He did not know what love was. And he did not know what good it was. But he knew he carried it around with him, a scabrous spot of rot, of contagion, for which there was no cure.

What I am looking for is a blessing not in disguise.

Kitty O'neill Collins

Oh! might I kiss those eyes of fire,A million scarce would quench desire; Still would I steep my lips in bliss, And dwell an age on every kiss; Nor then my soul should sated be, Still would I kiss and cling to thee: Nought should my kiss from thine dissever, Still would we kiss and kiss for ever; E'en though the numbers did exceed The yellow harvest's countless seed; To part would be a vain endeavour: Could I desist?--ah! never--never.

Lord (George Gordon) Byron, Imit

Love, by its very nature, is unworldly, and it is for this reason rather than its rarity that it is not only apolitical but anti-political, perhaps the most powerful of all anti-political human forces.

Hannah Arendt

In this sad world of ours, sorrow comes to all; and, to the young, it comes with bitterest agony, because it takes them unawares. The older have learned to ever expect it. I am anxious to afford some alleviation of your present distress. Perfect relief is not possible, except with time. You can not now realize that you will ever feel better. Is not this so? And yet it is a mistake. You are sure to be happy again. To know this, which is certainly true, will make you some less miserable now. I have had experience enough to know what I say; and you need only to believe it, to feel better at once.

Abraham Lincoln

Literature is the one place in any society where, within the secrecy of our own heads, we can hear voices talking about everything in every possible way.

Salman Rushdie

You can't let your past hold your future hostage.

LL Cool J

She was beautiful, but her youth, the very awkwardness of her age, prevented her from flaunting it.

Richard J. O'Brien

Scratch the Christian and you find the pagan -- spoiled.

Israel Zangwill

For real change, we need feminine energy in the management of the world. We need a critical number of women in positions of power, and we need to nurture the feminine energy in men.

Isabel Allende

A woman should be like a single flower, not a whole bouquet.

Anna Held

Did St Francis preach to the birds? Whatever for? If he really liked birds he would have done better to preach to the cats.

Rebecca West, This Real Night

President Johnson did not want the Vietnam War to broaden. He wanted the North Vietnamese to leave their brothers in the South alone.

William Westmoreland