Love

Passages

Every passage tagged with this emotion in the Vela corpus. Search the body text, narrow by source or register, click through to a book’s profile to see how the passage sits with the rest of the work.

Page 102 of 184 · 20 per page

• From Amplified Holy Bible (2015)

  13 For you, my brothers, were called to freedom; only do not let your freedom become an opportunity for the e sinful nature (worldliness, selfishness), but through f love serve and seek the best for one another. 14 For the whole Law [concerning human relationships] is fulfilled in one precept, “YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF [that is, you shall have an unselfish concern for others and do things for their benefit].” [Lev 19:18 ] 15 But if you bite and devour one another [in bickering and strife], watch out that you [along with your entire fellowship] are not consumed by one another. 16 But I say, walk habitually in the [Holy] Spirit [seek Him and be responsive to His guidance], and then you will certainly not carry out the desire of the g sinful nature [which responds impulsively without regard for God and His precepts]. 17 For the sinful nature has its desire which is opposed to the Spirit, and the [desire of the] Spirit opposes the h sinful nature; for these [two, the sinful nature and the Spirit] are in direct opposition to each other [continually in conflict], so that you [as believers] do not [always] do whatever [good things] you want to do. 18 But if you are guided and led by the Spirit, you are not subject to the Law. 19 Now the practices of the i sinful nature are clearly evident: they are sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality (total irresponsibility, lack of self-control), 20 j idolatry, k sorcery, hostility, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions [that promote heresies], 21 envy, drunkenness, riotous behavior, and other things like these. I warn you beforehand, just as I did previously, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. 22 But the fruit of the Spirit [the result of His presence within us] is love [unselfish concern for others], joy, [inner] peace, patience [not the ability to wait, but how we act while waiting], kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control. Against such things there is no law. 24 And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the l sinful nature together with its passions and appetites. 25 If we [claim to] live by the [Holy] Spirit, we must also walk by the Spirit [with personal integrity, godly character, and moral courage—our conduct empowered by the Holy Spirit]. 26 We must not become conceited, challenging or provoking one another, envying one another. Galatians 6 Bear One Another’s Burdens 1 B ROTHERS, IF anyone is caught in any sin, you who are spiritual [that is, you who are responsive to the guidance of the Spirit] are to restore such a person in a spirit of gentleness [not with a sense of superiority or self-righteousness], keeping a watchful eye on yourself, so that you are not tempted as well.

• From Amplified Holy Bible (2015)

  64 Rebekah also raised her eyes and looked, and when she saw Isaac, she dismounted from her camel. 65 She said to the servant, “Who is that man there walking across the field to meet us?” And the servant said, “He is my master [Isaac].” So she took a veil and covered herself [as was customary]. 66 The servant told Isaac everything that he had done. 67 Then Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah’s tent, and he took Rebekah [in marriage], and she became his wife, and he loved her; therefore Isaac was comforted after his mother’s death. Genesis 25 Abraham’s Death 1 A BRAHAM TOOK another wife, whose name was Keturah. 2 She gave birth to Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah. 3 Jokshan was the father of Sheba and Dedan. The sons of Dedan were Asshurim, Letushim, and Leummim. 4 The sons of Midian were Ephah, Epher, Hanoch, Abida, and Eldaah. All these were the sons of Keturah. 5 Now Abraham gave a everything that he had to Isaac; 6 but to the sons of his b concubines [Hagar and Keturah], Abraham gave gifts while he was still living and he sent them to the east country, away from Isaac his son [of promise]. 7 The days of Abraham’s life were a hundred and seventy-five years. 8 Then Abraham breathed his last and he died at a good old age, an old man who was satisfied [with life]; and he c was gathered to his people [who had preceded him in death]. [Gen 15:15 ; Heb 11:13–16 ] 9 So his sons d Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah, in the field of Ephron the son of Zohar the Hittite, which is east of Mamre, 10 the field which Abraham purchased from the sons of Heth; there Abraham was buried with Sarah his wife. 11 Now after the death of Abraham, God blessed his son Isaac; and Isaac lived at Beer-lahai-roi. Descendants of Ishmael 12 Now e these are the records of the descendants of Ishmael, Abraham’s son, whom Hagar the Egyptian, Sarah’s maid, bore to Abraham; 13 and these are the names of the [twelve] sons of Ishmael, named in the order of their births: Nebaioth, the firstborn of Ishmael, and Kedar, Adbeel, Mibsam, 14 Mishma, Dumah, Massa, 15 Hadad, Tema, Jetur, Naphish, and Kedemah. 16 These are the sons of Ishmael and these are their names, by their settlements, and by their encampments (sheepfolds); twelve princes (sheiks) according to their tribes. [Foretold in Gen 17:20 ] 17 Ishmael lived a hundred and thirty-seven years; then he breathed his last and died, and f was gathered to his people [who had preceded him in death]. 18 Ishmael’s sons (descendants) settled from Havilah to Shur which is g east of Egypt as one goes toward Assyria; he h settled i opposite (east) of all his relatives.

