Bookish Mardi: Quotes from Paulo Coelho's Eleven Minutes

“Love is not to be found in someone else but in ourselves; we simply awaken it. But in order to do that, we need the other person.”
― Paulo Coelho

Book Summary

Maria, a young girl from a remote village of Brazil, with innocent brushes with love failures at an early adolescent stage and hatred for love goes to seek her fortune in Switzerland, only to find that reality is a lot harder than she expected. After working in a nightclub as a samba dancer for a brief period, she realizes that this is not what she wants. After a heated discussion with her manager one night, she storms out and begins to look for a career in modeling. After a long unsuccessful search for a position in that field, and as she starts running out of money, she engages herself for 1000 francs for "one night" with an Arab man. Delighted with the easy money and after compromising with her soul she lands in a brothel on Rue de Berne, the heart of Geneva's red-light district...

There she befriends Nyah who gives her advice on her "new profession" and after learning the tricks of the trade from Milan, the brothel owner, she enters the job with her body and mind shutting all doors for love and keeps her heart open only for her diary. Quickly she becomes quite successful and famous and her colleagues begin to envy her. Months pass and Maria grows into a professionally groomed prostitute who not only relaxes her clients' mind, but also calms their soul by talking to them about their problems.

Her world turns upside down when she meets Ralf, a young Swiss painter, who sees her "inner light". Maria falls in love with him immediately and begins to experience what true love is (according to the author, it is a sense of being for someone without actually possessing him/her). Maria is now torn between her sexual fantasies and true love for Ralf. Eventually she decides that it is time for her to leave Geneva with her memory of Ralf, because she realizes that they are worlds apart. But before leaving, she decides to rekindle the dead sexual fire in Ralf and learns from him about the nature of Sacred Sex, sex which is mingled with true love and which involves the giving up of one's soul for the loved one.

This book explores the sacred nature of sex. "Eleven minutes" describes the duration of sex. Also, it depicts two types of prostitution: prostitution for money and sacred prostitution. There are also direct references to sadomasochism.

The story is of Maria's journey to find what true love is by letting her own life guide her. She enters a life that leads her down the path of sexual awakening and almost leads to her self-destruction when she is introduced to all sides of sexual experience. When she has given up hope to find true love, she finds her true "inner light" and her everlasting true love.

 Source : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eleven_Minutes

 Remarkable Lines from the Book

". . . there was a place called "somewhere far away". - Maria

 ". . . the world was too large , that love was something very dangerous and that the Virgin was a saint inhabited a distant heaven and didn't listen  to the prayers of children." - Maria

". . . no one can live on impossible dreams." - Maria

"When we meet someone and fall in love, we have a sense that the whole universe is on our side. . . and yet if something goes wrong, there is nothing left." - Maria

"How is it possible for the beauty that was there only minutes before to vanish so quickly?" - Maria

"Life moves very fast. It rushes us from heaven to hell in a matter of seconds." - Maria

". . .  it is not enough just to have great love in your life, you must make sure that everyone know; what a desirable person you are." - Maria

". . . a kind of love that didn't hurt and didn't leave a painful scar on the heart - love for Jesus." - Maria

". . . all magazines, the TV Programmes, books, girlfriends, everything, ABSOLUTE EVERYTHING, said that a man was essential." - Maria

"My aim is to understand love. I know how alive I felt when I was in love, and I know that everything I have now, however interesting it might seem, doesn't really excite me." - Maria

". . . love is a terrible thing."  - Maria

". . . I know that the remedy is worse than pain: I simply don't fall in love." - Maria


". . . those who to my heart failed to arouse my body, and that those who aroused my body failed to touch my heart." - Maria

"The power of beauty: what must the world be for ugly women?"

"Beauty, my dear , doesn't last."  - Maria's Mom

"What's a week after all? It will pass in a flash." -Maria

 ". . . a man promises everything and gives you nothing."  - Maria

". . . a woman finds it easier to admit that her husband betrayed her than to admit the state of her wardrobe."

From Maria's diary:
"Everything tells me that I am about to make a wrong decision, but making mistakes is just a part of life. What does the world want of me? Does it want me to take no risks, to go back to where I came from because I didn't have the courage to say "yes" to life?
. . . I've realized that sometimes you get no second chance and that it's best to accept the gifts the world offers you. Of course it's risky, but  is the risk any greater than the chance of the bus that took forty-eight hours to bring me here having an accident? If I must be faithful to someone or something, then I have, first of all, to be faithful to myself. If I'm looking for true love, I first have to get the mediocre loves out of my system. The little experience of life taught me that no one  owns anything, that everything is an illusion - and that applies to material as well as spiritual.

Anyone who lost something they thought was their forever finally comes to realise that nothing really belongs to them.

And if nothing belongs to me, then there's no point wasting my time looking after things that aren't mine; it's best to live as if today were the first (or last) day of my life."

***

". . . travel and the idea of going far away had just been a dream, and dreaming is very pleasant as long as you are not forced to put your dreams into practice." - Maria

 ". . . opportunities are made to be seized."

". . . when it comes to seductions, feelings and contracts, one should never play around."

"One never knows what life may have in store for us, and it's always good to know where the emergency exit is." - Maria

"I can choose either to be a victim of the world or an adventurer in search of treasure. It's all a question of how I view my life." - Maria

"I will die here. But before I die, I want to fight for life. If I can walk on my own, I can go wherever I like." - Maria

 ". . . dreams don't come cheap."   

"What do they expect? Having chosen adventure, shouldn't they be prepared to go the whole day? or do they think that  the intelligent thing to do would be to avoid the ups and downs and spend all their time on carousel. going round and round on the spot?"

"The roller coaster is my life; life is fast, dizzying game; life is a parachute jump; it's taking chances, falling over and getting up again; it's mountaineering; it's wanting to get to the very top  of yourself and  to feel angry and dissatisfied when you don't manage it."

". . . life always waits for some crisis to occur before revealing itself at its most brilliant."

"A writer once said that it is not time that changes man, nor knowledge; the only thing that can change someone's mind is love. What a nonsense!"

