Hard Of Hearing Quotes

And before my Soul took me to task I was hard of hearing; I heard only tumult and uproar. But now I am all ears listening to the silence and its choirs singing the hymns of time, intoning the praises of the firmament, revealing the secrets of the invisible. ~ Khalil Gibran

My grandfather is hard of hearing. He needs to read lips. I don't
mind him reading lips, but he uses one of those yellow highlighters. ~ Brian Kiley

He fixed me with a hard stare. "What do you want?"
I blinked. "I'm sorry?"
He spoke slowly, carefully shaping the words as if I was slow or hard of hearing. "What do you want for the maps?"
I wanted to hit him in the mouth really hard. ~ Ilona Andrews

My Snowman sadly bowed
his head
in March, one sunny day,
and this is what he softly said
before he went away:

'In the middle of December
I was handsome, round,
and tall,
now I hardly can remember
those December days at all.
Oh my stomach's started
shrinking,
I am losing all my form,
and I'm thinking as I'm
shrinking
that I wish it weren't warm.

I can feel my shoulders
stooping
as my body's getting thin,
my nose has started
drooping
and my mouth has lost
its grin,
I am surely getting
shorter,
there is little left
of me,
my head is but a quarter
of the size it used to be.

I am getting hard of hearing
and my vision's little use,
for my ears are disappearing
and my eyes are coming loose.
Through the icy weeks
of winter
I stood prouder than a king,
now I'm thinner than
a splinter,
winter's melting into spring!' ~ Jack Prelutsky

I shot with it a lot. I still do now. That is why I am hard of hearing. ~ Mikhail Kalashnikov

You must speak loud to those who are hard of hearing. ~ Henry David Thoreau

Sometimes people say unkind or thoughtless things, and when they do, it is best to be a little hard of hearing - to tune out and not snap back in anger or impatience. ~ Ruth Bader Ginsburg

We will have to call especially loud to reach Our angels, who are hard of hearing; they are hiding In the jugs of silence filled during our wars. ~ Robert Bly

Mr. Clark," she repeated, looking up at him. "You are very tall."
"And you," he said in a low voice, "you, my most maddeningly beautiful, brilliant, Free. You are perfectly sized. If you Mr. Clark me once more, I shall be forced to do something dreadful, something like kiss you in public."
Even her wildest fantasies had not had him saying something like that on arrival. She squeezed his hands and then looked up into his dark eyes.
"I'm sorry, Mr. Clark," she said. "What did you say, Mr. Clark? Mr. Clark, I fear that I have become rather hard of hearing. The noise of the press is terribly distracting. What was that you said you'd do if I called you Mr. Clark? ~ Courtney Milan

The word "lesson" came back to Pooh as one he had heard before somewhere.
"There's a thing called Twy-stymes," he said. "Christopher Robin tried to teach it to me once, but it didn't."
"What didn't?" said Rabbit.
"Didn't what?" said Piglet.
Pooh shook his head.
"I don't know," he said. "It just didn't. What are we talking about?"
"Pooh," said Piglet reproachfully, "haven't you been listening to what Rabbit was saying?"
"I listened, but I had a small piece of fluff in my ear. Could you say it again, please, Rabbit? ~ A.A. Milne

I maintain, despite the moment's evidence against the claim, that we are born and grow up with a fondness for each other, and we have genes for that. We can be talked out of it, for the genetic message is like a distant music, and some of us are hard-of-hearing. Societies are noisy affairs, drowning out the sound of ourselves and our connection. ~ Lewis Thomas

You'll need a chaperone. I have no doubt that Great-Aunt Clara would stay at the terrace with you, or perhaps - "

"I'll invite old Mrs. Smedley from the village," Livia said. "She's from a respectable family, and she would enjoy a trip to London."

Aline frowned. "Dearest, Mrs. Smedley is hard of hearing, and as blind as a bat. A less effective chaperone I couldn't imagine."

