c2p-cmd/Good-Quotes-Authors huggingface dataset:
The real difference between yoga and religion is this: Religion says believe, do not doubt, often citing the word of God and promises of an eternal afterlife, reciting dogma (unsubstantiated pre-modern myths), while yoga only points the way and urges its students to practice and experience for themselves. In this way yoga is very scientific in its approach to self-knowledge, transcendence and enlightenment. Its message is: Try the practice for yourself and only then can you truly believe.
— Gudjon Bergmann, Living in the Spirit of Yoga: Take Yoga Off the Mat and Into Your Everyday Life
When you open to the world, the world opens to you.
— Djahariah Mitra
Success is directly proportional to one's ability to turn inward. Yoga is a journey that facilitates the process of reaching inward. Deeper you reach within your inner cosmos, greater will be your understanding of and influence in the outer world. It is this understanding and influence that determines the degree of your success.
— Vishwas Chavan
For reasons unknown, the philosophical aspect of the yoga movement has had to make way for the yoga fit revolution; today’s image of a yogi is a slender and scantily clad young female doing postures on the cover of a bestselling magazine, whereas the older image was of an Indian man with long beard sitting in a cave wearing a loin cloth.
— Gudjon Bergmann, Living in the Spirit of Yoga: Take Yoga Off the Mat and Into Your Everyday Life
The yogic scriptures paint a picture of perfection, and perfection can be your aim, but I can tell you sad stories about myself and others who have entered into a state of premature holiness with unpleasant consequences.
— Gudjon Bergmann, Create a Safe Space: An Inspirational Guidebook for Yoga Teachers Who want to Further Serve their Students
The purpose of Hatha Yoga is to establish a body that is less susceptible to outside influences – a stable platform to build on.
— Sadghuru
Acharya Balkrishna on Yog"Who will not be delighted to behold the exotic scenery and flora of the barren lands of Himalayas. Similar is the power of Yog which beautifies the deserted life and fructifies hope in the shattered hearts. By taking refuge in Yog, the fallow mind will blossom into flowers indeed.
— Acharya Balkrishna, Yog: In Synergy with Medical Science
•Don't do yoga to get peace. It is possibly occultic. It seems innocent, but it can open a door to Satan in your life. I know this from personal experience. Seek God for peace, not things of this world.
— Lisa Bedrick, On Christian Hot Topics
A yogi realizes the divinity in him and the divinity that is present in this world. In his own heartbeat and his own regular breath he feels the flow of all the seasons and the throbbing touch of universal life.
— Fr. Joe Pereira
Not everything that is related to yoga is equally beneficial.
— Gudjon Bergmann, Living in the Spirit of Yoga: Take Yoga Off the Mat and Into Your Everyday Life
Seeds of past karma cannot germinate if they are roasted in the fires of divine wisdom.
— Paramahansa Yogananda, Autobiography of a Yogi
What we see in the world around us is just a reflection of what is inside of us.
— Sharon Gannon, Yoga and Vegetarianism: The Path to Greater Health and Happiness
Ethical vegetarians eat only plant-based food in order to show compassion toward animals and other humans and to benefit the planet.
— Sharon Gannon, Yoga and Vegetarianism: The Path to Greater Health and Happiness
Acharya Balkrishna" on the Origin of Yog and its Greatness"Standing upright facing all storms and tempests like Devalaya, Yog too is like a monument, established like saints and sages, reaching where all the trials and turbulences cease. Even adversities strengthen the bricks and a stone of this temple – such is the power of Yog. The same way, the evasive flow of time might seldom limit the greatness of Yog and Yogis.
— Acharya Balrkrishna
Without education, confidence does not come.
— B.K.S. Iyengar
Yoga is just gymnastics for uncoordinated people.
— Claire Dederer, Poser: My Life in Twenty-three Yoga Poses
Yoga practices shift our identity away from the ego-personality and its struggles so that we can begin to reconnect with the essential nature of our being, which is bliss.
— Sharon Gannon, Jivamukti Yoga: Practices for Liberating Body and Soul
We create the world we live in. If we want to change what we don't like in the world, we must start by changing what we don't like about ourselves.
— Sharon Gannon, Yoga and Vegetarianism: The Path to Greater Health and Happiness
Matter is a medium of communication between minds, and everything that exists in the mind can also exist in the body. Furthermore, the body—being the expression of a mental state is developed as a manifestation of the mind.
— Ashish Dalela, Six Causes: The Vedic Theory of Creation
Many of us attend a few yoga classes and find that we like the glimpse of another way of life that yoga offers. We are delighted by the way we feel after class and we are pleasantly surprised as certain behaviors start to fall away. Perhaps we no longer need coffee in the morning; or staying out late at night becomes less attractive; or we find ourselves calmer and more compassionate. Suddenly we're convinced that we've hit upon a painless way to solve all our problems. Sadly, this is not the case. Practice is not a substitute for the difficult work of renunciation. The postures and breath work that you do in a typical yoga class will change your life. These practices—asana and pranayama—suffuse us with the energy we need to take on the hard choices and to endure the inevitable highs and lows. What yoga practice will not do, however, is take the place of the hard lessons each of us has to learn in order to mature spiritually.
— Rolf Gates Katrina Kenison
Through the deeply theraputic practice of asana, we begin to purify our karmas, thereby healing our past relationships with others and reestablishing a steady and joyful connection with the Earth, which means all beings.
