lovely.

: simply. to. enjoy :

(in no certain order. some quotes. some pretty things. because sharing is caring)

Literary Honey:


"The only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but BURN, BURN, BURN like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars and in the middle you see the blue center light pop and everybody goes 'Ahhh....'."

{Jack Kerouac}

"Will there be a soul one day who happens to stop before a painting of yours and is struck by a gentle blow in his heart? Will the Holy Spirit then speak to him, because of the Word you have made flesh for his eyes to see? Will he perhaps turn to God and consider the impossible question?

            -What question?

Is God, after all, what He says?"

{Michael O'Brien}

"A man is only as great as his loves."

{Leonardo da Vinci}

"You only see properly with the heart"

{Antoine de Saint-Exupery}

"Love solved everything for me"

{Karol Wojtyla}

"I am not fascinated by people who smile all the time. What I find interesting is the way people look when they are lost in thought, when their face becomes angry or serious, when they bite their lip, the way they glance, they way they look down when they walk, when they are alone and smoking a cigarette, when they smirk, the way they half smile, the way they try and hold back tears, they way when their face says they want to say something but can't, the way they look at someone they want or love....I love the way people look when they do these things. It's....beautiful."

{Unknown}

"My desires for holiness have been of little account--in fact, they mean nothing. This is not what God finds pleasing in my soul. What pleases Him is seeing me love my weakness. Weakness being the consent always to remain without strength. For He taught me the greatest and most scandalous lesson a soul can learn: that in losing everything, we find everything."

{Michael O'Brien}

"There is no greater battle than the battle to delight in God above all else."

{John Piper}

"I arise in the morning torn between a desire to improve the world, and a desire to enjoy the world."

{E. B. White}

"What was unbearable becomes the endurable just because it is being lived in a presence that gives it meaning. What is absurd, revolting, and destitute lead to mystery, adoration, and mercy. The child was born, the crucified man rose, and hope was brought to the world."

{Fr. Thierry de Roucy}

"I dwell in possibility..."

{Emily Dickinson}

"We sometimes encounter people, even perfect strangers, who begin to interest us at first sight, somehow suddenly, all at once, before a word has been spoken."

{Fyodor Dostoevsky}

"Guard and keep yourself in the love of God (...) . Enjoy and trust his sweet whispers to you."

{Jude 1:21}

"Certain thoughts are prayers. There are moments when, whatever be the attitude of the body, the soul is on its knees."

{Victor Hugo}

"Now, Lord, not my will, but thine be done. I know not what to do; I am brought to extremities, but I will wait until thou shalt cleave the floods, or drive back my foes. I will wait, if thou keep me many a day, for my heart is fixed upon thee alone, O God, and my spirit waiteth for thee in the full conviction that thou wilt by my joy and my salvation, my refuge and my strong tower."

{C. H. Spurgeon}

"Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves, like locked rooms and like books that are now written in a very foreign tongue. Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given you because you would not be able to live them. And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, live along some distant day into the answer." 

{Rainer Maria Rilke}

"I am always doing that which I can not do, in order that I may learn how to do it."

{Pablo Picasso}

"Do not waste time bothering whether you 'love' your neighbor; act as if you did. As soon as we do this we find one of the great secrets. When you are behaving as if you loved someone you will presently come to love him."

{C. S. Lewis}

"For true love is inexhaustible; the more you give, the more you have. And if you go to draw at the true fountainhead, the more water you draw, the more abundant is its flow."

{Antoine de Saint-Exupery}

"Maybe its supposed to be this way--the inexplicable fragility of being, the not knowingness of life, the beauty that can break your heart. Without it we would soon enough make ourselves into Gods."

{Michael O'Brien}

"Love does not consist in gazing at each other but in looking together in the same direction."

{Antoine de Saint-Exupery}

"I shall look at you out of the corner of my eye, and you will say nothing. Words are the source of misunderstandings."

{Antoine de Saint-Exupery}

I said to my soul, be still and wait without hope, for hope would be hope for the wrong thing; wait without love, for love would be love of the wrong thing; there is yet faith, but the faith and the love are all in the waiting. Wait without thought, for you are not ready for thought: so the darkness shall be the light and the stillness the dancing."

{T. S. Eliot}

"I thank God for this most amazing day, for the leaping greenly spirits of trees and for the blue dreams of sky and for everything which is natural, which is infinite, which is yes."

{E. E. Cummings}

"For beauty is nothing but the beginning of terror, which we are barely able to endure, and it amazes us so, because it serenely disdains to destroy us."