"Precisely," Livia said, with such satisfaction that Aline couldn't help laughing. ~ Lisa Kleypas

I know what it's like to be growing up, called 'deaf and mute' and 'deaf and dumb.' They're words that are very degrading and demeaning to people who are deaf and hard of hearing. It's almost ... it's almost libelous, if you want to say that. ~ Marlee Matlin

Every few seconds a new book sees the light of day. Most of them will just be a part of the hum that makes us hard of hearing. Even the book is becoming an instrument of forgetting. A truly literary work comes into being as its creator's cry of protest against the forgetting that looms over him, over his predecessors and his contemporaries alike, and over his time, and the language he speaks. A literary work is something that defies death. ~ Ivan Klima

When you can assume that your audience holds the same beliefs you do, you can relax and use more normal means of talking to it; when you have to assume that it does not, then you have to make your vision apparent by shock
to the hard of hearing you shout, and for the almost-blind you draw large and startling figures. ~ Flannery O'Connor

I did my first series lead back in 1991 on a show called 'Reasonable Doubts' and have done many shows with other actors who are deaf. But 'Switched at Birth' is the first TV show where there is more than one actor who is deaf or hard of hearing and who are series regulars. ~ Marlee Matlin

Not only is love blind, it's a little hard of hearing. ~ Brian P. Cleary

The boy, Max Rüst, will later on become a tinker, father of seven more Rüsts, he will go to work for the firm of Hallis & Co., Plumbing and Roofing, in Grünau. At the age of 52 he will win a quarter of a prize in the Prussian Class Lottery, then he will retire from business and die during an adjustment suit which he has started against the firm of Hallis & Co., at the age of 55. His obituary will read as follows: On September, suddenly, from heart-disease, my beloved husband, our dear father, son, brother, brother-in-law, and uncle, Paul Rüst, in his 55th year. This announcement is made with deep grief on behalf of his sorrowing family by Marie Rüst. The notice of thanks after the funeral will read as follows: Acknowledgment. Being unable to acknowledge individually all tokens of sympathy in our bereavement, we hereby express our profound gratitude to all relatives, friends, as well as to the tenants of No. 4 Kleiststrasse and to all our acquaintances. Especially do we thank Herr Deinen for his kind words of sympathy. At present his Max Rüst is 14 years old, has just finished public school, is supposed to call by on his way there at the clinic for the defective in speech, the hard of hearing, the weak-visioned, the weak-minded, the in-corrigible, he has been there at frequent intervals, because he stutters, but he is getting better now. ~ Alfred Doblin

I'm hard of hearing. I miss a lot. It's really tough. ~ Ted Turner

Written communication is a tremendous help for me, and so when electronic mail was invented in '71, I got very excited about it, thinking well, gee, the deaf community could really use this, or the hard-of-hearing community as well. ~ Vint Cerf

I have a lot of anger about my childhood - being hard of hearing and my relationship with my father. ~ Lou Ferrigno

Quickly, I too bent and bowed in the short pants and corky white helmet with my overheated face and great nose. My face can be like the clang of a bell, and because I am hard of hearing on the right side I have a way of swinging the left into position, listening in profile and fixing my eyes on some object to help my concentration. So I did. I waited for him to say more, sweating boisterously, for I was confounded down to the ground. I couldn't believe it; I was so sure that I had left the world ~ Saul Bellow

Spoken names should be banned. Rose looked like Ross, Matt looked like Pat, Ian looked like nothing at all. Everyone should have a sign name. ~ Emma Viskic

Speech is for the convenience of those who are hard of hearing; but there are many fine things which we cannot say if we have to shout. ~ Henry David Thoreau

In a relationship, people may be inhabited by discordant personalities. For that reason, it might be convenient for partners if one of both could sometimes be a little hard of hearing, or the other a bit shortsighted. ("Mutual understanding") ~ Erik Pevernagie

I am not a man of my time. In fact I find it hard not to declare myself its enemy. Not, as I often remark, that I fail to understand it. My comment is merely a pious one. Because I am easy-going I prefer not to be aggressive or hostile and therefore I say that I do not understand those matters which I ought to say I hate or despise. I have sharp hears but I pretend to be hard of hearing, finding as I do that is more elegant to feign this handicap than to admit that I have heard some vulgar sound ~ Joseph Roth

Without even knowing it, we are assaulted by a high note of urgency all the time. We end up pacing ourselves to the city rhythm whether or not it's our own. In time we even grow hard of hearing to the rest of the world. Like a violinist stuck next to the timpani, we may lose the ability to hear our own instrument. ~ Ellen Goodman

She can hear me?" "She probably can. I think so." I put his hand on Nana's and my hand on top of his. "Go ahead." "Hi, Nana!" he said as if Nana were hard of hearing, and it was difficult not to laugh. "Inside-the-house voice, buddy," Bree said. "But good enthusiasm there. I'll bet Nana heard you. ~ James Patterson

