“The most important things are the hardest to say. They are the things you get ashamed of, because words diminish them -- words shrink things that seemed limitless when they were in your head to no more than living size when they're brought out. But it's more than that, isn't it? The most important things lie too close to wherever your secret heart is buried, like landmarks to a treasure your enemies would love to steal away. And you may make revelations that cost you dearly only to have people look at you in a funny way, not understanding what you've said at all, or why you thought it was so important that you almost cried while you were saying it. That's the worst, I think. When the secret stays locked within not for want of a teller but for want of an understanding ear.”
―
―
“The road to hell is paved with adverbs.”
― On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft
― On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft
“Give sorrow words; the grief that does not speak knits up the o-er wrought heart and bids it break.”
― Macbeth
― Macbeth
“(on grief) And you do come out of it, that’s true. After a year, after five. But you don’t come out of it like a train coming out of a tunnel, bursting through the downs into sunshine and that swift, rattling descent to the Channel; you come out of it as a gull comes out of an oil-slick. You are tarred and feathered for life.”
― Flaubert's Parrot
― Flaubert's Parrot
“When someone you love dies, and you're not expecting it, you don't lose her all at once; you lose her in pieces over a long time—the way the mail stops coming, and her scent fades from the pillows and even from the clothes in her closet and drawers. Gradually, you accumulate the parts of her that are gone. Just when the day comes—when there's a particular missing part that overwhelms you with the feeling that she's gone, forever—there comes another day, and another specifically missing part.”
― A Prayer for Owen Meany
― A Prayer for Owen Meany
Fantasy Aficionados
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This is a place for lovers of all types of fantasy literature and culture. Here, you can discuss your favorite books, authors, and series. There is pl ...more
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For readers of fantasy who are looking to find a partner or small group to read and discuss with! We run several fun ongoing challenges and discussion ...more
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