rhaeys

“I now welcomed summer visits to relatives; they were reprieves from his relentless attention. Still, when I was home, I sought out that attention as avidly as ever. My need to please him and to receive the emotional reassurance he was willing to give me in return was so much greater than the uneasiness I felt. When his strange, cooing voice bothered me, the tenderness of his words erased my misgivings. When he touched my breasts, comparing them favorably to Mother's, my qualms were quieted by the comfort his gentleness gave me. This man, the one beside me in bed, was so much nicer than the exacting, austere authority who stalked about in the other rooms of the house, or the torpid figure who sat rocking for hours at a time, staring into space. Who wouldn't want to make this man appear as often as possible?”
― Judith Lewis Herman, Father-Daughter Incest

“I realise that I have forgotten an important factor —the presence of the sea with its incessant rhythm. Neither have I remembered the four lime trees in the courtyard of a school in Provence, and their scent; and my father's smile on the station platform three years ago when I left school, his embarrassed smile because I had plaits and wore an ugly dark dress. And then in the car his sudden triumphant joy because I had his eyes, his mouth, and I was going to be for him the dearest, most marvellous of toys.”
― Françoise Sagan, Bonjour tristesse

“POETA
I czegóż pani życzy?

RACHEL
Miodu, rozkoszy, słodyczy
miłości, roznamiętnienia
i szczęścia.

POETA
A miłość wolna?…

RACHEL
Ach, marzyłam o tym zawsze!

POETA
A gdyby tak szczęście łaskawsze
pożaliło się jej biedy?

RACHEL
Przestałabym marzyć wtedy.”
― Stanisław Wyspiański, Wesele

“Why, Father,” she pursued, “what a strange question to ask me! The baby-preference that even I have heard of as common among children, has never had its innocent resting-place in my breast. You have been so careful of me that I never had a child’s heart. You have trained me so well that I never dreamed a child’s dream. You have dealt so wisely with me, Father, from my cradle to this hour, that I never had a child’s belief or a child’s fear.”
Mr. Gradgrind was quite moved by his success, and by this testimony to it. “My dear Louisa,” said he, “you abundantly repay my care. Kiss me, my dear girl.”
― Charles Dickens, Hard Times