I'd seen it happen, how hard it was to get out. Every year, one or two kids would visit from college for a long October weekend and simply never leave. They came home, cocooned themselves in the familiar radius of the town limits, and never broke free again. Years later, you'd see them working in the kitchen at the pizza place, or sitting at the bar in the East Bank Tavern. Shoulders hunched, jaw set, skin slack. And in the waning light of their eyes, the barest sensation that once upon a time, they been somewhere else ... or maybe it was only a dream. ~ Kat Rosenfield

Be relentless and hard on yourself if you are in the habit of talking about the experiences you have had. Faith based on experience is not faith; faith based on God's revealed truth is the only faith there is. ~ Oswald Chambers

If only we could be honest, both admit our fears, touch one another...Then, it might not be so hard to die - in a hospital - with friends close by. ~ American Journal Of Nursing

I've never been to a festival. I'm a creature of habit, mashed-potato comfort, I like rugs. Our sofa's squishy. Maybe too squishy - it's hard to get up sometimes. ~ Martin Freeman

During Snow White's story, her mother had somehow survived sharing a castle with the Greatest Evil the World Has Ever Known and come out of it not only okay but Happily Ever After. What advice would her mother give?
Apple knew because Snow White had cross-stitched the words on a pillow and propped it up in the informal receiving room: When Life Is All Dark Woods And Poisoned Apples, Remember You Have Friends. Snow White had stitched messages on other pillows, too, such as: Squirrels Will Never Let You Down, Unless They're Hibernating; There Are Always Birds; Nature Loves A Broom; Love Is Knowing A rabbit Needs You; Hugs Are How It's Done; Double Hugs Are For The Grumpy; Trees And Dogs Are Happy, So Start Barking; and others. Honestly, it was hard to find a sofa in the enormous White Castle that didn't sport a cross-stitched pillow. But the "Remember You Have Friends" one offered the most insight to Apple at the moment. ~ Shannon Hale

One minute I was at home reading in bed and the next thing I knew I was waking up on board a helicopter with some crazy Russian woman.'

'Oh don't worry, we're familiar with the crazy Russian woman,' Otto laughed. 'One piece of advice though: I wouldn't call her that to her face.'

'Not if you're a fan of the whole not eating through a straw thing anyway,' Shelby said, grinning.

'I do not believe that Raven would ever assault a student without good reason,' Wing said with a frown.

'I know. I was just, you know, exaggerating, because . . . funny . . . never mind,' Shelby said with a sigh. Otto tried very hard not to laugh. ~ Mark Walden

Don't we all want to be in charge, one way or another? Sure, you may not like the idea of being a leader, but everyone wants to be in charge of their life . We all want to control what good and bad we encounter. But it's not possible. We're not worthy. We're not capable. Only God is! Sometimes you may think life is not fair. And it's completely natural to think this. But life is totally fair! In fact, Jesus has given us so much mercy and grace! Imagine, if Jesus weren't so perfect and amazing, if he didn't spare us, we'd as Christians go through 5 times as hard as what we're going through now. So be grateful for the little things that go right, and be grateful for the times that God has intervened in your life and heard your calls of pain, because they matter and God loves his sheep. ~ No Longer Available

You told me," I said, "that I should turn this house into a boardinghouse for students. Well, there are better things I could do with it. I could turn it into a haven for beggars. I could run a soup kitchen and a dormitory. But I don't. Why not? Because the spirit of charity has perished in this country. Because those who accept charity despise it, while those who give give with a despairing heart. What is the point of charity when it does not go from heart to heart? What do you think charity is? Soup? Money? Charity: from the Latin word for the heart. It is as hard to receive as to give. it takes as much effort. I wish you would learn that. I wish you would learn something instead of just lying around."

A lie: charity, caritas, has nothing to do with the heart. But what does it matter if my sermons rest on false etymologies? He barely listens when i speak to him. Perhaps, despite those keen bird-eyes, he is more befuddled with drink than I know. Or perhaps, finally, he does not care. Care: the true root of charity. I look for him to care, and he does not. Because he is beyond caring. Beyond caring and beyond care ~ J.M. Coetzee

And then come and join us in a toast. I'm about to whisk Lauren off to Las Vegas to get married. The plane is being refueled and checked out right now."
"Does Lauren know about this?" Mary said, frowning. "She's downstairs in Jim's office, hard at work."
"I'll convince her of the wisdom of the plan."
"When the plane is airborne and she has no choice," Ericka put in with a knowing smile.
"Exactly." Nick grinned in high good spirits. He had missed her so much that he'd called her three times a day, every day, like a lovesick schoolboy. ~ Judith McNaught