{Rainer Maria Rilke}

"There is a candle in your heart, ready to be kindled. There is a void in your soul, ready to be filled. You feel it, don't you?"

{Rumi}

"Love cannot endure indifferent. It needs to be wanted. Like a lamp, it needs to be fed out of the oil of another's heart, or its flame burns low."

{Henry Ward Beecher}

"Our relationship with Christ is messy, intimate, and beautiful all at the same time. Often He takes us on these dangerous adventures just to strip everything else away but Himself. From there, He'll show us that He is writing a bigger and far more beautiful story than we could have ever imagined."

{Paige Armstrong}

"I may sound old-fashioned, but I want to think all women should be treated like I want my wife, daughters, and granddaughters to be treated. I notice today that good manners-like standing up when a woman enters the room, helping a woman with her coat, letting her enter an elevator first, taking her arm to cross the street-are sometimes considered unnecessary or a throwback. These are habits I could never break, nor would I want to. I realize today a lot more women are taking care of themselves than in the past, but no woman is offended by politeness." 

{Frank Sinatra}

"Every day I discover more and more beautiful things. Its enough to drive one mad. I have such a desire to do everything, my head is bursting with it."

{Claude Monet}

"I've been homesick for countries I've never been, and longed to be where I couldn't be."

{John Cheever}

"People often think that Christian morality is a kind of bargain in which God says, 'If you keep a lot of rules, I'll reward you, and if you don't, I'll do the other thing.' I do not think this is the best way of looking at it. I would much rather say that every time you make a choice you are turning the central part of you, the part that chooses, into something a little different from what it was before. And taking your life as a whole, with all your innumerable choices, all your life long you are slowly turning this central thing either into a heavenly creature or into a hellish creature: either into a creature that is in harmony with God, and with other creatures, and with itself, or else into one that is in a state of war and hatred with God, and with its fellow-creatures, and with itself. To be the one kind of creature is heaven: that is, it is joy and peace and knowledge and power. To be the other means madness, horror, idiocy, rage, impotence, and eternal loneliness. Each of us at each moment is progressing to the one state or the other."

{C. S. Lewis}

"An ordinary simple Christian kneels down to say his prayers. He is trying to get into touch with God. But if he is a Christian, he knows that what is prompting him to pray is also God: God, so to speak, inside him. But he also knows that all his real knowledge of God comes from Christ, the Man who was God-that Christ is standing beside him, helping him to pray, praying for him. You see what is happening. God is the thing to which he is praying--the goal he is trying to reach. God is also the thing inside him which is pushing him on--the motive power. God is also the road or bridge along which he is being pushed to that goal. So that the whole threefold life of the three-person Being is actually going on in that ordinary little bedroom where an ordinary man is saying his prayers. The man is being caught up into the higher kinds of life--the spiritual life--he is being pulled into God, by God, while still remaining himself."

{C. S. Lewis}

"Young people of every language and culture, a high and exhilarating task awaits you: that of becoming men and women capable of solidarity, peace, and love of life, with respect for everyone. Become craftsmen of a new humanity, where brother and sisters--members all of the same family--are able at last to live in peace."

{Bl. John Paul II)

"Are you bored with life? Then throw yourself into some work you believe in with all your heart, live for it, die for it, and you will find happiness that you had thought could never be yours."

{Audrey Hepburn}

"Isn't it splendid to think of all the things there are to find out about? It just makes me feel glad to be alive; its such an interesting world. It wouldn't be half so interesting if we know all about everything, would it? There'd be no scope for imagination then, would there? But am I talking too much? People are always telling me I do. Would you rather I didn't talk? If you say so Ill stop. I can STOP when I make up my mind to, although it is difficult."

{Anne of Green Gables}

"To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything and your heart will be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact you must give it to no one, not even an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements. Lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket, safe, dark, motionless, airless, it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. To love is to be vulnerable."

{C. S. Lewis}

"We are dead groups of matter when we hate; But when we love we are as gods!"

{Friedrich von Schiller}

"I have learned that you can tell a lot about a person by the way he/she handles these three things: a rainy day, lost luggage, and tangled Christmas lights."

{Maya Angelou}

"The guidance of the Spirit is generally by gentle suggestions or drawings, and not in violent pushes; and it requires great child-likeness of heart to be faithful to it. The secret of being made willing lies in a definite giving up of our will."

{H. W. S.}

"God has perfect timing for everything. Learn to wait on Him. This brings Him honor, and it brings you peace." 

{Psalm 27:14}

"I'm attracted to the extreme light and the extreme dark. I'm interested in the human condition and what makes people tick. I'm interested in the things people try to hide."

