Although she was a logical, practical person, she believed that in books there existed a kind of magic. Between the aging covers on these shelves, contained in tiny, abstract black marks on sheets of paper, were voices from the past. Voices that reached into the future, into Claire's own heart and mind, to tell her what they knew, what they'd learned, what they'd seen, what they'd felt. Wasn't that magic?

― Christi Phillips, The Devlin Diary

Love, a one-legged bird
I bought for forty cents as a child, and released,
is coming back, my soul in reckless feathers.
― Ilya Kaminsky, Praise

Photo © Diego Martino

Life’s splendor forever lies in wait about each one of us in all its fullness, but veiled from view, deep down, invisible, far off. It is there, though, not hostile, not reluctant, not deaf. If you summon it by the right word, by its right name, it will come.

— Franz Kafka, October 18, 1921, from The Diaries of Franz Kafka 1910-1923

Butterfly © Lhianne

http://lhianne.deviantart.com/art/butterfly-343506018

Because no retreat from the world can mask what is in your face.
― Gregory Maguire, Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West

Remorse © Chaerul Umam

http://500px.com/mrizalcs

She seems so cool, so focused, so quiet, yet her eyes remain fixed upon the horizon. You think you know all there is to know about her immediately upon meeting her, but everything you think you know is wrong. Passion flows through her like a river of blood. 

She only looked away for a moment, and the mask slipped, and you fell. All your tomorrows start here. 

― Neil Gaiman, Fragile Things

Waiting © Irina Bolotova

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.164783190205983.35729.100000229091983&type=3

"Dividuum" by Claudia Rogge

We all wear masks, and the time comes when we cannot remove them 

without removing some of our own skin.
― Andre Berthiaume

http://www.claudia-rogge.de/