“It's like this old patchwork quilt my momma used to have...Each piece on that quilt meant something. And some of those pieces were the damn ugliest things you've ever seen...But some of the pieces were so beautiful they almost hurt my eyes to look at when I was a kid...That's the best you can hope for, Danny. That your life turns out like that patchwork quilt. That you can add some bright, sparkling pieces to the dirty, stained ones you have so far. That in the end, the bright patches might take up more space on your quilt than the dark ones.”
― quote from Shades of Gray
“Why," he panted into Danny's neck, "why's it so goddamn good?" He was surprised at how full his voice sounded, so close to overflowing its steady banks.
Danny stroked his hair, his lips warm against Miller's cheek. "Because it's us, Miller," he whispered. "Because it's us.”
― quote from Shades of Gray
“Congratulations Danny. You're now the legal equivalent of a male nurse.”
― quote from Shades of Gray
“You make me want to be a better man," Danny said. "You make me want to be worthy of you, Miller. But if that's ever going to stick, if it's ever going to be real, I have to do it for me. I can't do it just because its who you need me to be. It has to be who I need to be too.”
― quote from Shades of Gray
“It’s too late for that. It’s too late to go back,” Danny said, gentle but firm. “Now you have to decide the man you want to be from here on out.”
― quote from Shades of Gray
“Who gets everything they want, Danny, exactly how they want it? You have to decide the most important thing and go from there.”
― quote from Shades of Gray
“You've had his dick in your hand and your tongue in his mouth and you can't sit down and eat a bowl of cereal with him ?”
― quote from Shades of Gray
“It’s always our mistakes, the things we aren’t proud of, that are the first ones to stand up, ready to be counted. That’s human nature and it’s not going to change, not for me or for you, either.”
― quote from Shades of Gray
“That's the best you can hope for, Danny. That your life turns out like that patchwork quilt. That you can add some bright, sparkling pieces to the dirty, stained ones you've got so far. That in the end, the bright patches might take up more space on your quilt than the dark ones.”
― quote from Shades of Gray
“finding what made you happy was only the beginning of the journey—figuring out how to keep it often proved to be the unreachable destination.”
― quote from Shades of Gray
“By letting go, Danny had freed him to pursue, had forced Miller to find the courage to follow.”
― quote from Shades of Gray
“This is the best, most real thing that’s ever happened to me,” Danny said quietly. “I’ve spent my whole life jumping from one bad choice to the next. Choosing this, with you, is probably the only decision I’ve ever been proud of making.” He pressed himself closer to Miller’s back, wrapping his arms around his waist. “I’ll never be sorry.”
― quote from Shades of Gray
“...and then Danny was moving on him in the rhythm they'd found so easily in the past, their bodies remembering the way of it as if they'd never been apart, as if they'd only been waiting to find each other again.”
― quote from Shades of Gray
“He didn’t know if his capacity to love had been stunted, buried beneath the need for survival for so long it had forgotten how to breathe....”
― quote from Shades of Gray
“Danny, whose body made Miller forget the world and whose soul, even marked with shadows, made Miller believe in something beyond the stars.”
― quote from Shades of Gray
“But so far their love had proved deeper than their doubts, their faith in each other more unshakeable than the fear.”
― quote from Shades of Gray
“Something in the mysterious combination of Danny and him burned hotter and brighter than anything he'd ever imagined.”
― quote from Shades of Gray
“Whatever it was Miller did, he did it because he thought you were worth it. He chose you, Danny.”
― quote from Shades of Gray
“That’s the best you can hope for, Danny. That your life turns out like that patchwork quilt. That you can add some bright, sparkling pieces to the dirty, stained ones you’ve got so far. That in the end, the bright patches might take up more space on your quilt than the dark ones.”
― quote from Shades of Gray
“so far their love had proved deeper than their doubts, their faith in each other more unshakeable than the fear. And for today they were happy. Danny didn’t know about tomorrow. But he could live with the uncertainty, because what they had right now was pretty goddamn good.”
