#line

I never really wanted to die. But I followed through anyway. The pain in my heart was excruciating, and death was beautiful. ↗

— Rae Hachton

#death-and-dying #first-lines #gothic-fantasy #gothic-romance #love

The white cat Sal-al was lying on the straw matting in the empty conservatory. She looked at us with a wicked, conceited expression as if all her appetites had just been satisfied. She was beautiful. Vesta and I both said, "I wish I were a cat!" Before we got to the last word we smiled at each other in annoyance, not liking the idea that most human beings think very much alike. ↗

— Denton Welch

#felines #mind #people #beauty

With the increased cost of gasoline, it doesn't appear that we're going to see a slowing of interest in mass transit. I think it's going to continue to grow. ↗

— Tom Barrett

#continue #cost #gasoline #going #grow

Serene was a word you could put to Brooklyn New York. Especially in the summer of 1912. Somber as a word was better. But it did not apply to Williamsburg Brooklyn. Prairie was lovely and Shenandoah had a beautiful sound but you couldn't fit those words into Brooklyn. Serene was the only word for it especially on a Saturday afternoon in summer. ↗

— Betty Smith

#opening-lines #beauty

Beauty is single. Only ugliness is multiple, and even then its multiplicity is soon exhausted. ↗

— Jules-Amédée Barbey d'Aurevilly

#ugliness #beauty

But you… you have no fucking clue how unbelievably beautiful and desirable you are. You’re not calculating and selfish. And you make me want to be better. --Woods ↗

— Abbi Glines

#della-sloane #romance #woods-kerington #beauty

Part of what we pick up in looking at Jesus in the gospel is a way of viewing the whole world. That worldview informs all our values and deeply shapes our thinking and decision-making. Another part of what we absorb is greater confidence in Jesus' counsel and his promises. This has its own powerful effect on what we fear and desire and choose. Another part of what we take up from beholding the glory of Christ is greater delight in his fellowship and deeper longing to see him in heaven. This has its own liberating effect from the temptations of this world. All these have their own peculiar way of changing us into the likeness of Christ. Therefore, we should not think that pursuing likeness to Christ has no other components than just looking at Jesus. Looking at Jesus produces holiness along many different paths. ↗

— John Piper

#god #holiness #jesus-christ #sanctification #change

...[I]ron discipline does not preclude but presupposes criticism and contest of opinion within the Party. Least of all does it mean that discipline must be 'blind'. On the contrary, iron discipline does not preclude but presupposes conscious and voluntary submission, for only conscious discipline can be truly iron discipline. ↗

— Joseph Stalin

#discipline #leadership #management-theory #motivational #organization-wisdom

Without question, the balance of power on the planet today lies in the hands of business. Corporations rival governments in wealth, influence, and power. Indeed, business all too often pulls the strings of government. Competing institutions-religion, the press, even the military-play subordinate roles in much of the world today. If a values-driven approach to business can begin to redirect this vast power toward more constructive ends than the simple accumulation of wealth, the human race and Planet Earth will have a fighting chance. ↗

— Ben Cohen

#power #social-entrepreneurship #triple-bottom-line #business

If any human being is to reach full maturity both the masculine and feminine sides of the personality must be brought up into consciousness. ↗

— M. Esther Harding

#being #both #brought #consciousness #feminine