You might be expecting a wish list for the holiday season, and I’d be lying if I said another one wasn’t on the way, but it turns out that my most favorite things in the world aren’t colognes or messenger bags or shoes, but far simpler: words. Here are a few of my favorite strings of them:
You do anything in the world to gain a reputation. As soon as you have one, you seem to want to throw it away. It is silly of you, for there is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about. ~ Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray
Better to reign in Hell, than serve in Heav’n. ~ Milton, Paradise Lost
“When the times are a crucible, when the air is full of crisis,” she said, “those who are most themselves are the victims.” ~ Gregory Maguire
Another thing they knew and shared and believed was that no one could really help anyone else, that sadness is solitude, but you could love someone, without reservation or fanfare, just love them, without expecting anything in return and, sometimes, it would be enough. ~ Whitney Otto
There were moments when he looked on evil simply as a mode through which he could realize his conception of the beautiful. ~ Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray
“People who claim that they’re evil are usually no worse than the rest of us.” He sighed. “It’s people who claim, that they’re good, or anyway better than the rest of us, that you have to be wary of.” ~ Gregory Maguire
It was about wanting something that you have idealized to the point that, when you have it, you are still longing for it. Something can be yours and not yours in the same breath. ~ Whitney Otto
