JESSIE: I’m going to kill myself, Mama.
MAMA (returning to the sofa): Very funny. Very funny.
JESSIE: I am.
MAMA: You are not! Don’t even say such a thing, Jessie.
JESSIE: How would you know if I didn’t say it? You want it to be a surprise? You’re lying in your bed or maybe you’re just brushing your teeth and you hear this… noise down the hall?
MAMA: Kill yourself.
JESSIE: Shoot myself.
MAMA: It must be time for your medicine.
JESSIE: Took it already.
MAMA: What’s the matter with you?
JESSIE: Not a thing. Feel fine.
MAMA: You feel fine. You're just going to kill yourself.
JESSIE: Waited until I felt good enough, in fact.
MAMA: Don't make jokes, Jessie. I'm too old for jokes.
JESSIE: It's not a joke, Mama. Mama, I know you used to ride the bus. Riding the bus and it's hot and bumpy and crowded and too noisy and more than anything in the world you want to get off and the only reason in the world you don't get off is it's still fifty blocks from where you're going? Well, I can get off right now if I want to, because even if I ride fifty more years and get off then, it's the same place when I step down to it. Whenever I feel like it, I can get off. As soon as I've had enough, it's my stop. I've had enough.
Ethan, broken, Juliet, Casie
Dear Cassie,
I’ve been wanting to give this to you for ages, and after the incredible gift you gave me last
night, I figured the time felt right. I found it in a little antique shop in Milano while I was
touring Europe. I don’t know why it caught my eye, but I had to buy it for you.
The thing is, it’s not perfect. It’s had a lot of owners,
Türkler ve Müzik
And religion itself is usually the next to go; this has indeed happened in Greece, where in the past music flourished at the highest level. Since Mohammed (p.b.u.h) has pitched his tent, however, music has decayed so badly that it has all but disappeared. Indeed it is held in such low esteem that, just as among the barbarians, the panpipe and drum are favored above decent and proper music. A number of years ago the King of France, Francis I, sent the Turkish Emperor Suleiman the finest musicians, intending thereby to do him great honor. But the latter soon did away with them and sent them back, with the message that such music was inappropriate for his people, since it only made their spirits soft and effeminate. This is entirely contrary to the opinion of the [ancient] Greeks (who scorned anyone inexperienced in music, and never bestowed high office upon him, since they were of the opinion that experience with music developed good character). And experience proves that music cannot survive where the devil holds sway, since the godless are not worthy of it.
Hugo von Hofmannsthal
"Sie trug den Becher in der Hand
— Ihr Kinn und Mund glich seinem Rand —,
So leicht und sicher war ihr Gang,
Kein Tropfen aus dem Becher sprang.
So leicht und fest war seine Hand:
Er ritt auf einem jungen Pferde,
Und mit nachlässiger Gebärde
Erzwang er, daß es zitternd stand.
Jedoch, wenn er aus ihrer Hand
Den leichten Becher
"Since marriage affected the extended family group, fathers or uncles could arrange marriages for the good of the family without considering their children’s wishes. Most important was the engagement ceremony in which a prospective son-in-law made a payment symbolizing the purchase of paternal authority over the bride. The essential feature of the marriage itself involved placing the married couple in bed to achieve their physical union. In first marriages, it was considered important that the wife be a virgin so as to ensure that any children would be the husband’s. A virgin symbolized the ability of the bloodline to continue. For this reason, adultery was viewed as pollution of the woman and her offspring, poisoning the future. Adulterous wives were severely punished (an adulterous woman could be strangled or even burned alive); adulterous husbands were not. Divorce was relatively simple and was initiated primarily by the husband. Divorced wives simply returned to their families."
"For most women in the new Germanic kingdoms, their legal status reflected the material conditions of their lives. Archaeological evidence suggests that most women had life expectancies of only thirty or forty years and that about 10 to 15 percent of women died in their childbearing years, no doubt due to complications associated with childbirth. For most women, life consisted of domestic labor: providing food and clothing for the household, caring for the children, and assisting with numerous farming chores. Of all the duties of women, the most important was childbearing, because it was crucial to the maintenance of the family and its properties."
Jackson J. Spielvogel, Western Civilization
Omer B. Washington-I have learned…
I’ve learned, that you cannot make someone love you. All you can do is be someone who can be loved. The rest is up to them.
I’ve learned, that no matter how much I care, some people just don’t care back.
I’ve learned,that it takes years to build up trust, and only seconds to destroy it.
I’ve learned, that no matter how good a friend is, they’re
