love
‘What is hell?’* I argue thus: ‘It is the suffering caused by not being able to love any more.’
Fyodor Dostoevsky • The Karamazov Brothers (Oxford World's Classics)
He looked different in sleep, beautiful but cold as moonlight. I found myself wishing he would wake so that I might watch the life return.
Madeline Miller • The Song of Achilles: A Novel
To be shown love is to feel ourselves the object of concern: our presence is noted, our name is registered, our views are listened to, our failings are treated with indulgence and our needs are ministered to. And under such care, we flourish.
from Status Anxiety by Alain de Botton
if you come together with one other person like yourself, there you have a whole world, a world of vibrant love;
Fyodor Dostoevsky • The Karamazov Brothers (Oxford World's Classics)
“I have no need to forgive you. You cannot offend me.”
Madeline Miller • The Song of Achilles: A Novel
IN THE DARKNESS, two shadows, reaching through the hopeless, heavy dusk. Their hands meet, and light spills in a flood like a hundred golden urns pouring out of the sun.
Madeline Miller • The Song of Achilles: A Novel
What if my heart goes deaf?
Franny Choi • Floating, Brilliant, Gone
You believe in your partner; that is your task. But how that person acts with regard to your expectations and trust is other people’s tasks. When you push your wishes without having drawn that line, before you know it you’re engaging in stalker-like intervention. Suppose your partner did not act as you had wished. Would you still be able to believe... See more
Notes & Highlights for The Courage to Be Disliked by Ichiro Kishimi
We were like gods at the dawning of the world, and our joy was so bright we could see nothing else but the other.