• From Amplified Holy Bible (2015)

  [Prov 23:20 ] 19 c Speak to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, [offering praise by] singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord; 20 always giving thanks to God the Father for all things, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ; 21 being subject to one another out of reverence for Christ. Marriage Like Christ and the Church 22 Wives, be subject d to your own husbands, as [a service] to the Lord. 23 For the husband is head of the wife, as Christ is head of the church, Himself being the Savior of the body. 24 But as the church is subject to Christ, so also wives should be subject to their husbands in everything [respecting both their position as protector and their responsibility to God as head of the house]. 25 Husbands, love your wives [seek the highest good for her and surround her with a caring, unselfish love], just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her, 26 so that He might sanctify the church, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word [of God], 27 so that [in turn] He might present the church to Himself in glorious splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy [set apart for God] and blameless. 28 Even so husbands should and are morally obligated to love their own wives as [being in a sense] their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself. 29 For no one ever hated his own body, but [instead] he nourishes and protects and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, 30 because we are members (parts) of His body. 31 FOR THIS REASON A MAN SHALL LEAVE HIS FATHER AND HIS MOTHER AND SHALL BE JOINED [and be faithfully devoted] TO HIS WIFE , AND THE TWO SHALL BECOME e ONE FLESH . [Gen 2:24 ] 32 This mystery [of two becoming one] is great; but I am speaking with reference to [the relationship of] Christ and the church. 33 However, each man among you [without exception] is to love his wife as his very own self [with behavior worthy of respect and esteem, always seeking the best for her with an attitude of lovingkindness], and the wife [must see to it] that she respects and delights in her husband [that she notices him and prefers him and treats him with loving concern, treasuring him, honoring him, and holding him dear]. [1 Pet 3:2 ] Ephesians 6 Family Relationships 1 C HILDREN, OBEY your parents in the Lord [that is, accept their guidance and discipline as His representatives], for this is right [for obedience teaches wisdom and self-discipline].

• From The Decameron (1353)

  This song they carolled on such dulcet wise and so delightsomely that to the king, who beheld and hearkened to them with ravishment, it seemed as if all the hierarchies of the angels were lighted there to sing. The song sung, they fell on their knees and respectfully craved of him leave to depart, who, albeit their departure was grievous to him, yet with a show of blitheness accorded it to them. The supper being now at an end, the king remounted to horse with his company and leaving Messer Neri, returned to the royal lodging, devising of one thing and another. There, holding his passion hidden, but availing not, for whatsoever great affair might supervene, to forget the beauty and grace of Ginevra the Fair, (for love of whom he loved her sister also, who was like unto her,) he became so fast entangled in the amorous snares that he could think of well nigh nought else and feigning other occasions, kept a strait intimacy with Messer Neri and very often visited his fair garden, to see Ginevra.

• From Amplified Holy Bible (2015)

  15 “I assure you and most solemnly say to you, whoever does not receive and welcome the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it at all.” 16 And He took the children [one by one] in His arms and b blessed them [with kind, encouraging words], placing His hands on them. The Rich Young Ruler 17 As He was leaving on His journey, a man ran up and knelt before Him and asked Him, “Good Teacher [You who are essentially good and morally perfect], what shall I do to inherit eternal life [that is, eternal salvation in the Messiah’s kingdom]?” [Matt 19:16–29 ; Luke 18:18–30 ] 18 Jesus said to him, “ c Why do you call Me good? No one is [essentially] good [by nature] except God alone. 19 “You know the commandments: ‘D O NOT MURDER , D O NOT COMMIT ADULTERY , D O NOT STEAL , D O NOT TESTIFY FALSELY , Do not defraud, H ONOR YOUR FATHER AND MOTHER .’ ” [Ex 20:12–16 ; Deut 5:16–20 ] 20 And he replied to Him, “Teacher, I have [carefully] kept all these [commandments] since my d youth.” 21 Looking at him, Jesus felt a love (high regard, compassion) for him, and He said to him, “You lack one thing: go and sell all your property and give [the money] to the poor, and you will have [abundant] treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me [becoming My disciple, believing and trusting in Me and walking the same path of life that I walk].” 22 But the man was saddened at Jesus’ words, and he left grieving, because he owned much property and had many possessions [which he treasured more than his relationship with God]. 23 Jesus looked around and said to His disciples, “How difficult it will be for those who are wealthy [and cling to possessions and status as security] to enter the kingdom of God!” 24 The disciples were e amazed and bewildered by His words. But Jesus said to them again, “Children, how difficult it is [for those who place their hope and confidence in riches] to enter the kingdom of God!

