Laura (Reading is a Doing Word)

“Since that moment, I have known many times what I first experienced then. Until then, my forays into written French had been purely utilitarian, the completion of almost mathematical exercises. When I comprehended a new phrase it was merely a bridge to the next exercise. Never before had I known the sudden quiver of understanding that travels from word to brain to heart, the way a new language can move, coil, swim into life under the eyes, the almost savage leap of comprehension, the instantaneous, joyful release of meaning, the way the words shed their printed bodies in a flash of heat and light. Since then I have known this moment of truth with other companions: German, Russian, Latin, Greek, and—for a brief hour—Sanskrit”
― Elizabeth Kostova, The Historian

“I felt devoutly thankful for the honour of the highland name that, in the hour of victory, these fierce looking warriors had shown a moderation which, alas! was far from being copied by the other side when the tide turned.”
― W.C.Mackenzie

“There’s all sorts in the water now that wasn’t there when he was just a lad. Strange chemicals and pesticides and sewage.”
― Benjamin Wood, Seascraper

“when you love somebody it can be hard to know where the boundary of solicitude ends and interference begins.”
― Ronan Hession, Leonard and Hungry Paul