― quote from Shades of Gray
“I worry about setting myself up to fail, about letting people down. If I don’t try for a better life, then I don’t have to worry about disappointing anybody. […] You’d be disappointing yourself, though, wouldn’t you, by not taking the chance?”
― quote from Shades of Gray
“But Danny’s feelings for Hinestroza were too complicated for such single-minded emotion. Rage stewed in a melting-pot mix with respect and fear and the humiliating, aching need to be loved.”
― quote from Shades of Gray
“It occurred to Raule that all children were monsters in the world and were instinctively aware of it. They were reminded of their anomalous nature by adults, whom they failed to resemble, and with whose habitations and tools their bodies were at odds. This was surely why the little girl played with the sequins so solemnly and with such intense concentration. She was doing nothing less than conjuring, out of pattern and colour, a world that conformed to her desires and obeyed her will. The boy, on the other hand, showed with the whole attitude of his being that he knew there was only the one world and he would kill it if he could.”
― K.J. Bishop, quote from The Etched City
“I'll never love anyone like I love him, and I'll always be his whether I'm with him or not.”
― Samantha Towle, quote from First Bitten
“Guys, please, one life-changing shock at a time, I felt like saying.”
― Fiona Wood, quote from Six Impossible Things
“I’ve always been a dreamer, have always believed
in the power of love and art and loud, life-affirming rock and roll, but, for the first time,
I’m starting to have doubts. Can a dream even exist in reality? Or does it turn to stone
the second it leaves your mind?”
― Pete Wentz, quote from Gray
“SECTION XI.--The Strength of Simplicity. The soul in the state of abandonment knows how to see God even in the proud who oppose His action. All creatures, good or evil, reveal Him to it. __________________________________________________________________ The whole practice of the simple soul is in the accomplishment of the will of God. This it respects even in those unruly actions by which the proud attempt to depreciate it. The proud soul despises one in whose sight it is as nothing, who beholds only God in it, and in all its actions. Often it imagines that the modesty of the simple soul is a mark of appreciation for itself; when, all the time, it is only a sign of that loving fear of God and of His holy will as shown to it in the person of the proud. No, poor fool, the simple soul fears you not at all. You excite its compassion; it is answering God when you think it is speaking to you: it is with Him that it believes it has to do; it regards you only as one of His slaves, or rather as a mask with which He disguises Himself. Therefore the more you take a high tone, the lower you become in its estimation; and when you think to take it by surprise, it surprises you. Your wiles and violence are just favours from Heaven. The proud soul cannot comprehend itself, but the simple soul, with the light of faith, can very clearly see through it. The finding of the divine action in all that occurs at each moment, in and around us, is true science, a continuous revelation of truth, and an unceasingly renewed intercourse with God. It is a rejoicing with the Spouse, not in secret, nor by stealth, in the cellar, or the vineyard, but openly, and in public, without any human respect. It is a fund of peace, of joy, of love, and of satisfaction with God who is seen, known, or rather, believed in, living and operating in the most perfect manner in everything that happens. It is the beginning of eternal happiness not yet perfectly realised and tasted, except in an incomplete and hidden manner. The Holy Spirit, who arranges all the pieces on the board of life, will, by this fruitful and continual presence of His action, say at the hour of death, "fiat lux," "let there be light" (Gen. i, 14), and then will be seen the treasures which faith hides in this abyss of peace and contentment with God, and which will be found in those things that have been every moment done, or suffered for Him. When God gives Himself thus, all that is common becomes wonderful; and it is on this account that nothing seems to be so, because this way is, in itself, extraordinary. Consequently it is unnecessary to make it full of strange and unsuitable marvels. It is, in itself, a miracle, a revelation, a constant joy even with the prevalence of minor faults. But it is a miracle which, while rendering all common and sensible things wonderful, has nothing in itself that is sensibly marvellous.”
― quote from Abandonment to Divine Providence: The Classic Text with a Spiritual Commentary
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