Franny

“He remarked as much to Charlotte on his return, and she was inclined to agree with him. 'As life draws us along,' she replied, 'we think we are acting of our own volition, ourselves choosing what we shall do and what we shall enjoy; but when we look more closely we see they are only the intentions and inclinations of the age which we are being compelled to comply with.”
― Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Elective Affinities

“Always resignation and acceptance. Always prudence and honour and duty. Elinor, where is your heart?”
― Jane Austen, Sense and Sensibility

“There was a redemption of some kind, he believed, in such complete fulfillment of a desire so long deferred.”
― Charles Frazier, Cold Mountain

“And they did what lovers often do when they think the future stretches out endless before them as bright as on the noon of creation day: they talked ceaselessly of the past, as if each must be caught up on the other's previous doings before they can move forward paired.”
― Charles Frazier, Cold Mountain