about things that they cannot respect or understand”
― quote from Exit to Eden
“Each of us has within him a dark chamber where the real desire flowers; and the horror of it is that they never see the light of another's understanding, those strange blooms. It is as lonely as it is dark, that chambers of the heart.”
― quote from Exit to Eden
“I have this theory actually, that after an absence you discover in that first glimpse what you really think and feel about another person. You know things you couldn't know before”
― quote from Exit to Eden
“I have this theory that actually, after an absence you discover in that first glimpse what you really think and feel about another person. You know things you couldn't know before.”
― quote from Exit to Eden
“She was standing there all right. And I was in love with her. So much for the first glimpse.”
― quote from Exit to Eden
“It's that nobody has ever been able to convince me that anything sexual between consenting individuals is wrong. I mean it's like part of my brain is missing. Nothing disgusts me. It all seems innocent, to do with profound sensations, and when people tell me they are offended by things, I just don't know what they mean.”
― quote from Exit to Eden
“You have the thing all men and women strive for: the lover from whom you do not have to hide anything.”
― quote from Exit to Eden
“El cabello me caía sobre los hombros desnudos como un manto protector. Tenía los pezones duros, y me pregunté si ese extraño, ese conocedor de los entresijos del mundo sexual secreto, había notado que mi entrepierna estaba húmeda.”
― quote from Exit to Eden
“Y el largo vuelo de regreso a casa, los alumnos en el campus, los jóvenes de mirada vidriosa, destruidos por las drogas y las ideas, que ni siquiera se fijaban en las muchachas altas y bronceadas cuyos pechos se transparentaban bajo las finas camisetas de algodón y hablaban de marihuana, sexo, revolución, los derechos de las mujeres en el mayor laboratorio social del mundo.”
― quote from Exit to Eden
“Everything is coming to an end, I thought. But what does that mean? Why do I say things to myself when I don't even know what they mean?”
― quote from Exit to Eden
“My dream, even now, is to walk for weeks with some friend that I love, leisurely wandering from place to place, with no route arranged and no object in view, with liberty to go on all day or to linger all day, as we choose; but the question of luggage, unknown to the simple pilgrim, is one of the rocks on which my plans have been shipwrecked, and the other is the certain censure of relatives, who, not fond of walking themselves, and having no taste for noonday naps under hedges, would be sure to paralyse my plans before they had grown to maturity by the honest horror of their cry, "How very unpleasant if you were to meet any one you know!" The relative of five hundred years back would have said "How Holy!”
― Elizabeth von Arnim, quote from Elizabeth and Her German Garden
“You aren’t going to die,” Kiernan whispered through the darkness.
We sat in one of the bedchambers for pilgrims, me on the cot and Kiernan on the floor. He was sitting with his knees bent, elbows resting on them. If I looked at him, I knew I would see his eyes flash even in the dark. So I leaned my head back against the stone wall and said nothing.
“She might not have meant you,” he continued. “It could be Orianne, or even the real Nalia.”
That did make me look at him. “Great,” I said sarcastically. “So we find the real Nalia and then somehow get her killed. That would certainly be doing the kingdom a favor.”
Kiernan huffed in irritation, then took a breath. “I didn’t mean it that way. And besides, not all of those visions come true. The one that started this whole mess didn’t.”
I didn’t answer. I felt numb, had felt that way since stumbling out of the temple. Even the key hidden inside my fist hadn’t been enough to bring me back to myself. I had allowed Kiernan to lead me to the pilgrims’ quarters, overheard him tell Brother Paxson that I was too weary with study to leave that night. I had eaten the food brought to us, nodding mechanically in thanks, then sat down on the cot and let my mind wander.
A triangle. One side crumbled away, leaving only two. Try as I might, I could think of nothing else it could mean. Only that if I found the real princess, one of us--Nalia, Orianne, or me--would die.
“And even if it was a true prophecy, we can fight it. We know about it now, so we can be…alert, careful. We can keep them safe. We’ll keep you safe--I’ll keep you safe.” Kiernan pushed himself up off the bed and came to sit next to me. “Come on,” he said, reaching out a tentative arm and putting it around my shoulders. “I just got you back. I’m not going to let you die.”
Closing my eyes, I let myself lean against him. He smelled nice, even after days of travel on horseback. And he was warm and solid, and my friend.
We stayed like that long enough that I felt a little of the numbness leave, melted away by Kiernan’s warmth. “Sorry,” I said finally. My voice sounded a little choked, which made me pull away from him in embarrassment. “It’s a strange thing to hear, that’s all.”
Kiernan had let his arm drop from my shoulders, but his fingers now brushed my arm nearest to him. “I’m sure it is,” he said. He was gazing into my eyes as he said it, though more deeply than seemed necessary.
My heart was suddenly hammering in my ears, and I was overly aware of how close we were. “It must be near midnight,” I stuttered. “We should…We should probably try the, uh, library.”
Kiernan blinked, then pushed himself up, one corner of his mouth pulled in. “Of course,” he said. Then a mischievous grin broke across his face. “Now, this should be fun.”
― Eilis O'Neal, quote from The False Princess
“It was shaping up as a beautiful morning. The last thing I wanted to hear about was murder.”
― Jonathan Kellerman, quote from When the Bough Breaks
“When you pray, God reveals anything in your personality that is resistant to His order of things.”
― Stormie Omartian, quote from The Power of a Praying Wife
“Wheels turning, the motorcycle’s roar grows steady, which, too, is a form of silence.”
― Roger Zelazny, quote from Creatures of Light and Darkness
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