“I want to do something splendid...something heroic or wonderful that won't be forgotten after I'm dead. I don't know what, but I'm on the watch for it and mean to astonish you all someday.”
― Little Women
― Little Women
“…because talent isn't genius, and no amount of energy can make it so. I want to be great, or nothing.”
― Little Women
― Little Women
“I can never read all the books I want; I can never be all the people I want and live all the lives I want. I can never train myself in all the skills I want. And why do I want? I want to live and feel all the shades, tones and variations of mental and physical experience possible in my life. And I am horribly limited.”
― The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath
― The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath
“You sensed that you should be following a different path, a more ambitious one, you felt that you were destined for other things but you had no idea how to achieve them and in your misery you began to hate everything around you.”
― Netochka Nezvanova
― Netochka Nezvanova
“I am not so gifted as at one time seemed likely.”
― The Waves
― The Waves
živa’s 2025 Year in Books
Take a look at živa’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
Favorite Genres
Classics and Young-adult
Polls voted on by živa
Lists liked by živa


















