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Poignant Quotes

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Poignant Quotes

“The Ache That Would Not Leave Behind the hum and routine of daily living, there lay a persistent and wild longing for something she could not easily put into words. It felt like impulsive adventures and watching the sun rise over unfamiliar mountains, or coffee in a street café, set to the background music of a foreign language. It was the smell of the ocean, with dizzying seagulls whirling in a cobalt sky; exotic foods and strange faces, in a city where no one knew her name. She wanted secrets whispered at midnight, and road trips without a map, but most of all, she ached for someone who desired to explore the mysteries that lay sleeping within her. The truly heartbreaking part was that she could feel the remaining days of her life falling away, like leaves from an autumn tree, but still this mysterious person who held the key to unlock her secrets did not arrive; they were missing, and she knew not where to find them.”

LoveDesireTravelLonelyLongingSecretsAchePoignantSearchingAdventuresLooking For LoveRoad TripsWaiting For True LoveWaiting For The Right PersonSoulmate Soul Mate
Author:John Mark Green
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“The one he loved wasn't the angel—it was the real Mahiru, the side of her she only let him see. He loved the Mahiru who could be infuriatingly stubborn and sarcastic but was also tenderhearted and shy, the one who tended to indulge him, who had a penchant for feeling lonely, and who sometimes looked so fragile he worried she might break into a million pieces.”

LoveRomanceRomanticIntimacyGentleVulnerabilityPoignantSlice Of LifeLight NovelComplex Characters
Book:The Angel Next Door Spoils Me Rotten, Vol. 3
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“So many words get lost. They leave the mouth and lose their courage, wandering aimlessly until they are swept into the gutter like dead leaves. On rainy days, you can hear their chorus rushing past: IwasabeautifulgirlPleasedon’tgoItoobelievemybodyismadeofglass-I’veneverlovedanyoneIthinkofmyselfasfunnyForgiveme…. There was a time when it wasn’t uncommon to use a piece of string to guide words that otherwise might falter on the way to their destinations. Shy people carried a little bunch of string in their pockets, but people considered loudmouths had no less need for it, since those used to being overheard by everyone were often at a loss for how to make themselves heard by someone. The physical distance between two people using a string was often small; sometimes the smaller the distance, the greater the need for the string. The practice of attaching cups to the ends of string came much later. Some say it is related to the irrepressible urge to press shells to our ears, to hear the still-surviving echo of the world’s first expression. Others say it was started by a man who held the end of a string that was unraveled across the ocean by a girl who left for America. When the world grew bigger, and there wasn’t enough string to keep the things people wanted to say from disappearing into the vastness, the telephone was invented. Sometimes no length of string is long enough to say the thing that needs to be said. In such cases all the string can do, in whatever its form, is conduct a person’s silence.”

LoveListeningPoignant
Book:The History of Love
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“Because people like stuff. New stuff, even newer stuff. Stuff to replace old stuff with and old stuff that is so old it becomes retro stuff and starts being used instead of new stuff. Let me tell you, it's fun stuff. Sometimes we have to get rid of stuff to make room for new stuff. And then we start to miss the old stuff so much that we have to build new stuff that pretends to be the old stuff. Like when we put TV screens on the treadmills at the gym and then play videos of trees on them so that we feel like we're running through the forest. Yes, I know what you're thinking. Why don't you just go running into the forest to begin with? and it's completely ok to wonder that. You don't know any better. But you see, we had to cut down the trees in the forest in order to build a highway so we could drive our cars to the gym. And yes, I can already see what you're thinking: Why did you have to cut down the trees? But hey, what did you want us to do? They were standing in the middle of the highway. It's complicated stuff to explain.”

HumorStuffHuman NatureSarcasmFunny QuotesPoignantIrony Sarcasm
Book:Things My Son Needs to Know About the World
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“I’m not sure. But there’s something about the darkness, the stillness of this hour, I think, that creates a language of its own. There’s a strange kind of freedom in the dark; a terrifying vulnerability we allow ourselves at exactly the wrong moment, tricked by the darkness into thinking it will keep our secrets. We forget that the blackness is not a blanket; we forget that the sun will soon rise. But in the moment, at least, we feel brave enough to say things we’d never say in the light.”

TruthPoignantBeautiful Writing
Book:Ignite Me
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“I’ve come close enough a few times to know there’s no good way to go. Some ways are better than others, of course, but however it happens, the end result will always be the same. I guess all you can do is try to be happy and make the most of your days, so when the time comes, the people you leave behind can rest happy knowing you lived your best life.”

