"There are few people whom I really love, and still fewer of whom I think well. The more I see of the world, the more am I dissatisfied with it; and every day confirms my belief of the inconsistency of all human characters, and of the little dependence that can be placed on the appearance of merit or sense."
— Jane Austen

"I am excessively diverted. "
— Jane Austen (Pride and Prejudice)

"Follies and nonsense, whims and inconsistencies do divert me, I own, and I laugh at them whenever I can."
— Jane Austen (Pride and Prejudice)

"How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of being and ideal grace.
I love thee to the level of every day's
Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light.
I love thee freely, as men strive for right.
I love thee purely, as they turn from praise.
I love thee with the passion put to use
In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints. I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life; and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death.
-How Do I Love Thee? (Sonnet 43)"
— Elizabeth Barrett Browning

"The moment in The Bell Jar when Esther Greenwood realizes after thirty days in the same black turtleneck that she never wants to wash her hair again, that the repeated necessity of the act is too much trouble, that she wants to do it once and be done with it, seems like the book's true epiphany. You know you've completely descended into madness when the matter of shampoo has ascended into philosophical heights. "
— Elizabeth Wurtzel (Prozac Nation)

"She threw up her hands. "All right. Why not?"

"Why not?"

"Sure."

His arms fell to his sides. "That's it? I pour my heart out. I love you so much I've got freakin' tears in my eyes. And all I get in return is 'Why not'?"

"What did you expect? Am I supposed to fall all over you just because you've finally come to your senses?"

"Would it be too much to ask?"...He'd begun to glare at her again, his eyes growing stormier by the minute."When do you think you might be ready? To fall all over me, that is.""
— Susan Elizabeth Phillips (Breathing Room)

"And I know, knew for sure, with an absolute certainty, that this is rock bottom, this what the worst possible thing feels like. It is not some grand, wretched emotional breakdown. It is, in fact, so very mundane:…Rock Bottom is an inability to cope with the commonplace that is so extreme it makes even the grandest and loveliest things unbearable…Rock bottom is feeling that the only thing that matters in all of life is the one bad moment…Rock bottom is everything out of focus. It’s a failure of vision, a failure to see the world how it is, to see the good in what it is, and only to wonder why the hell things look the way they do and not—and not some other way."
— Elizabeth Wurtzel

"Sometimes it feels like we're all living in a Prozac nation. The United States of Depression. "
— Elizabeth Wurtzel (Prozac Nation)

"The thing is, that world doesn't exist. All growing up means is that your realize no one will come along to fix things. No one will come along to save you."
— Elizabeth Scott (Love You Hate You Miss You)

""You ready?" Evan asks, and he's looking at me, and I love his hair, I love his smile, I lo--"I Love You," I say, and as I watch his smile bloom I finally get how great those three little words are. I finally get what they really mean.' --- Last line in "Bloom" by Elizabeth Scott"
— Elizabeth Scott (Bloom)

"The past can not be cured."
— Elizabeth I

"I deserved the shaking and the headaches and the fact that every single time I took a breath I felt a squeezing in my chest, my heart beating even though I wished it wasn't."
— Elizabeth Scott (Love You Hate You Miss You)

"The problem for me is that I can't ever really see who Gregory is, any more than I can see what a mirror by itself looks like, because he reflects whoever's around him."
— Elizabeth Chandler

"Chronicler shook his head and Bast gave a frustrated sigh. 'How about plays? Have you seen The Ghost and the Goosegirl or The Ha'penny King?

Chronicler frowned. 'Is that the one where the king sells his crown to an orphan boy?'

Bast nodded. 'And the boy becomes a better king than the original. The goosegirl dresses like a countess and everyone is stunned by her grace and charm.' He hesitated, struggling to find the words he wanted. 'You see, there's a fundamental connection between seeming and being. Every Fae child knows this, but you mortals never seem to see. We understand how dangerous a mask can be. We all become what we pretend to be.'

Chronicler relaxed a bit, sensing familiar ground. 'That's basic psychology. You dress a beggar in fine clothes, people treat him like a noble, and he lives up to their expectations.'

'That's only the smallest piece of it,' Bast said. 'The truth is deeper than that. It's . . .' Bast floundered for a moment. 'It's like everyone tells a story about themselves inside their own head. Always. All the time. That story makes you what you are. We build ourselves out of that story.'

Frowning, Chronicler opened his mouth, but Bast held up a hand to stop him. 'No, listen. I've got it now. You meet a girl: shy, unassuming. If you tell her she's beautiful, she'll think you're sweet, but she won't believe you. She knows that beauty lies in your beholding.' Bast gave a grudging shrug. 'And sometimes that's enough.'

