c2p-cmd/Good-Quotes-Authors huggingface dataset:
The very name of the genre itself - fairy tale - originated during this time, for the French writers coined the term conte de fee during the seventeenth century, and it has stuck to the genre in Europe and North America ever since. This "imprint" is important, because it reveals something crucial about the fairy tale that has remained part of its nature to the present. The early writers of fairy tales placed the power of metamorphosis in the hands of women - the redoubtable fairies. In addition, this miraculous power was not associated with a particular religion or mythology, through which the world was to be explained. It was a secular mysterious power of compassion that could not be explained, and it derived from the creative imagination of the writer. Anyone could call upon the fairies for help, and it is clear that the gifted French women writers of the seventeenth century preferred to address themselves to a fairy and to have a fairy resolve the conflicts in their tales rather than the Church, with its male-dominated hierarchy. After all, it was the Church that had eliminated hundreds of thousands of so-called female witches during the previous two centuries in an effort to curb heretical and nonconformist beliefs. However, those "pagan" notions survived in the tradition of the oral wonder tale and surfaced in published form in France when it became safer to introduce in a symbolical code supernatural powers and creatures other than those officially sanctioned by the Christian code. In short, there was something subversive about the institutionalization of the fairy tale in France during the 1690S, for it enabled writers to create a dialogue about norms, manners, and power that evaded court censorship and freed the fantasy of the writers and readers, while at the same time paying tribute to the French code of civilite and the majesty of the aristocracy. Once certain discursive paradigms and conventions were established, a writer could demonstrate his or her "genius" by rearranging, expanding, deepening, and playing with the known functions of a genre that, by 1715, had already formed a type of canon, which consisted not only of the great classical tales-"Cinderella," "Sleeping Beauty," "Rapunzel," "Rumpelstiltskin," "Puss in Boots," "Little Red Riding Hood," "Beauty and the Beast," "Blue beard, " "The Golden Dwarf," "The Blue Bird," and "The White Cat"-but also the mammoth collection The Arabian Nights.
— Jack D. Zipes, Spells of Enchantment: The Wondrous Fairy Tales of Western Culture
It dawned on her as she grew older, that fairy tales instilled false hopes in people, and that no white knights existed in this world. The mothers should be well aware of that aspect of reality, so why they fed their daughters with the same crap for centuries baffled her.
— Alexis Lawrence, O.U.R. Café
Sometimes you must shed your skin to save it.
— Emma Donoghue, Kissing the Witch: Old Tales in New Skins
[The fairy tale] is accused of giving children a false impression of the world they live in. But I think no literature that children could read gives them less of a false impression. I think what profess to be realistic stories for children are far more likely to deceive them. I never expected the real world to be like the fairy tales. I think that I did expect school to be like the school stories. The fantasies did not deceive me: the school stories did. All stories in which children have adventures and successes which are possible, in the sense that they do not break the laws of nature, but almost infinitely improbable, are in more danger than the fairy tales of raising false expectations… This distinction holds for adult reading too. The dangerous fantasy is always superficially realistic. The real victim of wishful reverie does not batten on the Odyssey, The Tempest, or The Worm Ouroboros: he (or she) prefers stories about millionaires, irresistible beauties, posh hotels, palm beaches and bedroom scenes—things that really might happen, that ought to happen, that would have happened if the reader had had a fair chance. For, as I say, there are two kinds of longing. The one is an askesis, a spiritual exercise, and the other is a disease.
— C.S. Lewis, Of Other Worlds: Essays and Stories
Fairy tales are such evil stories for young children. Every time I'm in a mess I expect a long-haired posh-speaking man to come trotting into my life (on a horse of course, literally trotting himself...) Then you realize you don't want a long-haired posh-speaking man trotting into your life because he's the one who put you in the bloody mess in the first place.
— Cecelia Ahern, Love, Rosie
Think of every fairy-tale villainess you've ever heard of. Think of the wicked witches, the evil queens, the mad enchantresses. Think of the alluring sirens, the hungry ogresses, the savage she-beasts. Think of them and remember that somewhere, sometime, they've all been real.
— Jim Butcher, Small Favor
It has generally been assumed that fairy tales were first created for children and are largely the domain of children. But nothing could be further from the truth.From the very beginning, thousands of years ago, when tales were told to create communal bonds in face of the inexplicable forces of nature, to the present, when fairy tales are written and told to provide hope in a world seemingly on the brink of catastrophe, mature men and women have been the creators and cultivators of the fairy tale tradition. When introduced to fairy tales, children welcome them mainly because they nurture their great desire for change and independence. On the whole, the literary fairy tale has become an established genre within a process of Western civilization that cuts across all ages. Even though numerous critics and shamans have mystified and misinterpreted the fairy tale because of their spiritual quest for universal archetypes or their need to save the world through therapy, both the oral and the literary forms of the fairy tale are grounded in history: they emanate from specific struggles to humanize bestial and barbaric forces, which have terrorized our minds and communities in concrete ways, threatening to destroy free will and human compassion. The fairy tale sets out to conquer this concrete terror through metaphors.
— Jack D. Zipes, Spells of Enchantment: The Wondrous Fairy Tales of Western Culture
And I think I decided not to love Charlie because I thought I had to be rescued. For practical reasons but also as a proof of love. It's better that Charlie and I didn't make an automatic transaction, love exchanged for rescue. All you can do after that is put the love and the rescue up on the shelf, moving them farther and farther back as you make room for all the other items you acquire over the years. This way a ragged stem still grows between us, almost pretty. Though really we should crush it now, before the buds bloom skeletal.
