#ip

I sometimes wonder whether our churches--living as we do in American death-denying culture, relentlessly smiling through our praise choruses--are inadvertently helping people live not as much in hope as in denial. ↗

— Mark Galli

#church #denial #praise-and-worship #death

As she sat alone in the apartment, the enormity of it all started to sink in. Any hope that the North Korean regime might change with the death of Kim Il-sung was quickly dashed. The power had passed to his son. Things weren't going to get any better. She heard her father's words replaying in her ears. "The son is even worse than the father." "Now we're really fucked," she said to herself. Only then did tears of self-pity fill her eyes. ↗

— Barbara Demick

#north-korea #change

For we are all walking each other to our deaths, and the journey between footsteps makes up our lives. ↗

— Ally Condie

#dictatorship #fantasy #love #young-adult #death

I’ve been asking you to marry me since we met! What more do you want? ↗

— Chayada Welljaipet

#eternal-love #romance #romance-love #romance-novel #romance-novels

Après trois ans, un couple doit se quitter, se suicider, ou faire des enfants, ce qui sont trois façons d'entériner sa fin. ↗

— Frédéric Beigbeder

#relationships #love

Jesus, you'd think the Black Death was sweeping the globe every three months or so...ebola, SARS, avian flu. You know how many people made money on those scares? Shit, I made my first million on useless antiradiation pills during dirty bomb scares. ↗

— Max Brooks

#manipulation #pharmaceutical-industry #scares #death

When I met Millie, she was a hugger. She hugged over everything. I didn’t. We came to an agreement that hugs are reserved for prolonged partings and death. That’s it. At least, I thought that was our agreement. It seems like she’s figured out how to steal hugs more frequently. Millie’s turned into a hit and run hugger. ↗

— H.M. Ward

#friendship #hug #hugger #hugs #sneaky

I'm as vulnerable as anybody to the toxicity of the American nuclear family. But I wouldn't call it disease or moral failure as much as I would point the finger at a system that grinds people down like a metal file. Who doesn't need a drink? Who isn't going to crack and lash out at the people they love? ↗

— Susie Bright

#death

She texted me telling me her mom was dying, so I did the right thing and texted her back a picture of my erect penis and said, “Let’s start a new family.”
 ↗

— Jarod Kintz

#dying #family #funny #humor #inappropriate

It's a bad word, 'belong.' Especially when you put it with somebody you love ... You can't own a human being. ↗

— Toni Morrison

#jealousy #love #ownership #freedom