I've always known what you were thinking. You're squeezing that
marble in your pocket and you're thinking your cattle wouldn't be at risk if it
weren't for Louise. And maybe you're right. But take a hard look, son. When
you see that woman working up a sweat pitching hay like a hired hand …
you're looking at character.
"And if we ever have another family dinner that goes like the last one did,
you pay attention. I have an idea that your Louise doesn't sit still for too
many insults, and I imagine she could cut someone down to size in about
three sentences if she wanted to. But she sat silent while Philadelphia
ridiculed and belittled her. Louise did this out of respect for you and this
family. That is also character.
"Maybe you really believe Wally is living your life. If so, then you haven't
been honest with yourself. And you haven't taken a good hard look at the
life you have. Mark my words, Max. Someday you're going to hold that
marble, and it won't be a symbol of all you lost. That marble will be the gold
you went to Piney Creek to find. It will be the most precious thing you own.
I say this because I didn't raise any stupid sons. ~ Maggie Osborne

Most photographers have some kind of verbal patter going on when they shoot: "Great. Turn to me. Big smile. Less shark eyes. Have fun with it. Not like that." Some photographers are compulsively effusive. "Beautiful. Amazing. Gorgeous! Ugh, so gorgeous!" they yell at shutter speed. If you are anything less than insane, you will realize this is not sincere. It's hard to take because it's more positive feedback than you've received in your entire life thrown at you in fifteen seconds. It would be like going jogging while someone rode next to you in a slow-moving car, yelling, "Yes! You are Carl Lewis! You're breaking a world record right now. Amazing! You are fast. You're going very fast, yes! ~ Tina Fey

It is awesome to note that the works your work are working but that should not be a joy. The ultimate joy should be that the works of your work are indelible. ~ Ernest Agyemang Yeboah

Yes I have done it all. Tested the shallow waters, swam through the dangerous tides, met strangers, seen friends turn strangers, taken risks to achieve my goals, persevered to out do myself each time, rose high, fell hard, learned to climb, learned to dream and in dreaming learned to relate to reality.
I have earned respect, achieved things very young, believed in my potential, questioned it too but through it all I have never stopped to aspire. I am a human and I must adapt to the changing seasons, learn new skills and master them all.
Now as I stand and look up, I see a heap of laurels yet to achieve and chest of mysteries yet to resolve. I am not one in the crowd. I'll forever be the one whom they could never be ~ Adhish Mazumder

As we approach each of the great social challenges of our time we must acknowledge that old thinking will not provide the new solutions we need. These solutions will be uncomfortable, hard to sell and risky to execute. But the cost of not doing so is even greater. ~ Simon Mainwaring

One last song. One last turn. One last street. No matter how hard you try to keep hold of a day, it's going to leave you -Rhiannon ~ David Levithan

This is where Jean's stubbornness and, perhaps, God's stubborn grace came into play. "My definition of grace would be multifaceted, but part of it would certainly be God's passion for brokenness. He does, he really does love brokenness," Jean told me. "Grace doesn't obsess with ourselves. It obsesses with people and with brokenness. This is a hard place to live, but God is bigger than hard places to live. ~ Cathleen Falsani

The necklace, Marcos," she said firmly, leveling the gun at his heart once more. "I'll take it now."

"It's not here, querida. You waste your time."

Francesca lowered the gun to point at his groin. "Killing you would be too good. Perhaps I will simply have to deprive the female world of your ability to make love ever again. I am quite a good shot, I assure you."

She'd learned out of necessity. And though she never wanted to harm another human being, she had no compunction about making this man think she would do so if it meant she could save Jacques.

His voice dropped to a growl. A hateful, angry growl. "You won't get away with this. Whoever you are, Frankie, I will find you. I will find you and make you wish you'd never met me."

Her heart flipped in her chest. She ignored it. "I already wish that. Now give me the jewel before you lose the ability to ever have children."

Bitterness twisted inside her as she said those words. Ironic to threaten someone with something she would never wish on another soul. But she had to be hard, cold, ruthless – just like he was.

He stared at her in impotent fury, his jaw grinding, his beautiful black eyes flashing daggers at her. Very slowly, he reached up with one hand and slipped his bowtie free of its knot.

