Konstantina > Konstantina's Quotes

“Marin believes love is better in the chase than caught.”
― Jessie Burton, The Miniaturist

“Growing older does not seem to make you more certain, Nella thinks. It simply presents you with more reasons for doubt.”
― Jessie Burton, The Miniaturist

“The bars on our cage are of our own making.”
― Jessie Burton

“There is nothing wrong with the love of Beauty. But Beauty—unless she is wed to something more meaningful—is always superficial.”
― Donna Tartt, The Secret History

“There are such things as ghosts. People everywhere have always known that. And we believe in them every bit as much as Homer did. Only now, we call them by different names. Memory. The unconscious.”
― Donna Tartt, The Secret History

“As we count up the memories from one journey, we head off on another.”
― Hiro Arikawa, The Travelling Cat Chronicles

“Among cats, when a female chooses a mate, it’s a very clear-cut thing. Not just among cats, but with all animals, the female’s judgement about love is absolute.”
― Hiro Arikawa, The Travelling Cat Chronicles

“Our silver van was like a magic carriage. Every time I got into it, it carried me to a place I’d never been before. At that moment, we were without doubt the greatest travelers in the world. And I was the world’s greatest traveling cat.”
― Hiro Arikawa, The Travelling Cat Chronicles

“From his shoulder, I leapt down to the ground and nosed my way into the pampas grass.
The path before me was blocked by the thick stems. I lifted my head and saw, far above me, the white ears waving against a clear blue sky.
'Nana?'
Satoru's worried voice reached my ears.
'Nana, where are you-uuu?'
There was the sound of dry grass being trampled so I knew that Satoru had entered the pampas grass sea, too. I'm here, just here, just near you.
But as he called me, Satoru's voice drifted further away. From where I was, I could see Satoru, but he couldn't see me, hidden as I was by the pampas.
I guess I have no choice, I thought, and followed quickly after Satoru so he wouldn't get lost.
'Nana?'
Right here! I answered him, but it seemed like my voice was being carried away by the wind and didn't reach him.
'Naaaaana!'
Satoru began to sound desperate.
'Nana! Nana, where are you-uuuuu?'
Satoru started to call out into the distance and, unable to bear it, I let out a loud shout, as big as I could make it.
I'm right heeeere!
And then there he was, framed against the sky, gazing down on me. The instant our eyes met, his stern look melted. His eyes softened and light caught the trails of water sliding down his cheeks.
Without a word, he knelt down on the earth, placed his big hands around my middle and hugged me. That hurts! My guts are going to squeeze out.
'You silly thing! If you wander off in here, I'll never be able to find you!'
Satoru's whole body shook with his sobs.
'For someone your size, this field is like a sea of trees!”
― Hiro Arikawa, The Travelling Cat Chronicles

“They say nothing lasts forever but they're just scared it will last longer than they can love it.”
― Ocean Vuong, On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous

“Sometimes being offered tenderness feels like the very proof that you've been ruined.”
― Ocean Vuong, On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous

“In Vietnamese, the word for missing someone and remembering them is the same: nhớ. Sometimes, when you ask me over the phone, Có nhớ mẹ không? I flinch, thinking you meant, Do you remember me?

I miss you more than I remember you.”
― Ocean Vuong, On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous

“Because the sunset, like survival, exists only on the verge of its own disappearing. To be gorgeous, you must first be seen, but to be seen allows you to be hunted.”
― Ocean Vuong, On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous

“Too much joy, I swear, is lost in our desperation to keep it.”
― Ocean Vuong, On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous

“What were you before you met me?"
"I think I was drowning"
"And what are you now?"
"Water”
― Ocean Vuong, On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous

“When does a war end? When can I say your name and have it mean only your name and not what you left behind?”
― Ocean Vuong, On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous

“The pain of losing something precious - be it happiness or material wealth – can be forgotten over time. But our missed opportunities never leave us, and every time they come back to haunt us, we ache. Or perhaps what haunts us is that nagging thought that things might have turned out differently. Because without that thought, we would put it down to fate and accept it.”
― Sabahattin Ali, Kürk Mantolu Madonna