— Helen Oyeyemi, Boy, Snow, Bird
I squared my shoulders, trying to ignore the fact that I was standing in the apartment of the sea witch, wearing a fairy-tale prom gown, waiting for the attack of the mermaids.
— Seanan McGuire, One Salt Sea
Once upon a time there was a great queen who, having given birth to twin daughters, invited twelve fairies who lived nearby to come and bestow gifts upon them, as was the custom in those days. Indeed, it was a very useful custom, for the power of the fairies generally compensated for the deficiencies of nature. Sometimes, however, they also spoiled what nature had done its best to make perfect, as we shall soon see.("Green Serpent")
— Marie-Catherine d'Aulnoy, Spells of Enchantment: The Wondrous Fairy Tales of Western Culture
OMG. He's a gift shop, a lamb kebab with mint,/a solar panel poetry machine with biceps. He's the path/through the dark woods, the light on the page, a postcard/from the castle and a one-way ticket there. He's the most/astounding arrangement of molecules ever!/Just look at those tights! An honest-to-God prince at last.
— Ron Koertge, Lies, Knives, and Girls in Red Dresses
If our life is ever really as beautiful as a fairy tale, we shall have to remember that all the beauty of a fairy tale lies in this: that the prince has a wonder which just stops short of being fear. If he is afraid of the giant, there is an end of him; but also if he is not astonished at the giant, there is an end of the fairy tale. The whole point depends upon his being at once humble enough to wonder, and haughty enough to defy.
— G.K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy
All the queens of my acquaintance have children, some three, some seven, and some as many as twelve; and my queen has not one. I feel ill-used." So he made up his mind to be cross with his wife about it. But she bore it all like a good patient queen as she was.
— Hamilton Wright Mabie, Fairy Tales Every Child Should Know
You've honey on your tongue, ma fifille," Maman once said. "If you'd lived in earlier times, you could have been a troubadour.""...There aren't any troubadours any more, are there, Maman?" Marie said. "And if there were, girls wouldn't be allowed to be one.""Probably not," Maman agreed sadly."I'll be one anyway," I said with determination.Maman smiled and gently pulled on my hair. "I'm sure you will, ma fifille, a clever girl like you. You can do whatever you like in this world if you just have courage enough.
— Kate Forsyth BITTER GREENS
Ultimately, the definition of both the wonder tale and the fairy tale, which derives from it, depends on the manner in which a narrator/author arranges known functions of a tale aesthetically and ideologically to induce wonder and then transmits the tale as a whole according to customary usage of a society in a given historical period. The first stage for the literary fairy tale involved a kind of class and perhaps even gender appropriation. The voices of the nonliterate tellers were submerged, and since women in most cases were not allowed to be scribes, the tales were scripted according to male dictates or fantasies, even though they may have been told by women. Put crudely, it could be said that the literary appropriation of the oral wonder tales served the hegemonic interests of males within the upper classes of particular communities and societies, and to a great extent this is true. However, such a statement must be qualified, for the writing down of the tales also preserved a great deal of the value system of those deprived of power. And the more the literary fairy tale was cultivated and developed, the more it became individualized and varied by intellectuals and artists, who often sympathized with those society marginalized or were marginalized themselves. The literary fairy tale allowed for new possibilities of subversion in the written word and in print, and therefore it was always looked upon with misgivings by the governing authorities in the civilization process.
— Jack D. Zipes, Spells of Enchantment: The Wondrous Fairy Tales of Western Culture
We can't give you any further information," the fairies replied. "Be satisfied, madam, with the assurance that your daughter will be happy." She thanked them very much and did not forget to give them many presents. Although the fairies were quite rich, they always liked people to give them something. Throughout the world this custom has been passed down from that day to our own, and time has not altered it in the least.("Green Serpent")
— Marie-Catherine d'Aulnoy, Spells of Enchantment: The Wondrous Fairy Tales of Western Culture
Yes sir, the fish was left in place of the crystal ball. It's been bagged and tagged for analysis.”Great. Now we have another red herring on our hands.
— A.F. Stewart, Fairy Tale Fusion
I marched to the head Elf. “Where’s the frog?
— A.F. Stewart, Fairy Tale Fusion
Some foolish people must have a tragedy, for they cannot believe in happy endings
— Isobelle Carmody, The Wilful Eye
I tell them: don’t depend on a woodsman in the third act. I tell them: look for sets of three, or seven. I tell them: there’s always a way to survive. I tell them: you can’t force fidelity. I tell them: don’t make bargains that involve major surgery. I tell them: you don’t have to lie still and wait for someone to tell you how to live. I tell them: it’s all right to push her into the oven. She was going to hurt you. I tell them: she couldn’t help it. She just loved her own children more. I tell them: everyone starts out young and brave. It’s what you do with it that matters. I tell them: you can share that bear with your sister. I tell them: no-one can stay silent forever. I tell them: it’s not your fault. I tell them: mirrors lie. I tell them: you can wear those boots, if you want them. You can lift that sword. It was always your sword. I tell them: the apple has two sides. I tell them: just because he woke you up doesn’t mean you owe him anything. I tell them: his name is Rumplestiltskin.
