AJ

“On the night my parents were such bad role models about Paul and me getting together, my mother wound up saying to me that the real reason he and I shouldn't have a baby together yet didn't have anything to do with our education or our careers, as important as those things are. She said, 'When you have a child with someone, you're bound to them forever. That can be beautiful and miraculous, and yet a burden, too. The knowledge that your life is intertwined with another's, for all time. It transforms your relationship in ways I can't begin to describe.
Before you take that step with someone, you must be ready to accept the destruction of the life you had together beforehand-and have faith that what you two create afterward can be even greater.”
― Claudia Gray

“I wander over to the computer desk and sit down. I think of the field in Aleppo before the fire, when the bees hovered above the land like clouds, humming their song. I can see Mustafa taking a comb out of a hive, inspecting it closely, dipping a finger into the honey, tasting it. That was our paradise, at the edge of the desert and the edge of the city.

I look at my face on the dark screen, thinking of what to write — Mustafa, I believe I am unwell. I have no dreams left.”
― Christy Lefteri, The Beekeeper of Aleppo

“It's only the arrangement of matter that has changed, like a deck of cards being reshuffled.
But life is like a Straight Flush: once you shuffle, it's gone.”
― Cixin Liu

“I will never tire of watching tapes with Denny. He knows so much, and I have learned so much from him. He said nothing more to me; he continued watching his tapes. But my thoughts turned to what he had just taught me. Such a simple concept, yet so true: that which we manifest is before us; we are the creators of our own destiny. Be it through intention or ignorance, our successes and our failures have been brought on by none other than ourselves.”
― Garth Stein, The Art of Racing in the Rain