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“Don't get yourself killed."
"I'll do my best," said Kell, and then he was going.
"And come back," added Rhy.
Kell paused. "Don't worry," he said. "I will. Once I've seen it."
"Seen what?" asked Rhy.
Kell smiled. "Everything.”
― V.E. Schwab, A Conjuring of Light

“And strategy is just a fancy word for a special kind of common sense, the ability to see options, to make them where there were none. It’s not about knowing the rules. It’s about knowing how to break them.”
― V.E. Schwab, A Conjuring of Light

“First I need to do something.â€� He pulled me closer towards him until our lips were almost touching.
‘What might that be?� I managed to stutter, closing my eyes, anticipating the warmth of his lips against mine. But the kiss didn’t come. I opened my eyes. Alex had jumped to his feet.
‘Swim,� he said, grinning at me. ‘Come on.�
‘Swim?� I pouted, unable to hide my disappointment that he wanted to swim rather than make out with me.
Alex pulled his T-shirt off in one swift move. My eyes fell straightaway to his chest � which was tanned, smooth and ripped with muscle, and which, when you studied it as I had done, in detail, you discovered wasn’t a six-pack but actually a twelve-pack.
My eyes flitted to the shadowed hollows where his hips disappeared into his shorts, causing a flutter in parts of my body that up until three weeks ago had been flutter-dormant. Alex’s hands dropped to his shorts and he started undoing his belt.
I reassessed the swimming option. I could definitely do swimming.
He shrugged off his shorts, but before I could catch an eyeful of anything, he was off, jogging towards the water. I paused for a nanosecond, weighing up my embarrassment at stripping naked over my desire to follow him. With a deep breath, I tore off my dress then kicked off my underwear and started running towards the sea, praying Nate wasn’t doing a fly-by.
The water was warm and flat as a bath. I could see Alex in the distance, his skin gleaming in the now inky moonlight. When I got close to him, his hand snaked under the water, wrapped round my waist and pulled me towards him. I didn’t resist because I’d forgotten in that instant how to swim. And then he kissed me and I prayed silently and fervently that he took my shudder to be the effect of the water.
I tried sticking myself onto him like a barnacle, but eventually Alex managed to pull himself free, holding my wrists in his hand so I couldn’t reattach. His resolve was as solid as a nuclear bunker’s walls. Alex had said there were always chinks. But I couldn’t seem to find the one in his armour. He swam two long strokes away from me. I trod water and stayed where I was, feeling confused, glad that the night was dark enough to hide my expression.
‘I’m just trying to protect your honour,� he said, guessing it anyway.
I groaned and rolled my eyes. When was he going to understand that I was happy for him to protect every other part of me, just not my honour?”
― Sarah Alderson, Losing Lila

“She possessed intelligence and didn't put it to use but, rather, wasted it, like a great lady for whom all the riches of the world are merely a sign of vulgarity. That was the fact that must have beguiled Nino: the gratuitousness of Lila's intelligence.”
― Elena Ferrante, The Story of the Lost Child

“Her eyes suddenly went round. "Hang on. You shoved him!"

"She shoved him?"

I turned to glare at Nate.

"Yes. And she's always running off on him." Suki shook her head at me. "We'd treat him much better if he was ours-”
― Sarah Alderson, Losing Lila

“Only fools are certain.”
― V.E. Schwab, A Conjuring of Light

“I'm not stupid," I muttered lamely.
"Well, why else would you tell Alex to go anywhere? What will we do for eye candy now? Were you thinking of Nate at all? Were you thinking of me? I think you're incredibly selfish, Lila.”
― Sarah Alderson, Losing Lila

“If you eliminate suffering from this world you eliminate life. There's no evolution. Those species that don't suffer don't survive. Sometimes the insane and the contrarians and the ones who are the closest to suicide are the most valuable people society has. They may be the precursors of social change. They've taken the burdens of the culture onto themselves and in their struggle to solve their own problems they're solving problems for the culture as well”
― Robert Pirsig

“For someone who never stood still, Lila felt like a pin in Kell's world. One he was sure to snag on.”
― V.E. Schwab

“I breathed in the memory of his lips, the softness of them, and how they felt tracing across my skin, leaving ripples of goosebumps in their wake.”
― Sarah Alderson

