#elves

Our stresses, anxieties, pains, and problems arise because we do not see the world, others, or even ourselves as worthy of love. (9) ↗

— Prem Prakash

#love #others #ourselves #pain #problems

They were a deep emerald green, the exact same color as mine, and they glowed with an intensity I had never witnessed before. A slash of silver crossed each one, the sun's reflection making them sparkle like dancing crystals. The emerald irises appeared to be swirling in circles, creating the illusion that his eyes were never-ending. Flecks of darker emerald clustered around each pupil made my breath catch in my throat. Suddenly, my disheartened mood vanished, almost as if I had never felt sadness before. Something about these eyes held me in place, as if I had found a balance, blanketing me in a cocoon of comfort, free of worries and concerns. ↗

— Markelle Grabo

#connection #elves #eyes #love #love

In my living room there are two large bookcases, each one eight feet tall, and they have about five hundred books between them. If I step up to a shelf and look at the books one by one, I can remember something about each. As a historian once said, some stare at me reproachfully, grumbling that I have never read them. One may remind me vaguely of a time when I was interested in romantic novels. An old college text will elicit a pang of unhappiness about studying. Each book has its character, and even books I know very well also have this kind of wordless flavor. Now if I step back from the shelf and look quickly across both bookcases I speed up that same process a hundredfold. Impressions wash across my awareness. But each book still looks back in its own way, answering the rude brevity of my gaze, calling faintly to me out of the corner of my eye. At that speed many books remain wrapped in the shadows of my awareness--I know I have looked past them and I know they are there, but I refuse to call them to mind. ↗

— James Elkins

#bookshelves #looking #reading #nature

My brother and I were able to fantasize far more extravagantly about our parents' tastes and desires, their aspirations and their vices, by scanning their bookcases than by snooping in their closest. Their selves were on their shelves. ↗

— Anne Fadiman

#bookshelves #parents #shelves #aspiration

I always thought I could do a good job coaching, but the opportunities have not presented themselves. ↗

— Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

#coaching #could #good #good job #i

Our response has been, 'Well, let's then make an effort to get the Israelis and the Palestinians to sit around the table.' That hasn't happened. So we only have ourselves to blame for this crisis. ↗

— King Abdullah II

#been #blame #crisis #effort #get

Our contest is not only whether we ourselves shall be free, but whether there shall be left to mankind an asylum on earth for civil and religious liberty. ↗

— Samuel Adams

#civil #contest #earth #free #left

Mutability of temper and inconsistency with ourselves is the greatest weakness of human nature. ↗

— Joseph Addison

#greatest weakness #human #human nature #inconsistency #mutability

The United States' administrations... must recognize that Iran is a big power. Having said that, we consider ourselves to be a human force and a cultural power and hence a friend of other nations. We have never sought to dominate others or to violate the rights of any other country. ↗

— Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

#big #consider #country #cultural #dominate

Once every five hundred years or so, a summary statement about poetry comes along that we can't imagine ourselves living without. ↗

— A. R. Ammons

#along #comes #every #five #hundred