— Sharon Gannon, Yoga and Vegetarianism: The Path to Greater Health and Happiness
Things that we do every day make up who we are and the results we have in our life. Bank accounts collect from constant deposits and good health is achieved or maintained from what we put into our bodies daily.
— Malti Bhojwani, Don't Think Of a Blue Ball
My Maman told me that only the crazy ones and the passionate ones accomplish anything in life.
— Iyengar B K S No Lle Perez-Christiaens
Is there cure of love? I Think not, but David you can tame it, I mean Yoga.Says Bhutta
— M.K. Bhutta
care for your body as you care for your home, and care for your home as you care for your body.
— Jennifer Carter Avgerinos, The Yoga of Cleaning: An Essential Guide
…When you’re in the darkness, know that the light will come. We are light and dark, sun and moon, male and female, yin and yang; life is composed of opposites, in a continuing cycle of change…. When you are in the light, don’t step back into the darkness. Live in that light, and breathe it in fully. I’ve spent so much of my life going over and over the sadness and fear of the past. But we don’t need to go there when we’re not there. When we are in the light, be here, now.
— Kathryn E. Livingston, Yin, Yang, Yogini:  A Woman's Quest for Balance, Strength, and Inner Peace
It’s not just about recognizing how ‘precious’ every moment is, or about ‘living for today.’ It’s about finding the sacred center of now, and living there, moment to moment, always.
— Kathryn E. Livingston, Yin, Yang, Yogini:  A Woman's Quest for Balance, Strength, and Inner Peace
Yoga teaches more than postures
—  it teaches you how to trust.
Vairâgya or renunciation is the turning point in all the various Yogas. The Karmi (worker) renounces the fruits of his work. The Bhakta (devotee) renounces all little loves for the almighty and omnipresent love. The Yogi renounces his experiences, because his philosophy is that the whole Nature, although it is for the experience of the soul, at last brings him to know that he is not in Nature, but eternally separate from Nature. The Jnâni (philosopher) renounces everything, because his philosophy is that Nature never existed, neither in the past, nor present, nor will It in the future.
— Swami Vivekananda, The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda: v. 3
I just know about sweat and frustration. And that what I once thought was impossible somehow doesn't always stay that way permanently. One day it's suddenly easy and accessible, and mostly because I've stopped struggling against it. I've just accepted where I am, keep showing up, and then the change just happens.
— Edward Vilga, Downward Dog
Controlling the position of one's body and keeping a straight back are not contemplation, but can in fact become an obstacle to contemplation. ...when leaving the body 'uncontrolled' is spoken of, what is meant is simply allowing the body to remain in an authentic, uncorrected condition, in which it is not necessary to modify or improve anything. This is because, since all our attempts at correcting the body come from the reasoning mind, they are all false and artificial.
— Namkhai Norbu, Dzogchen: The Self-Perfected State
Abhinavagupta does not prescribe a hermit’s life for that Shiva yogin, who is free to live without restrictions, to remain in the household, and to participate in pleasures of the senses and the mind within the limits of the currently acceptable social standards. In other words, one is free to live a normal life and at the same time to pursue some method of Trika yoga. As soon as the seeker’s practice in yoga yields the experience of Self-bliss, worldly enjoyments automatically lose their power and fascination, and one’s senses develop a spontaneous indifference, known as anadaravirakti, to former pleasures. Once seekers have become expert practitioners in the experience of Self-bliss, they are able to move freely through worldly enjoyments without any fear of spiritual pollution. Such enjoyments can actually serve to further illumine the extraordinary experience of Self-bliss. As Abhinavagupta explains:The mind (of a Shiva yogin) does not become wet (or stained) from within, just like the rind of a dried gourd which has no opening, even if it dives deep into the water of sensual pleasures (Malinivijayavarttika, I.108).— B. N. Pandit, Specific Principles of Kashmir Shaivism (3rd ed., 2008), p. 94.
— Balajinnatha Pandita, Specific Principles of Kashmir Saivism
Maybe it’s something to do with the movements: the Cat and then the Cow, the twist to the left and then to the right, the reaching up, and then bending to the ground, the constant training of the body to move one way, and then to move in the opposite way. Hatha: sun, moon opposites, dark and light, yin and yang. This must be key in the way yoga shapes the mind and heart, in the way it helps one to understand that every movement has a counter movement, that every action has an opposing action, that the happy parts of life will be met by the sad, and the sad, in turn will be met by the happy.
— Kathryn E. Livingston, Yin, Yang, Yogini:  A Woman's Quest for Balance, Strength, and Inner Peace
Don't wait for life to happen
—  life is happening now!
All of the blissful and beautiful aspects of the Absolute are present in each and every person and living thing, but they remain dormant because they are hidden behind the mask of maya. In other words, we are all blinded to this inner bliss and beauty by our limited sense of who we are, and by the habit of directing so much of our attention out into the world. Everyone can have momentary glimpses of inner bliss when they experience something that is extremely pleasing to the senses and the mind. But usually these situations are fleeting and simply leave a person unfulfilled and longing for more. They then pursue the outer object in an attempt to rediscover the blissful state, not realizing that the source of bliss is within and need not be attached to an outer stimulus at all. This inner beauty can be discovered and contacted at will through simply turning our attention within, and through the various practices outlined in this yoga.— B. N. Pandit, Specific Principles of Kashmir Shaivism (3rd ed., 2008), p. 123.
