#l

An event of great agony is bearable only in the belief that it will bring about a better world. When it does not, as in the aftermath of another vast calamity in 1914-18, disillusion is deep and moves on to self-doubt and self-disgust. ↗

— Barbara W. Tuchman

#hope #hopelessness #self-belief

Gran follows recipes by looking at picture—to the eye, delicious; to the tongue, boiled socks. Makes you wanna cry really. ↗

— Simon Cheshire

#family #humor #family

Still she haunts me, phantomwise, Alice moving under skies Never seen by waking eyes. ↗

— Lewis Carroll

#fiction #lewis-carroll #through-the-looking-glass #young-adult #young-adult-fiction

She'd cried over a broken heart before. She knew what that felt like, and it didn't feel like this. Her heart felt not so much broken as just ... empty. It felt like she was an outline empty in the middle. The outline cried senselessly for the absent middle. The past cried for the present that was nothing. ↗

— Ann Brashares

#cried #empty #nothing #outline #past

The best way to mend a broken heart is time and girlfriends. ↗

— Gwyneth Paltrow

#women #broken-heart

Daniel, I did not knowwhat I wanted when I was agirl. And then I was a fool in every sense of the word. And now that I am a woman grown, I know that I love you and I want this son of yours, and our children who will come. I have seen a woman break her heart for love: my Queen Mary. I have seen another break her soul to avoid it: my Princess Elizabeth. I don't want to be Mary or Elizabeth, I want to be me: Hannah Verde Carpenter." "And we shall live somewhere that we can follow our belifs without danger," he insisted. "Yes," I said, "in the England that Elizabeth will make. ↗

— Philippa Gregory

#love

We have to get out of here, Bram. Before they take our bollocks and use them for pincushions. ↗

— Tessa Dare

#historical-romance

After all, bachelors are a challenge. Spinsters are merely pathetic. And in case you hadn't noticed, I'm female. ↗

— Julia Quinn The Duke and I

#julia-quinn #london #the-duke-and-i #historical-romance

If you have always suspected your sister of an inclination to madness, it will be my pleasure to confirm your worst fears. ↗

— Mary Balogh

#regency #historical-romance

Yes. She got into a right state when she realized no one could read them, though. She's setting up some sort of literacy curse. Some of the boys want to know--is that like gypsy magic? Can you curse someone to read? ↗

— Anne Mallory

#historical-romance