Lily

“Over the next few years, Marilyn taught herself through trial and error how to heighten the effect she had on men. Her voice had always been attractive—it was the voice of a little girl. But on film it had limitations until someone finally taught her to lower it, giving it the deep, breathy tones that became her seductive trademark, a mix of the little girl and the vixen. Before appearing on set, or even at a party, Marilyn would spend hours before the mirror. Most people assumed this was vanity—she was in love with her image. The truth was that image took hours to create. Marilyn spent years studying and practicing the art of makeup. The voice, the walk, the face and look were all constructions, an act. At the height of her fame, she would get a thrill by going into bars in New York City without her makeup or glamorous clothes and passing unnoticed.”
― Robert Greene, The Art of Seduction

“you don’t have to push me away to protect me, i can take it. you can stop being lonely. i won’t misunderstand. i know you just want someone to be with. i won’t take it as meaning more than that.”
― SenLinYu, Manacled

“Bianca had the kind of knowledge other girls could sense in her right away—it was as if she had already lived her adult life and had come back to her thirteen-year-old body to tell us about it.”
― Chelsea Hodson, Tonight I'm Someone Else: Essays

“And then, of course, she woke up.”
― Liz Braswell, Unbirthday