 "Love was undoubtedly one of the things capable of changing a person's whole life from one moment to the next. But there's the other side of the coin, the second thing that could make a human being take a totally different course from one he or she had planned; and that was called despair. Yes, perhaps love really could transform someone, but despair did the job more quickly."

"In the search for happiness, however, all are equal." 

"That's what the world is like: people talk as if they knew everything, but if you dare to ask a question,  they don't know anything."

". . . enough is enough." 

". . . beauty changes as swiftly as the wind."

"We live in a vale of tears. We can have all the dreams we like, but life is hard, implacable, sad."

"I have discovered the reason why a man pays for a woman:  he wants to be happy."

"Some people were born to face life alone, and this is neither good nor bad, but it is simply life."

". . . life was teaching her - very fast - that only the strong will survive. To be strong, she must be the best, there's no alternative." 

From Maria's diary:

I'm not a body with a soul, I'm a soul that has a visible part called the body. All this week, contrary to what one might expect, I have been more conscious of the presence of this soul than usual. It didn't say anything to me, didn't criticise me or feel sorry for me: it merely watched me. Today, I realised why this was happening: it's been such a long time since I though about love or anything called love. It seems to be running away from me, as if it wasn't important anymore and didn't feel welcome. I will be nothing. . . I need to write about love. I need to think and think and write and write about love - otherwise, my soul won't survive." 

***

". . . not everyone chooses to live in the margins of the society."

From Maria's diary:

 "All men, tall or short, arrogant or assuming, friendly or cold, have one characteristic in common: when they come to the club, they are afraid. The more experienced amongst them hide their fear by talking loudly, the more inhibited cannot hide their feelings and start drinking to see if they can drive the fear away. But I am convinced that, with a few very rare expectations - the 'special client' to whom Milan has not yet introduced me - they are all afraid . . . Men are very strange." 

 ***

"Eleven minute. The world revolved around something that only took eleven minutes."

"There's something wrong about the civilisation, and it wasn't the destruction of the Amazon rainforest or the ozone layer, the death of the panda, cigarettes, carcinogenic foodstuffs or prison conditions, as the newspapers would have it. It was precisely the thing she was working with: sex."

"Human beings can withstand a week without water, two weeks without food, many years of homelessness, nut not loneliness. It is the worst of all tortures, the worst of all sufferings." 

From Maria's diary:

"If I were to tell someone about my life today, I could do it in a way that would make them think me a brave, happy, independent woman. Rubbish: I am not even allowed to mention the only word that is more than the eleven minutes - love.

All my life, I thought of love as some kind of voluntary enslavement. Well, that's a lie: freedom does exists when love is present. The person who gives him or herself wholly, the person who feels freest, is the person who loves most wholeheartedly.

And the person who loves wholeheartedly feels free.

That is why, regardless of what I might experience, do or learn, nothing makes sense. I hope this time passes quickly, so that I can resume me search for myself - in the form of a man who understands me and does not make me suffer.

But what am I saying? In love, no one can harm anyone else; we are each of us responsible  for our own feelings and cannot blame someone else for what we feel.

It hurts when I lost each of the various men I fell in love with. Now, though, I am convinced that no one loses anyone, because no one owns anyone. That is the true experience of freedom: having the most important thing in the world without owning it.

***

". . . my life is in constant motion."

". . . men who took least care of their appearance always seemed to have more money than the men in suits and ties."

 ". . . women mature more quickly than men."

"I''m a prostitute through and through from head to toe, ans I don't care who knows. That's my one great virtue: I refuse to deceive myself or you." - Maria

". . . there are three of me, really, depending on who I'm with. There's the Innocent Girl, who gazes admiringly at the man, pretending to be impressed by his tales of power and glory. Then there's the Femme Fatale , who pounces on the most insecure and by doing so, takes control of the situation and relieves them the responsibility, because then they have to worry about anything. And finally, there's the Understanding Mother, who looks after those in need of advice and who listens with an all comprehending air to stories that go in one ear and out the other. Which of the three would you like to meet?"

"What is more important in life? Living or pretending to live?"

"The painter knows when he has found a model. The musician knows when his instrument is well tuned."

". . . I could also, like duck on the lake, have fun and take pleasure in that sudden ripple that set the water rocking."

"Passion. It can be used to describe the beauty of an earth-shaking meeting between two people, but isn't just that. It's there in the excitement of the unexpected, in the desire to do something with real fervour,  in the certainty that one is going to realise a dream. Passion send us signals that guide us through our live." 


From Maria's diary:
I would like to believe that I'm in love. With someone I don't know and who didn't figure in my plans at all. All these months of self-control, of denying love,  have had exactly the opposite result: I have let myself be swept away by the first person who treat me a little differently. . . considering the way the world is, one happy day is almost a miracle."

***

"Love is not found in someone else, but in ourselves; we simply awaken it. But in order to do that, we need the other person. The universe only makes sense when we have someon to share our feelings with."

"Passion makes a person stop eating, sleeping, working, feeling at peace. A lot of people are frightened because, when it appears , it demolishes all the old things it finds in its path."

"No one wants their life thrown into chaos."

"I have a lot of pristine train sets in my life, too. One of them is my heart. And I only played with it when the world set out the tracks, and then it wasn't always the right moment."

"Brazilians have a strange superstition: when you visit someone for the first time, you must not be the one to open the door when you leave, because if you do, you will never return to that house."


From Maria's diary:
Profound desire, true desire is the desire to be close to someone. From that point onwards, things change, the man and the woman come into play, but what happens before the attraction that brought them together is impossible to explain. It is untouched desire in its purest state.

When desire is still in this pure state, the man and woman fall in love with life, they live each moment reverently, consciously, always ready to read the next blessing.

When people feel like this, they are not in a hurry, they do not precipitate events with unthinking actions. They know that the inevitable  will happen, that what is real always finds a way of revealing itself. When the moment comes, they do not hesitate, they do not miss an opportunity, they do not let slip a single magic moment, because they respect the importance of each second.

***

 " If we are desperate, though , if we have nothing to lose, or if we are full of enthusiasm for life, then the unknown reveals itself, and our universe changes direction."

