“Sometimes the right thing feels all wrong until it is over and done with.”
― Alice Hoffman, quote from Practical Magic
“There are some things, after all, that Sally Owens knows for certain: Always throw spilled salt over your left shoulder. Keep rosemary by your garden gate. Add pepper to your mashed potatoes. Plant roses and lavender, for luck. Fall in love whenever you can.”
― Alice Hoffman, quote from Practical Magic
“It doesn't matter what people tell you. It doesn't matter what they might say. Sometimes you have to leave home. Sometimes, running away means you're headed in the exact right direction.”
― Alice Hoffman, quote from Practical Magic
“My darling girl, when are you going to realize that being normal is not necessarily a virtue? It rather denotes a lack of courage." - Aunt Frances”
― Alice Hoffman, quote from Practical Magic
“The moon is always jealous of the heat of the day, just as the sun always longs for something dark and deep.”
― Alice Hoffman, quote from Practical Magic
“Trouble is just like love, after all; it comes in unannounced and takes over before you've had a chance to reconsider, or even to think.”
― Alice Hoffman, quote from Practical Magic
“Pride is a funny thing; it can make what is truly worthless appear to be a treasure.”
― Alice Hoffman, quote from Practical Magic
“Do you ever just put your arms out and just spin and spin and spin? Well, that's what love is like; everything inside of you tells you to stop before you fall, but for some reason you just keep going.”
― Alice Hoffman, quote from Practical Magic
“Unrequited love is so boring. Weeping under a blue-black sky is for suckers or maniacs.”
― Alice Hoffman, quote from Practical Magic
“Every problem has a solution, although it may not be the outcome that was originally hoped for or expected.”
― Alice Hoffman, quote from Practical Magic
“I dream of a love that even time will lie down and be still for.”
― Alice Hoffman, quote from Practical Magic
“Some things, when they change, never do return to the way they once were. Butterflies for instance, and women who've been in love with the wrong man too often.”
― Alice Hoffman, quote from Practical Magic
“The moon is always jealous of the heat of the day, just as the sun always longs for something dark and deep.
They could see how love might control you, from your head to your toes, not to mention every single part of you in between.
A woman could want a man so much she might vomit in the kitchen sink or cry so fiercly blood would form in the corners of her eyes.
She put her hand to her throat as though someone were strangling her, but really she was choking on all that love she thought she’d needed so badly.
What had she thought, that love was a toy, something easy and sweet, just to play with? Real love was dangerous, it got you from inside and held on tight, and if you didn’t let go fast enough you might be willing to do anything for it’s sake.
She refused to believe in superstition, she wouldn’t; yet it was claiming her.
Some fates are guaranteed, no matter who tries to intervene.
After all I’ve done for you is lodged somewhere in her brain, and far worse, it’s in her heart as well.
She was bad luck, ill-fated and unfortunate as the plague.
She is not worth his devotion. She wishes he would evaporate into thin air. Maybe then she wouldn’t have this feeling deep inside, a feeling she can deny all she wants, but that won’t stop it from being desire.
Love is worth the sum of itself and nothing more.
But that’s what happens when you’re a liar, especially when you’re telling the worst of these lies to yourself.
He has stumbled into love, and now he’s stuck there. He’s fairly used to not getting what he wants, and he’s dealt with it, yet he can’t help but wonder if that’s only because he didn’t want anything so badly.
It’s music, it’s a sound that is absurdly beautiful in his mouth, but she won’t pay attention. She knows from the time she spent on the back stairs of the aunts’ house that most things men say are lies. Don’t listen, she tells herself. None if it’s true and none of it matters, because he’s whispering that he’s been looking for her forever. She can’t believe it. She can’t listen to anything he tells her and she certainly can’t think, because if she did she might just think she’d better stop.
What good would it do her to get involved with someone like him? She’d have to feel so much, and she’s not that kind.
The greatest portion of grief is the one you dish out for yourself.
She preferred cats to human beings and turned down every offer from the men who fell in love with her.
They told her how sticks and stones could break bones, but taunting and name-calling were only for fools.