• From The Incendiaries (2018)

  I sat through movies I could tell I wouldn’t like, just to be at Phoebe’s side. While we strolled through campus, she kept a hand tucked in the back pocket of my jeans. The line between us relaxed its hold, the slack winding, like an exhausted snake, at our adjoined feet. So brazen, Julian said. He raised his full glass to me, then to Phoebe, who leaned into my arm. Did you learn nothing in China, Will? It’s such bad luck, flaunting what you’ve been given. Sensible parents used to insult their own children, calling them idle, stupid— But less than a month into the term, Liesl took a leave of absence from school. She returned to St. Paul again. The rape allegation had become front-page national news. More Edwards girls had stories to tell of sexual assault. Editorials followed; public outrage. Phoebe helped organize a candlelit vigil, which almost half the school attended. Still, there were students who criticized Liesl, small-minded gossips who prattled about which illegal pills she liked best, how reliable she might be. The possibility she’d lied. Others, less spiteful, said they didn’t know what to think. It felt hard to judge Neil outright. In his version, he hadn’t touched Liesl. Even friends wanted facts, details. Phoebe, livid, picked late-night quarrels. No one lies about this, she said. Look at what it’s cost Liesl, then tell me she’s lying. The next time I went out for the night, she refused to come along. It’s fine, go, she insisted. It was a Prohibition costume party; the host, a Phi Epsilon. In ostrich quills, top-hatted, hands chilled from tall glasses clicking ice, people high-fived me, asking about Phoebe. Where’s she hiding? they hollered. She’s staying in. Is she all right ? Yes. I told Phoebe she’d been missed, that people had asked if she felt ill. I don’t care, she said. I fell asleep on the futon, anesthetized with alcohol, but I woke to see her sitting in the open windowsill. Night sounds flowed in while she looked out as if listening for a faint echo—how is Phoebe, how is she—tell us—how is Phoebe. Sometimes, I still imagine I’m in that room again. I watch the girl I love, a silhouette waiting upon what I haven’t thought to give. Outside, revelers stumble, laugh. The floral scent of gin drifts into the apartment; a drunk’s baritone swells, then falls silent. Julian aside, she put a halt to spending time with old friends. Each morning, she went to the college pool, looping back and forth in fast, obsessive laps. Phoebe’s ass tightened. Thighs expanded. Unexpected muscles jutted against pale skin: a new Phoebe, fresh-hewn, more powerful than the original.

• From The Incendiaries (2018)

  In the dining room, we sat at a table set low to the ground, with more silk cushions for seats. A blond girl holding a tray came and left. I wondered what kind of people hired help for a six-top meal. She poured from a bottle of Malbec, the ruby pool looping into my glass. I didn’t touch it, though. I was already dizzied with what little I’d tried of the mulled wine. I’ll emphasize this lack of alcohol because, teetotal as I soon felt, I should be able to retrieve more of what followed. Instead, for the most part, it’s lost. I have the outline, bits of conversation. Fitful images. Wide swaths of it, though, have blurred as in old film. Is that the problem? I’ve reviewed this initial feast with them so often I’ve smudged it with my fingerprints. Pink meat bled when I cut it open, the charred bits crunching like minute bones. A torn roll steamed; butter liquefied. Oil dripped, gilding white porcelain. The waitress’s thin wrist shook as she removed a plate. I said thanks, and she flinched. Inexperience, I assumed. Teeth flashed, smiling. Of all people, I should have recognized this warmth for what it was: a bag of tricks. The fellowship, a little food. The hocus-pocus bribe of hot bread, lavish, like God: take, eat. This is my body, which is broken for you. Open curtains exposed a line of sash windows. In the depths of the glass, silhouettes, our best selves, bent and moved. I felt seen for what I wanted to be. I relaxed, and I had more food. – Citron tarts finished, we returned to the living room. In the uncertain firelight, the cushions shone lazulite-blue. Phoebe and John Leal sat off to one side, apart from the rest of us. Each time I looked at them, he was still talking. She stared down, into her lap. Her hair draped, its fall pushing forward a ribbon headband. —too loyal to this suffering, you forget that others are also in pain, he said, barely audible. I’m not, she said, glancing up at him. I don’t think I am. No. I don’t think you are.

• From The Incendiaries (2018)

  He insisted she put it on, this high-effort cosmetic: she had to check it often, making sure it hadn’t bled. She wasn’t an attention-getting woman. Bold red was his preference, not hers. Each time she applied it, she might as well have been signaling across the miles that she still loved him. I talked as often as I could to Phoebe. She’d grown up in L.A., and though I’d made it up, perhaps because, I felt that this shared childhood belonged more to me. It was the upbringing she’d received by chance, while I’d picked mine: I cultivated it, and kept it alive. In fact, at first, I resented Phoebe’s theft of citrus trees and jasmine, the tennis balls whirling in full sunlight. But she accepted what I said without question; now, isolated as I felt, Phoebe’s belief helped me recall who I could be. By this point, we’d had to be apart almost a month. Phone calls spun out hours at a time. She was in Berlin with Julian, visiting his boyfriend, Sunil. I drifted into sleep with the phone hot at my face, Phoebe’s voice like a song. Will, we didn’t get back to Sunil’s place until 10:00 in the morning. It’s so bright in his living room that I can’t sleep except with a shawl tied around my head. Julian says that, even if he’s drunk, when , I can’t let him ask Sunil to quit his Berlin experiment. I broke a heel last night, dancing. Julian said I wasn’t allowed to go home. That, as his closest friend, I was obligated to stay with him. He tore his shirt, instead. He tied the cloth rags on my feet, like booties. Dancing slippers. – It was around this time that she first told me her mother had died, along with how it happened: that she, Phoebe, had been driving, unused to cars. I didn’t know how to respond. I’m so sorry, Phoebe, I said, at last. No, I just, I haven’t told people at Edwards, she said. I refuse to be the sad girl, with people whispering, but—I’ve known you awhile. I wanted to tell you. Well, I’ve told Julian. John Leal also knows, but that was my father’s doing. It’s life. Let’s talk about something else. – I did think, during this break, to look him up online. I found a couple of local-interest articles, Edwards Herald squibs. John Leal, so I learned, while he was still a student, had gotten into a late-night fistfight with a Noxhurst local, one so violent that he’d been jailed. No charges had been pressed; John Leal, released. It looked as though the college had then suspended him. Expelled, perhaps: I couldn’t find him listed with his graduating class.