"Everyone knows how to love, because we are all born with that gift. Some people have a natural talent for it, but the majority of us have to re-learn, to remember how to love, and everyone, without exception, needs to burn on the bonfire of the past emotions, to relive certain joys and griefs, certain ups and downs, until they can see the connecting thread."

". . . our bodies learn to speak the language of soul, known as sex."

"Sometimes life is very mean." 

"One cannot exist without the other; no one can know hot to humiliate another person if they themselves have not experienced humiliation."

"The most important experiences a man can have are those that take him to the very limit; that is the only way we learn, because it requires all our courage."

"Only those who know those frontiers know life; everything else is just passing the time, repeating the same tasks, growing old and dying without ever having discover what we are doing here."

". . .it wasn't necessary to know your demons in order to find God."

From Maria's diary:
It's true that we only know each other when we come up against our own limits, but it's wrong, too, because it isn't necessary to know everything about ourselves; human beings weren't made solely to go in search of wisdom, but also to plough the land, wait for rain, plant the wheat, harvest the grain, make the bread.

I am two women:  one wants to have all the joy, passion and adventure that life can give me. The other wants to be slave to routine, to family, to life to the things that can be planned and achieved. I'm a housewife and a prostitute, both of us living in the same body with each other.

The meeting of these two women is a game with serious risks. A divine dance. When we meet, we are two divine energies, two universes colliding. If the meeting is not carried out with due reverence, one universe destroys the other. 

***

"The 'theatre' idea is proving really very heplful; it draws out the real person and drives away the many false people who live inside us."

". . . at the beginning of creation, men and women women were not as they are now; there was just one being, who was rather short, with a body  and a neck, but his head had two faces, looking in different directions. It was as if two creatures had been glued back to back, with two sets of sex organs, four legs and four arms." - Plato 

"Desire is not what you see, but what you imagine."  - Ralf Hart

"Life was made up of simple things."

". . . endings are always more difficult than beginnings."

"The greatest passion isn't sex, but the passion with which it is practised."

"Anyone who is in love is making love the whole time, even when they're not." 

"Every human being experiences his or her own desire; it is a part of our personal treasure and, although, as an emotion, it can drive people away, generally speaking, it brings those who are important to us  closer. It is an emotion chosen by my soul, and it is so intense that it can affect everything and everyone around me."

 "The strongest love in the love that can demonstrate its fragility."

"When a teacher helps someone to discover something, the teacher always learns something new too."

"Ever since the Dark Ages, man has understood that suffering, if confronted without fear, is his passport to freedom."

". . .pain, once mastered, could lead to religious ecstasy."


From Maria's diary:
When I had nothing to lose, I had everything. When I stopped being who I am, I found myself.

When I experienced humiliation and total submission, I was free. I don't know if it all was a dream, or if it only happens once. I know that I can perfectly well live without it, but I would like to do it again, to repeat the experience, to go still further - closer to God. I remembered what he said about the flagellants, in offering up their pain for salvation of humanity, found pleasure. I didn't want to save humanity, or him or me; I was just there.

The art of sex is the art of controlled abandoned.

***

". . . we are born full of guilt, we feel terrified when happiness becomes a real possibility; and we die wanting to punish everyone else because we feel impotent, ill-used and unhappy."

". . .  expert eye knows what to look for."

". . . in order to master the soul, one must also to master the body."

" . . . whenever you do some amount of physical exercise, when you demand the maximum from your body, the mind gains a strange spiritual strength."

"Pain is frightening when it shows its teal face, but it's seductive when it comes disguised as sacrifice or self-denial."

". . . all  you need to know  is that what makes the world go round is not the search for pleasure, but the renunciation of all that is important."


"I need love- that's all, I need to love."

"Life is too short , or too long, for me to allot myself the luxury of living it so badly." 

"Darkness is never absolute, and as soon as her eyes becomes accustomed to it, she can see the man's silhouette."

"Original sin was not the apple the Eve ate, it was her belief that Adam needed to to share precisely the thing she had tasted."

"Certain things cannot be shared. nor can we be afraid of the oceans into which we plunge of our own free will; fear cramps everyone's style. Man goes through hell in order t o understand this. Love one another,  but let's not try to possess one another."

". . . a man is also a woman; he wants to find someone, to give meaning to his life." 

". . . the search for happiness is more important than the need for pain."

". . . love was necessary if one was to experience pleasure in bed."

"What the eyes don't see, the heart doesn't grieve over."

"If we're far from the person we love, everyone we pass in the street reminds us of them."

". . . we don't forget who we are - nor can we."

"Men always take offence when a woman says: 'I need you'."

"Everything that  goes against nature Nature, against our most intimate desires, is normal in our eyes, even though it's an aberration in God's eyes."

"We seek out our own inferno."

"The world isn't just about sex."

". . . someone falls in love, loses them and finds them again."


From Maria's diary:
"I think  that perhaps we fall in love the very first instant we see the man of our dreams, even though , at time , reason may be telling us otherwise, and we may fight against that instinct, hoping against hope that we won't win, until there comes a point when we allow ourselves to be vanquished by our feelings.

The art of love is like painting, it requires technique, patience, and, above all, practice by the couple. It requires boldness, the courage to go beyond what people conventionally call 'making love'."

***

"A time to be born, and a time to die; A time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;

A time to kill, and a time to heal;

A time to break down, and a time to build up;

A time to weep, and a time to laugh;

A time to mourn, and a time to dance;

A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together;

A time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;

A time to get, and a time to lose;

A time to keep, and a time to cast away;

A time to rend, and a time to sew;

A time to keep silence, and a time speak;

A time to  love, and a time to hate;

A time of war and a time of peace."

"Films never tell you what happens next."

Random Inkling. . . with LOVE ^^

“Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind."
- William Shakespeare

. . . because it's  completely 78 months that passed  since I said the magical YES to him and because I'm just so full of love today, my random inkling zeroed in for this notion, L-  O - V - E. :)

Photo : www.hdwallpaper.in

Only once in your life, I truly believe, you find someone who can completely turn your world around. You tell them things that you’ve never shared with another soul and they absorb everything you say and actually want to hear more. You share hopes for the future, dreams that will never come true, goals that were never achieved and the many disappointments life has thrown at you. 