— & now here she is, all used up.
Although she’d never believe it, those lines in *’s face are the most beautiful part about her. They reveal what she’s gone through and what she’s survived and who exactly she is, deep inside.
She’s gotten back some of what she’s lost. Attraction, she now understands, is a state of mind.
If there’s one thing * is now certain of, it’s house you can amaze yourself by the things you’re willing to do.
You really don’t know? That heart-attack thing you’ve been having? It’s love, that’s what it feels like.
She knows now that when you don’t lose yourself in the bargain, you find you have double the love you started with, and that’s one recipe that can’t be tampered with.
Always throw spilled salt over your left shoulder. Keep rosemary by your garden gate. Add pepper to your mashed potatoes. Plant roses and lavender, for luck. Fall in love whenever you can.”
― Alice Hoffman, quote from Practical Magic
“Avoid men who call you Baby, and women who have no friends, and dogs that scratch at their bellies and refuse to lie down at your feet. Wear dark glasses; bathe with lavender oil and cool fresh water. Seek shelter from the sun at noon.”
― Alice Hoffman, quote from Practical Magic
“No one knows you like a person with whom you've shared a childhood. No one will ever understand you in quite the same way.”
― Alice Hoffman, quote from Practical Magic
“Young Sally Owens: He will hear my call a mile away. He will whistle my favorite song. He can ride a pony backwards.
Young Gillian Owens: What are you doing?
Young Sally Owens: Summoning up a true love spell called Amas Veritas. He can flip pancakes in the air. He'll be marvelously kind. And his favorite shape will be a star. And he'll have one green eye and one blue.
Young Gillian Owens: Thought you never wanted to fall in love.
Young Sally Owens: That's the point. The guy I dreamed of doesn't exist. And if he doesn't exist I'll never die of a broken heart.”
― Alice Hoffman, quote from Practical Magic
“Holding a tear back makes them drain upward, higher and higher, until one day your head just explodes and you're left with a stub of a neck and nothing more.”
― Alice Hoffman, quote from Practical Magic
“Love is worth the sum of itself, and nothing more.”
― Alice Hoffman, quote from Practical Magic
“You can never tell about a person by guessing...that's why language was invented. Otherwise, we'd all be like dogs, sniffing each other to find out where we stood.”
― Alice Hoffman, quote from Practical Magic
“Some fates are guaranteed, no matter who tries to intervene.”
― Alice Hoffman, quote from Practical Magic
“Always keep mint on your windowsill in August, to ensure that buzzing flies will stay outside, where they belong. Don't think the summer is over, even when roses droop and turn brown and the stars shift position in the sky. Never presume August is a safe or reliable time of the year.”
― Alice Hoffman, quote from Practical Magic
“People want to ignore what they can't understand. They're looking for logic at any cost.”
― Alice Hoffman, quote from Practical Magic
“It had made her too helpless, because that's what love did. There was no way around it and no way to fight it. Now if she lost, she lost everything.”
― Alice Hoffman, quote from Practical Magic
“He knew exactly how to hit a woman, so that the marks hardly showed. He knew how to kiss her , too, so that her heart began to race and she'd start to think forgiveness with every breath. It's amazing the places that love will carry you. It's astounding to discover just how far you're willing to go.”
― Alice Hoffman, quote from Practical Magic
“All this kissing was making her crazy; it was reminding her of what she could feel, and how it could be when you wanted someone as much as he wanted you.”
― Alice Hoffman, quote from Practical Magic
“I never even believed in happiness. I didn't think it existed. Now look at me. I'm ready to believe in just about anything.”
― Alice Hoffman, quote from Practical Magic
“Sometimes, running away means you're headed in the exact right direction.”
― Alice Hoffman, quote from Practical Magic
“You watch teenage girls and feel shivers up and down your arms -- those poor creatures don't know the first thing about time or agony or the price they're going to have to pay for just about everything.”
