#ss

Dain kept his gaze on his plate and concentrated on swallowing the morsel he'd just very nearly choked on. She was possessive... about him. The beautiful, mad creature - or blind and deaf creature, or whatever she was - coolly announced it as one might say, "Pass the salt cellar," without the smallest awareness that the earth had just tilted on its axis. ↗

— Loretta Chase

#jessica-trent #romance #beauty

I heard of a man who says words so beautifully that if he only speaks their name women give themselves to him. If I am dumb beside your body while silence blossoms like tumors on our lips it is because I hear a man climb stairs and clear his throat outside our door. ↗

— Leonard Cohen

#loss #love #poem #poetry #beauty

As coal pressured into pearls by our weighty existence. Beauty that arose out of pain. ↗

— Suzanne Collins

#coal #existence #pain #pearls #pressured

People say sometimes that Beauty is superficial. That may be so. But at least it is not so superficial as Thought is. To me, Beauty is the wonder of wonders. It is only shallow people who do not judge by appearances. The true mystery of the world is the visible, not the invisible. ↗

— Oscar Wilde

#invisible #shallowness #superficial #thought #visible

Never restart a journey and use the same road that failed you before. ↗

— Dennis E. Adonis

#courage #failures #life #new-beginning #progress

Reading was my escape and my comfort, my consolation, my stimulant of choice: reading for the pure pleasure of it, for the beautiful stillness that surrounds you when you hear an author’s words reverberating in your head. ↗

— Paul Auster

#choice #comfort #comsolation #escape #pleasure

If you are ready to trade the hollow self-made beauty of this world for the glorious Christ-built beauty of a set-apart young woman, this is where it all begins. Denying self, taking up your cross, and following the Lamb wherever He leads. In other words, letting go of all preoccupation with self: our comfort, our pleasure, our agenda, our popularity, our ability to gain the world's approval, even our own dreams and desires. And, as Paul did, treating all those things as rubbish for the excellence of the knowledge of Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings (Philippians 3:7-9). ↗

— Leslie Ludy

#denying-self #letting-go #philippians #selflessness #set-apart-femininity

Let my worship be within the heart that rejoices, for behold, all acts of love and pleasure are my rituals. Therefore, let there be beauty and strength, power and compassion, honor and humility, mirth and reverence within you. ↗

— Doreen Valiente

#goddess #inspirational #pagan #wiccan #beauty

Distance makes everything beautiful" - Virginia Dare ↗

— Michael Scott

#beauty

What would it be like to look in the mirror and actually accept what you see? Not loathe the reflection, or despise it, or be resigned to it? But to like it? ↗

— Justina Chen

#self-esteem #beauty