Our first ever pic together taken last December 16, 2007 (PS: Sorry for the quality of the photo, it's just so VINTAGE, hahahah!)

When something wonderful happens, you can’t wait to tell them about it, knowing they will share in your excitement. They are not embarrassed to cry with you when you are hurting or laugh with you when you make a fool of yourself. Never do they hurt your feelings or make you feel like you are not good enough, but rather they build you up and show you the things about yourself that make you special and even beautiful. There is never any pressure, jealousy or competition but only a quiet calmness when they are around. 

Photo taken last Summer 2013 @ Mahayag, Zamboanga del Sur

You can be yourself and not worry about what they will think of you because they love you for who you are. The things that seem insignificant to most people such as a note, song or walk become invaluable treasures kept safe in their hearts to cherish forever. 

Photo taken few years ago @ Misamis Occidental Aquamarine Park

 Memories of your childhood come back and are so clear and vivid it’s like being young again. Colours seem brighter and more brilliant. Laughter seems part of daily life where before it was infrequent or didn’t exist at all. A phone call or two during the day helps to get you through a long day’s work and always brings a smile to your face. 

Photo taken last Nov. 2, 2013 @ Sinacaban Beach

In their presence, there’s no need for continuous conversation, but you find you’re quite content in just having them nearby. Things that never interested you before become fascinating because you know they are important to this person who is so special to you. 

You think of this person on every occasion and in everything you do. Simple things bring them to mind like a pale blue sky, gentle wind or even a storm cloud on the horizon. You find strength in knowing you have a true friend and a soul mate who will remain loyal to the end. 

Life seems completely different, exciting and worthwhile. Your only hope and security is in knowing that one special person is a part of your life. ^_^

We strongly believe that. . .

www.goodmorningtextmessages.blogspot.com

 . . .and here's a glimpse of today's special event <3

. . .because today is Monday, we just ate lunch @ Big J ^_^

. . . cheers to our lasting bond, Paw! :))

Quotes from Nicholas Sparks' True Believer

Bookish Mardi:  Nicholas Sparks' True Believer

“When people cared about each other, they always found a way to make it work.”
― Nicholas Sparks

www.goodreads.com

Book Summary

In TRUE BELIEVER, journalist Jeremy Marsh spends his time debunking the supernatural. He has just finished exposing a fake television psychic, proving that the man was not able to read people's minds or see into their pasts. When he hears about a phenomenon happening in the small town of Boone Creek in North Carolina, where ghosts are seen inhabiting a local cemetery, Jeremy knows he will be able to find the truth behind the lights that are seen glimmering on certain nights above the cemetery grounds. He knows that ghosts do not truly exist.

When Jeremy arrives in Boone Creek, he experiences what small town life is all about. He's from the big city and feels like he's walked into a time warp. Everyone knows everyone, and gossip spreads like wildfire. His "hotel" is a hole-in-the-wall motel, filled with dead animals ranging from a bear to snakes and all sorts of wonderful critters that can be found in the wild. He's as far from New York as he can get, and he's not sure he likes it.

The very day he arrives in town, Jeremy makes a quick visit to Cedar Creek Cemetery, where the ghosts are reported to have been seen, when he notices a young woman there who catches his eye. He later finds out that her name is Lexie Darnell. Neither of them knows it but soon their lives will be changed forever. Lexie is the granddaughter of the woman who had invited him to visit the town. Doris Marsh is the town psychic.

As Jeremy slowly does his research in the library where Lexie happens to work, he gets to know her. Despite what he feels about the town, he finds himself interested in this woman who doesn't seem to want anything to do with him.

Having read nearly every Nicholas Sparks book that has been written, it is safe to say that TRUE BELIEVER is quite the departure from his previous works. While Sparks tends to write tragedies as opposed to true romances, this novel is far from the tragedy that some of his other fiction books have been.

This is not to say that TRUE BELIEVER wasn't enjoyable. But fans who are looking for the typical Nicholas Sparks book will not find it here. Instead of concentrating on the romance, this reviewer found the focus of the novel to be on the mystery behind the cemetery, and the high point of the plot was Jeremy's answer to the story behind the ghosts. The fact that Jeremy is dating a woman who believes her parents' ghosts have come to her in the cemetery makes the reader anxious to know what he finds, realizing that the answer will greatly impact the relationship that is central to the love story.

One aspect of storytelling in which Sparks excels is his ability to create the characters who populate his books. His capacity to bring into being likeable, everyday people helps make this novel readable. The strength of the story isn't necessarily the plot, and the romance that is found here is not one that a typical romance reader might expect. For this reader, the characters were the highlight of the novel, and the process of getting to know some of the more prominent ones was a delight. One will find oneself chuckling over some of the antics of the townspeople. The brouhaha that the people make over Jeremy's celebrity is very cute, if not humorous.

Overall, the plot lines are balanced between the mystery of the cemetery, Jeremy and Lexie's relationship, the aspect of small-town living, and the individual life stories of the two protagonists. Focusing on the individual characters is just one way of truly enjoying this book. It's a soothing type of read, and readers will feel comfortable with these characters.

Remarkable Quotes from the Book 

". . . true love could not blossom overnight." -  Jeremy Marsh

". . . love wasn't possible in just a couple of days." - Jeremy Marsh
 
"Love could be set in motion quickly, but true love needed time to grow into something strong and enduring." - Jeremy Marsh

"Love was, above all, about commitment and dedication and a belief that spending years with a person would create something greater than the sum of what the two could accomplish separately."  - Jeremy Marsh

". . . the description of lust was simple: two people learn they're compatible, attraction grows, and the ancient insticnt to preserve the species kicks in." - Jeremy Marsh

"Life never cease to amaze me." - Jeremy Marsh

"Maturity meant thinking about risk long before you pondered the reward, and that success and happiness in life were as much about avoiding mistakes as making your mark in the world." - Doris

"Premonitions:  while they might be accurate in the short term, anything beyond that was impossible to know." - Doris