― Alice Hoffman, quote from Practical Magic
“As they were falling asleep, Gillian could have sworn she heard Ben say Fate--as if they were meant to be together from the start and every single thing they'd ever done in their lives had been leading to this moment. If you thought that way, you could fall asleep without regret. You could put your whole life in place, with all the sadness and the sorrow, and still feel that at last you had everything you ever wanted. In spite of the lousy odds and all the wrong turns, you might actually discover that you were the one who'd won.”
― Alice Hoffman, quote from Practical Magic
“Helplessness and anger make for predictable behavior: Children are certain to shove each other and pull hair, teenagers will call each other names and cry, and grown women who are sisters will say words so cruel that each syllable will take on the form of a snake, although such a snake often circles in on itself to eat its own tail once the words are said aloud.”
― Alice Hoffman, quote from Practical Magic
“Alles, um mir voll klarzumachen, warum er uns fünfen das angetan hatte; warum er uns für sich selbst aufgespart hatte. Wir hatten ihm Bewusstsein gegeben. Unbeabsichtigt natürlich, aber immerhin. Aber er war gefangen. Er war eine Maschine. Wir hatten ihm erlaubt zu denken, aber nicht, etwas damit anzufangen. In seiner Wut und Raserei hatte er uns umgebracht, fast alle von uns, und war immer noch gefangen. Er konnte seinen Platz nicht verlassen und konnte nirgendwohin gehören. Er konnte nur da sein. Und daher hatte er in seinem Hass, den Maschinen schon immer für die schwachen, weichen Geschöpfe empfanden, von denen sie gebaut wurden, auf Rache gesonnen.”
― Harlan Ellison, quote from I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream
“Thalion continued. “The human world was very young and the disobedient children of God had just fallen, creating the underworld. Your God because of their desire to be like God forsook them. They craved and desired, the one thing that they should have never wanted, and that was to be as great as their creator. During this time of peace, the supernaturals traveled freely between the realms. We all knew of the fallen, the angels that had become demons, and knew that they were never to be released from the hell in which they had been cast. Their evil was beyond anything that was ever known. The leader of them, Lucifer, had declared war on the human children of God and desired more than anything to take their souls, to drag them to the hell he and his were stuck in for all eternity. All of the supernatural races were warned by an angel of God to never allow the demons from the underworld to escape their own realm. The veil was sealed by the angel and hidden from all.
Unfortunately, evil always seems to find more evil. All evil things are drawn to each other, seeking out those who would help them in their cause. Though the veil to the underworld was hidden, the evil beyond it was great and as more and more lost souls were cast there after their deaths, and so the evil grew. It began to permeate the air around the veil such that other beings could detect it. There was no one who knew how to open it, but that didn’t stop them from trying.
As the sons of men began to allow evil into their hearts, and as they began to stray farther from their God, they began seeking out other ways to fill the void inside them. They began to worship other beings, or objects. They sought out meanings for their lives in ways that caused darkness to creep into their hearts. God desired men to have free will and he would not force their loyalty to him. Sin was corrupting the world and Lucifer was allowed some control in the human realm. That sin gave Lucifer just the opening he needed to whisper lies into the ears of those who would listen. He pointed them in the direction divinity and sorcery where they learned how to contact the dead. They thought they were contacting loved ones who had passed on, but in reality they were drawing the demon spirits to them and giving them power, so much power that the demons began to be able to manipulate the actions of men and women still living.”
― Quinn Loftis, quote from Fate and Fury
“Any odds are good odds for the damned”
― Christopher Pike, quote from The Last Vampire
“Showed me a strong woman doesn’t need keeping, but feels good to take care of her all the same. Better, you gotta fight for that privilege.”
― Kristen Ashley, quote from Deacon
“The best way to find out things, if you come to think of it, is not to ask questions at all. If you fire off a question, it is like firing off a gun; bang it goes, and everything takes flight and runs for shelter. But if you sit quite still and pretend not to be looking, all the little facts will come and peck round your feet, situations will venture forth from thickets and intentions will creep out and sun themselves on a stone; and if you are very patient, you will see and understand a great deal more than a man with a gun.”
― Elspeth Huxley, quote from The Flame Trees of Thika: Memories of an African Childhood
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