— Balajinnatha Pandita, Specific Principles of Kashmir Saivism
According to the Trika system, yoga is that theological practice which helps in attaining the realization of absolute unity between the practitioner and Absolute Reality, that is, between the yogin and God. As it says in the Malinitantra:The unity of one (a finite being) with another (Almighty God) is called yoga by Shiva yogins (Malinivijayatantra, IV.4).Practitioners of yoga are advised to realize their forgotten true nature and to recognize themselves as none other than the Absolute, Paramasiva. This realization is said to be readily attainable through Trika yoga, when aided by both an intense devotion for the Lord and by the correct theoretical knowledge of the pantheistic absolutism of Shaiva monism. Theoretical knowledge removes the yogins’ mental confusion and misconceptions about Reality, and devotion refines their hearts so that they become capable of actually feeling and experiencing the truth of Shaiva monism. The yoga of Abhinavagupta is thus an integral process of developing both the head and the heart. People with no mental clarity cannot understand the truth, while those without heart cannot digest.— B. N. Pandit, Specific Principles of Kashmir Shaivism (3rd ed., 2008), p. 95–96.
— Balajinnatha Pandita, Specific Principles of Kashmir Saivism
A special and very important characteristic of Trika yoga, which is not found in other systems, is its doctrine of “possession” (samavesa). In samavesa practitioners are suddenly infused and possessed with Shivahood, and feel themselves to be omniscient and omnipotent. This is not the kind of possession or haunting that occurs when the power that haunts and the person who is haunted are different. Rather, yogins in samavesa enter a state of unity, and their limited individual personalities get expanded into universal I-consciousness which they feel to be divinely potent in all respects. Samavesa has been defined as the immersion of the dependence of a dependent consciousness into the independence of the Independent Consciousness (Tantraloka, I.73). It is actually the sudden and direct intuitional realization of one’s Divine Essence, called Isvarapratyabhijna.Sufficient practice in samavesa results in a state of jivanmukti (liberation in this very life) in which a yogin develops supernatural divine powers (siddhis). A jivanmukta can use these divine powers simply by willing them to be (Isvarapratyabhijnavimarsini, IV.i.15), though such a refined individual would most probably avoid meddling with the natural order, or in matters of divine administration, which are the province of a long hierarchy of male and female deities at different levels of authority. This kind of yogic attainment is not considered to be an obstacle on the path of final liberation. Rather, it is said to be helpful, as it removes any lingering doubt about the divine nature of the Self, and develops a firm faith in the eventual attainment of absolute unity with Paramasiva when the individual dies (Tantraloka, XII, 183–85). Further, these abilities help create faith and confidence in the mind of worthy disciples who feel that the preceptor, being liberated, can liberate others as well.— B. N. Pandit, Specific Principles of Kashmir Shaivism (3rd ed., 2008), p. 96–97.
— Balajinnatha Pandita, Specific Principles of Kashmir Saivism
Take a Tree Pose in your life.
— Kathryn E. Livingston
The mystic's idea of deliberately stupefying and stultifying himself is an "abomination unto the Lord." This, by the way, does not conflict with the rules of Yoga. That kind of suppression is comparable to the restrictions in athletic training, or diet in sickness.
— Aleister Crowley, Magick Without Tears
In his discussion of Trika Yoga Abhinavagupta begins with the most advanced approach, and then presents successively easier methods one by one in descending order. This is another example of his particular approach to yoga. His intention is to make the best and the quickest method of yoga immediately available to all aspirants. If they succeed at the highest level, they need not go through the long chain of lower stages. However, if certain aspirants feel that they cannot handle the most advanced path successfully, then they are free to move along a more structured path and to choose any of the methods that accommodate their psychophysical capacity. The important point is that spiritual students should not assume that they are not fit for the most advanced method. Why should people resort to riding on a bullock cart when an airplane is at their disposal? If, however, they are unable to handle the superior vehicle successfully, they can choose some other more appropriate form of transportation.— B. N. Pandit, Specific Principles of Kashmir Shaivism (3rd ed., 2008), p. 94–95.
