“After class, if she got out early, sometimes I'd catch
her
downstairs writing up her notes. And she'd smile
and I had to bite back every single corny thing I'd ever
wanted to say, like: All off me is an invitation reaching toward you, or
my fingertips ache where they haven't touched your skin or
I hear the promise of us in the crescendo of every ballad
and maybe I was supposed to be a bachatero instead of a pilot
because all I had were torch songs for a girl I barely knew.”
Source: You've Got a Place Here, Too: An Anthology of Black Love Stories Set at HBCUs
“Loneliness is a state of emotional pain. Being alone is a state of physical removal. Loneliness can be debilitating. Being alone can be empowering.”
Source: Better than Happiness: The True Antidote to Discontent
“The heaviest mask you’ll ever wear is the one that smiles to keep others comfortable.”
Source: Be You!: What They Hate in You Is Missing in Them
“I see the moon in the sky. It's bright and I wonder why, people have dark intentions and truths are hidden. Beware the smile without a laugh.”
“Step lightly, reader… and notice—
the Buddha’s smile is not something to observe from afar.
It is waiting… quietly…
in the curve of your own lips.”
Source: The Buddha’s Smile: A Humorous Guide to Wisdom
“Smile at me,' he murmured, the silver in his eyes swirling.
'Why?'
'Because when you do that, there's utterly nothing I would not allow you to do to me.”
Source: A Shadow in the Ember
“He gave me a little smile, and before he left he said, 'I hope the dogs don't bark tonight. I always think it's mine.”
Source: The Stranger
“My golf swing is like a James Cagney smile. It curves with sincerity, but it's also slightly sinister.”
Source: To be good at golf you must go full koala bear
“A smile keeps the face round. It makes a perfect gradient in time that transforms the rigid into the pleasing.”
Source: A Memoir of Memories and Memes
“I glared at Tanner, who mouthed at me to ‘smile,’ because a guy telling a girl to do that was guaranteed to end well.”
Source: Hearts Overboard