victoria

“She wasn’t a bird in a cage. A bird in a cage, when the cage is opened, can still fly away. She was a bird embroidered onto a screen — a white bird in clouds of gold stitched onto a screen of melancholy satin. The years passed; the bird’s feathers darkened, mildewed, and were eaten by moths, but the bird stayed on the screen even in death.”
― Eileen Chang, Love in a Fallen City

“The last I saw of Count Dracula was his kissing his hand to me, with a red light of triumph in his eyes, and with a smile that Judas in hell might be proud of.”
― Bram Stoker, Dracula

“Embarrassment is improvement's biggest enemy.”
― Ryoko Kui, ダンジョン飯 5 [Dungeon Meshi 5]

“What would my body look and feel like if I didn't have to mold it into both a shield and an ornament? How do I love a body that was never fully my own?”
― Vivek Shraya, I'm Afraid of Men.