The Vivid reader > The Vivid reader's Quotes

“Every heart has its own skeletons.”
― Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina

“A man on a thousand mile walk has to forget his goal and say to himself every morning, 'Today I'm going to cover twenty-five miles and then rest up and sleep.”
― Leo Tolstoy, War and Peace

“Here's my advice to you: don't marry until you can tell yourself that you've done all you could, and until you've stopped loving the women you've chosen, until you see her clearly, otherwise you'll be cruelly and irremediably mistaken. Marry when you're old and good for nothing...Otherwise all that's good and lofty in you will be lost.”
― Leo Tolstoy, War and Peace

“Happiness is an allegory, unhappiness a story.”
― Leo Tolstoy

“Life did not stop, and one had to live.”
― Leo Tolstoy, War and Peace

“The most difficult subjects can be explained to the most slow-witted man if he has not formed any idea of them already; but the simplest thing cannot be made clear to the most intelligent man if he is firmly persuaded that he knows already, without a shadow of doubt, what is laid before him.”
― Leo Tolstoy, The Kingdom of God Is Within You

“Anna spoke not only naturally and intelligently, but intelligently and casually, without attaching any value to her own thoughts, yet giving great value to the thoughts of the one she was talking to.”
― Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina

“If you love me as you say you do,' she whispered, 'make it so that I am at peace.”
― Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina

“But I'm glad you'll see me as I am. Above all, I wouldn't want people to think that I want to prove anything. I don't want to prove anything, I just want to live; to cause no evil to anyone but myself. I have that right, haven't I?”
― Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina

“Perhaps they were right putting love into books. Perhaps it could not live anywhere else.”
― William Faulkner

“The next time you try to seduce anyone, don't do it with talk, with words. Women know more about words than men ever will. And they know how little they can ever possibly mean.”
― William Faulkner

“Clocks slay time... time is dead as long as it is being clicked off by little wheels; only when the clock stops does time come to life.”
― William Faulkner, The Sound and the Fury

“Most maidens are perfectly capable of rescuing themselves in my experience, at least the ones worth something, in any case.”
― Erin Morgenstern, The Night Circus

“Books are the quietest and most constant of friends; they are the most accessible and wisest of counselors, and the most patient of teachers.”
― Charles W. Eliot

“I cannot overstate the benefits of a busy day for an anxious mind or a lonely heart.”
― Pip Williams, The Dictionary of Lost Words

“...I realized that the words most often used to define us were words that described our function in relation to others. Even the most benign words- maiden, wife, mother - told the world whether we were virgins or not. What was the male equivalent of maiden? I could not think of it. What was the male equivalent of Mrs., of whore, of common scold?... Which words would define me? Which would be used to judge or contain?”
― Pip Williams, The Dictionary of Lost Words

“If a woman does not fit the shape of what you think a woman should, if a woman is not obedient, does not see things the way you do, if a woman is too independent to need anything more than herself, does she automatically become a threat filled with such terror to you?”
― Nikita Gill, Great Goddesses: Life Lessons from Myths and Monsters

“Most of us can hide our greatest hurts and longings. It’s how we survive each day. We pretend the pain isn’t there, that we are made of scars instead of wounds.”
― Leigh Bardugo, King of Scars

“This is how you begin in this world. These are the lessons to be learned. Drink chamomile tea to calm the spirit. Feed a cold and starve a fever. Read as many books as you can. Always choose courage. Never watch another woman burn. Know that love is the only answer.”
― Alice Hoffman, Magic Lessons

“I am always surprised to discover that when the world seems darkest, there exists the greatest opportunity for light.”
― Brigid Kemmerer, A Curse So Dark and Lonely

“We are all dealt a hand at birth. A good hand can ultimately lose - just as a poor hand can win - but we must all play the cards the fate deals. The choices we face may not be the choices we want, but they are choices nonetheless.”
― Brigid Kemmerer, A Curse So Dark and Lonely

“You are merciful and kind. But kindness and mercy always find their limit, beyond which they turn to weakness and fear.”
― Brigid Kemmerer, A Curse So Dark and Lonely

“Power does not transform you, he’d said. It only reveals you.”
― Alexandra Bracken, Lore

“Not that we were incompatible: we just had nothing to talk about.”
― Haruki Murakami, Norwegian Wood

“She's letting out her feelings. The scary thing is not being able to do that. When your feelings build up and harden and die inside, then you're in big trouble.”
― Haruki Murakami, Norwegian Wood

“A situation in itself,” he said, “is neither happy nor unhappy. It’s only your response to it that causes your sorrow.”
― Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, The Palace of Illusions

“What did I learn that day in the sabha?
All this time I'd believed in my power over my husbands. I'd believed that because they loved me they would do anything for me. But now I saw that though they did love me—as much perhaps as any man can love—there were other things they loved more. Their notions of honor, of loyalty toward each other, of reputation were more important to them than my suffering. They would avenge me later, yes, but only when they felt the circumstances would bring them heroic fame. A woman doesn't think that way. I would have thrown myself forward to save them if it had been in my power that day. I wouldn't have cared what anyone thought. The choice they made in the moment of my need changed something in our relationship. I no longer depended on them so completely in the future. And when I took care to guard myself from hurt, it was as much from them as from our enemies”
― Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, The Palace of Illusions

“I broke the first rule, the unwritten one, meant not just for warriors but all of us: I took love and used it as a balm to soothe my ego.”
― Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, The Palace of Illusions

“Ii would no longer waste time on regret. I would turn my face to the future and carve it into the shape I wanted. - Panchali”
― Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, The Palace of Illusions

“his love was totally different from every other love in my life. Unlike them, it didn't expect me to behave in a certain way. It didn't change into displeasure or anger or even hatred if I didn't comply. It healed me.”
― Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, The Palace of Illusions