• From The Incendiaries (2018)

  In direct light, her head looked as if she’d tinted it sea-witch-green. It brought to mind the bronze statues on the central lawn, stone-eyed heroes oxidized to verdigris. She also kept going to John Leal’s house, meeting with his group. Jejah, he called it, in tribute to the new life he’d started since the gulag. They talked, ate, rolled out the piano. Explored Bible passages. I asked if that meant anything, Jejah. If it translated. It means “disciple,” in Korean, she said. Oh, I said. I’d changed my approach. I joked; I asked occasional questions, but I tried to hide what I felt. I still hoped this experiment, Phoebe’s flirtation with belief, might lose its appeal. I’ll admit I found Phoebe’s notion of faith childish. It was a whim, I thought, a foolish hope she hinged on His alleged promises, the old, beguiling lies. He’d lift us up, rescind all death. In short, she wished to love the Lord because. But I loved Phoebe, period. I had no rationale behind prizing, for instance, Phoebe’s pointed chin. The full-blown mouth. I treasured for its own sake Phoebe’s tongue sliding between my lips, its salt taste the daily host. Minute dots flecked ticklish legs. I’d licked the spots; I traced snail-lines while she shivered, laughing. Enough, she said. But I persisted. I baptized private constellations. If I hadn’t counted the individual hairs, I’d still claimed each inch of Phoebe’s skin. She wasn’t even a Christian, she told me, one night, as we walked to Gibb Hall for a Phi Epsilon’s choral recital. Wind blew silk around Phoebe’s thighs. She’d been reading the Davenport translation of sayings attributed to Christ. Though she found His ideas compelling, she wasn’t at all sure she believed in God. I’d like to, she said. It isn’t enough. Well, you know how it is. – I’d saved enough in Beijing that I could plan a short trip. Driving us north in Phoebe’s coupe, I kept the destination, Cape Cod, a surprise. It’s Maine, she said. No. Ohio. I shook my head. Phoebe’s guesses leaped east, south, flouting logic. Istanbul, she tried. Delhi. Beirut. I said yes to Nairobi, yes to Taipei. If I had the cash, I thought, but I would. In time, if she’d wait, I’d be able to take us where she liked. We’d watch the lights of alien cities rush beneath the plane, strewn pearls we’d reach down to grab. I drove until the beach house, a clapboard one-bedroom with a potbellied stove. I carried in the bags. I tore newsprint, then I crumpled it into long ropes. I snapped kindling. Bundled logs had been left at the stove’s burned mouth. In minutes, I had the fire going. Wine bottles clanged as Phoebe lined them along the wall. I pan-fried trout; we split a cold Friuli. Pants rolled, we walked across the beach.

• From Amplified Holy Bible (2015)

  But God has combined the [whole] body, giving greater honor to that part which lacks it, 25 so that there would be no division or discord in the body [that is, lack of adaptation of the parts to each other], but that the parts may have the same concern for one another. 26 And if one member suffers, all the parts share the suffering; if one member is honored, all rejoice with it. 27 Now you [collectively] are Christ’s body, and individually [you are] members of it [each with his own special purpose and function]. 28 So God has appointed and placed in the church [for His own use]: first apostles [chosen by Christ], second prophets [those who foretell the future, those who speak a new message from God to the people], third teachers, then those who work miracles, then those with the gifts of healings, the helpers, the administrators, and speakers in various kinds of [unknown] tongues. 29 Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Are all workers of miracles? 30 Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret? 31 But earnestly desire and strive for the greater gifts [if acquiring them is going to be your goal]. A nd yet I will show you a still more excellent way [one of the choicest graces and the highest of them all: unselfish love]. 1 Corinthians 13 The Excellence of Love 1 I F I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not a love [for others growing out of God’s love for me], then I have become only a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal [just an annoying distraction]. 2 And if I have the gift of prophecy [and speak a new message from God to the people], and understand all mysteries, and [possess] all knowledge; and if I have all [sufficient] faith so that I can remove mountains, but do not have love [reaching out to others], I am nothing. 3 If I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body b to be burned, but do not have love, it does me no good at all. 4 Love endures with patience and serenity, love is kind and thoughtful, and is not jealous or envious; love does not brag and is not proud or arrogant. 5 It is not rude; it is not self-seeking, it is not provoked [nor overly sensitive and easily angered]; it does not take into account a wrong endured. 6 It does not rejoice at injustice, but rejoices with the truth [when right and truth prevail]. 7 Love bears all things [regardless of what comes], believes all things [looking for the best in each one], hopes all things [remaining steadfast during difficult times], endures all things [without weakening]. 8 Love never fails [it never fades nor ends].

