“Laugh all you want and cry all you want and whistle at pretty men in the street and to hell with anybody who thinks you're a damned fool!”
― More Tales of the City
― More Tales of the City
“The day we met, frozen I held my breath. Right from the start, I knew that I found the home for my heart beats fast. Colors and promises. How to be brave? How can I love, when i'm afraid to fall. But watching you stand alone,all of my doubts, suddenly goes away somehow. One step closer. I have died every day waiting for you, darlin' don't be afraid, I have loved you for a thousand years, i'll love you for a thousand more ♛♥”
―
―
“The desert frightens me, I think. It looks too much like the seventh circle of hell. I'm afraid of damnation."
"Why?"
"Why?" Evelyn repeated, peering at Ann from behind her hand. She lay back again and closed her eyes. "I don't know. I've always supposed everyone is."
"Well, they're not. I, for instance, am a hell of a lot more frightened of being saved." Evelyn chuckled.
"I'm serious," Ann protested. "Virtue smells to me of rotting vegetation. Here you burn or freeze. Either way it's clean."
"Sterile," Evelyn said and felt the word a laceration of her own flesh. "I wonder. It's fertility that's a dirty word for me."
"Is it?"
"Yes, I'm terrified of giving in, of justifying my own existence by means of simple reproduction. So many people do or try to. And there are the children, so unfulfilling after all. And they grow up to do nothing but reproduce children who will reproduce, everyone so busy reproducing that there's no time to produce anything. But it's such a temptation. It seems so natural — another dirty word for me. What's the point?"
"You'd have the human race die out?"
"No. We'll multiply in spite of ourselves always. We'll populate the desert. One day there will be little houses and docks all along this shore, signs of our salvation."
"What would you have us do instead?" Evelyn asked.
"Accept damnation," Ann said. "It has its power and its charm. And it's real."
"So we should all get jobs in gambling casinos."
"We all do," Ann said, her voice amused. "What do you think the University of California is? It's just a minor branch of the Establishment. The only difference is that it has to be subsidized."
"Are you talking nonsense on purpose?"
"No, I'm serious."
"You think nothing has any value?"
"No, I think everything has value, absolute value, a child, a house, a day's work, the sky. But nothing will save us. We were never meant to be saved."
"What were we meant for then?"
"To love the whole damned world," Ann said…
"I live in the desert of the heart," Evelyn said quietly, "I can't love the whole damned world." 'Love me, Evelyn.' 'I do.”
― Desert of the Heart
"Why?"
"Why?" Evelyn repeated, peering at Ann from behind her hand. She lay back again and closed her eyes. "I don't know. I've always supposed everyone is."
"Well, they're not. I, for instance, am a hell of a lot more frightened of being saved." Evelyn chuckled.
"I'm serious," Ann protested. "Virtue smells to me of rotting vegetation. Here you burn or freeze. Either way it's clean."
"Sterile," Evelyn said and felt the word a laceration of her own flesh. "I wonder. It's fertility that's a dirty word for me."
"Is it?"
"Yes, I'm terrified of giving in, of justifying my own existence by means of simple reproduction. So many people do or try to. And there are the children, so unfulfilling after all. And they grow up to do nothing but reproduce children who will reproduce, everyone so busy reproducing that there's no time to produce anything. But it's such a temptation. It seems so natural — another dirty word for me. What's the point?"
"You'd have the human race die out?"
"No. We'll multiply in spite of ourselves always. We'll populate the desert. One day there will be little houses and docks all along this shore, signs of our salvation."
"What would you have us do instead?" Evelyn asked.
"Accept damnation," Ann said. "It has its power and its charm. And it's real."
"So we should all get jobs in gambling casinos."
"We all do," Ann said, her voice amused. "What do you think the University of California is? It's just a minor branch of the Establishment. The only difference is that it has to be subsidized."
"Are you talking nonsense on purpose?"
"No, I'm serious."
"You think nothing has any value?"
"No, I think everything has value, absolute value, a child, a house, a day's work, the sky. But nothing will save us. We were never meant to be saved."
"What were we meant for then?"
"To love the whole damned world," Ann said…
"I live in the desert of the heart," Evelyn said quietly, "I can't love the whole damned world." 'Love me, Evelyn.' 'I do.”
― Desert of the Heart
“One might say my life has been tragic. Yet, as I sat in pain in the hospital I raised my tired hands toward the sky, palms facing in, fingers spread, and I gave thanks.”
― Become Courageous Abeba: A Story of Love, Loss, War and Hope
― Become Courageous Abeba: A Story of Love, Loss, War and Hope
“What are you doing with all these books?" I asked, stepping towards a tall stack on the floor. I ran my fingers down the spines, recognizing a few familiar titles from School: Heart of Darkness, The Great Gatsby, and To the Lighthouse.
Caleb came beside me, his warm shoulder brushing against mine. "I do this funny thing sometimes," she said, shooting me a mischievous grin. "I open a book, and I look at each page. It's called reading”
― Eve
Caleb came beside me, his warm shoulder brushing against mine. "I do this funny thing sometimes," she said, shooting me a mischievous grin. "I open a book, and I look at each page. It's called reading”
― Eve
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