{Johnny Depp}

"It is true that God may have called you to be exactly where you are. But, it is absolutely vital to grasp that he didn't call you there so you could settle in and live your life in comfort and superficial peace." 

{Francis Chan}

"The more familiar two people become, the more the language they speak together departs from that of the ordinary, dictionary-defined discourse. Familiarity creates a new language, an in-house language of intimacy that carries reference to the story the two-lovers are weaving together and that cannot be readily understood by others." 

{Alain de Botton, On Love}

"O God, I have tasted Thy goodness, and it has both satisfied me and made me thirsty for more. I am painfully conscious of my need of further grace. I am ashamed of my lack of desire. O God, the Triune God, I want to want Thee; I long to be filled with longing; I thirst to be made more thirsty still. Show me Thy glory, I pray Thee, so that I may know Thee indeed. Begin in mercy a new work of love within me. Say to my soul, "Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away." Then give me grace to rise and follow Thee up from this misty lowland where I have wandered so long."

{A. W. Tozer}

"There isn't anyone you couldn't love once you've heard their story."

{Mary Lou Kownacki}

"With freedom, books, flowers, and the moon, who could not be happy?"

{Oscar Wilde}

"That is part of the beauty of literature. You discover that your longings are universal longings, that you're not lonely and isolated from anyone. You belong."

{F. Scott Fitzgerald}

"But he said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong."

{2 Corinthians 12:9-10}

"Your journey has molded you for your greater good, and it was exactly what it needed to be. Don't think that you've lost time. It took each and every situation you have encountered to bring you to the now. And now is right on time."

{Asha Tyson}

"Things that matter most must never be at the mercy of things that matter least."

{Goethe}

"Color my faith, oh Lord, that your words be written in my heart."

{Katrise Velhagen}

"Peace. it does not mean to be in a place where there is no noise, trouble, or hard work. it means to be in the midst of those things and still be calm in your heart."

{unknown}

"To live content with small means; to seek elegance rather than luxury, and refinement rather than fashion; to be worthy, not respectable; and wealthy, not rich; to study hard, think quietly, talk gently, act frankly...to listen to stars and buds, to babes and sages, with an open heart; await occasions, hurry never....this is my symphony."

{William Henry Channing}

"Once again, she asked me what I mean. And again, my heart was in my words, but the explanation made no sense. Typical me."

{unknown}

"No love of the human heart is safe unless it has been satisfied by God first."

{Oswald Chambers}

"Stars should not be seen alone. That's why there are so many. Two people should stand together and look at them. One person alone will surely miss the good ones."

{unknown}

"Still, what I want in my life is to be willing to be dazzled--to cast aside the weight of facts and maybe even to float a little above this difficult world. I want to believe I am looking into the white fire of a great mystery. I want to believe that the imperfections are nothing--that the light is everything--that it is more than the sum of each flawed blossom rising and fading. And I do."

{Mary Oliver, House of  Light}

"Passion. It lies in all of us. Sleeping, waiting, and though unwanted, unbidden, it will stir, open its jaws and howl. It speaks to us, guides us. Passion rules us all. And we obey. What other choice do we have? Passion is the source of our finest moments. The joy of love, the clarity of hatred, the ecstasy of grief. It hurts sometimes more than we can bear. If we could live without passion, maybe we'd know some kind of peace. But we would be hollow. Empty rooms, shuttered and dank. Without passion, we'd be truly dead." 

{Joss Whedon}

"I've come to think that flourishing consists of putting yourself in situations in which you lose self-consciousness and become fused when you are lost in a hard challenge, or when an artist or a craftsman becomes one with the brush or the tool. It happens sometimes while you're playing sports, or listening to music or lost in a story, or to some people when they feel enveloped by God's love. And it happens most when we connect with other people. I've come to think that happiness isn't really produced by conscious accomplishments. Happiness is a measure of how thickly the unconscious parts of our minds are intertwined with other people and activities."

{David Brooks}

"Live the full life of the mind, exhilarated by new ideas, intoxicated by the romance of the unusual."

{Ernest Hemingway}

"Stare. It is the way to educate your eye, and more. Stare, pry, listen, and eavesdrop. Die knowing something. You are not here long."

{Walker Evans}

"Im almost never serious, and I'm always too serious. To deep, too shallow. Too sensitive, too cold hearted. I'm like a collection of paradoxes."

{Ferdinand von Schrubentaufft}

"Take wrong turns. Talk to strangers. Open unmarked doors. And if you see a group of people in a field, go find out what thye are doing. Do things without always knowing how they'll turn out. You're curious and smart and bored, and all you see is the choice between working hard and slacking off. There are so many adventures that you miss because you are waiting to think of a plan. To find them, look for tiny interesting choices. And remember that you are always making up the future as you go."

