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3042442
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When you don't talk, there's a lot of stuff that ends up not getting said.
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talking
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Catherine Gilbert Murdock |
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b509d74
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Every fairy tale, it seems, concludes with the bland phrase "happily ever after." Yet every couple I have ever known would agree that nothing about marriage is forever happy. There are moments of bliss, to be sure, and lengthy spans of satisfied companionship. Yet these come at no small effort, and the girl who reads such fiction dreaming her troubles will end ere she departs the altar is well advised to seek at once a rational women to set..
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marriage
humor
happily-ever-after
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Catherine Gilbert Murdock |
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ea13a54
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She says you're not truly human until you've had your heart broken and you've broken someone's heart.
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human
love
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Catherine Gilbert Murdock |
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afeafb6
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With that, I hurled the slipper at him, not caring if I caused his decapitation. (I did not.) Marshaling what little dignity I yet possessed, I stomped down the corridor - challenging indeed with one shoe - and around the corner. I lay awake for hours. The prince had no right, not one, to indict me so, and if I had held the slightest hope of the book's assistance, I would have climbed at once to my wizard room for a spell with which to puni..
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Catherine Gilbert Murdock |
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00bcb07
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How could I pretend to be someone else when I was already failing at being the person I already was?
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Catherine Gilbert Murdock |
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d8eae39
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But it turns out that even if I don't talk a lot, when it's something that matters I still have a lot to say.
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Catherine Gilbert Murdock |
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dc33b3f
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It was like he was in a contest to see who could do the least work, only he was the only contestant.
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Catherine Gilbert Murdock |
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ec98db1
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Everyone I looked at, their whole lives, did exactly what they were supposed to do without even questioning it, without even wondering if they could do something different.
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Catherine Gilbert Murdock |
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ffc0fe1
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And have your mother put my head on a stake? Do you have any notion what that would do to my handsome good looks?
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parenting
obedience
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Catherine Gilbert Murdock |
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71568e4
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Everyone's scared. So scared they can't sleep sometimes. Or eat. Or keep their weight on." "Then why bother playing?" I asked. It was a whisper, this question. "Because. You love the game. You love the people you play with. You love winning, maybe. You love that one moment when you get it right . . . I dunno. Why do you play?" "Because," I whispered, "it's who I am." Sounds like a good reason to me."
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Catherine Gilbert Murdock |
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8252156
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I hate it when people make fun of me and it turns out they're right.
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people
things-that-happen
so-true
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Catherine Gilbert Murdock |
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36b2469
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What is a staircase, but a corridor improved by elevation?
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stairs
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Catherine Gilbert Murdock |
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b3af195
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I could not but wonder at the queen's unprecedented civility, until I realized with a flush of shame that it was my own improved behavior that motivated hers. So it is that we in life determine our own treatment.
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life-lessons
life
realizations
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Catherine Gilbert Murdock |
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2909711
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And if I didn't, I'd spend the rest of my life wondering who I could have turned into if only I'd had the guts to try.
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Catherine Gilbert Murdock |
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de25b8a
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Sometimes,well,all the time,I can't think of what to say because I'm so dumb and stuff,and then maybe I think of it like five days later.
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Catherine Gilbert Murdock |
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4daea95
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So what if Brian made me feel like fireworks were going off inside me. He could also make me feel like a big fat clod of heartsick dirt. It was like he could take any emotion I had and make it ten times stronger. Which is great when it's happiness but pretty darn awful if it's anything sad.
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Catherine Gilbert Murdock |
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438dcd1
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It kind of struck me how great it would be to go out with a guy that size. And if you, you know, got tired of dating him, you could always use him as a house or something.
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humour
funny
humor
size
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Catherine Gilbert Murdock |
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e28f900
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Despite all my public misconduct, in the past year, I had learned the Elemental spells, the Doppelschlaferin, and the preparation and flying of a magic broom; I had survived two months as prisoner of war, saving the life of captain Johanne in the process; I had escaped the dungeons of Fortress Drachensbett, and after an arduous journey successfully reunited with my double, so preserving her, and all Montagne, from Prince Flonian's rapacity,..
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war
medicine
princess
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Catherine Gilbert Murdock |
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73f9646
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I swear, every person I know gets far more satisfaction from doing good deeds than receiving them. Maybe that's the whole point in the end, all of us putting up with good deeds, tolerating them as best we can, counting the minutes until we have the opportunity to reciprocate.
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Catherine Gilbert Murdock |
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bc38acf
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I ultimately decided to hold my tongue and settle instead for the comfort of ignorance. Not knowing the truth, I retained hope, and that hope I held like a smooth warm stone against my heart.
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grief
loss
hope
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Catherine Gilbert Murdock |
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0507301
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And it occurred to me that the reason she makes it work, probably, is because she's so comfortable with herself. And you know, that's not such a bad notion, in the whole life-lesson business. Being comfortable with yourself. Because if you're not okay with who you are, why should anyone else be?
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self-image
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Catherine Gilbert Murdock |
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6b43317
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Oh. Listen, this is really hard for me . . .