— Catherynne M. Valente, The Bread We Eat in Dreams
Foxbrush sneezed again.He couldn't help himself. It's not something a fellow likes to do when a stunningly beautiful woman is leaning toward him with an expression on her face like Nidawi's wore. But sneezes are not prey to the wants or wishes of those inflicted with them. He sneezed so violently that he nearly knocked his forehead against Nidawi's exquisite little chin. She leapt back lightly, frowning at first, then shaking the frown into a rain of laughter.
— Anne Elisabeth Stengl, Shadow Hand
It was an irresistible development of modern illustration (so largely photographic) that borders should be abandoned and the "picture" end only with the paper. This method may be suitable for for photographs; but it is altogether inappropriate for the pictures that illustrate or are inspired by fairy-stories. An enchanted forest requires a margin, even an elaborate border. To print it coterminous with the page, like a "shot" of the Rockies in Picture Post, as if it were indeed a "snap" of fairyland or a "sketch by our artist on the spot", is a folly and an abuse.
— J.R.R. Tolkien, Tolkien on Fairy-stories
He built a tower to try and be closer to her and walled himself inside.”She stared at him for a moment as if waiting for something. “And?”He glanced at her, puzzled. “And, what?”She widened her eyes. “How does the story end? Did the sorcerer win his Moon Maid
— Elizabeth Hoyt, Duke of Midnight
Fantasy is a natural human activity. It certainly does not destroy or even insult Reason; and it does not either blunt the appetite for, nor obscure the perception of scientific verity. On the contrary. The keener and the clearer is the reason, the better fantasy will it make. If men were ever in a state in which which they did not want to know or could not perceive truth (facts or evidence), then Fantasy would languish until they were cured. If they ever get into that state it would not seem at all impossible/ Fantasy will perish and become Morbid Delusion.
— J.R.R. Tolkien
Haven't you noticed most of your fairy tales take place in the woods?” a man a few feet from me says. He stutters and lets a belch escape him. “That's why we're out here. We were hoping Jimmi would bring enough damsels for us all, though!
— Celia McMahon, Skye
Hammer does not think he will make it through this next winter. His breath comes short in his chest, and it takes much effort for him to get up and dressed. My body is still creaky and sound, but with every labor of his breath, I think that my heart will not endure. Enduring were Hammer’s gift, not mine, and I will not endure a life in which he does not laugh by my side and touch my hand, wish for the best things for me, and rejoice when I have them. My sturdy, blessed, stoic Hammer—how can life be, without him?
— Amy Lane, Hammer & Air
If you cannot see the fineness in my Hammer, you'd best look at him with better eyes.
— Amy Lane, Hammer & Air
You’re too old for fairy tales,” Baasen said.
— James S.A. Corey, Honor Among Thieves
The saddest thing of growing up is people no longer believe in fairy tales.
— Cao Đức Trọng
Hammer", I finished lamely, as he waited patiently for my thoughts to find their voice, "we have got to find better words for the things we have in our hearts.""Words seem to be weak things," he murmured into my hair, and I could only hope our hearts would prove stronger.
— Amy Lane, Hammer & Air
I know these are only dreams. I know these days are long past. I wake to a dream in which Hammer’s breath has stopped, and mine with it, and hearts have gone to a quiet sunny meadow with the sweetest little cottage in the middle, with a millwheel and a stream. Our bodies will lie tangled until they become earth, like roses twining so closely there is no beginning and no end, and only the shades of beauty that were their growing.Every dream I ever had as a child has come true, simply because Hammer loved me. Perhaps this one will too.
— Amy Lane, Hammer & Air
a gang of unpredictable ruffians by day who turned to enthralling storytellers after dark. "I would sometimes join them, and listen for a great part of the night to some of the finest fairy tales and most romantic legends it has ever been my fortune to hear.
— Russell S. Bonds, Stealing the General: The Great Locomotive Chase and the First Medal of Honor
I’m glad she’s so smitten with her new huntsman boyfriend and all, but venison-wurst? Gag me with a harpsichord.
— Nicki Elson, Hans & Greta: a Twisted Fairy Tale Novella
Because, no matter how old we get, we always need to believe in fairytales.
— Kristen Ashley, Rock Chick Revolution
The realm of fairy-story is wide and deep and high and filled with many things: all manner of beasts and birds are found there; shoreless seas and stars uncounted; beauty that is an enchantment, and an ever-present peril; both joy and sorrow as sharp as swords.
— J.R.R. Tolkien, Tolkien on Fairy-stories
The wise old fairy tales never were so silly as to say that the prince and the princess lived peacefully ever afterwards. The fairy tales said that the prince and princess lived happily ever afterwards; and so they did. They lived happily, although it is very likely that from time to time they threw the furniture at each other.
— G.K. Chesterton
To be the object of desire is to be defined in the passive case.To exist in the passive case is to die in the passive case – that is, to be killed.This is the moral of the fairy tale about the perfect woman.
— Angela Carter, The Sadeian Woman: And the Ideology of Pornography
I'm not a princess but Ryan is a knight, he just belongs to someone else.
— Katie McGarry, Dare You To
Clichés are relatives of the fairy tale, and tropes aren’t bad; they go with the territory.
— Seanan McGuire, Indexing
When you’re late in a fairy tale, people wind up dead. And not true-love’s-kiss, glass-coffin-nap-time dead. Really dead, the kind of dead you don’t recover from.
