#h

I have often noticed that we are inclined to endow our friends with the stability of type that literary characters acquire in the reader's mind. [...] Whatever evolution this or that popular character has gone through between the book covers, his fate is fixed in our minds, and, similarly, we expect our friends to follow this or that logical and conventional pattern we have fixed for them. Thus X will never compose the immortal music that would clash with the second-rate symphonies he has accustomed us to. Y will never commit murder. Under no circumstances can Z ever betray us. We have it all arranged in our minds, and the less often we see a particular person, the more satisfying it is to check how obediently he conforms to our notion of him every time we hear of him. Any deviation in the fates we have ordained would strike us as not only anomalous but unethical. We could prefer not to have known at all our neighbor, the retired hot-dog stand operator, if it turns out he has just produced the greatest book of poetry his age has seen. ↗

— Vladimir Nabokov

#friendship #betrayal

i want to stay with you." it was easier to say in the darkness, knowing as i spoke my voice would betray me, my hopeless addiction to him. ↗

— Stephenie Meyer

#addiction

I have learned to seek my happiness by limiting my desires, rather than in attempting to satisfy them. ↗

— John Stuart Mill

#desires #happiness #i #i have learned #learned

Are you listening, little bird? ↗

— Lilith Saintcrow

#betrayal

Until you make peace with who you are, you'll never be content with what you have. ↗

— Doris Mortman

#know-thyself #contentment

I was astonished to see Adrian watching me, a look of contentment on his face. His eyes seemed to study my every feature. Seeing me notice him, he immediately looked away. His usual smirky expression replaced by a dreamy one. “The mechanic will wait,” he said. “Yeah, but I’m supposed to meet Brayden soon, I’ll be-” That’s when I got a good look at Adrian. “What have you done? Look at you! You shouldn’t be out here.” “It’s not that bad.” He was lying, and we both knew it. “Come on, we have to get you out of here before you get worse. What were you thinking?” His expression was astonishingly nonchalant for someone who looked like he would pass out. “It was worth it. You looked…happy ↗

— Richelle Mead

#sydney-sage #the-golden-lily #contentment

By judging others, you make yourself easy to judge. ↗

— Ashly Lorenzana

#judgement #people #judgement

So Lyra and her daemon turned away from the world they were born in, and looked toward the sun, and walked into the sky. ↗

— Philip Pullman

#philip-pullman #the-golden-compass #materialism

Every habit he's ever had is still there in his body, lying dormant like flowers in the desert. Given the right conditions, all his old addictions would burst into full and luxuriant bloom. ↗

— Margaret Atwood

#habit #addiction

It's too cold outside for angels to fly. ↗

— Ed Sheeran

#addict #angels #cold #drug #ed