— Balajinnatha Pandita, Specific Principles of Kashmir Saivism
Kashmir Shaivism also developed an integrated and effective method of spiritual practice that includes intense devotion, the study of correct knowledge, and a special type of yoga unknown to other systems of practical philosophy. These three approaches are meant to be carefully integrated to produce a strong and vibrant practice. Yoga is the main path that leads to Self-realization, theoretical knowledge saves yogins from getting caught at some blissful but intermediary level of spiritual progress, and devotion provides them the strength and focus with which to digest correctly the powerful results of yoga and so avoid their misuse. This is a practice for both the mind and the heart. The teachings offers offer a fresh and powerful understanding of life that develops the faculties of the mind, while the devotional aspects of Kashmir Shaivism expand the faculties of a student’s heart. Combined together, both faculties help students reach the highest goal to which Shaiva yoga can dead them. The yoga system of Kashmir Shaivism is known as the Trika system. It includes many methods of yoga, which have been classified into three groups known as sambhava, sakta, and anava. Sambhava yoga consists of practices in direct realization of the truth, without making any effort at meditation, contemplation, or the learning of texts. The emphasis is on correct being, free from all aspects of becoming. This yoga transcends the use of mental activity. Sakta yoga consists of many types of practices in contemplation on the true nature of one’s real Self. Anava yoga includes various forms of contemplative meditation on objects other than one’s real Self, such as the mind, the life-force along with its five functions (the five pranas), the physical form along with its nerve-centers, the sounds of breathing, and different aspects of time and space.Trika yoga teaches a form of spiritual practice that is specific to Kashmir Shaivism. This system, along with its rituals, has been discussed in detail in Abhinavagupta’s voluminous Tantraloka, which is one of the world’s great treatises on philosophy and theology. Unlike many other forms of yoga, the Trika system is free from all types of repression of the mind, suppression of the emotions and instincts, and starvation of the senses. It eliminates all self-torturing practices, austere vows or penance, and forcible renunciation. Shaiva practitioners need not leave their homes, or roam as begging monks. Indifference (vairagya) to worldly life is not a precondition to for practicing Trika yoga. Sensual pleasures automatically become dull in comparison with the indescribable experience of Self-bliss. This is a transforming experience that naturally gives rise to a powerful form of spontaneous indifference to worldly pleasures. Finally, regardless of caste, creed, and sex, Trika yoga is open to all people, who through the Lord’s grace, have developed a yearning to realize the truth, and who become devoted to the Divine.— B. N. Pandit, Specific Principles of Kashmir Shaivism (3rd ed., 2008), p. xxiii-xxiv
— Balajinnatha Pandita, Specific Principles of Kashmir Saivism
To believe all you have to do is look at the sky.
— Kathryn E. Livingston, Yin, Yang, Yogini:  A Woman's Quest for Balance, Strength, and Inner Peace
Without yoga, my breast cancer experience would have been much more difficult. The trust, courage and strength one develops through the practice of yoga will set anyone up to face life's most challenging experiences. I've heard folks say «Oh, I don't do yoga.» Give yoga a chance, and you will find that it's so much more than pretzel poses. Yoga is about finding your own balance in our crazy, tempestuous times. It's about standing tall with confidence even when the winds of your world are swirling around you.
— Kathryn E. Livingston
Health is a state of complete harmony of the body, mind and spirit. When one is free from physical disabilities and mental distractions, the gates of the soul open.
— B.K.S. Iyengar
The past does not exist unless you carry the remains of it with you.
— Alanna Zabel, As I Am: Where Spirituality Meets Reality
All phenomena of which we are aware take place in our own minds, and therefore the only thing we have to look at is the mind; which is a more constant quantity over all the species of humanity than is generally supposed.
— Aleister Crowley, Eight Lectures on Yoga
She had streaked blonde hair, long and straight, parted in the middle framing high cheek bones, an aquiline nose and beautiful deep blue eyes. She was young, around 30, tall and lithe with a good body, athletic, not skinny. She wore a sleeveless black dress that exposed her toned arms and shoulders, indicating regular workouts or yoga. There was a hint of vein running the length of her lean muscle. This girl stood out like an arabian in a corral full of draft horses.
— Nick Hahn
By becoming clearly contemplative in a matter of weeks, my prayer had been given a particular and novel cast; and this was matched by the distinctness in the reprecussions my daily sessions of exercises were having on my everyday life, as well as on the many different occupations which a monk is vowed to carry out. The genuine sense of euphoria that followed the exercises persisted in me and transfigured my day. During the early months I had to face up to the sort of difficulties which put one's nerves to the test, and which would certainly have put me on my back before. As it was, everything went off so smoothly and I took it all so well that I trained everyone under my charge to develop the attitude of 'accepting rather than undergoing.
— Jean Déchanet, Christian Yoga
Although yoga is supposedly noncompetitive, I can’t help that my Alpha nature requires that I go for the hardest variation of every pose, always pushing my limits as far as possible.
— Edward Vilga, Downward Dog
The word "yoga" literally means "uniting", because when you're doing it you are uniting your mind and your body. You can tell this almost immediately because your mind will be thinking, "Ouch, that hurts," and your body will say, "I know." And your mind will think, "You have to get out of this position." And your body will say, "I agree with you, but I can't right now. I think I'm stuck.
— Ellen DeGeneres, Seriously... I'm Kidding
[Let] go of your attachments: your attachment to being right, to having total control, or to living forever. This process of letting go is integral to the process of becoming whole.
— Judith Hanson Lasater
Yoga talks about cat-pose, dog-pose, camel-pose, monkey-pose, bird-pose etc. Why there are so many animal poses? Animals release their emotions and tensions by movements based on their body sensations. But our amygdala in the brain is carrying the “fight or flight response”; it has forgotten the art of releasing the tensions. As human beings, when we are aware about the sensations, we can release that by aware, slow movements. If you do not give movements to the body parts, energy will be stuck and blood circulation will be disturbed. Gradually, that creates chronic physical and mental health problems.
— Amit Ray, Yoga and Vipassana: An Integrated Life Style
You’re never too old, never too bad, never too late and never too sick to start from the scratch once again.
— Bikram Choudhury
In the holy solipsism  of the youngNow I can't walk thru a citystreet w/out eying eachsingle pedestrian. I feelthier vibe thru myskin, the hair on my neck--- it rises.
— Jim Morrison, Wilderness: The Lost Writings, Vol. 1
It's very simple. Keep your body as clean as possible, your mind as clear as possible. That's all you need. And do it in anyway you can, in your own way. It doesn't matter. That's why I say 'peaceful body, peaceful mind'. And then you'll be useful. You don't have to become a useful person. You will be useful.