— Seanan McGuire, Indexing
In Russian fairy tales, the narrative flows a little differently. In those stories, you won’t find a tale for Cinderella, one for Snow White, one for Rapunzel. Instead, a peculiar cast of characters recurs over and over, in nearly every story, performing different acts and suffering different sorrows, but remaining the same. Ivan the Fool. Yelena the Bright. Baba Yaga. Vasilisa the Brave. Koschei the Deathless.
— Catherynne M. Valente
He was furious with himself for having lived these last days on a wish. On a lie. A kiss does not make the future. Love alone does not make a life.
— Alethea Kontis, Enchanted
Fairy tales have always been about getting through the worst of everything, the darkest and the deepest and the bloodiest of events. They are about surviving, and what you look like when you emerge from the trial. The reason we keep telling fairy tales over and over, that we need to keep telling them, is that the trials change. So the stories change too, and the heroines and villains and magical objects, to keep them true. Fairy tales are the closets where the world keeps its skeletons.
— Catherynne M. Valente
There were lots of things in this lifetime that I'd doubted, precious little I'd known for sure. But in that moment, I knew I would save her, or die trying.
— Red Tash, Troll Or Derby
She had not meant to name them, but she could not help herself; and having done so she thought, Let their names be symbols that their lives are worth the keeping. Let them struggle a little the harder, to keep their names.
— Robin McKinley, Deerskin
Fairy tales die hard in the minds and hearts of some girls. Quinn
— Beth Harbison, Chose the Wrong Guy, Gave Him the Wrong Finger
How above-the-law children's books are. Hansel and Gretel (littering, breaking and entering), Rumpelstiltskin (forced labor), Snow White (conspiracy to commit murder), Rapunzel (break of contract).
— Sloane Crosley, I Was Told There'd Be Cake
I'm here because all fairy tales take place in the woods, King Cole, even those that don't.
— Bill Willingham, Fables, Vol. 14: Witches
And, they would still be alive today...If they hadn't died, that is
— Rotraut Susanne Berner, Definitely Not for Little Ones
Sure. If she gets mugged, she can just flute them to death.
— Seanan McGuire, Indexing
If this were a fairy tale, this would be the part where the fishboy appears and Diana shoots him through the heart. Because he is a tragic hero, he's our fucking Gatsby, and he lived for his fish and he has to die for his fish. He would never let my fake authority, condoning his abandonment, making up rules about what's okay just to save his life, convince him to give up his family. He would never leave.He would know that without him, none of us will be as good. Me, without a friend; and the fish, without a brother; and the island, without a story; and Diana, without her something real, we will all be a little bit less than we were before we knew him.So he wouldn't leave. Not until I could come with him. And I have never been less able to leave than I am now.But this isn't a fairy tale, and he doesn't appear. We stand here for a long time.He really left.Because it was all that we could do.
— Hannah Moskowitz, Teeth
Fairy tales in childhood are stepping stones throughout life, leading the way through trouble and trial. The value of fairy tales lies not in a brief literary escape from reality, but in the gift of hope that goodness truly is more powerful than evil and that even the darkest reality can lead to a Happily Ever After. Do not take that gift of hope lightly. It has the power to conquer despair in the midst of sorrow, to light the darkness in the valleys of life, to whisper “One more time” in the face of failure. Hope is what gives life to dreams, making the fairy tale the reality.
— L.R. Knost
...remember that the danger that is most to be feared is never the danger we are most afraid of.
— Andrew Lang, The Red Fairy Book
Maybe the witch thought she was protecting Rapunzel, not punishing her. Maybe she thought that if Rapunzel was locked away, no one could ever hurt her. Maybe the witch kept Rapunzel because she loved her, because she was scared that if other people could get to Rapunzel, they would hurt her. And maybe Rapunzel didn't understand the witch; maybe she was angry at her - but maybe she loved her too.
— Alyssa B. Sheinmel, The Beautiful Between
The fairy tale is in a perpetual state of becoming and alteration. To keep to one version or one translation alone is to put robin redbreast in a cage.
— Philip Pullman, Fairy Tales from the Brothers Grimm: A New English Version
He rarely saw a doorway without advancing through it as if he owned it. Since he owned a good many doorways, he would have pointed out that this was a reasonable assumption.
— Eloisa James, The Duke Is Mine
It's kind of strange...All these so-called myths and fables. Everyone seems to have the same ones. They cross cultures and continents. Everyone has their own versions of unicorns, witches, even the Fates. Now we know why. Because they're real.
— Maurissa Guibord, Warped
Not all fairy tales have happily ever afters, some just have afters.
— Chandra Hahn
Nowhere hidden has ever turned away a goodheart guest.
— Mikl Paul, Dandelions That have Held your Breath
...she has been bewitched by a wicked sorceress, and will not regain her beauty until she is my wife.''Does she say so? Well if you believe that you may drink cold water and think it bacon'.
— Andrew Lang, The Red Fairy Book
...Myths aren’t fairy tales or legends—they’re an honest attempt to explain mysteries...
— John Geddes, A Familiar Rain
But she never could keep it straight. All the letters, the acronyms, the codes, the colors, changing like musical chairs, every week, every month. Games demons play. It meant nothing to her, except in a charming sort of way, as it had when Naganya wanted to play at interrogation, while the rest of them wanted chess.
