#d

[H]is mouth pursed, but pursed in American, more generous than English pursing, ready for broader vowels and less mincing sounds. His body was long and lean and trim; he had American hips, ready for a neat belt and the faraway ghost of a gunbelt. ↗

— A.S. Byatt

#self-awareness #self-image #body-image

In the midst of our struggle to find out who we are, there are infinite possibilities for beauty, and hope, and wonder, and love. ↗

— Mandy Hale

#beauty #destiny #enjoying-the-journey #faith #finding-yourself

Female forms of exquisite grace and beauty began to mingle in his mental adventures; nor was he long without looking abroad to compare the creatures of his own imagination with the females of actual life. ↗

— Walter Scott

#beauty

Fireworks. Snowflakes. Sunstroke and frostbite. It was all that I could ask for and completely unexpected. I expected demands. He gifted me with tenderness. I expected ego. He let me experiment. I expected disrespect. He called me beautiful. I expected him to expect perfection. He taught me all I needed to know. ↗

— Ellen Hopkins

#boy #drug #girl #life #love

Hate is such a beautiful feeling and so undermined at that. Every drop of hate is as much deep a red, as a drop of fierce love. Why would you shirk this feeling away. Why would you not open your heart to the scars and feel every stab and jolt of pain? Why would you not hold your won quivering pieces and touch them to your lips? Why would you not hate with as much effort as you would give to love? Why would you keep your own hate, your own pure feelings away from you! Nothing comes out of hate? Does. It is a glittering word, REDEMPTION. ↗

— Geeta Masurekar- from 'Here is how it happened'urekar

#feelings #hate #heart #love #pure

Sophie," he said, and when she gave him a stern look, he took a hasty swig of the posset. “Miss Collins. I have not yet had a chance to properly apologize to you, so let me take it now. Please forgive me for the trick I played on you with the scones. I did not mean to show you disrespect. I hope you do not imagine I think any less of you for your position in the household, for you are one of the finest and bravest ladies I have ever had the pleasure of knowing. ↗

— Cassandra Clare

#cassandra-clare #clockwork-princess #gideon-lightwood #infernal-devices #love

The greatest and noblest pleasure which men can have in this world is to discover new truths; and the next is to shake off old prejudices. ↗

— Frederick The Great

#prejudices #truths #men

The most beautiful things can only be created by the most free minds! ↗

— Mehmet Murat ildan

#beauty

It should have been the Arabian Nights, but to Bond, seeing it first above the tops of trams and above the great scars of modern advertising along the river frontage, it seemed a once beautiful theatre-set that modern Turkey had thrown aside in favour of the steel and concrete flat-iron of the Istanbul-Hilton Hotel, blankly glittering behind him on the heights of Pera. ↗

— Ian Fleming

#istanbul #modernization #pera #turkey #beauty

Women are walking around on the streets. From her calf and the hem of her skirt to her hip, from her hair to the high heels on her feet, a young woman is freedom. Especially when you look at her from afar. ↗

— Hwang Sŏk-yŏng

#freedom #hwang-sok-yong #the-old-garden #women #young-women