— Swami Satchidananda
....and on occasion I like to write in pencil, because I need to know that I can erase the words, even if I never do.
— Bruce Black
The goal of human life," says Ramakrishna, "is to meet God face to face." But the magic is this: if we look deeply into the face of all created things, we will find God. Therefore, savor the world, the body. Open it, explore it, look into it. Worship it.
— Stephen Cope, Yoga and the Quest for the True Self
The physical vanity of the diet-and-exercise obsessive is recast as the pursuit of a kind of ritual purity, hedged about with taboos and guilt trips and mysticized by yoga.
— Ross Douthat, Bad Religion: How We Became a Nation of Heretics
Be the same still mountain self and mountain peace no matter what the external conditions.
— George Minot, om love
In the end, what I love most about contemporary yoga is its ability tosynthesize the everyday with the extraordinary, the practical with thevisionary, the mundane with the sacred. I love that yoga can work torelease my tense muscles, negative emotions, and psychic detritus at thesame time. That it can connect me to my body in ways that create newneural pathways in my brain. That it offers a practical tool for copingwith everyday stress, as well as an intuitive opening to the hidden magicof everyday life.
— Carol Horton, Yoga Ph.D.: Integrating the Life of the Mind and the Wisdom of the Body
I understood that the attachment to myself and my image ... was actually taking me away from my self, away from this wonderful opportunity to just sit, just breathe, just feel the warm animal of my body, just feel the soft, sultry heat of June. The density of my attachment was making it impossible for me to have a truly satisfying experience of life in my body just as it was in the moment. When under the sway of this obsession, my mind's attention was always in the fantasized future, or the idealized or devalued past - never present to the reality of the moment.
— Stephen Cope, Yoga and the Quest for the True Self
Many of us ordinary folk have tasted these moments of "union" - on the ladder, in the pond, in the jungle, on the hospital bed. In the yogic view, it is in these moments that we know who we really are. We rest in our true nature and know beyond a doubt that everything is OK, and not just OK, but unutterably well. We know that there is nothing to accept and nothing to reject. Life just is as it is.
— Stephen Cope, Yoga and the Quest for the True Self
It is only when the correct practice is followed for a long time, without interruptions and with a quality of positive attitude and eagerness, that it can succeed.
— Patañjali, Yoga-Sutras
One day, you will be old enough to start reading fairytales again.
— C.S. Lewis, The Chronicles of Narnia
Just remember who you are... The world will try to change you into someone else. Don't let them. That's the best advice anyone can give you.
— Cinda Williams Chima, The Warrior Heir
I think love is stronger than habits or circumstances. I think it is possible to keep yourself for someone for a long time and still remember why you were waiting when she comes at last.
— Peter S. Beagle, The Last Unicorn
I'm about to start reading it again, because what good is a story you only want to read once?
— Bill Willingham
There's more to life than just surviving . . . but . . . sometimes just surviving is all you get
— Charles de Lint, The Onion Girl
But this was no ordinary chicken. This chicken was evil manifest.
— Terry Goodkind, Soul of the Fire
But I was wrong. I should have known it wasn't owver, couldn't be over quite easily. No sooner was Xavier out of sight than a little cylinder of paper fell from the top of my locker. As I unrolled it, I knew I'd see black calligraphy crawling across it like a spider. Dread settled around me like a fog as the words burned into my brain: The Lake of Fire awaits my lady
— Alexandra Adornetto, Halo
The pendulum swings between Light and Darkness
— Brandon Mull
there are people all over the world who carry the mermaid inside them, that otherworldly beauty and longing and desire that made her reach for heaven when she lived in the darkness of the sea.
— Carolyn Turgeon, Mermaid
If one chooses sides on emotion then the rebel is the guy to go with. He is fighting for everything men claim to honour, freedom, independance, truth, the right.......all the subjective illusions. All the eternal trigger words. We are minions of the villan of the piece. We confess the illusion and deny the substance.
— Glen Cook, The Black Company
You're dead, son. Cheer is contraindicated.
— Jim Butcher, Ghost Story
Dreams are glimpses into life’s truths.
— Larry Itejere, The Silver Arrow
Souls were webs of light that contained the essence of a human's life. Memories and loves, children and families. Every moment of life, pressing in
— Carolyn Turgeon, Mermaid
The quickest way is sometimes the longest.
— Neil Gaiman
All stories are ultimately about the fall.
— J.R.R. Tolkien
Gray, the colour of forgetting.
— Daniel Arenson, The Gods of Dream
I CLOSED MY EYES AND PRETENDED SHE WAS YOU. illutions- aprilynne pike
— Aprilynne Pike, Illusions
It's a never ending dream for everyone it seems, to find again what was once precious and has been lost.
— Carolyn Turgeon, Mermaid
Seductive pull of the forest, an open canvas for trouble.
— Karsten Knight, Wildefire
But why?" Vimbai whispered, overwhelmed with the weight of accumulated disbelief. "What is happening to us?""Who knows?" Maya shrugged. "Who cares? Enjoy it while you can, why don't you? There will be tons of boring shit in your life, okay? I promise.
— Ekaterina Sedia
Go and you will see that nothing is as wonderful as our dreams can make it
— Carolyn Turgeon, Mermaid
I can't stop thinking about dying the way humans do it. Imagine! If at any moment, you could just stop existing. How different everything would be.." They don't stop existing Lenia said...They have souls that live forever. Even knowing that, they fight so hard to stay alive. I think it's so beautiful. Imagine: being that fragile, that permanent.
