#bookquotes

“And isn’t your deepest pain the greatest gift you can give to anyone—when you slowly release the fingers from what you hold so tightly and invite someone into your vulnerability?” -Naomi Zacharias, The Scent of Water

Silence doesn’t make people peaceful. It just removes the places they usually hide. They spent an entire day without speaking. No jokes. No explanations. No casual “I’m fine.” Only spoons, breathing, desert wind, and the strange violence of hearing your own thoughts too clearly. Victor sat beside Lara on a rock at sunset. She handed him a note: “Do you hear how loud it is inside too?” He wrote back: “Yes. Should’ve brought earplugs for the soul.” Full chapter on Substack: substack.com/ @alexkorneliuk

You used to speak about ‘the one’ quite highly. When you know someone’s the one, you just know, you used to say. How did you not know? Because he became someone I did not know anymore.

- The Butcher’s Masquerade , Matt Dinniman

Is it a blessing or a curse, that my brokeness did not harden me?

Charles’s decision to lie [about the murder of two French diplomats by his agent] proved a logistical and a political disaster. Anxious to join the expeditionary force he had assembled to take Algiers, he interrupted his journey from Regensburg to make a solemn entry into Milan, where he and Vasto showed their mutual regard. The marquis had engaged Giulio Romano, one of the foremost architects of his day, to prepare triumphal arches (one of them crowned by a statue of Charles, mounted and dressed as a Roman emperor, trampling down a Moor, a Turk, and a Native American); and he accompanied his master everywhere until, flanked by two cardinals ‘and all the dukes, princes, and lords of his court, His Majesty went to the cathedral to carry the son of the marquis to his baptism’, becoming the child’s godfather. Shortly afterwards torrential rains and high winds destroyed most of the triumphal arches, which some saw as a harbinger of disaster. The emperor’s ten-day sojourn in Milan, whether or not intended to demonstrate his confidence […] doomed the coming campaign: many believed that if Charles had arrived in north Africa ten days earlier, he would have captured Algiers before the catastrophic storms decimated his fleet. Emperor: A New Life of Charles V , Geoffrey Parker

ALT “Something had shifted. The moment asked nothing.”

Raymond Carver’s dedication in his final work to his wife, the poet Tess Gallagher

I’m at the stage of my life where I can understand why some characters in tv series’ finale go, “I choose myself. I love me”

The first honest answer is usually not a plan. “I don’t know how to live differently,” Jack said. “I don’t know if I’ll fail. I don’t know if I’ll leave here and become the same coward two weeks from now.” He looked at the road outside. “But I don’t want to keep pretending this is all I am.” Full chapter on Substack. Alex Korneliuk | Substack

ALT “I stood there, already changed. There was no return.”

Dean Koontz ~ Forever Odd

Books don’t just tell stories—they expand who you are 📖✨ Every page is a chance to see the world through new eyes… and come back changed 💛

Happy June Is it okay for a teacher to post this? Happy June! View On WordPress

Modern adults are basically smartphones with cracked screens. Technically functional. Spiritually damaged The chairs were arranged in a circle, which meant emotional violence was about to begin. One by one strangers admitted they were lonely, exhausted, emotionally numb, or quietly falling apart. Victor said he came for the free food. Nobody believed him. Full chapter on Substack: substack.com/ @alexkorneliuk