{Randall Munroe}

"A stranger in an instant can see something in you that you might spend years learning about yourself. How awful we all are when we look at ourselves under a light, finally seeing our reflections. How little we know about ourselves. How much forgiveness it must take to love a person, to choose not to see their flaws, or to see those flaws and love the person anyway. If you never forgive you'll always be alone."

{Stephen Elliott, The Adderall Diaries}

"I learn a great deal by merely observing you, and letting you talk as long as you please, and take note of what you do not say."

{T. S. Eliot}

"Sometimes I'm terrified of my heart; of its constant hunger for whatever it is it wants. The way it stops and starts."

{Edgar Allen Poe}

"Always be on the lookout for the presence of wonder."

{E. B. White}

"Your handwriting. The way you walk. Which china pattern you choose. Its all giving you away. Everything you do shows your hand. Everything is a self-portrait. Everything is a diary."

{Chuck Palahniuk}

"Indeed my life is a perpetual question mark - my thirst for books, my observations of people, all tend to satisfy a great, overwhelming desire to know, to understand, to find an answer to a million questions. And gradually the answers are revealed, many things are explained, and above all, many things are given names and described, and my restlessness is subdued. Then I become an exclamatory person, clapping my hands to the immense surprises the world holds for me, and falling from one ecstasy into another. I have the habit of peeping, and prying, and listening, and seeking - passionate curiosity and expectation. But I have also the habit of being surprised, the habit of being filled with wonder and satisfaction each time I stumble on some wondrous thing."

{Anaîs Nin}

"The happiest people are those who think the most interesting thoughts. Those who decide to use leisure as a means of mental development, who love good music, good books, good pictures, good company, good conversation, are the happiest people in the world. And they are not only happy in themselves, they are the cause of happiness in others." 

{William Lyon Phelps}

"I do not care what car you drive. Where you live. If you know someone who knows someone who knows someone. If your clothes are this years cutting edge. If you are A list or B list or never heard of your list. If your trust fund is unlimited. I only care about the words that flutter from your mind. They are the only thing you own. The only thing I will remember you by. I will not fall in love with your bones or skin. I will not fall in love with the places you have been. I will not fall in love with anything but the words that flutter from your extraordinary mind."

{Andre Jordan}

"She was reminisching about her childhood. I asked her what she missed the most. She closed her eyes a moment thinking back, then said, "Porch talk. I miss the porch talk." Social scientists and preachers offer a number of reasons for the decline of civil society: broken homes, poverty, disease, television, and increasing secularism to name a few. I believe all that is wrong with our world can be attributed to the shortage of front porches and the talks we had on them. Somewhere around 1950, builders left off the front porch to save money, and we've had nothing but problems ever since."

{P. G.  - Front Porch Tales}

"Introverts, in contrast, may have strong social skills and enjoy parties and business meetings, but after a while wish they were home in their pajamas. They prefer to devote their social energies to close friends, colleagues, and family. They listen more than they speak, and often feel as if they express themselves better in writing than in conversation. They tend to dislike conflict. Many have a horror of small talk, but enjoy deep discussions."

{Susan Cain}

"We have to consciously study how to be tender with each other until it becomes a habit."

{Audre Lorde}

"Admit it. You aren't like them. You're not even close. You may occassionally dress yourself up as one of them, watch the same mindless television shows as they do, maybe even eat the same fast food sometimes. But it seems that the more you try to fit in, the more you feel like an outsider, watching the 'normal people' as they go about their automatic existences. For every time you say club passwords like "Have a nice day" and "Weather's great today, isn't it!" you yearn inside to say forbidden things like "Tell me something that makes you cry" or "What do you think deja vu is for?". Face it, you even want to talk to that girl in the elevator. But what if that girl in the elevator (and that balding man who walks past your cubicle at work) is thinking the same thing? Who knows what you might learn from taking a chance on conversation with a stranger. Everyone carries a piece of the puzzle. Nobody comes into you life by mere coincidence. Trust your instincts. Do the unexpected. Find the others..."

{Timothy Leary}

"Love is the voice under all silences, the hope which has no opposite in fear; the strength so strong mere force is feebleness; the truth more first than sun, more last than star."

{E. E. Cummings}

"I'm learning to see. I don't know why it is, but everything enters me more deeply and doesn't stop where it once used to. I have an interior that I never knew of. Everything passes into it now. I don't know what happens there."

{Rainer Maria Rilke}