— Catherynne M. Valente, Deathless
Now fairy stories are at risk too, like the forests. Padraic Column has suggested that artificial lighting dealt them a mortal wound: when people could read and be productive after dark, something fundamental changed, and there was no longer need or space for the ancient oral tradition. The stories were often confined to books, which makes the text static, and they were handed over to children.
— Sara Maitland, Gossip from the Forest
In answer, the news of the Gospel is that extraordinary things happen. ... Lear goes berserk on a heath but comes out of it for a few brief hours every inch a king. Zaccheus climbs up a sycamore tree a crook and climbs down a saint. Paul sets out a hatchet man for the Pharisees and comes back a fool for Christ.
— Frederick Buechner, Telling the Truth: The Gospel as Tragedy, Comedy, and Fairy Tale
Sometimes I look at this world and it moves me to tears. The joy and terror and the mad bloody drama of it all. I wonder why they never seem to really see it. Maybe one lifetime just isn't enough. Or maybe it's too much. I can't say. But the truth, to be perfectly plain, is that people are always looking for magic in all the wrong places.
— Brian Holguin, Aria Volume 1: The Magic Of Aria
Please tell a story about a girl who gets away.”I would, even if I had to adapt one, even if I had to make one up just for her. “Gets away from what, though?”“From her fairy godmother. From the happy ending that isn’t really happy at all. Please have her get out and run off the page altogether, to somewhere secret where words like ‘happy’ and ‘good’ will never find her.”“You don’t want her to be happy and good?”“I’m not sure what’s really meant by happy and good. I would like her to be free. Now. Please begin.
— Helen Oyeyemi, White is for Witching
I believe that our lives, just like fairy tales - the stories that have been written by us humans, through our own experiences of living - will always have a Hero and a Heroine, a Fairy Godmother and a Wicked Witch.
— Lucinda Riley, The Girl on the Cliff
The more one knows fairy tales the less fantastical they appear; they can be vehicles of the grimmest realism, expressing hope against all the odds with gritted teeth.
— Marina Warner, From the Beast to the Blonde: On Fairy Tales and Their Tellers
Fairy tales and folk tales are for children and childlike people, not because they are little and inconsequential, but because they are as enormous as life itself.
— Anthony M. Esolen, Ten Ways to Destroy the Imagination of Your Child
the association of children and fairy-stories is an accident of our domestic history. Fairy-stories have in the modern lettered world been relegated to the “nursery,” as shabby or old-fashioned furniture is relegated to the play-room, primarily because the adults do not want it, and do not mind if it is misused.
— J.R.R. Tolkien, Tolkien on Fairy-stories
Since there are thousands of fairy tales, one may safely guess that there are probably equal numbers where the courage and determination of females rescue males, and vice versa.
— Bruno Bettelheim, The Uses of Enchantment: The Meaning and Importance of Fairy Tales
Seeing the transformation in Aaron made me wonder how it would feel to have someone-even a not-so-nice guy like Aaron- look at me the way he looked at Anjali.
— Polly Shulman, The Grimm Legacy
Fairy tales represent hundreds of years of stories based on thousands of years of stories told by hundreds, thousands, perhaps even millions of tellers.
— Kate Bernheimer
The happily ever after thing. It's great when she marries the prince or whatever and they say that. But they just don't show the part where there's a revolution and they drag her to the guillotine.
— Mark D. Diehl, Vida Nocturna
Man, Grandma, what big hair you have.""The better to style with, my dear.
— Neal Shusterman, Red Rider's Hood
Goldenrod Moram had a first name that sounded like it belonged in the middle of a fairy tale, where she would be the dazzling princess in need of rescuing.
— Sarvenaz Tash, The Mapmaker and the Ghost
It was our passion for words and our ardent desire to write that drew me and Michael together, and the same that drove us apart.Michael wanted to be a great playwright, like the former master Molière. He had high ambitions and scorned what I wrote as frivolous and feminine.‘All these disguises and duels and abductions,’ he said contemptuously, one day a year or so after our affair began, slapping down the pile of paper covered with my sprawling handwriting. ‘All these desperate love affairs. And you wish me to take you seriously.’‘I like disguises and duels.’ I sat bolt upright on the edge of my bed. ‘Better than those dreary boring plays you write. At least something happens in my stories.’‘At least my plays are about something.’‘My stories are about something too. Just because they aren’t boring doesn’t mean they aren’t worthy.’‘What are they about? Love’ He clasped his hands together near his ear and fluttered his eyelashes.’‘Yes, love. What’s wrong with writing about love? Everyone longs for love.’‘Aren’t there enough love stories in the world without adding to them?‘Isn’t there enough misery and tragedy?’Michael snorted with contempt.‘What’s wrong with wanting to be happy?‘It’s sugary and sentimental.’‘Sugary? I’m not sugary.’ I was so angry that I hurled my shoes at his head.
— Kate Forsyth
The greatest religion you can ever have throughout your entire existence, is Love.
— Abhijit Naskar, Love, God & Neurons: Memoir of a Scientist Who Found Himself by Getting Lost
Weakness is weaker when discovered by others.
— Mita Jain, In Love of Honey, Money....and My Virgin Passport
In narrow and gloomy streets, keep your spirit high!
— Mehmet Murat ildan
You are more powerful and intelligent than you think.