• From Lady Chatterley's Lover (1928)

  He was bent over, lacing his boot, and did not reply. The moments passed. A dimness came over her, like a swoon. All her consciousness died, and she stood there wide-eyed, looking at him from the unknown, knowing nothing any more. He looked up, because of the silence, and saw her wide-eyed and lost. And as if a wind tossed him he got up and hobbled over to her, one shoe off and one shoe on, and took her in his arms, pressing her against his body, which somehow felt hurt right through. And there he held her, and there she remained. Till his hands reached blindly down and felt for her, and felt under the clothing to where she was smooth and warm. "Ma lass!" he murmured. "Ma little lass! Dunna let's fight! Dunna let's niver fight! I love thee an' th' touch on thee. Dunna argue wi' me! Dunna! Dunna! Dunna! Let's be together." She lifted her face and looked at him. "Don't be upset," she said steadily. "It's no good being upset. Do you really want to be together with me?" She looked with wide, steady eyes into his face. He stopped, and went suddenly still, turning his face aside. All his body went perfectly still, but did not withdraw. Then he lifted his head and looked into her eyes, with his odd, faintly mocking grin, saying: "Ay-ay! Let's be together on oath." "But really?" she said, her eyes filling with tears. "Ay really! Heart an' belly an' cock." He still smiled faintly down at her, with the flicker of irony in his eyes, and a touch of bitterness. She was silently weeping, and he lay with her and went into her there on the hearthrug, and so they gained a measure of equanimity. And then they went quickly to bed, for it was growing chill, and they had tired each other out. And she nestled up to him, feeling small and enfolded, and they both went to sleep at once, fast in one sleep. And so they lay and never moved, till the sun rose over the wood and day was beginning. Then he woke up and looked at the light. The curtains were drawn. He listened to the loud wild calling of blackbirds and thrushes in the wood. It would be a brilliant morning, about half-past five, his hour for rising. He had slept so fast! It was such a new day! The woman was still curled asleep and tender. His hand moved on her, and she opened her blue, wondering eyes, smiling unconsciously into his face. "Are you awake?" she said to him. He was looking into her eyes. He smiled, and kissed her. And suddenly she roused and sat up. "Fancy that I am here!" she said.

• From Lady Chatterley's Lover (1928)

  Everybody waved. The car went off. Connie looked back and saw Clifford sitting at the top of the steps in his house-chair. After all, he was her husband: Wragby was her home: circumstance had done it. Mrs. Chambers held the gate and wished her ladyship a happy holiday. The car slipped out of the dark spinney that masked the park, on to the highroad where the colliers were trailing home. Hilda turned to the Crosshill Road, that was not a main road, but ran to Mansfield. Connie put on goggles. They ran beside the railway, which was in a cutting below them. Then they crossed the cutting on a bridge. "That's the lane to the cottage!" said Connie. Hilda glanced at it impatiently. "It's a frightful pity we can't go straight off!" she said. "We could have been in Pall Mall by nine o'clock." "I'm sorry for your sake," said Connie, from behind her goggles. They were soon at Mansfield, that once-romantic, now utterly disheartening colliery town. Hilda stopped at the hotel named in the motorcar book, and took a room. The whole thing was utterly uninteresting, and she was almost too angry to talk. However, Connie _had_ to tell her something of the man's history. "_He! He!_ What name do you call him by? You only say _he_," said Hilda. "I've never called him by any name: nor he me: which is curious, when you come to think of it. Unless we say Lady Jane and John Thomas. But his name is Oliver Mellors." "And how would you like to be Mrs. Oliver Mellors, instead of Lady Chatterley?" "I'd love it." There was nothing to be done with Connie. And anyhow, if the man had been a lieutenant in the army in India for four or five years, he must be more or less presentable. Apparently he had character. Hilda began to relent a little. "But you'll be through with him in a while," she said, "and then you'll be ashamed of having been connected with him. One _can't_ mix up with the working people." "But you are such a socialist! You're always on the side of the working classes." "I may be on their side in a political crisis, but being on their side makes me know how impossible it is to mix one's life with theirs. Not out of snobbery, but just because the whole rhythm is different." Hilda had lived among the real political intellectuals, so she was disastrously unanswerable. The nondescript evening in the hotel dragged out, and at last they had a nondescript dinner. Then Connie slipped a few things into a little silk bag, and combed her hair once more. "After all, Hilda," she said, "love can be wonderful; when you feel you _live_, and are in the very middle of creation." It was almost like bragging on her part. "I suppose every mosquito feels the same," said Hilda. "Do you think it does? How nice for it!"

