#ren

An old walrus-faced waiter attended to me; he had the knack of pouring the coffee and the hot milk from two jugs, held high in the air, and I found this entrancing, as if he were a child's magician. One day he said to me - he had some English - "Why are you sad?" "I'm not sad," I said, and began to cry. Sympathy from strangers can be ruinous. "You should not be sad," he said, gazing at me with his melancholy, leathery walrus eyes. "It must be the love. But you are young and pretty, you will have time to be sad later." The French are connoisseurs of sadness, they know all the kinds. This is why they have bidets. "It is criminal, the love," he said, patting my shoulder. "But none is worse. ↗

— Margaret Atwood

#love #sadness #love

Love is the linchpin that connects the material world with higher levels of existence. ↗

— Julianne Davidow

#italy #love #renaissance #spiritual-world #love

She'd stood by that creed. No softness, because the world wasn't soft; lots of laughter, because if you were in on the joke, the joke couldn't be on you; And no wanting what you couldn't take, because the world never gave. Or so she'd thought. ↗

— Connie Brockway

#hope #life #life-lessons #love #strength

The beggarly question of parentage--what is it, after all? What does it matter, when you come to think of it, whether a child is yours by blood or not? All the little ones of our time are collectively the children of us adults of the time, and entitled to our general care. That excessive regard of parents for their own children, and their dislike of other people's, is, like class-feeling, patriotism, save-your-own-soul-ism, and other virtues, a mean exclusiveness at bottom. ↗

— Thomas Hardy

#parental-love #love

Looking after a very sick child was the Olympics of parenting. ↗

— Chris Cleave

#caring-for-others #caring-loved-one #illness #parenting #sacrifice

Je t'inventerai Des mots insensés Que tu comprendras Je te parlerai De ces amants-là Qui ont vue deux fois Leurs coeurs s'embraser Je te raconterai L'histoire de ce roi Mort de n'avoir pas Pu te rencontrer Ne me quitte pas Ne me quitte pas Ne me quitte pas ↗

— Jacques Brel

#love #love

Suddenly so many things she'd overheard her brothers and Quinn saying when Grimm had been in residence made sense, and upon reflection she suspected a part of her had always known. Her love was a legendary warrior who had grown to despise himself, cut off from his roots. But now that he was home and given the time to explore those roots, he might be able to make peace with himself at long last. ↗

— Karen Marie Moning

#jillian #karen-marie-moning #to-tame-a-highland-warrior #love

Children are the closest we have to wisdom, and they become adults the moment that final drop of everything mysterious is strained from them. ↗

— Simon Van Booy

#childhood #children #mystery #wisdom #love

. I felt the sun graze my face as I sped further and further from it all. The only negative part about running was that at some point I knew I’d have to stop. I’d have to turn around and go back. And whatever troubles had haunted me when I left, would be waiting upon my return. ↗

— Courtney Giardina

#ebook #fiction #heroine #love #love-hurts

Can we go back to the part where you're in love with me?" "No, because I'm not anymore. I've come to my senses." "That's a damn shame, that is. You'll have to wait here a minute. There's something I need from inside." "I'll not stand out here. I'm going home." "I'll only come after you, Brenna," he called over his shoulder as he walked to the door. ↗

— Nora Roberts

#shawn-gallagher #love