“Roses by the head, jasmine at the feet so appear the longings that have passed without being satisfied, not one of them granted a night of sensual pleasure, or one of its radiant mornings.” NightPleasureMorningFeetLongingRoseSatisfiedGrantedSensualRadiantJasmineSensual Pleasure Author:C.P. Cavafy
“Glen Hirshberg's stories are haunting, absolutely, but not only because of the content -- the stories themselves haunt, they stick around, they linger, inhabiting a little corner of the reader's brain and resurfacing to evoke mystery or sadness or longing. It's a pleasure to dive into Hirshberg's storytelling skills in American Morons.” LittlesStoriesPleasureBrainMysterySadnessReaderSkillsLongingSticksCornersStorytellingHauntingEvokeMoron Author:Aimee Bender
“I wanted to experience both. I wanted worldly enjoyment and divine transcendence. I wanted what the Greeks called kalos kai agathos, the singular balance of the good and the beautiful. I'd been missing both during these last hard years, because both pleasure and devotion require a stress-free space in which to flourish and I'd been living in a giant trash compactor of nonstop anxiety. As for how to balance the urge for pleasure against the longing for devotion...well, surely there was a way to learn that trick.” WayYearsWellsHardWantedLastsBeautifulSpacePleasureMissingDivineBalanceAnxietyStressLongingTricksDevotionGreekGiantsEnjoymentUrgesWorldlyTrashTranscendenceStress Free Author:Elizabeth Gilbert
“Godly people... nobly endure hard things. They know that their existence is meaningful and that they are destined for unlimited pleasure at the deepest level in heaven. Because they keenly feel that nothing now quite meets the standards of their longing souls, the quiet but deeply throbbing ache within them drives them not to compalint, but to anticipation and further yieldedness.” PeopleKnowsFeelsSoulHardJoySufferingHeavenPleasureLevelsExistenceQuietStandardsLongingEndureMeaningfulAnticipationUnlimitedGodlyDestinedAcheHard Things Author:Larry Crabb