#ode

It should have been the Arabian Nights, but to Bond, seeing it first above the tops of trams and above the great scars of modern advertising along the river frontage, it seemed a once beautiful theatre-set that modern Turkey had thrown aside in favour of the steel and concrete flat-iron of the Istanbul-Hilton Hotel, blankly glittering behind him on the heights of Pera. ↗

— Ian Fleming

#istanbul #modernization #pera #turkey #beauty

I feel an almost overwhelming interest in the methods of daylight abduction employed by the modern youth. ↗

— Georgette Heyer

#humor #modern-youth #humor

You guys are ridiculous," he says, retreating back to the kitchen. "Your flirting just scared the hell out of me." "Scared the hell out of me too. ↗

— Pittacus Lore

#sam-goode #humor

You mean he came to your school? The scandalous rodent-loaf! ↗

— Laini Taylor

#insults #rodents #humor

Reading a novel after reading semiotic theory was like jogging empty-handed after jogging with hand weights. What exquisite guilt she felt, wickedly enjoying narrative! Madeleine felt safe with a nineteenth century novel. There were going to be people in it. Something was going to happen to them in a place resembling the world. Then too there were lots of weddings in Wharton and Austen. There were all kinds of irresistible gloomy men. ↗

— Jeffrey Eugenides

#literary-criticism #literary-theory #narrative #nineteenth-century #novels

Do not start me on The Da Vinci Code ... a novel so bad that it gives bad novels a bad name." (Discussion at Woodruff Auditorium in Lawrence, KS; October 7, 2005.) ↗

— Salman Rushdie

#literary-criticism #novels #the-davinci-code #writing #literary-criticism

You might want to put some clothes on' suggested Jace 'I'm all for the bra and panties look, but you don't want the Silent Brothers to die of excitement ↗

— Cassandra Clare

#jace-wayland #modesty #humor

Modernity: we created youth without heroism, age without wisdom, and life without grandeur ↗

— Nassim Nicholas Taleb

#modernity #post-modern #post-modernism #values #values-in-life

The synoptic Gospels of the New Testament manuscripts make us aware of Christ's character and gives us a view of the 'son-ship' He modeled which flowed out of that Divine character." ~R. Alan Woods [2013] ↗

— R. Alan Woods

#gospels #modeling-behavior #new-testament #r-alan-woods #son-ship

One of the questions that surprised me most was this: “Mommy, if Jesus comes to live inside my heart, will I explode?” “No!” I proclaimed as the children and I headed to the Nile River for a few of them to be baptized that day. Then I thought about the question a bit more. “Yes, if Jesus comes to live in your heart, you will explode.” That is exactly what we should do if Jesus comes to live inside our hearts. We will explode with love, with compassion, with hurt for those who are hurting, and with joy for those who rejoice. We will explode with a desire to be more, to be better, to be close to the One who made us. ↗

— Katie J. Davis

#exploding-heart #heart #katie-davis #kisses-from-katie #love