Nara

“ They are surely gods who speak to him With steady voices  
A glance from him drives men to their knees
His sigh brings cities to ruin  
I wonder if he dreams of surrender
On a bed of white flowers  
Or is that the mistaken hope
Of every would-be conqueror?
The world was not made for beauty like his ”
― S.U. Pacat, Captive Prince

“Hope was a dangerous, disquieting thing, but he thought perhaps he liked it.”
― Nora Sakavic, The Foxhole Court

“A veces guardamos nuestros temores en cajas bajo llave cuando no queremos enfrentarlos porque nos da miedo que nos muerdan y nos coman. Pero luego se escapan y nos comen de todos modos.”
― Raiza Revelles, El chico de la piel de cerdo y otros relatos que jamás deberías leer

“Have you ever been in love? Horrible isn't it? It makes you so vulnerable. It opens your chest and it opens up your heart and it means that someone can get inside you and mess you up. You build up all these defenses, you build up a whole suit of armor, so that nothing can hurt you, then one stupid person, no different from any other stupid person, wanders into your stupid life...You give them a piece of you. They didn't ask for it. They did something dumb one day, like kiss you or smile at you, and then your life isn't your own anymore. Love takes hostages. It gets inside you. It eats you out and leaves you crying in the darkness, so simple a phrase like 'maybe we should be just friends' turns into a glass splinter working its way into your heart. It hurts. Not just in the imagination. Not just in the mind. It's a soul-hurt, a real gets-inside-you-and-rips-you-apart pain. I hate love.”
― Neil Gaiman, The Sandman, Vol. 9: The Kindly Ones