I held hands with her all the time; that doesn't sound like much, I realize, but she was terrific to hold hands with. Most girls if you hold hands with them, their goddam hand dies on you, or else they think they have to keep moving their hand all the time, as if they were afraid they'd bore you or something. Jane was different. We'd get into a goddam movie or something, and right away we'd start holding hands, and we wouldn't quit till the movie was over. And without changing the position or making a big deal out of it. You never even worried, with Jane, whether your hand was sweaty or not. All you knew was, you were happy. You really were. ~J. D. Salinger
#quotes #j-d-salinger #love #hands

In culture after culture, people believe that the soul lives on after death, that rituals can change the physical world and divine the truth, and that illness and misfortune are caused and alleviated by spirits, ghosts, saints; and gods. ~Steven Pinker
#quotes #steven-pinker #believe #soul #culture

I am defeated all the time, yet to victory I am born. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson
#quotes #ralph-waldo-emerson #success #failure

Misfortune had made Lily supple instead of hardening her, and a pliable substance is less easy to break than a stiff one. ~Edith Wharton
#quotes #edith-wharton #hardship