Weekend Words #3

Weekend Words showcases inspiring quotes from books, about writing, and about life. This feature will happen every weekend, either on Saturday or Sunday, depending on my schedule. While this is a reading/writing centric blog, this feature doesn’t have to be focused on those areas–it is intentionally open-ended to give bloggers a chance to say what’s on their mind. Quotes can just be typed, or they can involve graphic design or drawing.

Everyone should feel free to take part–it would honestly make my day! Complete instructions can be found on the feature’s page. 

1. A Powerful Quote From a Recent Read

This one is fairly self-explainitory. Share a quote from a book that you are either reading or just finished. Avoid spoilers (of course) but other than that, anything goes.

“She assured them, too, of her firm belief, that, at some brighter period, when the world should have grown ripe for it…a new truth would be revealed in order to establish the whole relation between man and woman on a surer ground of mutual happiness.” — Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter

Yep, another The Scarlet Letter quote. What can I say, I’m not in love with the plot, but it’s super quotable.

I love this quote, not because of its place in the book, but because of its implications for modern feminism. At the time of this book’s writing, feminism was a far off concept, barely glimpsed in this quote, but I believe that now, today, the “world is ripe” for more equal and positive gender relations.

2. A Quote that Inspired or Influenced Me This Week

This quote can deal with life, writing, reading–honestly anything.

“They ran into the fire to help get people out. Ran in to the fire. The streets of heaven are too crowded with angels tonight. They’re our students and our teachers and our parents and our friends. The streets of heaven are too crowded with angels, but every time we think we have measured our capacity to meet a challenge, we look up and we’re reminded that that capacity may well be limitless. This is a time for American heroes.” — “20 Hours in America: Part 1,” Aaron Sorkin

This quote is from one of the most moving The West Wing episodes ever. With the 9/11 anniversary, I couldn’t help but think that this quote–while it wasn’t written about the tragedy–is especially relevant this weekend.

3. Something I’ve Been Wanting to Say

This is a chance for you to share the little thoughts that you had that weren’t big enough for a blog post (or that don’t exactly fit the theme of your blog), but that you want to put out into the world.

It’s the little joys that make long weeks bearable. Feeling self-conscious about those little joys (such as okay-ly written paranormal books that I first read as a freshman), is just plain stupid…so I’m trying to avoid that.

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Since this feature is still very new, I’d love some feedback on how to format it to make it as user friendly as possible. Do you guys like the quote written out under the image (or is annoyingly repetitive)? What about the images I’ve been making for each quote–do you like them?

I hope you’re all having a great weekend! What quotes have inspired you recently?