“She hadn't ascribed to this modern notion of equality between the sexes. Woman were patently superior.”
― Laura Kinsale, quote from The Shadow and the Star
“If you’re not a criminal, then what are you doing stealing all these swords and things?” For a moment he was silent. Then he rubbed his chin and said, “There’s no name for it in English.” “Oh, is there not? ‘Burglary’ seems descriptive enough.” “Kyojitsu.” He looked levelly into her eyes, not wavering. “False-true.”
― Laura Kinsale, quote from The Shadow and the Star
“To try to let go was to hold more tightly.”
― Laura Kinsale, quote from The Shadow and the Star
“I enjoy Mr. Verne’s work,” she went on brightly. “He writes of such exotic places. But you’ve seen all that sort of thing in person. I suppose it’s nothing to you.”
“Of course. Giant squids. Cannibals. Every day.”
― Laura Kinsale, quote from The Shadow and the Star
“Just—let me hold you. That’s all. Hold you and go to sleep.” He smoothed his thumbs over the back of her hands. “You can tell me everything about tableware.”
She was silent a moment, gazing down at their hands. Then she said, “Would you like to know about holloware or flatware?”
“Flatware. Naturally, flatware.”
“I shall certainly put you to sleep with that. I venture to say you’ll be snoring by the time I get to the runcible spoon.”
“My God. Do I snore?”
“You were decidedly snoring last night, as I was enlightening you upon the nature and arrangement of sideboards. I’m rather a connoisseur of sideboards, but I suppose not everyone enters into my own enthusiasm. Kindly refrain from swearing, if you please.”
“I beg your pardon.” He kissed her nose...”
― Laura Kinsale, quote from The Shadow and the Star
Laura Kinsale
Born place: The United States
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“It had better be. It doesn't do much when it's soft.”
― Brent Weeks, quote from The Way of Shadows
“Sometimes, the biggest secrets you can only tell a stranger.”
― Michelle Hodkin, quote from The Evolution of Mara Dyer
“Books have great value, actions have greater value.”
― Brandon Sanderson, quote from The Well of Ascension
“Where do I go from here?”
― Nicholas Sparks, quote from The Choice
“I saw thee once - only once - years ago:
I must not say how many - but not many.
It was a July midnight; and from out
A full-orbed moon, that, like thine own soul, soaring,
Sought a precipitate pathway up through heaven,
There fell a silvery-silken veil of light,
With quietude, and sultriness, and slumber,
Upon the upturn'd faces of a thousand
Roses that grew in an enchanted garden,
Where no wind dared stir, unless on tiptoe -
Fell on the upturn'd faces of these roses
That gave out, in return for the love-light,
Their odorous souls in an ecstatic death -
Fell on the upturn'd faces of these roses
That smiled and died in the parterre, enchanted
By thee, and by the poetry of thy presence.
Clad all in white, upon a violet bank
I saw thee half reclining; while the moon
Fell upon the upturn'd faces of the roses,
And on thine own, upturn'd - alas, in sorrow!
Was it not Fate, that, on this July midnight -
Was it not Fate, (whose name is also Sorrow,)
That bade me pause before that garden-gate,
To breathe the incense of those slumbering roses?
No footsteps stirred: the hated world all slept,
Save only thee and me. (Oh, Heaven! - oh, G**!
How my heart beats in coupling those two words!)
Save only thee and me. I paused - I looked -
And in an instant all things disappeared.
(Ah, bear in mind the garden was enchanted!)
The pearly lustre of the moon went out:
The mossy banks and the meandering paths,
The happy flowers and the repining trees,
Were seen no more: the very roses' odors
Died in the arms of the adoring airs.
All - all expired save thee - save less than thou:
Save only divine light in thine eyes -
Save but the soul in thine uplifted eyes.
I saw but them - they were the world to me.
I saw but them - saw only them for hours -
Saw only them until the moon went down.
What wild heart-histories seemed to lie enwritten
Upon those crystalline, celestial spheres!
How dark a wo! yet how sublime a hope!
How silently serene a sea of pride!
How daring an ambition! yet how deep -
How fathomless a capacity for love!
But now, at length, dear Dian sank from sight,
Into a western couch of thunder-cloud;
And thou, a ghost, amid the entombing trees
Didst glide away. Only thine eyes remained.
They would not go - they never yet have gone.
Lighting my lonely pathway home that night,
They have not left me (as my hopes have) since.
They follow me - they lead me through the years.
They are my ministers - yet I their slave.
Their office is to illumine and enkindle -
My duty, to be saved by their bright fire,
And purified in their electric fire,
And sanctified in their elysian fire.
They fill my soul with Beauty (which is Hope,)
And are far up in Heaven - the stars I kneel to
In the sad, silent watches of my night;
While even in the meridian glare of day
I see them still - two sweetly scintillant
Venuses, unextinguished by the sun!”
― Edgar Allan Poe, quote from The Raven and Other Poems
A Hope Undaunted
The Wisdom of Insecu...
Blackveil
The Ox-Bow Incident
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