I Get the Same Buzz

“I get the same buzz cleaning up the yard as Leo Tolstoy did from scything hay.” 

~ Sergei Lukyanenko, Twilight Watch

This is All a Tale

“This is all a tale of an older world and a forgotten countryside. 

At this moment of time change has come; 

a screaming line of steel runs through the heather of no-man’s-land, 

and the holiday-maker claims the valleys for his own. 

But this busyness is but of yesterday, 

and not ten years ago the fields lay quiet to the gaze

of placid beasts and the wandering stars. 

This story I have culled from the grave of an old fashion, 

and set down for the love of a great soul and the poetry of life.” 

~ John Buchan, Best Short Stories

The Warm Days of Firestreak

“The warm days of Firestreak are usually 

good for travellers in the world of Amarillia.” 

~ Ian Livingstone, Firestorm

The Christian Admits

“The Christian admits that the universe is manifold

and even miscellaneous, just as a 

sane man knows that

he is complex. The sane

man knows that he has a touch of the

beast, a touch of the devil, a touch of the saint, 

a touch of the citizen. Nay, the really sane man knows

that he has a touch of the madman. 

But the materialist's world is quite simple and solid,

 just as the madman is quite sure he is sane. 

The materialist is sure that history has been simply

and solely a chain of causation, 

just as the interesting person before mentioned is

quite sure that he is simply and solely a chicken. 

Materialists and madmen never have doubts.” 

~ G.K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy

He Looked Just Perfect

“He looked just perfect to play Dorian Gray in a

film version of Oscar Wilde's novel. Young, 

graceful, and indecently fresh and handsome, 

he could easily have worn a badge that 

said READY FOR DEBAUCHERY!” 

~ Sergei Lukyanenko, The Last Watch

He's Not a Piece of Meat

“He's not a piece of meat you can job off the market by the pound. 

Because, if you do, maish, if you do, you'll rot in hell.” 

~ Rod Serling, Requiem for a Heavyweight and Other Plays - 

Tragedy in a Temporary Town, The White Cane and The Elevator

He Knew She Was There

“He knew she was there by the rapture and the terror

that seized on his heart. 

She was standing talking to a lady at the opposite

end of the ground. 

There was apparently nothing striking either in

her dress or her attitude. 

But for Levin she was as easy to find in that

crowd as a rose among nettles. 

Everything was made bright by her. 

She was the smile that shed light all around her.” 

~ Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina

Water, Wind and Birdsong

“Water, wind, and birdsong were the echoes in

this quiet place of a great chiming symphony that

was surging around the world. 

Knee-deep in grasses and moon daisies, 

Stella stood and listened, swaying a little as the 

flowers and trees were swaying, her spirit voice singing loudly,

 though her lips were still, and every pulse in 

her body beating its hammer strokes in time to the song.” 

~ Elizabeth Goudge, Gentian Hill

It Goes So Fast

“It goes so fast, he thought, they don't tell you that, how fast it goes...” 

~ S.E. Hinton, Hawkes Harbor

There Was a Leap of Joy

“There was a leap of joy in him, like a flame lighting

up in a dark lantern. 

At this moment he believed it was worth it. 

This moment of supreme beauty was worth all

the wretchedness of the journey. 

It was always worth it. 

"For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, 

worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory." 

It was the central truth of existence, and all men knew it, 

though they might not know that they knew it. 

Each man followed his own star through so much pain because he knew it, 

and at journey's end all the innumerable lights would glow into one.” 

~ Elizabeth Goudge, Gentian Hill

The First Grave

“The first grave. Now we're getting someplace. 

Houses and children and graves, that's home, Tom. 

Those are the things that hold a man down.” 

~ John Steinbeck, To a God Unknown

You Can Be Good

“You can be good for the mere sake of goodness;

 you cannot be bad for the mere sake of badness. 

You can do a kind action when you are not feeling 

kind and when it gives you no pleasure, 

simply because kindness is right; 

but no one ever did a cruel action 

simply because cruelty is wrong -

 only because cruelty is pleasant or useful to him,

 In other words, badness cannot succeed even in 

being bad in the same way in which goodness is good. 

Goodness is, so to speak, itself: badness is only spoiled goodness. 

And there must be something good first before it can be spoiled.” 

~ C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

You Might Hear Some Ugly Post

“You might hear some ugly talk about it at school, 

but do one thing for me if you will: 

you just hold your head high and keep those fists down. 

No matter what anybody says to you, 

don't you let 'em get your goat.

Try fighting with your head for a change...

it's a good one, even if it does resist learning.” 

~ Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird

The Best Men

Photo credits to Jayzzy

“The best men in all ages keep classic traditions alive.” 

~ George Santayana

Girls Are Caterpillars

Photo credits to Jayzzy

“Girls are caterpillars while they live in the world, 

to be finally butterflies when the summer comes; 

but in the meantime there are grubs and larvae, 

don't you see - each with their peculiar propensities, 

necessities and structure.” 

~ Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu, Carmilla

Love It Is Said

Photo credits to Jayzzy

“Love, it is said, is blind, but love is not blind.
It is an extra eye, which shows us what is most worthy of regard.
To see the best is to see most clearly, and it is the lover's privilege.” 

~ J.M. Barrie, The Little Minister

Social Class Positioning

“Social class positioning influences all aspects of

everyday interaction – how to talk, if to talk 

and when, whom to trust, whether or not to plan

or risk, what can or cannot be done, 

how to belong, and who to be. Of course, 

how people respond to these social interactions

 depends on how social class intersects with

 the meanings and practices associated with other 

significant sociocultural categories 

(gender, race, ethnicity, age, cohort, religion, geography, sexual orientation) 

that also influence psychological tendencies.” 

~ Susan T. Fiske, Facing Social Class: How Societal Rank Influences Interaction: 

How Societal Rank Influences Interaction

You May Try

“You may try your hardest and fail, but you 

have the choice whether or not 

to get back up again" 

- Anna Celeste Vega

~ Anna Vega

How May a Mortal

“How may a mortal, face and defeat the Kraken” 

~ Beverley Cross, Clash Of The Titans: 

The Official Illustrated Adaptation Of The Epic Film Of The Year

Had You Behaved

“...had you behaved in a more gentleman like manner!” 

~ Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice