#hi

...listening with absorbed attention more to her voice than to what she was saying, and thinking how like she was, flowering through her voice into beauty in the darkness, to some butterflies he had come across in the Swiss mountains the summer before. When they were folded up they were grey, mothlike creatures that one might easily overlook, but directly they opened their wings they became the loveliest things in the world, all rose-colour or heavenly blue. So had she been to him in the daylight that afternoon,--an ordinary woman, not in any way noticeable; but now listen to her, opening into beauty on the wings of her voice! ↗

— Elizabeth von Arnim

#butterflies #hidden-beauty #voice #beauty

It's much easier to not know things sometimes. Things change and friends leave. And life doesn't stop for anybody. ↗

— Stephen Chbosky

#endings #friendship #growing-up #life #change

Laughter is the closest thing to the grace of God. ↗

— Karl Barth

#closest thing #god #grace #laughter #thing

As a leader, if you follow your heart, you will have the courage to take on any risk because your heart will lead you to the solution and avoid the risk. ↗

— Angeline Kobe Chan

#courage

...it took me a lifetime of glimpses, but now I see you completely - did I tell you you're beautiful? so kind to animals, children and me... ↗

— John Geddes

#children #kindness #love #relationships #beauty

Death is but crossing the world, as friends do the seas; they live in one another still. ↗

— William Penn

#deathly-hallows #friendship #death

An artist who painted a face was now 'playing with the idea of portraiture,' or 'exploring push-pull aesthetics,' or toying with contradictions like 'menacing-slash-playful,' but he or she was never, ever, just painting a face. ↗

— Steve Martin

#hilarious-nerd #art

Sunny was a treat to read. It is most appealing as the story is very well done and the artwork is beautiful. I applaud the author for writing a book to meet the needs of very young children as well as children of elementary school age. I experienced many different feelings as I read the book and I know otehrs will experience the same thing. The guide to further discussion at the end of teh book will be most helpful as foster parents read this story to the children in their care. ↗

— Theresa MacInnis Schimmel

#children-s-literature #emotional #foster-care #foster-children #age

My body slid from human to wolf in a crack! of black smoke. Wolf was panting and I watched frost dissipate on my hot tongue, sending tiny rivulets of steam into the air. The world was sharp and clear, and I never realized how many different colors of shadow there were. It made me savor the dark beauty of night even more. ↗

— Heather Heffner

#shapeshifter #urban-fantasy #werewolf #beauty

The sublime beauty was almost hidden withing the castle walls. She believed that the treasured things in life were often hard to find - a pearl in an oyster shell, a kind word in the heat of the moment. ↗

— F.C. Malby

#literary-fiction #beauty