“In a snowstorm it always seemed, for a time, as though there were no enemies. In a snowstorm, the wind could blow a gale; but it blew a white cleanness and the air was full of a driving whiteness and all things were changed and when the wind stopped there would be the stillness.”
– Ernest Hemingway, “for Whom the Bell Tolls”

“In that West Hollywood apartment building, all of the neighbors she met were people whose dreams of fame had already been dashed. Cinematographers working at Kodak stores, screenwriters teaching English to immigrants, actors starring in burlesque shows in seedy bars. The people who did not make it were ingrained in the city; you walked on stars enblazoned with their names and never realized it.”
– Brit Bennett, “the Vanishing Half”

“You have a choice, to live this life fully, embrace your situation, and make what you can of it. Or you can resist and live a shadow life in sadness, always wishing for what you don’t have, or hoping for a future time which may not exist, where life is what you imagine you want. I have witnessed too many sudden deaths, too many expired lives to believe the future holds the key to happiness. You must embrace you present and trust God will take care of your future.”
– Elizabeth St. John, “Lady of the Tower”