"Jitters were just another word for panic." - Lexie

"Once in a while, everyone was entitle to be a bit flaky." - Jeremy Marsh

 "Men seemed immune to some sort of insecurities. Even if they weren't, they'd learned to either disguise their feelings or bury them deep enough so as not to be crippled by them." - Jeremy

"Men like women who know how to subtle." - Jeremy Marsh

". . .people are people. While I'm not an expert in psychology, I'm of the opinion that anyone - even strangers- can sense the urgency of a request, and most people will usually do the right thing."   - Jeremy Marsh

"Eveeryone has dreams that don't come true."  - Lexie

"When people cared for each other, they always found a way to make it work." - Jeremy Marsh

"Life was about spending time together, about having time to walk together holding hands, talking quietly as they watched the sun go down. It wasn't glamorous, but it was, in many ways, the best that life had offer." - Jeremy Marsh

". . . modern culture has its own seductions." - Jeremy Marsh

". . . accept the reality of what had happened and find a way to move on."  - Doris

"Television audiences love mysteries." - Alvin

"Was it really possible for so much to have happened in only a couple of days." - Lexie

"Every town needs something to call its own, something to remind the folks that their home is special." -  Mayor Gherkin

"Legends . . .well, they're just relics from the past, and the town needs more than  that to survive." - Mayor Gherkins

"Express your feelings, purge your guilt, seek and ye shall find."  - Alvin

"Am I right or am I right? Of course I'm right" - Alvin

“Love is always bestowed as a gift!
freely, willingly, and without expectation....
We don't love to be loved, we love to love”

“A good marriage, like any partnership, meant subordinating one's own needs to that of the others', in the expectation that the other will do the same.”

“You found out who you are and what you want and then you realized that people you've known forever don't see things the way you do. And so you keep the wonderful memories, but find yourself moving on.”

"Women want a fairy tale . . . most women grew up dreaming about the kind of man who would risk everything for them, even knowing they might get hurt." - Lexie

"Women like a man who know how to be subtle." -  Lexie

"Women like a man who will follow them to the ends of the earth." - Jeremy Marsh

"Love does funny things to people."  - Jeremy  Marsh 

Random Inklings

Mess Your Life's Intricate Pattern

“Happiness is not something ready made. It comes from your own actions.”
― Dalai Lama XIV

The month of September had had me running of lots and lots. . . and lots of errands (of which had left me unable to update my blog site,too.) Such month had worn me out so much because tons of works were everywhere. There were the mountainous papers to be checked and the nauseous numbers to be recorded ,  PLUS the most stressing part were the practices and the preparations for the school's cheerdance competition. Staying so late in school  then became a  temporary system for me. Notwithstanding all these complains for my friend, September, I have to say this pal (September) had also brought me to feelings, places, and people of which were once so alien to me. In short, I had been brought to Cloud 9,of which I believe is so heavenly , in just  less than a month despite of its exhaustive tasks at hand. ^^ 

And because I had left my site unattended for more than a couple of weeks, I out of a sudden feel the intense urge to get back on the show. To start with, I'd like you to read an essay  from an author who happened to be a personal favorite since college because of the way he catches me by surprise by his writing experties, just as  E.L.James, Dan Brown, Nicholas Sparks, and Jude Deveraux had captured me,  IN WHICH, I believe could sum up everything I had been in such a short span of time. Hence, I'd like you to read beyond the lines and to over analyze this:

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CLOSING CYCLES

by Paulo Coelho

One always has to know when a stage comes to an end. If we insist on staying longer than the necessary time, we lose the happiness and the meaning of the other stages we have to go through.

Closing cycles, shutting doors, ending chapters whatever name we give it, what matters is to leave in the past the moments of life that have finished. Did you lose your job? Has a loving relationship come to an end? Did you leave your parents’ house? Gone to live abroad? Has a long-lasting friendship ended all of a sudden?

You can spend a long time wondering why this has happened. You can tell yourself you won’t take another step until you find out why certain things that were so important and so solid in your life have turned into dust, just like that.

But such an attitude will be awfully stressing for everyone involved: your parents, your husband or wife, your friends, your children, your sister, everyone will be finishing chapters, turning over new leaves, getting on with life, and they will all feel bad seeing you at a standstill.

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None of us can be in the present and the past at the same time, not even when we try to understand the things that happen to us. What has passed will not return: we cannot for ever be children, late adolescents, sons that feel guilt or rancor towards our parents, lovers who day and night relive an affair with someone who has gone away and has not the least intention of coming back.

Things pass, and the best we can do is to let them really go away. That is why it is so important (however painful it maybe!) to destroy souvenirs, move, give lots of things away to orphanages, sell or donate the books you have at home. Everything in this visible world is a manifestation of the invisible world, of what is going on in our hearts and getting rid of certain memories also means making some room for other memories to take their place.

Let things go. Release them. Detach yourself from them. Nobody plays this life with marked cards, so sometimes we win and sometimes we lose. Do not expect anything in return, do not expect your efforts to be appreciated, your genius to be discovered, your love to be understood. Stop turning on your emotional television to watch the same program over and over again, the one that shows how much you suffered from a certain loss: that is only poisoning you, nothing else.

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Nothing is more dangerous than not accepting love relationships that are broken off, work that is promised but there is no starting date, decisions that are always put off waiting for the ideal moment. Before a new chapter is begun, the old one has to be finished: tell yourself that what has passed will never come back. Remember that there was a time when you could live without that thing or that person. Nothing is irreplaceable. A habit is not a need. This may sound so obvious, it may even be difficult, but it is very important.

Closing cycles. Not because of pride, incapacity or arrogance, but simply because. . .

that no longer fits your life.

Shut the door, change the record, clean the house, shake off the dust. 

Stop being who you were, and change into who you are. 

***

PUTTING an END. Letting go. Moving on. They all mean the same thing, Closing cycles. The cycle of life is indeed unfathomable. That is how I always describe it even when I was still young. Howbeit we want to let go, move on, close doors, or end the cycle we just cannot because sometimes you cannot walk away because something or someone NO longer fits your life. . . especially when it involves SIGNIFICANT OTHER/S. It’s not right to just walk away. It’s not right to LIVE only your life, yeah! We all have our own lives to take business into but still there are those who stay by our side. . .our family, our friends or special one . . .and we continue to put our lives on hold for them.

