Literature Asks

Quotes from literature to inspire you when writing!

“She wasn’t doing a thing that I could see, except standing there leaning on the balcony railing, holding the universe together.” - J. D. Salinger, “A Girl I Knew”

“The curves of your lips rewrite history.” - Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray

“A dream, all a dream, that ends in nothing, and leaves the sleeper where he lay down, but I wish you to know that you inspired it.” - Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities

“I took a photo of us mid-embrace. When I am old and alone, I will remember that I once held something truly beautiful.” - Joe Dunthorne, Submarine

“If equal affection cannot be, let the more loving one be me.” - W. H. Auden, “The More Loving One”

“And now that you don’t have to be perfect, you can be good.” - John Steinbeck, East of Eden

“Who, being loved, is poor?” - Oscar Wilde, A Woman of No Importance

“Once upon a time there was a boy who loved a girl, and her laughter was a question he wanted to spend his whole life answering.” - Nicole Krauss, The History of Love

“The pieces I am, she gather them and gave them back to me in all the right order.” - Toni Morrison, Beloved

“If I had a flower for every time I thought of you…I could walk through my garden forever.” - Alfred Tennyson

“I’m watching her talk. Watching her jaw move and collecting her words one by one as they spill from her lips. I don’t deserve them. Her warm memories. I’d like to paint them over the bare plaster walls of my soul, but everything I paint seems to peel.” - Isaac Marion, Warm Bodies

“I don’t want you to miss all the things that someone else can give you.” - Jojo Moyes, Me Before You

“You can love someone so much… But you can never love people as much as you can miss them.” - John Green, An Abundance of Katherines

“If you expect nothing from somebody you are never disappointed.” - Sylvia Plath, The Bell Jar

“Just… isn’t giving up allowed sometimes? Isn’t it okay to say, ‘This really hurts, so I’m going to stop trying’?” - Rainbow Rowell, Fangirl

“I’m just so thankful for our little infinity.” - John Green, The Fault in Our Stars

“I hope, or I could not live.” - H.G. Wells

“I hadn’t expected that a tiny glimmer of hope for the future could transform someone so utterly.” - Dai Sijie, Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress: A Novel

“Your eyes are full of language.” - Anne Sexton, Anne Sexton: A Self-Portrait in Letters

“You were at the age where you could fall in love with a girl over an expression, over a gesture.” - Junot Dìaz, This Is How You Lose Her

“You can pretend for a long time, but one day it all falls away and you are alone.” - Jean Rhys, Wide Sargasso Sea: A Novel

“I’ve never had a moment’s doubt. I love you. I believe in you completely. You are my dearest one. My reason for life.” - Ian McEwan, Atonement

“You should be kissed and often, and by someone who knows how.” - Margaret Mitchell, Gone With The Wind

“I like flaws. I think they make things interesting.” - Sarah Dessen, The Truth About Forever

“In vain I have struggled. It will not do. My feelings will not be repressed. You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you.” - Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice

“He doesn’t want you to be real, and to think and to live. He doesn’t love you. But I love you. I want you to have your own thoughts and ideas and feelings, even when I hold you in my arms.” E.M. Forster, A Room With A View

“The more you love someone, he came to think, the harder it is to tell them. It surprised him that strangers didn’t stop each other on the street to say I love you.” - Jonathan Safran Foer, Everything is Illuminated

“Memories warm you up from the inside. But they also tear you apart.” - Haruki Murakami, Kafka on the Shore

“We can experience nothing but the present moment, live in no other second of time, and to understand this is as close as we can get to eternal life.” - P.D. James, The Children of Men

“I know. I was there. I saw the great void in your soul, and you saw mine.” - Sebastian Faulks, Birdsong

“Above, the starts shone hard and bright, sparks struck off the dark skin of the universe” - Stephen King

“The mouth is made for communication, and nothing is more articulate than a kiss.” - Jarod Kintz, It Occurred to Me

“If it weren’t for her, there would never have been an empty space, or the need to fill it” - Nicole Krause, The History of Love

“I look at you and I would rather look at you than all the portraits in the world…” - Frank O’Hara, Having a Coke With You

“It was love at first sight, at last sight, at ever and ever sight.” - Vladimir Nabokov, Lolita

More Posts from Seashellsakura and Others

seashellsakura

7 years ago

It’s time to be brave. I’m not afraid.

Bangtan | Outro: Wings (via btsquotes)

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seashellsakura

8 years ago

Giveaway Contest: We’re giving away ten vintage paperback classics by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Jane Austen, Harper Lee, Walt Whitman, George Orwell, and others. Won’t these look lovely on your shelf? :D To win these classics, you must: 1) be following macrolit on Tumblr (yes, we will check. :P), and 2) reblog this post. We will randomly choose a winner on April 22, at which time we’ll start a new giveaway. And yes, we’ll ship to any country. Easy, right? Good luck!

