#act

I want to talk to you. I want to listen to you. I want to walk with you and, yes, I want you in m bed. That's what I want today. That's what I'll want in a hundred years. If you promise to be my wife forever, I will pledge myself to your happiness. ↗

— Christina Dodd

#historical #historical-romance #queen #queen-victoria #romance

To me, a witch is a woman that is capable of letting her intuition take hold of her actions, that communes with her environment, that isn't afraid of facing challenges. ↗

— Paulo Coelho

#challenge #commune #environment #intuition #witch

Historical determinism is a recipe for political quietism. ↗

— Terry Eagleton

#apathy #apolitical #determinism #historical-determinism #history

That we are not totally transformed, that we can turn away, turn the page, switch the channel, does not impugn the ethical value of an assault by images. It is not a defect that we are not seared, that we do not suffer enough, when we see these images. Neither is the photograph supposed to repair our ignorance about the history and causes of the suffering it picks out and frames. Such images cannot be more than an invitation to pay attention, to reflect, to learn, to examine the rationalizations for mass suffering offered by established powers. Who caused what the picture shows? Who is responsible? Is it excusable? Was it inevitable? Is there some state of affairs which we have accepted up to now that ought to be challenged? All this, with the understanding that moral indignation, like compassion, cannot dictate a course of action. ↗

— Susan Sontag

#compassion #photography #reflection #photography

The Play's the Thing, wherein I'll catch the conscience of the King. ↗

— William Shakespeare

#conscience

I also think he is given to disguises...Sometimes he wears spectacles and sometimes he does not. And twice he has worn an extremely peculiar hat. Inside. ↗

— Julia Quinn

#hat #spying #suspicious #london

We are not afraid to entrust the American people with unpleasant facts, foreign ideas, alien philosophies, and competitive values. For a nation that is afraid to let its people judge the truth and falsehood in an open market is a nation that is afraid of its people. ↗

— John F. Kennedy

#alien #american #american people #competitive #entrust

The world is shaped by two things — stories told and the memories they leave behind. ↗

— Vera Nazarian

#actions #acts #creation #dream #dreams

That if desperate times call for desperate measures, then I'm free to act as desperately as I wish. ↗

— Suzanne Collins

#acting

The belief that unhappiness is selfless and happiness is selfish is misguided. It's more selfless to act happy. It takes energy, generosity, and discipline to be unfailingly lighthearted, yet everyone takes the happy person for granted. No one is careful of his feelings or tries to keep his spirits high. He seems self-sufficient; he becomes a cushion for others. And because happiness seems unforced, that person usually gets no credit. ↗

— Gretchen Rubin

#giving #happiness #selfishness #selflessness #acting