Lujain Ali

“To see and feel one's beloved naked for the first time is one of life's pure, irreducible epiphanies. If there is a true religion in the universe, it must include that truth of contact or be forever hollow. To make love to the one true person who deserves that love is one of the few absolute rewards of being a human being, balancing all of the pain, loss, awkwardness, loneliness, idiocy, compromise, and clumsiness that go with the human condition. To make love to the right person makes up for a lot of mistakes.”
― Dan Simmons, The Rise of Endymion

“[When you meet a swordsman/ meet him with a sword Do not offer a poem to anyone but a poet]”
― Dan Simmons, The Fall of Hyperion

“—It is hard to die. Harder to live.”
― Dan Simmons, The Fall of Hyperion

“and nothing smells quite as wonderful as old books.”
― Dan Simmons, The Fall of Hyperion