— Carolyn Turgeon, Mermaid
I can't wait to get my memory back. It sounds like I am a really cool person
— John C. Wright, Fugitives of Chaos
Who holds Wayfinder finds good roads,Its master's step is brisk;The Sword of Wisdom lightens loadsBut adds unto their risk.
— Fred Saberhagen, The Complete Book of Swords
just because a mage wears the black robes does not make him evil.
— Margaret Weis
Margrethe watched them paralyzed by the intensity of the emotions moving through her. So much pain and euphoria, a sense that even though her own heart was broken, the world could contain such beauty and magic she almost could not bear it? What did her own pain matter, in the face of that?
— Carolyn Turgeon, Mermaid
How could none of them comprehend the beauty of a human soul,shining in heaven for eternity? Where it would be whole again, as they all had been once in times past?
— Carolyn Turgeon, Mermaid
Lady Selyse was as tall as her husband, thin of body and thin of face, with prominent ears, a sharp nose, and the faintest hint of a mustache on her upper lip. She plucked it daily and cursed it regularly, yet it never failed to return. Her eyes were pale, her mouth stern, her voice a whip. She cracked it now.
— George R.R. Martin
It was an alien place, as much inhuman as it was ungodly. There was no life in this place. It was a different world altogether.This world was dead.
— Angelo Tsanatelis, Origins
If the other novice wizards on the row hadn't broken into Raeshaldis's rooms, pissed on her bed and written WHORE and THIEF on the walls, she probably would have been killed on the night of the full moon.
— Barbara Hambly, Sisters of the Raven
To be a convincing story, you've got to know what you're talking about. In EVERY detail."-Rayner Unwin
— Jeff Shanley
Today, fantasy is, for better or for worse, just another genre, a place in a bookshop to find books that, too often, remind one of far too many other books; it is an irony, and not entirely a pleasant one, that what should be, by definition, the most imaginative of all types of literature has become so staid, and, too often, downright unimaginative.
— Neil Gaiman
Everything changed for Simon Falke the first time he fell through the fire.
— Sam Whitehouse, The Prophecy of Three: The Keys of Time
There is something about riding a unicorn, for those people who still can, which is unlike any other experience: exhilarating, and intoxicating, and fine.
— Neil Gaiman, Stardust
...how impossible itis to really make a choice, when the best choice of all is an option youcouldn’t even imagine.
— Laurie J. Marks, Fire Logic
I’m a firm believer that in-depth subjects can be better handled in a fantasy setting. ... Let’s face it, traveling to some far off land is a terrific way to break the mold, to do something different. Isn’t that why we go on vacations?
— Jim Starlin
That was the trouble with the supernatural, Vimbai thought--you didn't know what laws ruled it, and what was a coincidence and what was a sign and what was weird and what wasn't. It was like a whodunit, only the clues refused to be arranged into any sort of hierarchy or a straight narrative, and most of the time it wasn't even clear if they indeed were clues; a jigsaw puzzle where all the pieces were blank.
— Ekaterina Sedia
It's all just a bit of fun ...
— Mark Waters, The Enchantment of Abigail Brown
Amie frowned. 'That’s what I can’t figure out. I mean everyone wants their happy ending, right? No one cares about reading actual literature anymore anyway. All they want is vampires and supernatural mumbo-jumbo. It’s sick, really.
— Jennifer Silverwood, Silver Hollow
To the stars who listen - and the dreams that are answered.
— Sarah J. Maas, A Court of Mist and Fury
It does no good for you to spend all of your time worrying about what may come and being blind to what you have in the present.” ~Blaez, The Guardians of Eastgate
— Sherry Leclerc, The Guardians of Eastgate
She didn't use any artificial light, but let the glow from the silver moon in the north and the periwinkle moon in the south to guide her.
— Carla Reighard, Elle's Magical Shoes
In case it has slipped your notice, the vast majority of your education has emphasized survival and not getting caught.”	“I’d say you talked more about the code than anything else,” Tory pointed out.	“What did you think I meant by survival,” Ivan countered.
— Drew  Hayes, Forging Hephaestus
In other circumstances, Ivan might have offered him a job. Sadly, with a few notable meta exceptions, dead men didn’t code very well.
— Drew  Hayes, Forging Hephaestus
To put it as simply as possible, I ate a god.
— Drew  Hayes, Forging Hephaestus
Like watches over like, as the saying goes.
— Drew  Hayes, Forging Hephaestus
Sooner or later, they’ll realize that having one spider in the house kills a lot of the lesser insects.
— Drew  Hayes, Forging Hephaestus
The mind is filled with thoughts, but the heart is filled with wishes, and they have since the beginning of time been the core of all folklore.
— Ross  Turner, Jenson
Perhaps no one religion contains all the truth of the world. Perhaps every religion contains fragments of the truth and it is our responsibility to identify those fragments and piece them together. Or perhaps the elves are right and there are no gods. But how can I know for sure?" - Pg 479 Brisingr
— Christopher Paolini, Brisingr
It all started when Dam went missing.
