#america

American cities are like badger holes, ringed with trash--all of them--surrounded by piles of wrecked and rusting automobiles, and almost smothered in rubbish. Everything we use comes in boxes, cartons, bins, the so-called packaging we love so much. The mountain of things we throw away are much greater than the things we use. ↗

— John Steinbeck

#cities #rubbish #trash #waste #love

There is something immensely scary about putting yourself out there for people to love or hate you, fan or pan you, review or screw you. ↗

— L.V. Lewis

#contemporary-romance #erotic-romance #interracial-romance #parody #love

You know what the issue is? Do you want to know? It's what these guys have decided to call America. They have the audacity to say, 'There, you sons of bitches, don't lay a finger on it. That is a finished product.'" "But any country is still in the making. Always. That's just history, people have to see that. ↗

— Barbara Kingsolver

#diversity #kingsolver #lacuna #diversity

A citizen of America will cross the ocean to fight for democracy, but won't cross the street to vote in a national election. ↗

— Bill Vaughan

#citizen #cross #democracy #election #fight

The American appetite for loneliness impressed me, and there was something about this solitude that freed conversation. One night at a bar, I met a man, and within five minutes he explained that he had just been released from prison. Another drinker told me that his wife had passed away, and he had recently suffered a heart attack, and now he hoped that he would die within the year. I learned that there's no reliable small talk in America; at any moment a conversation can become personal. ↗

— Peter Hessler

#conversation #intimacy #loneliness #solitude #talk

Advice to explorers everywhere: if you would like to recieve due credit for your discoveries, keep a detailed account of your journeys as Columbus did. On Septemeber 28, 1492, after four weeks at sea, he writes: Dear diary...I means journal. Yes, dear journal. That's what I meant to say. Whew. Anyway, we have yet to discover America, and the crew has become increasingly rebellious. I have decided to turn back if we have not spotted it by Columbus Day. Will write again later if not killed by crew. P.S. Last night's buffet was fabulous, the ice sculptures magnificent. ↗

— Cuthbert Soup

#columbus #columbus-day #diary #discovering #explorers

HUGH: …I was hit by a man driving a Japanese car. JESSICA: The scoundrel! How dare he not buy American. ↗

— Bauvard

#cars #funny #hit-and-run #humor #japanese

There is no model, no actress, no Miss America contender that can outshine a happy, confident, secure woman. ↗

— Mandy Hale

#beautiful-confidence #beauty #being-yourself #confident #happiness

Does it matter how long they were together that night? To lovers, an hour can last a century. But even for lovers, every hour ends. ↗

— Scott Snyder

#century #hour #love #vampire #love

This American Jewish music is a new experience for us at least consciously. ↗