helen blake

“Once - unknown, and unloved, I held him harsh and strange ; the low stature, the wiry make , the angles, the darkness, the manner, displeased me. Now, penetrated with his influence, and living by his affection, having his worth by intellect, and his goodness by heart - I preferred him before all humanity.”
― Charlotte Brontë, Villette

“This is what human beings do with their lives, I thought.”
― Sally Rooney, Mr Salary

“And I suppose I looked at him with resignation, with a face that said: ‘Yes, it’s true, what else did you expect?’ And I can recall now, as fresh as anything, Tommy’s own face, the anger receding for the moment, being replaced by an expression almost of wonder, like I was a rare butterfly he’d come across on a fence-post.”
― Kazuo Ishiguro, Never Let Me Go

“Do you remember the Shire, Mr. Frodo? It'll be spring soon. And the orchards will be in blossom. And the birds will be nesting in the hazel thicket. And they'll be sowing the summer barley in the lower fields... and eating the first of the strawberries with cream. Do you remember the taste of strawberries?”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King