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Catherine Gilbert Murdock |
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a54f211
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And that's where our conversation went from there, than God, both of us laughing our butts off at the thought of a hoops game between two teams on intravenous fluids. Which makes absolutely no sense at all; I know that. But that's why it cheered me up, because it was so absolutely stupid. It cheered me up more than I'd ever thought I'd be cheered up again.
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Catherine Gilbert Murdock |
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ebe62ec
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I'd promised myself that I'd really work on talking more, talking about uncomfortable things, because I could see from Brian how well things could work out if you did.
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Catherine Gilbert Murdock |
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da2c5e7
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Why was it that jam always coated me so?
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princess-ben
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Catherine Gilbert Murdock |
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8d1a0ea
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I milked, of course, and did some work around the barn, and tried not to think about Brian, which was like trying not to breathe.
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relationships
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Catherine Gilbert Murdock |
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d3b63ba
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Still, I couldn't get over Dad calling those farmers. People might think helping is hard, but really that's the easy part; just look how good it makes people feel. Look how happy all those Red Bend ladies were about chipping in. It's the asking that's so painful. It takes real courage, real , to say you're not strong enough to do it alone. Mom must really be hurting for Dad to be so brave.
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Catherine Gilbert Murdock |
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0c998fd
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But you know, even worrying about haircuts couldn't depress me. Because every time I started sinking low, I'd just remember about football. All this time I'd thought I wanted to be a trainer, when it turned out I wanted to be a player instead. I saw something I wanted to do and I decided to do it. The feeling of freedom this gave me--I can't even describe it. It was my decision. I chose it. I am not a cow.
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freedom
cow
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Catherine Gilbert Murdock |
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81d3b54
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You can't think about how much you have left to do because that's just one thought, one sad thought, that'll make you bummed out all day long. Instead you've got to think about how much you've already done.
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motivation
motivational
motivational-quotes
patience
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Catherine Gilbert Murdock |
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0063156
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Talk Back? That's really what it's called? You're supposed to walk into some church basement and say, 'I'm here to learn how to Talk Back'?
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Catherine Gilbert Murdock |
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a6f2585
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I saw something I wanted to do and I decided to do it. The feeling of freedom it gave me- I can't even describe it. It was my decision. I chose it.
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Catherine Gilbert Murdock |
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4b72ca7
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So break up with him.
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Catherine Gilbert Murdock |
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66c6705
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The truth that our futures are so often determined not by some grand design or deliberate strategy but by an ordinary run-of-the-mill head cold.
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Catherine Gilbert Murdock |
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ab7dd42
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Bend like the sapling you are. With time we shall find your oaken core.
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Catherine Gilbert Murdock |
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4b57253
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With every morsel I consumed, I was informed that princes most love slender young ladies. As I was as interested in a prince's love as in sticking my fish fork into my ear, I reacted to this by cleaning my plate ever more thoroughly.
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Catherine Gilbert Murdock |
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4daca97
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A princess," (Queen Sophia) would proclaim, "requires a graceful and willowy carriage, not the appetite of a swineherd."
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Catherine Gilbert Murdock |
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672b723
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How many times I have wondered what my fate might have been had I accompanied my parents that rainy spring morning. Such musings, I recognise, are more than a trifle insane, for envisioning what might have been had no more connection to our own true reality than a lunatic has to a lemon.
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Catherine Gilbert Murdock |
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3d1c009
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According to Montagne legend, the mountain has forever been the abode of giants. Long ago a traveling pair of sorcerers, husband and wife, scaled the cliff into the valley, and the woman cured the giants' chilblains with ointments and the gift of fire. In gratitude, the giants built Chateau de Montagne out of the living rock of Ancienne, and from that castle the couple founded the kingdom of Montagne, using their magic to shield the country..
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Catherine Gilbert Murdock |
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a161f51
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I could not help but wonder, that night and later, why my father would even mention my marrying someone who came from a country that my mother so obviously disliked. I recall wondering that distinctly, while somehow missing the obvious connection that this boy was a prince and that I, the niece of a king, was a princess.
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Catherine Gilbert Murdock |
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97d0fc7
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That is the delusion of which I speak! You wish the joys of true love upon every milkmaid and stable boy in your land, and yet you consign yourself and another to lives of pure misery that you might possess a well-proportioned ballroom.
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Catherine Gilbert Murdock |
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d07872c
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Hell is paved with good intentions. Heaven is paved with Oreos.
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Catherine Gilbert Murdock |
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2f6603e
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If in this narrative I have not yet paid Queen Sophia adequate consideration, particularly given the unrelenting domination the woman would soon claim over every single element of my life, I offer this simple yet honest explanation: for fifteen unbroken years, my mother had toiled to protect me from the woman. It is remarkable, as I reflect upon my childhood, how utterly unaware I was of this situation while it transpired, the truth coming ..
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Catherine Gilbert Murdock |
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1a2668f
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Lord Frederick had been a stalwart member of the Montagne court since at least the time of my grandfather; this I knew. Even more, he had the marvellous ability to pull peppermint drops from my ears, which used to entertain me for hours.
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Catherine Gilbert Murdock |
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24abe32
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So it was that my life passed from the joyous realm of heaven to the choking and inescapable tortures of hell.
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Catherine Gilbert Murdock |