• From Lady Chatterley's Lover (1928)

  She crept close against him, clinging fast to his thin, strong naked body, the only home she had ever known. "Then I'll keep thee," he said. "If tha wants it, then I'll keep thee." He held her round and fast. "And say you're glad about the child," she repeated. "Kiss it! Kiss my womb and say you're glad it's there." But that was more difficult for him. "I've a dread of puttin' children i' th' world," he said. "I've such a dread o' th' future for 'em." "But you've put it into me. Be tender to it, and that will be its future already. Kiss it!" He quivered, because it was true. "Be tender to it, and that will be its future."--At that moment he felt a sheer love for the woman. He kissed her belly and her mound of Venus, to kiss close to the womb and the foetus within the womb. "Oh, you love me! You love me!" she said, in a little cry like one of her blind, inarticulate love cries. And he went in to her softly, feeling the stream of tenderness flowing in release from his bowels to hers, the bowels of compassion kindled between them. And he realized as he went in to her that this was the thing he had to do, to come into tender touch, without losing his pride or his dignity or his integrity as a man. After all, if she had money and means, and he had none, he should be too proud and honourable to hold back his tenderness from her on that account. "I stand for the touch of bodily awareness between human beings," he said to himself, "and the touch of tenderness. And she is my mate. And it is a battle against the money, and the machine, and the insentient ideal monkeyishness of the world. And she will stand behind me there. Thank God I've got a woman! Thank God I've got a woman who is with me, and tender and aware of me. Thank God she's not a bully, nor a fool. Thank God she's a tender, aware woman." And as his seed sprang in her, his soul sprang towards her too, in the creative act that is far more than procreative. She was quite determined now that there should be no parting between him and her. But the ways and means were still to settle. "Did you hate Bertha Coutts?" she asked him. "Don't talk to me about her." "Yes! You must let me. Because once you liked her. And once you were as intimate with her as you are with me. So you have to tell me. Isn't it rather terrible, when you've been intimate with her, to hate her so? Why is it?"

• From Amplified Holy Bible (2015)

  12 ‘The flowers appear on the earth once again; The time for singing has come, And the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land. 13 ‘The fig tree has budded and ripens her figs, And the vines are in blossom and give forth their fragrance. Arise, my love, my fair one, And come away [to climb the rocky steps of the hillside].’ ” (The Bridegroom) 14 “O my dove, [here] in the clefts in the rock, In the sheltered and secret place of the steep pathway, Let me see your face, Let me hear your voice; For your voice is sweet, And your face is lovely.” (The Chorus) 15 “Catch the foxes for us, The little foxes that spoil and ruin the vineyards [of love], While our vineyards are in blossom.” (The Shulammite Bride) 16 “My beloved is mine and I am his; He pastures his flock among the lilies. [Matt 10:32 ; Acts 4:12 ] 17 “Until the cool of the day when the shadows flee away, Return quickly, my beloved, and be like a gazelle Or a young stag on the mountains of Bether [which separate us].” Song of Solomon 3 The Bride’s Troubled Dream (The Shulammite Bride) 1 “O N MY bed night after night [I dreamed that] I sought the one Whom my soul loves; I sought him but did not find him. [Is 26:9 ] 2 “I said ‘So I must arise now and go out into the city; Into the streets and into the squares [places I do not know] I must seek him whom my soul loves.’ I sought him but I did not find him. 3 “The watchmen who go around the city found me, And I said , ‘Have you seen him whom my soul loves?’ 4 “Scarcely had I passed them When I found him whom my soul loves. I held on to him and would not let him go Until I had brought him to my mother’s house, And into the chamber of her who conceived me.” [Rom 8:35 ; 1 Pet 2:25 ] (The Bridegroom) 5 “I command that you take an oath, O daughters of Jerusalem, By the gazelles or by the does of the field, That you do not rouse nor awaken my love Until she pleases.” Solomon’s Wedding Day (The Shulammite Bride) 6 “What is this coming up from the wilderness Like [stately] pillars of smoke Perfumed with myrrh and frankincense, With all the fragrant powders of the merchant?” (The Chorus) 7 “Behold, it is the couch (a palanquin) of Solomon; Sixty mighty men around it, Of the mighty men of Israel. 8 “All of them handle the sword, All expert in war; Each man has his sword at his thigh, Guarding against the terrors of the night. 9 “King Solomon has made for himself a palanquin From the [cedar] wood of Lebanon.

• From The Decameron (1353)

  Nevertheless I would have you to know that I sought not, either by art or by fraud, to impose any stain upon the honour and illustriousness of your blood in the person of Sophronia, and that, albeit I took her secretly to wife, I came not as a ravisher to rob her of her maidenhead nor sought, after the manner of an enemy, whilst shunning your alliance, to have her otherwise than honourably; but, being ardently enkindled by her lovesome beauty and by her worth and knowing that, had I sought her with that ordinance which you will maybe say I should have used, I should not (she being much beloved of you) have had her, for fear lest I should carry her off to Rome, I used the occult means that may now be discovered to you and caused Gisippus, in my person, consent unto that which he himself was not disposed to do. Moreover, ardently as I loved her, I sought her embraces not as a lover, but as a husband, nor, as she herself can truly testify, did I draw near to her till I had first both with the due words and with the ring espoused her, asking her if she would have me for husband, to which she answered ay. If it appear to her that she hath been deceived, it is not I who am to blame therefor, but she, who asked me not who I was. This, then, is the great misdeed, the grievous crime, the sore default committed by Gisippus as a friend and by myself as a lover, to wit, that Sophronia hath secretly become the wife of Titus Quintius, and this it is for which you defame and menace and plot against him. What more could you do, had he bestowed her upon a churl, a losel or a slave? What chains, what prison, what gibbets had sufficed thereunto?