“That's the way it is. The intelligence of the mind can't think of any reason to live, but it goes on anyway because the intelligence of the cells can't think of any reason to die”
― Robert Pirsig

“Morals can't function normally because morals have been declared intellectually illegal by the subject object metaphysics that dominates present social thought”
― Robert Pirsig

“An evolutionary morality argues that The North was right in pursuing that war because a nation is a higher form of evolution than a human body and the principle of human equality is an even higher form than a nation”
― Robert Pirsig

“Don't you have enough knives?" he grumbled, his lip thrust forward in a pout.
Lila's smile sharpened. "No such thing," she said, wrapping her fingers around the blade.”
― V.E. Schwab

“Posso chiederle una cosa?".
"Dica".
"Che studi ha fatto?". [...]
"Nessuno".
"A sentirla parlare - e gridare - non sembra".
"Ѐcosì, ho smesso dopo la quinta elementare".
"±Ê±ð°ù³¦³óé?".
"Non avevo le capacità".
"Come l'ha capito?".
"Ce le aveva Greco, io no".
La Galiani scosse la testa in segno di dissenso, disse: "Se lei avesse studiato, sarebbe riuscita bene quanto Greco".
"Come fa a dirlo?".
"Ѐ il mio mestiere".
"Voi professori insistete tanto sullo studio perché con quello vi guadagnate il pane, ma studiare non serve a niente, e nemmeno migliora, anzi rende ancora più malvagi".
"Elena è diventata più malvagia?".
"No, lei no".
"Come mai?".
Lila ficcò in testa al figlio il cappellino di lana: "Abbiamo fatto un patto da piccole: quella malvagia sono io".”
― Elena Ferrante, Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay

“She knew there were words so terrible you heard them with your whole body. Guilty. And there were voices to say them. She knew there were people you might almost trust who would hear them, too, and be amazed, and still not really hear them because they know they were not the ones the words were spoken to.”
― Marilynne Robinson, Lila

“Why Lila glaring at you, hombre? â€� asked Rico. “Though I wouldn’t mind a hot piece of culo like that acknowledging my existence.â€� Rico puckered his lips, sending a mock kiss in Lila’s direction. I laughed when she flipped her golden hair over her shoulder and stared at the dry-erase board.”
― Katie McGarry, Pushing the Limits

“g to give you a reason not to go.â€� When Ash said nothing, Lila growled, “You broke her heart, you know. The least you can do is talk to her.â€�

“I have talked to her. I tried, anyway. I told her up front that I wasn’t looking for a long-term sweetheart. I thought we both agreed to that.�

“Did you make her sign a bloody contract?� Lila laughed, but there was a bitter edge to it. “‘I promise that I won’t fall in love with the moody, mysterious Ash Hanson. I will enjoy his rangy body, his broad shoulders, and shapely leg, all the while knowing it’s a lease, not a buy.’�

“Shapely leg?� Ash thrust out his leg, pretending to examine it, hoping to interrupt the litany of his physical gifts.

But Lila was on a roll. “‘I will not fall into those blue-green eyes, deep as twin mountain pools, nor succumb to the lure of his full lips. Well, I will succumb, but for a limited time only. And the stubble—have I mentioned the stubble?’�

Ash’s patience had run out. Lila was far too fluent in Fellsian for his liking. “Shut up, Lila.�

“Isn’t there anyone who meets your standards?�

“At least I have standards.� He raised an eyebrow.

“Ouch!� Lila clutched her shoulder. “A fair hit, sir. A fair hit.� Her smile faded. “The problem is, hope is the thing that can’t be reined in by rules or pinned down by bitter experience. It’s a blessing and curse.�

For a long moment, Ash stared at her. He would have been less surprised to hear his pony reciting poetry.

“Who knew you were a philosopher?� he said finally. “Now. If you’re staying, let’s talk about something else. Where’s your posting this term?�

“I’m going back to the Shivering Fens,� Lila said, “where the taverns are as rare as a day without rain. Where you have to keep moving or grow a crop of moss on your ass.�

Good-bye, poetry, Ash thought. “Sounds lovely.”
― cinda chima

“At least tell me you’ve changed your mind about the dragon.â€�

“I made a promise,� Ash said.

“So break it. You break promises to me all the time.”
― Cinda Chima