As far as I see it we cannot begin a new chapter in our lives if we don’t accept that we need to close a previous cycle in our existence , especially when it made an impact in your life. It is like living knowing you are going to die, or loving knowing you are going to get hurt, or  simply like mourning to give up the past.  I believe we all have the right to blast our emotions when something or someone is gone. Shredding some tears can often make us feel better and  it helps us put things in perspective. This  has been our simplest way out, our escape route.

God has left this door open for us to step through and start moving forward. Yes! It is hard! Our memories are a part of us. They are locked deep inside us and constitute what we are today. So the choice is to live in crazy, raw reality or live in a mirage of peaceful life. If I am to choose, I love  to live in reality no matter what the cost is. And a part of living in reality is to certainly close unnecessary cycles, because when you do, you undeniably  are living free.

Let go of the feelings, persons, places, and experiences which can never be yours and free yourself from all the unnecessary chains that may bind you from what had happened, what is happening, and what will happen.

(c) Reloufe Balucan

So for a piece of advice: Oh, come on! wake up from your lucid dreams, loosen yourself, and for once break the rules, and mess the intricate pattern of  your life.

After all, “Happiness is not something ready made. It comes from your own actions.” 

BE CRAZY YET CHOOSE YOUR ACTIONS SO WELL!  ^^

To Thee the Blogger Thanks

 “To get the full value of joy you must have someone to divide it with.”
― Mark Twain

Being a new blogger had me thinking that there are only a few of them who read my blogs, that I might just be a minute one when it comes to those who really are already a "PRO"  to such and that no one will really care as to what comes new in my site. Hesitation to write was once with me at first. Who cares if I have written one? True, that I have once belittled myself in this field. 

 However, as time went by so swiftly, this notion of mine had been changed when one of my blogs topped all other blogs that I've written. And mind you, when I say it topped the rest, it gained more than a thousand of views.


Here it is as of July 10, 2013

 My Words of Appreciation

. . .and here it is after two months,  as of September 09, 2013 ^^

Albeit I'm a real novice in this field, what my perception has been changed. Though I seem to belittle myself at first, I come to realize that I shouldn't be for there also those who have been into my blogs. And to show some proofs, here are the following websites I happen to ogle which did feature mine.^^

www.updateblog2013.blogspot.com

www.christianbookbarn.com

www.yorumbazz.com

www.weheartit.com

www.weheartit.com

Michaelogy

www.vanguardia.com

www.brandigg.de

www.mrwhatis.net

. . .and because of these, though they seem not too much, they had my heart leaping for joy. These also had me thinking that I need to do more and well in my site for I believe there are those who look up on me though I'm still a beginner.  To those who had featured me in their websites, to those who have been reading and following my blogs, there's nothing more that I can say but THANK YOU and for you are all of these works of love. ^^

Quotes from Ben Okri's Dangerous Love

Bookish Mardi: Ben Okri's Dangeorus Love

"Shouldn't these ancient sufferings of ours finally start to bear fruit?"

- Rainer Maria Rilke

My first adult and African novel being read 4 years ago ^^

Book Summary

With the simplicity and innocence of Narayan or Seth, he tells the story of a young man, Omovo, an office-worker and artist who lives at home with his father and his father's second wife. In the communal world of the compound in which he lives, Omovo has many friends and some enemies, but most important of all there is Ifeyiwa, a beautiful young married woman whom he loves with an almost hopeless passion - not because she doesn't return his love, but because they can never be together. Ben Okri builds a vivid picture of Nigerian life: of the compound with its complete lack of privacy, the gossip, the good times, the street life, the complex nature of family relationships and the kindness and treachery of friends. Overshadowing everything, is the image of a nation struggling to come to terms with the atrocity of the recent civil war, the echoes of which presage the story's tragic events.

Book One

"If your work can surprise you then you have started something worthwhile." - Omovo

"An inner darkness is darker than an outer darkness." - Omovo

". . .we have no Van Goghs, no Picassos. no Monets, no Goyas, no Salvador Dalis, no Sisleys. Our real lives and confusions have not been painted yet." - Old Woman

". . .the perceived  world became unfamiliar images were re-ordered into freshly juxtaposed fragments by a disinterested visions." - Omovo

"We can't be lost. There is an exit somewhere." - Keme

"God is playing games with us." - Omovo

Book Two

"Life has no patterns and has no threads." - Omovo

". . .to fail was not a crime." - Omovo

"What happened had to happen. We shall seek the true meaning of our lives. This is a dream we might wake up one day." - Okur

"It's a dream from which we might wake up one day.He hoped they would not wake up too late, when the nightmare had gone too far, when nothing could be done anymore." - Okur

"Life would take care of its own." - Ifeyiwa's Mother

"Weeping doesn't really do anything. It only cleanses us prepares us for more weeping. Meanwhile the mad world goes on. Wicked things happening. This world has forgotten how to love. The gods don't respond to weeping anymore."  - Walt Whitman

". . .the peace seemed an uneasy one." - Ifeyiwa

"To learn how to remember creatively is to learn how to feel."  - Dr. Okocha

"The young boys nowadays don't respect old people." - Old Man

The ugly truth conversation of Omovo and Dr. Okocha

"We don't look at ugly things enough."  - Omovo

"Craft is important. The greater the idea, the greater the craft you need." - Dr. Okocha

"Ugliness is the face we always turn away from. When things are bad, people don't want to face the truth." - Dr. Okocha

"In ugliness, we see ourselves as we never want to." - Omovo

"Ugliness festers while the people cry for images if beauty, for illusions." - Dr. Okocha

 ". . . how can we be happy if there is so much ugliness around and if we paint the ugly truth?" - Omovo

"How can we be happy if we lie to ourselves?" - Omovo

"Everything you feel and see now will be your reservoir later." - Dr.Okocha

"Art is a poor substitute for real life." - Dr. Okocha

"Don't live only in your head. You are in the world." - Dr.Okocha

"In dreams begins responsibility." - An Indian Poet

"We cast our nets out into the darkness and draw in ourselves. Sometimes, if we are fortunate, we also bring back. . .bright corals, . . .bright things. . .with light and wonder." - Dr. Okocha