• From The Wrestler: A Life of Passion and the Pursuit of Greatness (2016)

  the level at which young wrestlers decide whether or not they are going to continue their life as a wrestler in college and beyond. So there is a bit of genuine thought that goes into this, along with a methodical approach. But here’s the thing. Maybe I’m thoughtful and methodical relative to introducing my kids to the sport of wrestling, and yet they still choose to forego life as a competitor on the mat. What then? Well, I suppose, in reality, nothing. That is, I will still love my kids with the same amount of love as I would if they did in fact choose to engage the sport of wrestling. Whether or not they are wrestlers does not in any way impact my love for them. So what’s the difference? The difference is this: I’m a parent; and like any parent, I have the advantage of life experience which enables me to see what aspects of my life proved to be valuable and useful. And it’s the joy of any parent to be able to share this with their kids. I am able to look back on my life retrospectively and see that wrestling proved to positively inform my identity. If my kids ever ask me why I am the way I am, they will know that, apart from my committed faith, the sport of wrestling contributed greatly in the process of molding and shaping me as a person. And finally, I have mentioned constantly that I believe wrestling to be a gift. And who wouldn’t want to give their children a gift, and want their children to thoroughly enjoy that gift? Nevertheless, just like any gift, it is up to the receiver to do with it what they want. I can offer the gift, but I can’t make them take it or employ it. _____________ When I consider the wrestler – one who is all in and embraces the sport with deep-seated commitment – I see two things: 1) a life of passion, and 2) the pursuit of greatness. I hope these two things have been clearly explained throughout the course of this book. If you are a current wrestler, take seriously what you have read and begin putting these things to action. If you are a former wrestler, a coach, fan or spectator, take seriously what you have read in this book and share these vital elements with those who are currently engaged in the life of a wrestler. Because the truth is that I believe the special and unique aspects of this sport cannot be duplicated. There are great elements in virtually any sport, and they can surely inform an individual’s approach to life in important ways. But truly, this incredible sport of wrestling simply cannot be duplicated. What we have here is inimitable. And the sooner we acknowledge

• From The Incendiaries (2018)

  From the little he let slip about leaving his church, I tried to conceive of what he’d lost. The high-minded world he used to inhabit: ordered, calm. I didn’t think I’d die, he said. It’s a fringe benefit of the faith. I believed I’d always live, along with everyone I loved. I wished I could ask how he’d survived giving up so much. But in general, he avoided talking about life as a Christian. He’d joke; otherwise, he pushed it to the side. With me, too, once I told him about my mother’s death, he shied from bringing it up. It was like high school, after the crash, when even close friends had failed to ask about it: afraid, I think, to remind me I was grieving. They hadn’t known it wasn’t possible, since I didn’t, at any point, forget. Instead, Will hustled. He strove. It felt as though, having lost the infinite, he couldn’t waste what little time he had. On piled Post-its, to-do lists proliferated. He brushed his teeth while underlining Plotinus. If he had to watch a film for class, he fit in dumbbell lifts, as well. He walked fast, then studied past dawn. But he also slowed his pace to mine. During the college tricentennial parade, while people with blue flags pushed down Whiting Street, he kept his arm circling my shoulders, firm, so that I wouldn’t be carried away from him. Unlike most of my Edwards friends, he could be depended upon. If he said he’d do something, he did it; if he promised to meet me at a specific time, he was there. He liked to help. To fix. The tap dripped in my suite bathroom. I said I’d call the Edwards service line, but Will, wielding pliers, solved it first. He’d been an Eagle Scout. Still am, he said. He’d kitted out a survival go-bag with basic supplies, stashing it beneath his bed: iodine tablets, a wind-up flashlight. Rubbing alcohol. Packs of food. Within a month, he zipped provisions in for me, as well. But I still didn’t feel, or want, as he did. When we did start having sex—less, perhaps, because I wanted to, than to please him—he often slept with a hand cupping my head, as if to protect me from bad dreams. In his tranquil face, I could picture the stolid kid he’d have been, reliable, walking to his bedridden mother with a glass full of milk— Toddling, I’d have said. I used to imagine him toddling with the glass brimful of milk, holding it in his boy’s hands, but this wasn’t right. He’d enrolled in his Bible college by then. If I were less selfish, I’d have released the hold I had on him, this love-dazed Will, more child than man. But I wasn’t. I couldn’t.