Then he jerked it loose and let it fall. ~ Lynn Raye Harris

When you're working as an actor, you don't think that when you get out of school, it's going to be so hard to get a job. Just to get a job. Any job. Whatsoever. You don't think that people are going to see you in a certain way. ~ Viola Davis

When loud by landside streamlets gush,
And clear in the greenwood quires the thrush,
With sun on the meadows
And songs in the shadows
Comes again to me
The gift of the tongues of the lea,
The gift of the tongues of meadows.
So when the earth is alive with gods,
And the lusty ploughman breaks the sod,
And the grass sings in the meadows,
And the flowers smile in the shadows,
Sits my heart at ease,
Hearing the song of the leas,
Singing the songs of the meadows. ~ Robert Louis Stevenson

A Hard Life With Memory

I'm a poor audience for my memory.
She wants me to attend her voice nonstop,
but I fidget, fuss,
listen and don't,
step out, come back, then leave again.

She wants all my time and attention.
She's got no problem when I sleep.
The day's a different matter, which upsets her.

She thrusts old letters, snapshots at me eagerly,
stirs up events both important and un-,
turns my eyes to overlooked views,
peoples them with my dead.

In her stories I'm always younger.
Which is nice, but why always the same story.
Every mirror holds different news for me.

She gets angry when I shrug my shoulders.
And takes revenge by hauling out old errors,
weighty, but easily forgotten.
Looks into my eyes, checks my reaction.
Then comforts me, it could be worse.

She wants me to live only for her and with her.
Ideally in a dark, locked room,
but my plans still feature today's sun,
clouds in progress, ongoing roads.

At times I get fed up with her.
I suggest a separation. From now to eternity.
Then she smiles at me with pity,
since she knows it would be the end of me too. ~ Wisława Szymborska

Whenever any great song or album gets lost in the ether, someone is deprived of the joy of hearing it, and the great effort of those who created and recorded the work is damaged. ~ Henry Rollins

But when I thought my mind was altogether taken up with other things, as I stood on a railway station platform, waited by a car, entered or left a house, walked up or down a driveway, went out into the cold, went back in out of the cold, I would suddenly remember the sweet smell of his skin, and I would miss his open arms, how perfectly still he was when he opened his arms to me, as though all his attention was on me and on taking me into his arms, whereas with another man before him, and then another, there had been no room for me, they were all hard surface, they were always moving too quickly, rushing here and there, usually away from me, or past me, intent on their own business, only now and then straight toward me, when I, too, became their business. He paid attention, he watched, he listened, he thought about me when he was not with me, nothing was lost on him, nothing of me as he perceived me. Even in his sleep, he was attentive, and woke up enough to tell me he loved me, whereas other men, intent on the business of sleeping, would be disturbed and hiss at me: "Stop moving! ~ Lydia Davis

I think the path is different for everybody. Go after the doors that are open to you. That has always been my motto getting into the music business. Do the things that seem to be good opportunities and work hard at it. Try to make good decisions and be nice. Hopefully all of that will pay off at some point. ~ Chris Stapleton

I am trying to write stuff that is different. I am a big science fan. I read a lot of science, and 'Wonderland' has a lot of science in it. I don't know. They are hard to describe ... We are living in a wonderland age of science. ~ Bob Seger

Maybe I could help with some of the wedding stuff, too."

Sidney laughed, then saw Vaughn frown. " Wait - you're being serious?"

He shrugged. "Sure, why not?"

"No offense, but you don't exactly exude a 'wedding planning' vibe."

"And thank God for that. But I think I can manage a few tasks. How hard could it be to pick a photographer? Or a band? Just ask them if they plan to play 'Y.M.C.A.' or that annoying Kool and the Gang song. If they say no, they're hired. ~ Julie James

Lao Tzu, Chuang Tzu, Bodhidharma, Sosan – they are the Masters of this law of reverse effect. And this is the difference between Yoga and Zen. Yoga makes every effort and Zen makes no effort, and Zen is truer than any Yoga. But Yoga appeals, because as far as you are concerned doing is easy – howsoever hard, but doing is easy.

Non-doing is difficult. If someone says, "Don't do anything," you are at a loss. You again ask, "What to do?" If someone says, "Don't do anything," that is the most difficult thing for you. It should not be so if you understand.