". . .learn how to look clearly, look more carefully, without strain, without prejudice." - Omovo

"Our society is a battlefield. Poverty, corruption and hunger are the bullets. Bad governments are the bombs."  - Okoro

"One should live as fully and as freely as possible." -  Okoro

"There are too many unnecessary struggles in our lives. It's a struggle to wake up in the morning, to bath, to struggle to catch a bus, to go to work, and make a decent living. It's a struggle to come back from work, to relax, to have electricity and running water, to get a good woman, and to keep her.It feels like a lifetime struggle." - Dele

"Sometimes, life is very hard."  - Omovo

"Dreams can betray lives." - Ifeyiwa

"This world is so wicked. - Ifeyiwa

"When the darkness is recent there is almost nothing to guide you." - Omovo

"Yesterday i but a dream." - Ifeyiwa

"In dreams begin responsibilities. In loss begins art." - Dr. Okocha

". . .and tomorrow is just a vision. . .But today well lived makes yesterday is a dream of happiness. . .and every tomorrow a vision of hope. Look well therefore, to this day." - Dr. Okocha

"Life is so strange." - Omovo

"There are some things one never forgets, things one shouldn't forget." - Omovo

"Too many people are afraid to look at the dark side of things, to look at the things that are there." - Omovo

"One gets lost too quickly in the city." - Omovo

"Art is a poor approximation , but the best we have."  - Omovo

"Lord may this life always surprise me - fill every crack with light - when we are falling, Lord, make us like the spider that can build its own web as net - may good things always flow into us -and when we most need it, Lord, show us a silver way- a secret way." - Omovo

"Our life is in God's  hands." - Omovo

"Let the dead stay dead." - Omovo

"What must we do to save ourselves from the termites and the maggots that eat at our dreams?" - Omovo

Book Three

" . . .bus stop in the mornings as the  perfect symbol of  the society, and through that, of life in general." - Omovo

"Nobodies, that's what we are." - Okoro

"We've been selling our souls without knowing it." - Okoro

"Don't block people's way. The life is hard enough as it is." - Joe

 "For your reflections reflect on the things you do. And the things you do reflect on you." - Omovo

"There is a lost horizon waiting to be found." - Omovo

"Perfection is made up of details, but details is not perfection." - Da Vinci

"Men grow with all that grows."  - Neruda

"So long as the canvas is empty its potential is infinite." - Dr. Okocha

"The empty canvas can become the gateway in to the landscape of nightmares or a vision of sensual bliss." - Dr. Okocha

Book Four

"Age is experience. Age is wisdom and power." - Ifeyiwa's Husband

"Women should change with the changing times." - Ifeyiwa

"Life is a mystery, no one gave her the keys with which to unlock doors of understanding." - Ifeyiwa a good

"If you ever despair of going abroad, just step into a good restaurant and you are as good as there." - Dele

"Quiet people are the most dangerous."  - Neighbor

Book Five

"We're all along. We all carry aloneness inside us whatever we do." - Omovo

"More is yet to happen." - Dr. Okocha

"Miracles only happen when there has been suffering."  Dr. Okocha

". . .time will put a strange honey in the bitterness. That's the way of life."  - Dr. Okocha

 "This heart is small but I have never been able  to understand how it can take so much suffering and still go on beating." Dr. Okocha

"In seeing clearly begins the real responsibility." - Dr. Okocha

"Be like the tortoise- grow a hard shell to protect your strong heart. Be like the eagle- soar above your pain and carry the banner and the wonder of our lives to the farthest corners of the world. Build your strength. Destiny is difficult." - Dr. Okocha

"Be like David from the Bible- use your own weapons." - Dr. Okocha

"Love is dangerous. . .

. . .and fantasies are are a mirror,

. . . a shield,

. . .a blindfold." - Omovo

"It's hard to see people for what they are; and maybe to love them for what they are." -  Omovo

"To love simply is a gift." - Omovo

"We have to be ninjas to survive." - Omovo

"Responsibility is active. Vigilant. Actions become character and character becomes destiny. . .the moment you see something is wrong, you have a responsibility." - Omovo

Quotes from Dan Brown's Inferno

Bookish Mardi : Dan Brown's Inferno 

 “The darkest places in hell are reserved for those who maintain their neutrality in times of moral crisis."

 - Bertrand Zobrist 

In the heart of Italy, Harvard professor of symbology Robert Langdon is drawn into a harrowing world centered on one of history’s most enduring and mysterious literary masterpieces . . . Dante’s Inferno. 

Against this backdrop, Langdon battles a chilling adversary and grapples with an ingenious riddle that pulls him into a landscape of classic art, secret passageways, and futuristic science. Drawing from Dante’s dark epic poem, Langdon races to find answers and decide whom to trust . . . before the world is irrevocably altered.

Remarkable Lines from the Book

"Time grows so fast." - Dr. Sinskey

"The coo of a single dove had changed everything." - Robert Langdon

"know only your own mission. Share nothing." - The Provost 

"Smile more often and take life a little less seriously." - Robert Langdon 

"Not all minds are created equal."  - Robert Langdon 

". . .never forget you are a miracle."  - Robert Langdon 

"Your memories will be muddled and  uncatalogued. Past, present and imagination all mixed together." - Sienna Brooks 

"But there comes a moment in history when ignorance is no longer a forgivable offense. . .a moment when only wisdom has the power to absolve."  - Bertrand Zobrist 

"Death is followed by birth."  - Bertrand Zobrist 

"The truth can be glimpsed only through the eyes of death." - Bertrand Zobrist 

"You shall leave everything you love." - Dante Alighieri

"Time will heal the emptiness." - Robert Langdon

"When swimming into a dark tunne, there arrives a point of no return when you no longer have enough breath to double back. Your only choice is to swim forward into the unknown . . .and pray for an exit." - Robert Langdon

"Mankind is hovering now in a purgatory of procrastination and indecision and personal greed. . . but the rings of hell awaits, just beneath our feet, waiting to consume us all." -  Bertrand Zoborist