— Andrew J. Peters, The Seventh Pleiade
Do you know how to unite people behind you, Child Carridin? The quickest way? No? Loose a lion - a rabid lion - in the streets. And when panic grips the people, once it has turned their bowels to water, calmly tell them you will deal with it. Then you kill it, and order them to hang the carcass up where everyone can see. Before they have time to think, you give another order, and it will be obeyed. And if you continue to give orders, they will continue to obey, for you will be the one who saved them, and who better to lead?
— Robert Jordan, The Dragon Reborn
For what was burned at the stakes beyond the fires did endure
— T. M. Lakomy
There is nothing more important in life than perception, because you shape your life through it. It is like a looking glass, you look and you perceive things. You perceive a reality. You make it real and you live by it. It is all about your eyes, how you see it. And what you see, you create.
— T. M. Lakomy
For elves, sex was two souls finding each other in the dark.
— Ash Gray, Tales of Talithia
Right now, all she knew was that she had the potential to love him greatly and fiercely, and she wanted to do so and nothing else very much and for many years.
— Ash Gray, Tales of Talithia
Miriva refused to believe that human decency should be a privilege given only to a small few, and when she complained to her mother that she did not want to be a broodmare for the sake of alliances between the villages, her mother slapped her and sent her to the fields to pick mehazi beans
— Ash Gray, Tales of Talithia
Slowly rising from the fire, she went down to the shore, and not wanting to frighten him off again, she squatted on a rock above the water, looking down at him where he sat on the wet sand with his long blue-green tail disappearing into the lapping waves. He shyly offered the bag up to her, which had been woven of seaweed, and she took it with a whispered thanks and opened it, staring in delight and surprise at the sheer amount of oysters that were inside. The siren made a trilling noise and whispered, “I-I hope it is well enough. I do not know what land women eat.
— Ash Gray, Tales of Talithia
She snuggled close, nuzzling her hair beneath his chin. “Never leave me,” she whispered back. The siren chuckled sadly, the sound vibrating up through his chest and pleasantly against her ear. “But I must return to the sea every now and then or I will die.” He sighed. “Some part of me believes it would be a good death.
— Ash Gray, Tales of Talithia
Parmida had never believed in unicorns, not until a stroll through the forests of Sunneth Dol convinced her otherwise. She was a young human woman living in a world where magick was dead and magickal creatures a myth. Elves and fae and magickal beasts had long ago shed their skin and left their bones. It was a world where humans alone now existed, walking in the dark of night, always looking over their shoulder for their inevitable extinction, as if nature were waiting to absorb them next back into her soil.
— Ash Gray, Tales of Talithia
Growing up learning of distant lands and their bloody histories, Wareska had quickly noticed how pointing to someone else as unquestionably worse was a widely common justification for many atrocities.
— Ash Gray, The Seaglass Stair
:Wait for me here?:	:Until the moon crumbles into the sea,: Shadowmane whispered. 	Wareska laughed again. :Always so eloquently dramatic.:
— Ash Gray, The Seaglass Stair
With a heart of furious fanciesWhereof I am commander:With a burning spear,And a horse of air,To the wilderness I wander...
— Tom O'Bedlam
Once upon a time, the girl locked in the tower fell in love with the dragon...
— A.J. Sky, Firestorm: Part 3
Night’s darkness cloaked Elske, covering her as the winter snows cover mountains, from peak to foot. Elske moved with the weight of darkness on her shoulders, on her head; and she tasted it in her mouth like the flavorless rills that ran so fast in spring melts.
— Cynthia Voigt, Elske
These days the sun never cared to shine when people like me needed it most.
— JTVI
It is a rather remarkable trick of the mind that there can be a wicked little voice that whispers in your ear that you’ve done it before and nothing happened, so why not do it again? Everything will be OK, it says. Things are bad now, but something will turn up. The good will prevail, you’ll be rescued, you’ll find the answer at the last minute. No one dies in a story…
— F.D.  Lee, The Fairy's Tale
The forest smelled fresh here and the ground was soft, carpeted by leaves and fallen pine needles. It was tranquil and enchanting in its way. Ursula was lovely; she just wasn’t a naiad. Her hair was dark and sleek, and so long it fell below her waist, swaying this way and that as she walked. Her eyes were a piercing blue, always aware, and she had a keen eye for the smallest details. She may have been a merchant, but she’d also trained as an archer for the city militia, and she could easily spot movement at a distance. That was her intention now; it was just a different kind of movement.
— Cailee Francis, Mischief Incarnate
Death is lighter than a feather. Duty, heavier than a mountain.
— Robert Jordan, The Eye of the World
Tales of ordinary characters would appeal to a larger class , but I have no wish to make such an appeal . The opinions of the masses are of no interest to me , for praise can truly gratify only when it comes from a mind sharing the author's perspective . There are probably seven persons in all , who really like my work and they are enough . I should write even if I were the only patient reader , for my aim is merely self expression . I could not write about ' ordinary people ' because I am not in the least interested in them . Without interest there can be no art . Man's relations to man do not captivate my fancy . It is man's relations to the cosmos - to the unknown - which alone arouses in me the spark of creative imagination .
— H.P. Lovecraft
In Einstein's equation, time is a river. It speeds up, meanders, and slows down. The new wrinkle is it can have whirlpools and fork into two rivers. So, if the river of time can be bent into a pretzel, create whirlpools and fork into two rivers, then time travel cannot be ruled out.
