love
Yet he loved people: it seems that he lived his whole life with an absolute faith in people, though no one ever thought of him as simple or naïve. There was something in him that said, and made you believe (and this was so throughout his life), that he did not wish to sit in judgement on others and would never take it upon himself to censure anyone
... See moreFyodor Dostoevsky • The Karamazov Brothers (Oxford World's Classics)
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
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
We were like gods at the dawning of the world, and our joy was so bright we could see nothing else but the other.
Madeline Miller • The Song of Achilles: A Novel
What wouldn’t you do to be held? Don’t tell me you’ve never taped shut your own mouth.
Franny Choi • Floating, Brilliant, Gone
Love was paring myself down, again and again, until I was as smooth as a block of new marble, ready to become whatever the next one needed me to be.
Gina Chung • Sea Change
What if my heart goes deaf?
Franny Choi • Floating, Brilliant, Gone
Danny still didn’t understand, but it was okay. They were loving each other.
Stephen King • The Shining
am glad my young hero did not turn out to be too rational at such a moment, since there will always be plenty of opportunity for an intelligent person to employ his intellect, but if love did not hold sway in his heart at such an exceptional moment, would it ever do so?