"Madness is the WHO staring into the abyss and denying it is there. Madness is an ostrich who sticks her head in the sand while a pack of hyenas closes in around her."  - Bertrand Zoborist

"We are on the brink of the end of humanity." - Bertrand Zoborist

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"Sometimes, the only course of action is the lesser of two evils." - Bertrand Zoborist

"Mankind , if unchecked, functions like cancer." - Malthus

"Compassion is a universal language." - Sienna Brooks

"Nothing is more creative. . .nor destructive. . .than a brilliant mind with a purpose."  - Dr. Sinskey

"Sometimes we need to go up. . . to go down." - Robert Langdon

"Ninety percent of personal recognition is body language." - Sienna Brooks

"The human mind has a primitive ego defense mechanism that negates all realities that produce too much stress for the brain to handle. It's called DENIAL."  - Sienna Brooks 

"Denial is a critical part of the human coping mechanism. Without it, we would all wake up terrified every morning about all the ways we could die. Instead, our minds block out our existential fears by focusing on stresses we can handle." - Sienna Brooks 

 "No man is more prideful than he who believes himself immune to the dangers of the world." - Robert Langdon

"Population growth is an exponential progression accuring within a system of finite ad limited resources." - Sienna Brooks

 ''. . .it was often easier to locate. . .using one's eyes. . .that using one's ears." - Robert Langdon

"E-books do have their moments." - Robert Langdon

"Avarice was an international sin." - Robert Langdon

In Mount Purgatory
"The envious must climb with their eyes sewn shut so they cannot covet; the prideful must carry huge stones on their backs to bend them low in a humble manner; the gluttonous must climb without food or water, there by suffering excruciating hunger; and the lustful must ascend through hot flames to purge themselves of passion's heat." - Robert Langdon

"Trust no one." - Robert Langdon

". . .let the forgotten past remain forgotten." - Dr. Ferris
 
"Triggering misplaced memories can be extremely disruptive to the psyche." - Sienna Brooks

"Treachery was the act of betraying a loved one." - Dante Aligheiri

"I do not fear death. . .for death transform visionaries into martyrs. . .convert noble ideas into powerful movements." -  Bertrand Zoborist 

"I fight fire. . .with fire."  - Bertrand Zoborist 

"Inner calm is critical to persuasive acting." - Dr. Ferris 

"Everything is upside down." - Dr. Sinskey

"Everything is a gradual process." - Robert Langdon

"Venice, the land of Italian elegance,'' - Robert Langdon

"The Lord works in mysterious ways." -  Robert Langdon

"If thine eyes offend thee, pluck it out and cast it from thee." - Robert Langdon

". . .forget the past. The past is the past. The futures, I sense, is what demands our immediate attention.'' - The Provost

"The world is is large, and history is long." - Robert Langdon

". . .human population growth was out of control, and the very survival of mankind was hanging in the balance." - Bertrand Zoborist 

"it is physically impossible for the human mind to think of nothing. The soul craves emotion, and it will continue to seek fuel for that emotion - good or bad." - Sienna's psychiatrist 

"You can save  the world. If  not you, then who? If not now, when?" - Bertrand Zoborist

 ". . .without some kind of drastic change, the end of our species is coming. . . The mathematics is indisputable." - Sienna Brooks 

"Nothing is permanent." -  Robert Langdon 

"La-ilaha-illa-allah.
There is no god but God." - Robert Langdon 

"History repeats itself."  - Karl Marx

"The masses are made up of individuals." - Robert Langdon

"Whether trying to prop up a stock a stock market, justify a war, win an election, or lure a terrorist out of a building, the world's power brokers relied on  massive disinformation schemes to help shape public perception." - Robert Langdon

"Every epic collapse, could be tracked back to a single moment - a chance meeting, a bad decision, an indiscceet glance." - The Provost

"Until a man is nothing, God can make nothing out of him." -  Martin Luther

"God created life,  therefore man has no place creating images of life - not gods, not people, not even animals." - Robert Langdon

"Both Christianity and Islam are logo-centric, meaning they are focused on the "word". - Robert Langdon

"Great minds think alike." - Robert Langdon

"In the face of a possible pandemic, containment was the only viable option." - Bruder/ Dr. Sinskey

"Only one form of contagion travels faster than a virus. And that's FEAR."  - Dr. Sinskey

"Fighting a communicable disease was often like fighting a front fire: sometimes you had to drop back and surrender a battle in hopes of winning the war." - Bruder

". . .our species is on the brink of collapse. . .that we're facing a horrifying end  which is racing towards u so much faster than anyone dares accept." - Sienna Brooks

"You can't save the world, so don't sacrifice yourself  trying." - Sienna Brooks

" . . . we are capable of being better than we are. . . capable of taking action to avoid a catastrophic future." - Sienna Brooks

"Our own virility stalks us." - Robert Langdon

"Sometimes, the only choice is the lesser of two evils." -  Sienna Brooks

"Nature knows how to cull itself." - Sienna Brooks

"We are an organism that cannot seem to control our own numbers." - Sienna Brooks

". . .expect the worse from the people who hold power." - Sienna Brooks

". . .we are a species on the edge of collapse. . a population out of control." - Sienna Brooks

". . .the worst  kind of loneliness in the world is the isolation that comes from being misunderstood. It can make people lose their grasp or reality." - Sienna Brooks

". . .the human genome is an extremely delicate structure. . .a house of cards." - Sienna Brooks

". . .there is an enormous danger in attempting  to undo what has already been done." - Sienna Brooks

"Science is progressing so fast that nobody knows where the lines are drawn anymore." -  Dr. Sinskey

". . .we as humans have a moral obligation to participate in our evolutionary process." - Sienna Brooks

"Everything will soon be possible."  - Sienna Brooks

". . .nature has always found a way to keep the human population in check - plagues, famines, floods." - Sienna Brooks

"The ends justify the means." -  Sienna Brooks

"So long as they speak your name, you shall never die." - Robert Langdon

"In dangerous times, there is no greater sin than inaction." - Robert Langdon

"When it came to the circumstance of the world, denial  had become a global pandemic." - Robert Langdon