Madara

“Troy's deformities lay deep down from a woman's vision, whilst his embellishments were upon the very surface; thus contrasting with homely Oak, whose defects were patent to the blindest, and whose virtues were as metals in a mine.”
― Thomas Hardy, Far From the Madding Crowd

“Nothing made you feel so useless as another person's grief.”
― Laini Taylor, Days of Blood & Starlight

“Come down to the tavern," he said after dark had fallen.
"No, thank you," I said, glancing up from the dryadology journal I was jotting notes from - I was working on the bibliography for my encyclopedia. "I'd like an early night."
"You don't have to stay long. You'd rather sit here with your nose in a book?"
"Vastly," I said, and he shook his head at me, not in disgust but utter bemusement.”
― Heather Fawcett, Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries

“Perhaps Fate laid out your life for you like a dress on a bed, and you could either wear it or go naked.”
― Laini Taylor