#bs

The witch reached into the picnic basket and pulled out a light brown chamois bag about the size of a playing card. “Maybe this will help you. It’ll boost your self-esteem.” Now we’re getting somewhere. Riley took the bag and opened it. She looked to the bottom to find … nothing. “Ah, it’s empty.” “Of course,” Ayden replied. “It’s up to you to fill it. Find things that mean something to you, that represent times where you’ve overcome an obstacle, learned something important. Put those items in the bag and they’ll help you find your strength. ↗

— Jana Oliver

#strength #self-esteem

He was possessed now with that obsession for the cross in which so many lips have worn themselves away on crucifixes. ↗

— Émile Zola

#religious-faith #faith

The words kept coming back to him, statement of a mystical truth and a palpable absurdity. ↗

— George Orwell

#mystical #truth #words #mysticism

But I kept at it with the help-wanted ads. My standards were sliding swiftly. At first I had insisted I would only work at a company with a mission I believed in. Then I thought maybe it would be fine as long as I was learning something new. After that I decided it just couldn't be evil. Now I was carefully delineating my personal definition of evil. ↗

— Robin Sloan

#jobs #new-thought

And it is strange that absence can feel like presence. ↗

— Ally Condie

#ally-condie #crossed #dystopia #dystopian-fiction #page-

The wit of a family is usually best received among strangers. ↗

— George Eliot

#family

Love knows no boundaries. I wish I would have known that before I hired a cartographer to map out my romantic territory.   ↗

— Jarod Kintz

#bizarre #boundaries #cartographer #funny #humor

The silence protrudes like an engorged stomach, while I ponder the thought of trying to sit on my own lap. ↗