#ice

I feel as though the cardboard box of my own reality has been flattened and blown open. Now I can see the edge of the world. ↗

— Tom Hiddleston

#unicef #africa

I spent the last Friday of summer vacation spreading hot, sticky tar across the roof of George Washington High. My companions were Dopey, Toothless, and Joe, the brain surgeons in charge of building maintenance. At least they were getting paid. I was working forty feet above the ground, breathing in sulfur fumes from Satan's vomitorium, for free. Character building, my father said. Mandatory community service, the judge said. Court-ordered restitution for the Foul Deed. He nailed me with the bill for the damage I had done, which meant I had to sell my car and bust my hump at a landscaping company all summer. Oh, and he gave me six months of meetings with a probation officer who thought I was a waste of human flesh. Still, it was better than jail. I pushed the mop back and forth, trying to coat the seams evenly. We didn't want any rain getting into the building and destroying the classrooms. Didn't want to hurt the school. No, sir, we sure didn't. ↗

— Laurie Halse Anderson

#community-service #hard-labor #wit #satan

But I'm going to try to tell the truth. Except for the parts I'm leav­ing out, because there's still stuff I'm just not going to tell you. Get used to it. ↗

— Robin McKinley

#storytelling #truth #storytelling

You have bewitched me, body and soul. ↗

— Jane Austen

#mr-darcy #pride-and-prejudice #romance #pride

There is a fragrance in the air, a certain passage of a song, an old photograph falling out from the pages of a book, the sound of somebody's voice in the hall that makes your heart leap and fills your eyes with tears. Who can say when or how it will be that something easters up out of the dimness to remind us of a time before we were born and after we will die? ↗

— Frederick Buechner

#dimness #easter #fragrance #photograph #song

We lived in the bowels of New York City. It was a struggle just to survive. This nice suburban kid hadn't had to do much of that before. ↗

— Peter Bergman

#bowels #city #had #hadn #just

The Queen is controlling, the Witch is sadistic, the Hermit is fearful, and the Waif is helpless. And each requires a different approach. Don't let the Queen get the upper hand; be wary even of accepting gifts because it engenders expectations. Don't internalize the Hermit's fears or become limited by them. Don't allow yourself to be alone with the Witch; maintain distance for your own emotional and physical safety. And with the Waif, don't get pulled into her crises and sense of victimization. Pay attention to your own tendencies to want to rescue her, which just feeds the dynamic. ↗

— Christine Ann Lawson

#borderline-personality-disorder #mother #psychology #safety

In the end, the number of prayers we say may contribute to our happiness, but the number of prayers we answer may be of even greater importance. ↗

— Dieter F. Uchtdorf

#happiness #prayer #service #service

To ease another’s heartache is to forget one’s own. ↗

— Abraham Lincoln

#charity #public-service #volunteerism #service

Jon:'What are you doing up there? Why aren't you at the feast?' Tyrion: 'Too hot, too noisy, and I'd drunk too much wine', the dwarf told him. 'I learned long ago that it is considered rude to vomit on your brother. ↗

— George R.R. Martin

#alcohol #drunk #dwarf #feast #jon-snow