• From Amplified Holy Bible (2015)

  6 “And the LORD your God will circumcise your heart and the hearts of your descendants [that is, He will remove the desire to sin from your heart], so that you will love the LORD your God with all your heart and all your soul, so that you may live [as a recipient of His blessing]. 7 “The LORD your God will inflict all these curses on your enemies and on those who hate you, who have persecuted you. 8 “And you shall again listen to and obey the voice of the LORD , and do all His commandments which I command you today. 9 “Then the LORD your God shall make you abundantly prosperous in b everything that you do, in the offspring of your body and in the offspring of your cattle and in the produce of your land; for the LORD will again delight over you for good, just as He delighted over your fathers, 10 if you listen to and obey the voice of the LORD your God to keep His commandments and His statutes which are written in this Book of the Law, and if you turn to the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul (your entire being). 11 “For this commandment which I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you, nor is it c out of reach. 12 “It is not [a secret hidden] in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will go up to heaven for us and bring it to us, so that we may hear it and obey it?’ 13 “Nor is it beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will cross the sea for us and bring it to us, so that we may hear it and obey it?’ 14 “But the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, so that you may obey it. Choose Life 15 “Listen closely, I have set before you today life and prosperity (good), and death and adversity (evil); 16 in that I command you today to love the LORD your God, to walk [that is, to live each and every day] in His ways and to keep His commandments and His statutes and His judgments (precepts), so that you will live and multiply, and that the LORD your God will bless you in the land which you are entering to possess. 17 “But if your heart turns away and you will not hear and obey, but are drawn away and worship other gods and serve them, 18 I declare to you today that you will certainly perish. You will not live long in the land which you cross the Jordan to enter and possess.

• From The Decameron (1353)

  On the other hand, the great renown of her beauty and worth had won to Sicily, as elsewhither, and not without great delight nor in vain had it reached the ears of Gerbino; nay, it had inflamed him with love of her, no less than that which she herself had conceived for him. Wherefore, desiring beyond measure to see her, against he should find a colourable occasion of having his grandfather's leave to go to Tunis, he charged his every friend who went thither to make known to her, as best he might, his secret and great love and bring him news of her. This was very dexterously done by one of them, who, under pretence of carrying her women's trinkets to view, as do merchants, throughly discovered Gerbino's passion to her and avouched the prince and all that was his to be at her commandment. The princess received the messenger and the message with a glad flavour and answering that she burnt with like love for the prince, sent him one of her most precious jewels in token thereof. This Gerbino received with the utmost joy wherewith one can receive whatsoever precious thing and wrote to her once and again by the same messenger, sending her the most costly gifts and holding certain treaties[237] with her, whereby they should have seen and touched one another, had fortune but allowed it. [Footnote 237: Or, in modern parlance, "laying certain plans."]

• From Love 2.0: Finding Happiness and Health in Moments of Connection (2013)

  Moments of seemingly shared positivity abound. You, and those in your midst, can be infused with one form of positivity or another, yet not be truly connected. You and everyone else in the movie theater, for instance, share the positivity emanating from the big screen; you and the person next to you in the lecture hall are fascinated by the same set of new ideas; you and your family members take in the same television comedy. Yet absent eye contact, touch, laughter, or another form of behavioral synchrony, these moments are akin to what developmental psychologists call parallel play. They no doubt feel great and their positivity confers broaden-and-build benefits both to you and to others, independently. But if they are not (yet) directly and interpersonally shared experiences, they do not resonate or reverberate, and so they are not (yet) instances of love. The key to love is to add some form of physical connection. To be clear, the sensory and temporal connections you establish with others through eye contact, touch, conversation, or other forms of behavioral synchrony are not, in and of themselves, love. Even holding hands, after all, can become a loveless habit. Yet in the right contexts, these gestures become springboards for love. The right contexts are those infused with the emotional presence of positivity. Imagine that instead of me sitting alone at my home office computer searching for words in July 2011 and you sitting (am I right?) who knows where reading these words some years later, that you and I are sitting together at your local coffee shop talking these ideas over. Turns out, you’ve got a boatload of great questions. It doesn’t take long for our shared enthusiasm for what the latest science says about human nature and human potential to take hold of us. Although I’m fairly low-key by nature, this sort of conversation can get me pretty animated. My gestures and smiles convey not only my enthusiasm for the ideas but also my appreciation for your thoughtful questions and examples. I’m attuned to you, sympathetic to your input, and responding to all the subtle cues that reveal how effectively we’re communicating. From my perspective, your smiles, nods, and other gestures of your own positivity and attunement don’t just exist “out there” in you. When we meet each other’s gaze, they also come to exist, in a very real way, inside me. Within milliseconds my brain and body begin to buzz with your enthusiasm and appreciation, and your attunement to me. The more this happens, the more I come to feel the same way as you, both enthused and appreciative, responsive and sympathetic. Soon enough these feelings surface on my face and emanate through my voice and gestures. As our eyes continue to meet, a parallel simulation process flows forth within you, as the dynamics unfolding within your brain and body begin to pattern mine. A back-and-forth reverberation stretches out between us.