DeathMemoriesGriefTouchingNo RegretsPoignantTouching Moments
Book:A Matter of Life and Death
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“They stood together a moment; both her hands were in both of his. 'You've been my best friend,' she said. 'It was for you that I wanted — that I wanted to live. But I'm of no use to you.' Then it came over her more poignantly that she should not see him again. She could not accept that; she could not part with him that way. 'If you should send for me I'd come,' she said at last. 'Your husband won't consent to that.' 'Oh yes, I can arrange it.' 'I shall keep that for my last pleasure!' said Ralph. In answer to which she simply kissed him.”

MovingDialogueKissGoodbyeBest FriendsPartingPoignantHenry JamesThe Portrait Of A Lady
Book:The Portrait of a Lady
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“Mail call. Someone throws a box on his bed. Curling, feminine handwriting addressed to Bobby. Cinnamon and chocolate wafts from the paper. Bobby’s fingers trace the letters of his own name, trace the grease spots starting to shine through the brown wrapping paper. You’ll see, Adam had said. Someday. Bobby’s hands shred the paper and reach for a fistful of cookies, shoving them against his lips. Someday, Adam said. Someday.”

LonelinessFoodPoignantSmellsAway From Family
Book:The Price of Cookies
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“The people they had been last summer, the person she had been--Dicey guessed she'd never be afraid again, not the way she had been all summer. She had taken care of them all, sometimes well, sometimes badly. And they had covered the distances. For most of the summer, they had been unattached. Nobody knew who they were or what they were doing. It didn't matter what they did, as long as they all stayed together. Dicey remembered that feeling, of having things pretty much her own way. And she remembered the feelings of danger. It was a little bit like being a wild animal, she thought to herself. Dicey missed that wildness. She knew she would never have it again. And she missed the sense of Dicey Tillerman against the whole world and doing all right.”

Growing UpIntrospectivePoignantChange Life
Book:Dicey's Song
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“Ah, yeah. Yeah, tis awful all right. Well, your Mam wanted me to talk to you about it, but…’ He stopped; he didn’t know what else to say. ‘Yeah? Ah, I know the score, Dad. She wants me to be careful, is it?’ ‘Ah, no. Well, yeah; there’s that, of course. No, she wanted… well, if you’d any questions, you know?’ I wasn’t sure if he wanted me to say yes, or if he just wanted me to say no, and save him having to be awkward. He looked lost. I felt like I wanted to save him ‘No, I’ve no questions, Dad. It’s all right, shur.’ He looked at me then. His eyes went wet, like he was going to start bawling. If we were in a film, he might have hugged me. But we were in Limerick, so he just said: ‘Well, so,’ and put his one glove back on. From The Boys of Summer”

CharacterNovelSadQuotePoignant
Author:Ciarán West
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“The machines of this place are failing, and the woman and I are here all alone. The perpetual motion engine, as brilliant and beautiful as it is, is running down—nothing lasts forever. But before this little world falls out of the sky there still might be time enough for redemption. There is still time for me to say the words that I should have had the courage to say at the beginning. There is still time, perhaps, for one more miracle. Hello, Miranda.”

SadMiracleScience FictionRedemptionHelloBeginningImpermanenceBittersweetEndingPoignantDexter PalmerSteampunkNothing Lasts ForeverThe Dream Of Perpetual MotionPerpetual Motion
Book:The Dream of Perpetual Motion
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“This here is your inheritance, says the senior partner. Yes, he says, Ludwig, I know, and stows the plan for the bathing house (5.5m long, 3.8m wide, outer wall construction: wood, roof construction: thatch), stows both the plan and the mosquito in his briefcase. On a German shelf, this mosquito, pressed flat between large quantities of paper, will outlast time and times, and one day it might even be petrified, who knows.”

LossForesightSad But TruePoignantGerman History
Book:Visitation
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“His gaze lowered to her mouth. "I don't think you understand my limitations." "You're not open to a relationship. Is that the limitation you're talking about?" He nodded, but kept staring at her lips as though they were all he could really think about. "Consider me warned," she said and slid her hand around his neck to bring his head down to hers.”

RomanceArtistChristmasMovie StarPaparazziPoignant
Book:Keep Me Warm at Christmas
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