His eyes brightened. 'But there's a better way. You show her she is beautiful. You make mirrors of your eyes, prayers of your hands against her body. It is hard, very hard, but when she truly believes you . . .' Bast gestured excitedly. 'Suddenly the story she tells herself in her own head changes. She transforms. She isn't seen as beautiful. She is beautiful, seen.'

'What the hell is that supposed to mean?' Chronicler snapped. 'You're just spouting nonsense now.'

'I'm spouting too much sense for you to understand,' Bast said testily. 'But you're close enough to see my point.'"
— Patrick Rothfuss (The Name of the Wind)

"She was convinced that she could have been happy with him, when it was no longer likely they should meet."
— Jane Austen

"The door closed behind her (Phoebe), and the two men regarded each other for a moment. Viktor spoke first. "I must have your promise, Coach, that you won't hurt her." Dan: "I won't." Viktor: "You spoke a little too quickly for my taste. I don't quite believe you." Dan: "I'm a man of my word, and I promise I won't hurt her." He flexed his hands. "When I murder her, I'll do it real quick so she won't feel a thing." Viktor sighed. "That's exactly what I was afraid of.""
— Susan Elizabeth Phillips (It Had to Be You)

"In vain have I 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)

"Are you lost?"

I turned around. "Excuse me?"

Two guys were sprawled on a bench close to the sidewalk. The one who had spoken wore tattered shorts and a colonial three-cornered hat-nothing else. He had wide shoulders and long, muscular legs. He stretched dramatically, then lay his tanned arm along the back of the bench. "You look lost," he said. "Can I help you find something?"

"Uh, no, thanks. I was just looking."

He grinned. "Me too."

"Oh?" I glanced around, thinking I'd missed something. "At what?"
He and his friend burst out laughing.
Way to go, Lauren, I thought. He had been looking at me!"
— Elizabeth Chandler (Legacy of Lies; Don't Tell)

"Do you know what it was like kissing Holly and looking up to see you?"

"What?"

"You said to begin anywhere."

But I hadn't expected that as a beginning, middle or end. I felt my cheeks getting warm. "I guess it was pretty embarrassing for both of us," I said, and walked ahead of him so he wouldn't see my face. "I know, I just kept staring at you."

"What were you thinking?"

"I don't remember."

"Don't you start using that line," he chided.

"Then don't ask me, Nick." Did he suspect how I felt.
He caught me and turned me around to face him. I focused on his shirt.

"Okay," he said quietly, "I'll tell you what I was thinking. I couldn't believe that I, who was never going to get hooked, had fallen in love with a girl who didn't want to date, and she was watching me kiss somebody else."

I glanced up.

"Your turn, brave girl. What were you thinking?"

"That Holly looked beautiful in your arms and that you didn't pull away from her the way you had pulled away from me when I kissed you."

He drew me to him. "I'm not pulling away again," he said holding me close."
— Elizabeth Chandler (Legacy of Lies; Don't Tell)

"I stopped walking and wrapped my arms tightly around him. "You know I can hear your heart."

"Could you hear it breaking when I accused you of getting my cartoon pulled?" he asked.

I held my head back so I could look him directly in the eye. "I didn't pull it."

"You couldn't have," he replied, "because I did."
— Elizabeth Chandler (Legacy of Lies; Don't Tell)

"Good dog," Nick said. "That's one of the tricks I've taught him, shaking water on girls so they back into my arms."

"Really! How smart of Rocky - and you, of course."

"That's another thing I've been wanting to tell you," he said, turning me to face him. "I'm tired of getting jealous of my dog. I mean, he has nice eyes, but so do I."

I looked from Rocky's golden eyes to Nick's laughing green ones.

"I didn't enjoy the way Rocky got to stick close to you while I played Holly's boyfriend. He's going to have some competition from now on."

"Oh, yeah? Are you good at retrieving sticks?"

"I'm good at stealing kisses," Nick said, then proved it."
— Elizabeth Chandler (Legacy of Lies; Don't Tell)

"I am no longer surprised at your knowing only six accomplished women. I rather wonder now at your knowing any."
— Jane Austen (Pride and Prejudice)

"They parted at last with mutual civility, and possibly a mutual desire of never meeting again."
— Jane Austen

"The more I see of the world, the more I am dissatisfied with it."
— Jane Austen (Pride and Prejudice)

"There is a stubbornness about me that never can bear to be frightened at the will of others. My courage always rises at every attempt to intimidate me."
— Jane Austen

""You have no idea how strong my love is!" - Eat, Pray, Love"
— Elizabeth Gilbert

"Hey, does my stupidity give you the right to bruise a tender heart?"

"Yeah, yeah. I'm bruising a heart made of Play-Doh."
— Elizabeth Chandler (Legacy of Lies; Don't Tell)

"I had discovered that there was something more painful than falling in love with someone who hasn't fallen for you; hurting that person-hurting him and not being able to do anything about it."
— Elizabeth Chandler (Legacy of Lies; Don't Tell)