— Lailah Gifty Akita
Don't tell me I am the best, because then I'll get too confident and embarrass myself. But, don't tell me I am not good enough either, because then I'll doubt myself and give up. Just believe in me, and tell me I can do it then I will.
— Paula Acedo
What you have always believed in is the real you.
— Tapan Ghosh, Faceless The Only Way Out
The frog became a prince. The young girl believed and that made the difference. People become who they think they are
— Brent M. Jones
Always keep believing, hoping, seeking, working, helping, forgiving, understanding and loving and your life will be meaningful. But don’t forget to be always vigilant about eagles, crows and vultures around you. In a flash, they may pounce and pinch your peace, prosperity, joy and happiness, blur your vision with their filthy wings, vilify your fame with dirt and halt your progress.
— Lord Robin
She believed in herself maybe more than other people believed in God or the devil or Heaven or Hell.
— John Corey Whaley, Highly Illogical Behavior
I want to live my life to its fullest potential. I want to embrace my own purpose, however large or small it may be. I want to find my own Nehru moments and take positive steps toward becoming the person I am meant to be. The journey will undoubtedly be a winding one, filled with surprises and setbacks as well as gifts. But I'm ready to embrace it fully, wherever it may take me.
— Mallika Chopra, Living with Intent: My Somewhat Messy Journey to Purpose, Peace, and Joy
Whatever you think you can do or believe you can do, begin it. Action has magic, grace and power in it.
— Sally Brampton, Shoot the Damn Dog: A Memoir of Depression
If you speak things into existence, they will become real..
— Anonymous
It’s what you believe about your ability that shapes your potential success.
— Stan Beecham
you must never stop believing in yourself, because you were born to make a difference in this world
— Manuel Corazzari
Someone who see's the invisible can do the impossible
— Anon1467
We have to believe in us. We're the miracle of modern and changing times. Share your talents and gift, inspire others and be inspired
— Val Uchendu
Don't give up.Work hard.Believe in yourself.Do your best.Success will be yours
— KatherineChin
If you believe you will succeed, there is always a chance you might. But if you believe that you will fail, then you will always fail. Never allow yourself to lose before you begin.
— Jon Skovron, Hope and Red
Become What You BelieveTake a step back today and consider all the options available to you. There are several different directions you can take to get to the next dimension, but there is only one that is best suited to manifest your heart’s desire. The best option to take will be the one that scares you the most. It is the one that requires you to go deeper than you have ever gone before. Your mind may tell you it’s not a good idea and bring up all the reasons why it won’t work, but check your heart. Intuitively, if it feels right; it is right. Say “yes” to the option that will allow you to grow more into your brilliance. No more straddling the fence. No more half commitments. Go forth with boldness. Become what you believe.
— Fuel By God - Susan Samaroo
Nobody will believe in you unless you believe in yourself.
— Liberace
Remember to leave enough room in your life for those who would help you reach the mountain top, those who believe in you and those who show you the greatness in you when it’s hard to see it for yourself.
— Elle Sommer
A strange fact of life is that usually people who are counted out somehow transform into the action figures doing the toughest of times that people can count on.
— Johnnie Dent Jr.
God never said that you will live an average or unfulfilled life. You and the people who programmed your mind ‘assumed’ your worth, ability and deservingness. You have the same brains and ability like the most successful ones have. Only the circumstances are different and I can assure you that your circumstances are not the worst.
— Maddy Malhotra, How to Build Self-Esteem and Be Confident: Overcome Fears, Break Habits, Be Successful and Happy
Every major religion documents the fact that we ourselves have to take action to achieve whatever we desire. So why leave it on luck when your thoughts, beliefs and actions create your destiny?
— Maddy Malhotra, How to Build Self-Esteem and Be Confident: Overcome Fears, Break Habits, Be Successful and Happy
some times it takes just one person to believe in you to make your dreams come true, But if you don't have the one person, Be the one person and believe in yourself
— jane yates 2015
I have so much health problems, but I believe I could still make it through.
— Jonathan Anthony Burkett
Opportunities are not to be availed but to be made.
— Ibrahiem Azeiem
Sometimes the people that push you to work hard, Won't be there in the time of harvest. Such is life. Everyone you meet has a role to play in your life.. Just play along & Believe in yourself.
— Goals Rider
What do you believe about who you are? About your capabilities? When was the last time you trusted yourself enough to test them?
— Gina Greenlee, Postcards and Pearls: Life Lessons from Solo Moments on the Road
When you are purposeful and take daily action, more opportunities come into your life. Believe and build more.
— Wesam Fawzi
Sometimes it is the people who no one imagines anything of who do the things that no one can imagine.
— Christopher Morcom
It is our beliefs, more than our experiences, that determine life's possibilities.
— Gina Greenlee, Postcards and Pearls: Life Lessons from Solo Moments on the Road
You should always do more of what you believe is right, even if you are trembling inside.
— Wesam Fawzi
Success starts with believing before you can achieve it.
— Robert Moment, How to Succeed in Life: Learn the Best Success Principles, Ideas and Skills to Achieving Your Dreams Now
It is your life, accept the challenge.
— Lailah Gifty Akita, Think Great: Be Great!
I believe on you, rest of things doesn't matter. Take a deep breath, take your time. Time has gone, time will come.Time will be yours if you believe on yourself.
— Navnath Godse
Have faith in your abilities.