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seashellsakura

8 years ago

“My parents are very selfish and I have to thank them for that because I’m selfish enough not to have children. Because they were so self-involved, for most of my life I’ve wandered around like a kid lost at a mall just screaming “mommy!”, “daddy!”. I didn’t talk to my father for years but it solved nothing ‘cause I was living in the anger. At some point you’re just gonna have to realize that they’re not going to be the parents you want them to be. That window has closed. You’re going to have to accept them the way that they are and learn how to parent yourself.“

Marc Maron (via catbean715)

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seashellsakura

8 years ago

16K notes View Post

seashellsakura

7 years ago

“I Wanted To Tell The Book Thief Many Things, About Beauty And Brutality. But What Could I Tell Her

“I wanted to tell the book thief many things, about beauty and brutality. But what could I tell her about those things that she didn’t already know? I wanted to explain that I am constantly overestimating and underestimating the human race-that rarely do I ever simply estimate it. I wanted to ask her how the same thing could be so ugly and so glorious, and its words and stories so damning and brilliant.”

literature posters; the book thief by markus zusak

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seashellsakura

7 years ago

So about 3 years ago, I was diagnosed with anxiety and depression in my final year of highschool. I got splitting headaches every day, blanked out in the middle of tests, broke down regularly, was extremely suspicious of people, tried to please everyone, the works. It didn't really help that I am really competitive about my studies.

In the short term, I would first recommend going to a doctor - there are medications that can actually reduce the immediate feeling of anxiety, lower your heart rate and calm you in stressful situations. Knowing you're on something that works can make you more confident in your ability to overcome it, too. My psychiatrist also recommended some breathing exercises in those moments - take deep slow breaths, and concentrate on how your tummy moves in and out with each. It takes your mind off the situation. Control your body language - if you have to, imagine you are your favourite cool character in your favourite show or book. No matter how you feel, force yourself to walk confidently into a situation. Tell yourself you can handle it. Trust me, it really works.

In the long run, you will have to work with yourself. Therapy is useful, but you don't really need to go. Figure out which thought processes are telling you that you should conform to other people's expectations, and challenge them every time you start to think that way. Tell yourself that you are amazing, every time. They should be glad they know you. I would say, set a goal for yourself, maybe talk to a new person every month, or join a club for you've never done before. Keep trying, and make an active note of your improvements.

Try to actively avoid things that depress you, even if you like them. Some of my favourite songs and books are depressing, and I have avoided them for a while. If you are going to go to them, focus on other things - how nice the voice sounds or the particular style of writing. Actively find things that pump you up, and pursue them. Listen to deep bass in your music, find books or shows that crack you up. Tell yourself you can and will be happy. Make stupid jokes and laugh at yourself. Try to challenge pessimistic thinking. Try to walk with a spring in your step, even when you're tired. Get excited about things you like.

Remember, it's all up to you. You can choose to wallow in your issues, or try to overcome them. It won't be quick, and it won't be easy, but it's the only real way you can do it. Remember, there are lots of people with the same problems who have gotten over them, who are happy and successful.

All the best. We're all here for you.

Hi i really need advice on how to overcome anxiety. Lately I've been really down because I've recently come to realization that life is moving way to fast and that I'm not really living it like a normal teenager should because I'm letting my anxiety and what other people think get in the way of what I want to do in life. Also because I tend to be skeptical a lot, it causes me to be pessimistic with really bothers be because I really just want to be a happy positive person. Plz help me plz!!!

anyone wanna tackle this one?

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seashellsakura

7 years ago

I’m looking forward to the day where I can be that cliche girl that studies and gets shit done in a coffee shop or library, with my head always in a book and daydreams filling my head. Just imagine. A cup of coffee to the left, books stacked high beside you, knowing you’ve accomplished so many things, and that feeling that you’re finally getting somewhere. And you’re okay for once in your life. You’re okay.

24K notes View Post

seashellsakura

8 years ago

Giveaway Contest: We’re giving away ten vintage paperback classics by Albert Camus, Franz Kafka, Kate Chopin, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ray Bradbury, and others. Won’t these look lovely on your shelf? :D To win these classics, you must: 1) be following macrolit on Tumblr (yes, we will check. :P), and 2) reblog this post. We will randomly choose a winner on March 5, at which time we’ll start a new giveaway. And yes, we’ll ship to any country. Easy, right? Good luck!

13K notes View Post

seashellsakura

7 years ago

If You’re Having A Bad Day Here Are A Few Baby Animal Pictures Which Surely Should Cheer You Up! :D

If you’re having a bad day here are a few baby animal pictures which surely should cheer you up! :D

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seashellsakura

8 years ago

Challenge Accepted -AkaKuro ForeignCountry!AU-

So what are the odds that they never went to the same middle school, never played a match during highschool, but still retained a certain level of passion for basketball? And what if, they so happened to sit next to each other at the most anticipated basketball game of the year? Based on this prompt. Drabble dedicated to melontastic WHO FOUGHT ME and anna who also fought me but I lost. I lost hard. WARNING: OOC-ALMOST-JERKISH AKASHI

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