Non-doing does not require any qualification. Doing may require qualification, doing may require practice. Non-doing requires no practice. That's why Zen says enlightenment can happen in a single moment – because it is not a question of how to bring it, it is a question of how to allow it. It is just like sleep: you relax and it is there, you relax and it pops up. It is struggling within your heart to come up. You are not allowing it because you have too much activity on the surface. ~ Osho

You carried me nine months before bringing me to life
You polished my talent when I was less than five
You always grant me mirth and surround me with angelic care
Hence, giving you the world's treasures are still not fair
God created you to be the source of mercy on this hard planet
You are the one who taught me speaking and every good habit
I always pray to God during prostration and when I kneel
That he bless your time and make me under your heel ~ Yasser Kashef

The energies that make us act out of anger,fear,insecurity and doubt are extremely familiar. They are like an old,dark house we return to whenever things get too hard to handle.It feels risky to leave this house and see what's outside,yet we have to leave if we expect to be loved.

So we take the risk.We walk out into the light and offer ourselves to the beloved.This feels wonderful;it's like nothing we have imagined in our old,dark house.But when things get tough,we run back inside,we choose familiarity to fear and lovelessness over the vulnerability of love, until finally we feel safe enough to go back and try love again.

This is essentially the rhythm of every intimate relationship-risk and retreat. Over and over we repeat this rhythm,accepting love and pushing it away until finally something miraculous happiness. The old,dark house isn't necessary anymore.We look around, and we have a new house, a house of light. Where did it come from?How did we build it? It was built from the love of the heart.It has silently been weaving our higher and lower natures,blending fear,anger,survival and protection into the energies of devotion,trust,compassion and acceptance. ~ Deepak Chopra

Film acting is one of the only industries where you're criticized for working hard. In any other industry, it's considered a quality and something to behold. ~ Nicolas Cage

I know I'm not perfect at giving my body what it needs to refuel after a run. Recognizing my bad habits has helped me pay more attention to what I eat. I have been known to rush through my day without making nutrition a priority, so I work hard to prepare healthy snacks in advance of my runs and while the kids are at school. ~ Summer Sanders

the suit, if there is one, we still lose because of the publicity." I was scarcely hearing a word of it. Horrible images were playing crazily inside my mind. The 911 call, the fact it was aborted, made me see it. I knew what happened. Lori Petersen was exhausted after her ER shift, and her husband had told her he would be in later than usual that night. So she went to bed, perhaps planning to sleep just awhile, until he got home - as I used to do when I was a resident and waiting for Tony to come home from the law library at Georgetown. She woke up at the sound of someone inside the house, perhaps the quiet sound of this person's footsteps coming down the hallway toward the bedroom. Confused, she called out the name of her husband. No one answered. In that instant of dark silence that must have seemed an ~ Patricia Cornwell

She had a lot of empathy. Maybe that's why she liked all those bad boys. They were outcasts. It was like she was picking up strays and taking them in. It's like she could see past their rough exteriors and see the parts of them that hurt. Maybe she thought she could take away the hurt. She was wrong, of course. But I found it hard to fault her for her good heart. ~ Benjamin Alire Saenz

Gold delights to walk through the very midst of the guard, and to break its way through hard rocks, more powerful in its blow than lightning. ~ Horace

We reach the trailer and Shane digs through the pockets of the cargo pants slung over his arm until he finds the key. He pushes open the door and waits for me to pass through. Maybe later I'll tell myself I should have thought long and hard about what I was going to do, that I should have counted to ten and waited until I regained my sanity before stepping over the threshold, evaluated the pros and cons like a thoughtful, rational adult. But I do no such thing. Shane's eyes are on mine as I step out of my wet sneakers, drop my damp clothes in a ball on the porch, and walk inside. He follows right behind me, and even through my wet shirt I can feel the heat radiating off his bare chest. The man is a furnace.
Every warning about playing with fire zings through my mind, but I dismiss them. I want this. I'm not playing games, and neither is Shane as he grips my shoulders and turns us so my back is to the door and he's pressed up against me. He lowers his head so our eyes are inches apart and looks at me more closely and thoughtfully than anyone ever has. He's checking to make sure I'm okay, that my expectations are in line with what today is about. And they are. Just once, we agreed. And that will be enough. ~ Julianna Keyes

But that's why you're upset now. Fiction is not life.'
'You don't believe that.'
'I think I do.'
'You know as well as I do that the line can't be drawn, that we're infected at every moment by fictions of all kinds, that it's inescapable.'
'Don't be a sophist,' he said. 'There is a world and it's palpable.'
'I don't mean that,' I said. 'I mean that it's hard really to see it, that it's all hazy with out dreams and fantasies. ~ Siri Hustvedt