#absence

Because the enormous narcissism of their parents deprived Will and Tom of suitable role models, both brothers learned to identify with absence. Consequently, even if something beneficial fortuitously entered their lives they immediately treated it as temporary. By the time they were teenagers they were already accustomed to a discontinuous lifestyle marked by constant threats of abandonment and the lack of any emotional stability. Unfortunately, "accustomed to" here is really synonymous with "damaged by. ↗

— Mark Z. Danielewski

#damaged #lifestyle

And,” Annabeth continued, “it reminds me how long we’ve known each other. We were twelve, Percy. Can you believe that?” “No, he admitted. “So…you knew you liked me from that moment?” She smirked. “I hated you at first. You annoyed me. Then I tolerated you for a few years. Then—” “Okay, fine.” She leaned in and kissed: him a good, proper kiss without anyone watching—no Romans anywhere, no screaming satyr chaperones. She pulled away. “I missed you, Percy.” Percy wanted to tell her the same thing, but it seemed too small a comment. While he had been on the Roman side, he’d kept himself alive almost solely by thinking of Annabeth. I missed you didn’t really cover that. ↗

— Rick Riordan

#annabeth-chase #heroes-of-olympus #missing-you #percy-jackson #percy-jackson-and-the-olympians

Life has become the ideology of its own absence. ↗

— Theodor Adorno

#become #ideology #life #own

The absence of political personalities in the government will help rather than hinder a solid base of support for the government in parliament and in the political parties because it will remove one ground for disagreement. ↗

— Mario Monti

#base #because #disagreement #government #ground

The whole religious complexion of the modern world is due to the absence from Jerusalem of a lunatic asylum. ↗

— Thomas Paine

#asylum #complexion #due #jerusalem #lunatic

While formal schooling is an important advantage, it is not a guarantee of success nor is its absence a fatal handicap. ↗

— Ray Kroc

#advantage #fatal #formal #guarantee #handicap

The job is to ask questions-it always was-and to ask them as inexorably as I can. And to face the absence of precise answers with a certain humility. ↗

— Arthur Miller

#always #answers #ask #certain #face

Making love to me is amazing. Wait, I meant: making love, to me, is amazing. The absence of two little commas nearly transformed me into a sex god.
 ↗

— Dark Jar Tin Zoo

#amazement #amazing #commas #editing #funny

Discouragement is not the absence of adequacy but the absence of courage. ↗

— Neal A. Maxwell

#adequacy #courage #discouragement

Every person needs to take one day away.  A day in which one consciously separates the past from the future.  Jobs, family, employers, and friends can exist one day without any one of us, and if our egos permit us to confess, they could exist eternally in our absence.  Each person deserves a day away in which no problems are confronted, no solutions searched for.  Each of us needs to withdraw from the cares which will not withdraw from us. ↗

— Maya Angelou

#break #peace #rest #vacation #work