“Dünyanın en basit, en zavallı, hatta en ahmak adamı bile, insanı hayretten hayrete düşürecek ne müthiş ve karışık bir ruha maliktir. Niçin bunu anlamaktan bu kadar kaçıyor ve insan dedikleri mahluku anlaşılması ve hakkında hüküm verilmesi en kolay şeylerden biri zannediyoruz?”
― Sabahattin Ali, Kürk Mantolu Madonna

“People can only get to know each other up to a point and then they make up the rest, until one day, seeing their mistake, they turn their backs on sadness and run away. Would this ever happen, if they stopped believing their dreams and made do with what was possible? If everyone accepted what was natural, then no one would suffer disappointment, no one would curse fate. We have every right to see our situation as pitiful, but we must confine our pity to ourselves. To pity another is to assume superiority and that is why we must never think we are superior to others, or that others are more unfortunate.”
― Sabahattin Ali, Kürk Mantolu Madonna

“I felt such a fresh longing for her at that moment that we might have parted only yesterday. The pain of losing something precious - be it earthly happiness or material wealth - can be forgotten over time. But our missed opportunities never leave us, and every time they come back to haunt us, we ache. Or perhaps what haunts us is that nagging thought that things might have turned out differently. Because without that thought, we would put it down to fate and accept it.”
― Sabahattin Ali, Madonna in a Fur Coat, Madonna in a Fur Coat

“Above all, don't lie to yourself. The man who lies to himself and listens to his own lie comes to a point that he cannot distinguish the truth within him, or around him, and so loses all respect for himself and for others. And having no respect he ceases to love.”
― Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Brothers Karamazov

“The mystery of human existence lies not in just staying alive, but in finding something to live for.”
― Fyodor Dostoyevsky, The Brothers Karamazov

“Perhaps home is not a place but simply an irrevocable condition.”
― James Baldwin, Giovanni’s Room

“There are so many ways of being despicable it quite makes one’s head spin. But the way to be really despicable is to be contemptuous of other people’s pain.”
― James Baldwin, Giovanni’s Room

“Tell me, he said, "What is this thing about time? Why is it better to be late than early? People are always saying, we must wait, we must wait. what are they waiting for?"

"Well […] I guess people wait in order to make sure of what they feel."

"And when you have waited—-has it made you sure?”
― James Baldwin, Giovanni’s Room

“People who believe that they are strong-willed and the masters of their destiny can only continue to believe this by becoming specialists in self-deception.”
― James Baldwin, Giovanni’s Room

“But it was not the room’s disorder which was frightening; it was the fact that when one began searching for the key to this disorder, one realized that it was not to be found in any of the usual places. For this was not a matter of habit or circumstance or temperament; it was a matter of punishment and grief.”
― James Baldwin, Giovanni’s Room

“Either or; it takes strength to remember, it takes another kind of strength to forget, it takes a hero to do both.”
― James Baldwin , Giovanni’s Room

“I threw out the paper, the bottles, the fantastic accumulation of trash, I examined the contents of the innumerable boxes and suitcases, and disposed of them. But I am not a housewife--men can never be housewives. And the pleasure was never real or deep, though Giovanni smiled his humble, grateful smile and told me in as many ways as he could find how wonderful it was to have me there, how I stood, with my love and my ingenuity, between him and the dark. Each day he invited me to witness how he had changed, how love had changed him, how he worked and sang and cherished me. I was in a terrible confusion. Sometimes I thought, but this is your life. Stop fighting it. Stop fighting. Or I thought, but I am happy. And he loves me. I am safe. Sometimes, when he was not near me, I thought, I will never let him touch me again. Then, when he touched me, I thought it doesn't matter, it is only the body, it will soon be over. When it was over I lay in the dark and listened to his breathing and dreamed of the touch of hands, of Giovanni's hands, or anybody's hands, hands which would have the power to crush me and make me whole again.”
― James Baldwin, Giovanni’s Room

“It takes strength to remember, it takes another kind of strength to forget, it takes a hero to do both. People who remember court madness through pain, the pain of the perpetually recurring death of their innocence; people who forget court another kind of madness, the madness of the denial of pain and the hatred of innocence; and the world is mostly divided between madmen who remember and madmen who forget. Heroes are rare.”
― James Baldwin, Giovanni’s Room