— Lailah Gifty Akita, The Alphabets of  Success: Passion Driven Life
Believe in yourself. You believe because you have faith. And because you have faith, you have courage to do.
— Miss Literary 1993
When you give all your power to the powers that be, you take away the powers of thee.
— Tammy Wooster
They will always tell you that you can't do what you want to do, but you can do what you want to do. You just have to believe in yourself. The system is to bring you down, but you can rise up.
— Bob Marley
Beyond the shadows of our doubt lies an ocean of extraordinary possibilities; things that could have been or could be; if we had the faith to see them through. Our doubts betray and deflect us from our true selves and deprive us of our chances to love, to achieve, to trust, or to know what we’re truly capable of…all because we confide in our fears rather than endeavor towards our rightful providences. ~Jason Versey
— Jason Versey, A Walk with Prudence
When life hits you down, you have a choice make it- You either stay down and feel sorry for yourself or get up and believe in your self.
— Tilicia Haridat
Believe in yourself. Believe in the power of your strength.Never, never lose yourself confidence.
— Lailah Gifty Akita
Believe that you are capable of achieving your dreams.
— Lailah Gifty Akita
Believe in yourself and the power of your inner strength.
— Lailah Gifty Akita
Believe on YOURSELF and not on the WORLD!
— Chintan Jain
Believe in yourself When you doEveryone will see and believe too
— Andreas Dutschke 1986
No longer will I doubt my abilities...I will give myself a chance.
— Stephanie Lahart, Overcoming Life's Obstacles: Enlighten-Encourage-Empower
With courage and hope, we can conquer our fears and do what we once believed impossible.
— Juliet Marillier, Heart's Blood
Dare to believe that you make a significant difference in our world.
— Dana Arcuri
Mr. Albert Einstein was right: If you feel you need to go one way, even when everyone else is going the other way, do so, do so to make positive changes in your life and for this world. I guarantee you, that you will never regret that decision. Believe in yourself, other people will also believe you in time. I believe in you. Yes, I believe in you.
— Martin R. Lemieux
There are no constraints on the human mind, no walls around the human spirit, no barriers to our progress except those we ourselves erect.
— Ronald Reagan
Whatever happens tomorrow, we had today; and I'll always remember it
— David Nicholls, One Day
Perhaps this is what the stories meant when they called somebody heartsick. Your heart and your stomach and your whole insides felt hollow and empty and aching.
— Juliet Marillier, Daughter of the Forest
I am done slowing down, giving people their time and space, letting them explore their options.
— Marla Miniano, Every Girl's Guide to Heartache
Raw love, like raw heartache, could blindside you.
— Jodi Picoult, Salem Falls
Experience has taught me that what you love, you should love all the harder because someday it will be gone.
— Ronan O'Brien, Confessions Of A Fallen Angel
Sadness flies away on the wings of time. 
— Jean de La Fontaine
I would have done anything for him. But these days, I don't want to do anything. I don't want to get drunk or go to a wild party or make out with random boys-not that I've ever wanted to. I don't want to watch chick flicks or eat ice cream or get a haircut or buy out half of the mall. I don't want cold, cruel revenge. I don't want to see him suffer when karma catches up with him and kick his ass. I don't even want to talk to him right now, simply because it would be awkward and pathetic and I wouldn't know what to say to him. Yes, there is self-control, preventing me from being stupid and acting like a desperate doofus in the manner most heartbroken people do. But there is also a weary numbness threatening to consume every inch of me: Isn't there a way for me to skip straight to the part where I'm fine again?
— Marla Miniano, Every Girl's Guide to Heartache
But the years came and went without bringing the careless boy; and when they met again Wendy was a married woman, and Peter was no more to her than a little dust in the box in which she had kept her toys.
— J.M. Barrie, Peter Pan
Ah, hell.His peripheral vision was working far too well tonight.His slut of a cousin, his cocksucking, suit-wearing, Montblanc-up-the-ass cousin Saxton the Magnificent, was standing next to the queen, looking like a combination of Cary Grant and some model in a goddamn cologne ad.Not that Qhuinn was bitter.Because the guy was sharing Blay's bed.Nah.Nope. Not at all.The Cocksucker-With a wince, he thought maybe he should switch that insult to something a little farther away from what the two of them ...God, he couldn't even go there. Not if he wanted to breathe.
— J.R. Ward, Lover Reborn
We like to think we’re in charge of our own lives, but we ain’t.
— Moira Young, Rebel Heart
Where are you going?" he asked."To break someone's heart," I replied.
— Richelle Mead, Frostbite
I know who you are. I love you. I love everything about you that hurts.
— Patrick Marber, Closer
It is becoming a bad dream-- in the daytime as well as at night. I see him nearly all the time and can't get at him, I mustn't show anything, must remain gay while I'm really in despair.
— Anne Frank, The Diary of a Young Girl
I married my love in the springtime, / but by summer he’d locked me away. / He’d murdered me dead by the autumn, / and by winter I was naught but decay
— Emily Carroll
I encased my heart in stone so as to stop it from beating
— Sonya Watson, The Tide Breaker
My swimming cap was really sprouting leaks these days. The thing is, you could patch over the holes, but it would never be the same. Like my love life.
— Helen Salter, Does Snogging Count as Exercise?
Charity liked brandy. She liked the way it burned her throat while soothing the ache in her heart.
