#ra

Nothing is stranger or more ticklish than a relationship between people who know each other only by sight, who meet and observe each other daily - no hourly - and are nevertheless compelled to keep up the pose of an indifferent stranger, neither greeting nor addressing each other, whether out of etiquette or their own whim. ↗

— Thomas Mann

#strangers #death

Why do you pray?" he asked me, after a moment. Why did I pray? A strange question. Why did I live? Why did I breathe? "I don't know why," I said, even more disturbed and ill at ease. "I don't know why." After that day I saw him often. He explained to me with great insistence that every question possessed a power that did not lie in the answer. "Man raises himself toward God by the questions he asks Him," he was fond of repeating. "That is the true dialogue. Man questions God and God answers. But we don't understand His answers. We can't understand them. Because they come from the depths of the soul, and they stay there until death. You will find the true answers, Eliezer, only within yourself!" "And why do you pray, Moshe?" I asked him. "I pray to the God within me that He will give me the strength to ask Him the right questions. ↗

— Elie Wiesel

#relationship #revelation #death

Annihilation itself is no death to evil. Only good where evil was, is evil dead. An evil thing must live with its evil until it chooses to be good. That alone is the slaying of evil. ↗

— George MacDonald

#mr-rave #death

Witness also that when we talk about literature, we do so in the present tense. When we speak of the dead, we are not so kind. ↗

— John Green

#literature #past #present #tense #time

Assuming I survive our hunt for the Horcruxes, I’ll find Mum and Dad and lift the enchantment. If I don’t – well, I think I’ve cast a good enough charm to keep them safe and happy. Wendell and Monica Wilkins don’t know that they’ve got a daughter, you see. ↗

— J.K. Rowling

#death

Athena came to stand by her side. She reached out and ran a light touch over the read wrap. 'Nice dress." Grace frowned in disbelief. 'They're fighting to the death and you're admiring my clothes?' Athena laughed. 'Trust me, I pick my generals well. Priapus doesn't stand a chance. ↗

— Sherrilyn Kenyon

#fantasy-lover #grace #sherrilyn-kenyon #death

And they all lived happily ever after (barring death, divorce, arrest for tax fraud, that incident with the pool boy...) ↗

— Sarah Rees Brennan

#death

And after a while...I mean, how do you choose? Who gets to live? Part of life is that...well, some people have to die. My powers aren't a prescription you can get filled as needed. ↗

— Richelle Mead

#life #lissa-dragomir #shadow-kiss #death

As a serf, poor Christian has already been killed several times in our class. Aside from dying of the Black Plague on the first day, he’s starved to death, had his hands cut off for stealing a loaf of bread, and been run down by his master’s horse just for kicks. He’s like Christian the fifth now. ↗

— Cynthia Hand

#clara #death

Everyone was eating, talking softly, glancing at me, hugging me, eating. It was as if someone had turned the volume down. Everything looked normal, but the sound was muted. Death did this, set all this weirdness in motion, made people appear out of nowhere carrying casseroles, saying 'I'm sorry' over and over, death muffled their voices. ↗

— Joan Abelove

#funerals #grief #grieving #death