— Michio Kaku, Einstein's Cosmos: How Albert Einstein's Vision Transformed Our Understanding of Space and Time
Magic happens to those who believe in it."-Zonosh, Wizard of the Elements
— David Andrew Weir
He grappled with anxiety until the early hours, trying to work out the best way to tell her who he really was. But every time he played it out in his head, she always ran off screaming. How could he ask anyone to deal with this? It was his burden and his curse, and he was so afraid it would hurt her. But he was too far in, now, he loved her too much just to walk away. What was he going to do?
— Lindsay Woodward, Bird
Just a girl? Hardly. In Hellea, you were a boy, a storyteller, a rogue who infiltrated the deepest cellars of the greatest library in the world. A born trickster as well. Before that, what were you? A warrior trained by a prince, a storyteller's daughter. And more, I should think. But never just a girl, Cassia.
— Steven Poore, The Heir to the North
All true Northerners should bare steel to their enemies, and stand true to the course they have chosen, for when the heart is divided by fear then the battle is already lost.
— Steven Poore, The Heir to the North
Seeing that humans in modern cultures were destroying their environment for the sake of self-indulgence, the Dokkalfar focused their attention on poorer nations, whose terrain still flourished. A century of ethnic cleansing, deforestation, and war assured the land weakened and humans stayed in abject poverty. The result was a perfect contrast. In certain parts of the world, millions of children died of starvation and disease while other countries held excesses and riches never before seen. Earth became a place of greedy extremes. Societies lost the ability to relate to one another, choosing instead to focus on their own. No one noticed the one common theme every culture held. The world itself was dying.
— Elizabeth Isaacs, The Heart of the Ancients: Kailmeyra's Redemption
He rubbed at his face, as if seeking to awaken the right words from muscle, blood and bone.
— Steven Erikson, Midnight Tides
She jolted to a halt when she saw what was waiting for her. They were breathtaking and entrancing. Their beauty overwhelming, and their light warm and inviting. Safety and peace settled over her, as she gazed around at the beauty before her. They were no more than a foot long with silky wings and a wonderful aura, with light beaming from their bodies. All possessing long, satin hair, with a diversity of color. Not one was identical and their divinity could be felt to the depths of Malkia’s soul.
— Niki Livingston, Eyes Wide Shut
And he kept himself captive of his imaginations.
— Stygian
But for today, my friends, we have the Sword and the Promise," Creedus said. With the fire again rising, he bent low to the ground and grabbed the sword that had been lying at his feet. As he pulled it slowly from its scabbard, it sang softly. With a light all of its own, an emblem at the base of the blade shone most brilliantly of all: Amilum.
— Jaffrey Clark, The Sword and the Promise
A pure crystal stream sprang laughing in the midst of desolation......
— Sue Bridgwater, Perian's Journey
It was one flickering ember that was almost smothered to death daily. But it just wouldn’t quit… it was hope.
— Ariel Roma, Lucas Warbuck: The Prophet's Call
P. 294 He said quietly, “Just whisper it.”I’d have to answer him and if not now, eventually. The truth wouldremain the truth whether I ignored it or not...Should I surrender to whatever this future would bring? I cringedinwardly. When had reality seemed so unreal? After several moments,I gave up and whispered, “You’re . . . T-R-I-T-O-N,the Triton.”I couldn’t say anything else, it seemed irreverent. He didn’t deny it, hedidn’t laugh, or scoff or make excuses...
— CL Sherman
I wasn’t ready to be done. Emma’s birthday was the next week. I was going to sit her on my knee and tell her about the time I went to Italy with Julia, long before we had kids. Long before we got married, for that matter. I saw a painting that looked just like Emma; the girl in the painting was a beautiful, regal queen. I wanted Emma to know she was a queen.”If ghosts could cry, Mr. Grumpy would be crying. He looked at Richard. “Do you think she knows she is a queen?
— Clare Bohning, The Fleetwood Skies
The prince is blind to subtlety. He knows his own ignorance and stupidity so is ever suspicious of others, especially when they say things he does not understand. One cannot negotiate when dragged in the wake of emotions.
— Steven Erikson
The lake was no longer frozen
—  the complete stillness of the waterwas in stark contrast to what she has just seen only moment ago. On the sideof the lake Rose could see the four figures still there and her fear returned....
I am Serene-Heart-in-the-Chaos-of-Battle. Keep a civil tongue in your head or lose it
— Sarah Rees Brennan, The Turn of the Story
Demon,” the woman spat onto the road. “Well, girl, thank you. I grant no one’s wishes and so you mark me ‘demon.’ I grant no wishes and I do as I see fit to be done. I will not answer to you, girl, nor to any one of yours, but I will always look. I am not the one who turns away.
— Tamara Rendell, Autumn Moon
Time flows like memories on the shores of the past.
— Michael Joseph Murano, Age of the Seer
Be satisfied in your ignorance for there is no safety in knowledge.
— Coral Russell, Crowning Fantasy
My strings are being pulled, this time by a different puppet master.
— Emilyann Girdner, The Labyrinth Wall
Haftor was the Easer to the Easers. This was the most powerful man in Creation. Peder knew trouble was coming, but knew not what it was or how to deal with it.
— Paul W.S. Bowler, The Easers
No queen has had to fight an insurrection in half a millennium. And she takes it personally. But it was her fate to be a good queen that followed four poor ones
— Paul W.S. Bowler, Death and Duty
Zanuta looked into the face of the faithful courier. "I have conquered the world, but I have never killed a man.
— Paul W.S. Bowler, Death and Duty