— Elizabeth Jane Howard, Mr. Wrong
Heartache, to her, coursed through everything--which was as it should be, since people needed it to make them kind.pg. 4
— Rebecca Barry, Later, at the Bar: A Novel in Stories
A heartfire, Clementine my darlin', is when you want someone, when you need her so damn bad, not only in your bed but in your life, that you're willin' to burn--".
— Penelope Williamson
The heart did ache, actually. She felt a dull grind of lack somewhere near her diaphragm, a pain that occupied the space of something removed. A phantom limb. A scratchy hunger. The wasting muscle fatigue of want.
— Sylvia Brownrigg, Pages for You
Why do you look like that, Duane?""Like what, Cletus?""Like your heart is diseased.
— Penny Reid, Truth or Beard
Most people don't know that heartache smells like blueberries.
— Stacey  Lee, The Secret of a Heart Note
What does it matter if the world is bright and sunny, when it's dark and silent right where it matters most?
— Kim Dong Hwa, The Color of Water
I love you."He breaks.His voice. His back. His knees. His face. He breaks. He has to hold on to the side of his desk. He can't meet my eyes. "I love you," he says, his words harsh and soft all at once. "I love you and it isn't enough. I thought it would be enough and I was wrong. I thought I could fight for you and I was wrong. Because I can't. I can't even face you anymore--
— Tahereh Mafi, Ignite Me
It's over, her mind whispered. There's still hope, her heart insisted.
— Libba Bray, Lair of Dreams
Heartache is so physically real that it needs to be recognized as a sickness, an ailment, a cancer of love. A broken heart is a sad, angry, powerful thing that shakes you by the collar and demands your respect, and it's pummeling me into the mattress, shattering me to pieces. It's as real as the actual heart in my chest. In some ways, it's more real because it flows throughout your whole body, wrapping around your bones and your organs and your blood. It's in everything you do, every breath you take.
— Karina Halle, Racing the Sun
After a night of drinking, she would be a pale, starling-sized creature, but now, in this place, she is moonlight in heels.
— Claire North, The Sudden Appearance of Hope
He bears wounds only seen with the heart and the scars that have formed over the years still pain him.
— Regan Walker, Echo in the Wind
Space and time wouldn't let you be mine
— Mike Posner
That man would have chipped away at your heart bit by bit until there was nothing left. It may have been bruised, but at least it's whole.
— Christina Baker Kline, A Piece of the World
What a selfish boy you are. You wished for the world but all you received were the skies.
— F.K. Preston
Living with love for all humankind and worshiping nature’s immense beauty cures heartache and restores bliss. Respecting the splendor of nature awakens us to the beauty inscribing our own humanity.
— Kilroy J. Oldster, Dead Toad Scrolls
You’ve loved with intensity and passion, and have learned to hide your heartache, learned to press your handkerchief back into your pocket and pretend that you are okay.
— Jaclyn Moriarty, A Corner of White
We have found each other for a reason to fill each other’s empty heart in every season!
— Lily Amis, Angel of Love  Lily: Zak, My Sweet Inspiration
I was in the mood to make out in the back row of the movie theater with someone who did not know my first name. I wanted three guys to fight for the honor of buying me a drink
— Jodi Picoult, My Sister's Keeper
It took me a long time and a lot of heartache to realize that just because you love someone, doesn’t mean they deserve it.
— Steve Maraboli
The virus seemed to be thriving on his misery, relentlessly tearing through his insides.Every day it made its rounds through his body. It started at his fingers, making them itch to touch her until he could almost feel her fleshy lips beneath his thumb, the silky strands of her hair sliding through his fingers. It would then move up to his arms, creating an urge to hold her, an urge that could not be fulfilled.Next it went for his eyes, causing him to see her everywhere, in every little thing. He would see her in the kitchen, making coffee. He would see her cuddled up on the sofa, watching T.V. He had to blink several times before he realised that she wasn’t really there. It would then move to his heart, ruthlessly choking it until it was so heavy and so sore, he could feel the pain of losing her in every beat.And then, finally, just as night fell, it would attack his brain, invoking images of her.Thoughts and memories and dreams. He could not take much more. It was slowly driving him insane. He could not break out of these shackles.
— Jacqueline Francis - The Journal
Just by being with me, I feel like I have ruined a lot of things around you.
— Mika Yamamori, ひるなかの流星 12 [Hirunaka no Ryuusei 12]
It's our version of "me" that causes us the most stress and heartache. Which is why it comes as a relief to discover that this version is as transient as a cloud in the sky. Focus on the cloud and the result is uncertain. Focus on the sky and we discover clarity.
— David Michie, Mindfulness Is Better Than Chocolate: A Practical Guide to Enhanced Focus and Lasting Happiness in a World of Distractions
If I bother you so much, why did you let me kiss you again in that hospital? Is the reason to screw up my head more, to see if you still have the knack for it? Because congratulations Nell, you’ve succeeded yet again.
— LeeAnn Whitaker, Never Another You
I will never return home to Elham. I can’t. To see her would crush me. I need to let her go now. And I need to move on. I’ve come to realise that she was right. We were two completely different people, and we didn’t belong together. But I will never hold any regrets of what we had. It will always be a time of my life that was perfect. Goodbye sweet Nell.
— LeeAnn Whitaker, Never Another You
Other people's minds aside, not even my own mind flows in the way that I wish.
— Mika Yamamori, ひるなかの流星 2 [Hirunaka no Ryuusei 2]