Allie Haberer · The University of Texas at Austin My favorite: "Why don't you tell me that 'if the girl had been worth having she'd have waited for you'? No, sir, the girl really worth having won't wait for anybody.” ― F. Scott Fitzgerald, This Side of Paradise 51 Of The Most Beautiful Sentences In Literature “At the still point, there the dance is.” —T. S. Eliot posted on Dec. 9, 2014, at 3:46 p.m. Jennifer SchafferBuzzFeed Staff We asked members of the BuzzFeed Community to tell us about their favorite lines from literature. Here are some of their most beautiful replies. Suggested by CindyH11 Creative Commons / Flickr: 58621196@N05 2. “In our village, folks say God crumbles up the old moon into stars.” —Alexander Solzhenitsyn, One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich Suggested by Jasmin B., via Facebook 3. “She wasn’t doing a thing that I could see, except standing there leaning on the balcony railing, holding the universe together.” —J. D. Salinger, “A Girl I Knew” Suggested by mollyp49cf70741 4. “I took a deep breath and listened to the old brag of my heart; I am, I am, I am.” —Sylvia Plath, The Bell Jar Suggested by Brooke K., via Facebook Suggested by tina6287 Creative Commons / Flickr: 29865701@N02 6. “Beauty is an enormous, unmerited gift given randomly, stupidly.” —Khaled Hosseini, And the Mountains Echoed Suggested by Danielle O., via Facebook 7. “Sometimes I can feel my bones straining under the weight of all the lives I’m not living.” —Jonathan Safran Foer, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close Suggested by Kellie C., via Facebook 8. “What are men to rocks and mountains?” —Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice Suggested by amandae16 Suggested by klavdijak22 Creative Commons / Flickr: rayseinefotos 10. “‘Dear God,’ she prayed, ‘let me be something every minute of every hour of my life.’” —Betty Smith, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn Suggested by Shanna B., via Facebook 11. “The curves of your lips rewrite history.” —Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray Suggested by Therese K., via Facebook 12. “A dream, all a dream, that ends in nothing, and leaves the sleeper where he lay down, but I wish you to know that you inspired it.” —Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities Suggested by amykartzmanr Suggested by natyjira Creative Commons / Flickr: junevre 14. “As Estha stirred the thick jam he thought Two Thoughts and the Two Thoughts he thought were these: a) Anything can happen to anyone. and b) It is best to be prepared.” —Arundhati Roy, The God of Small Things Suggested by Alyssa P., via Facebook 15. “If equal affection cannot be, let the more loving one be me.” —W. H. Auden, “The More Loving One” Suggested by Blake M., via Facebook 16. “And now that you don’t have to be perfect, you can be good.” —John Steinbeck, East of Eden Suggested by Missy W., via Facebook Suggested by Domo Creative Commons / Flickr: kwarz 18. “There are more things in Heaven and Earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.” —William Shakespeare, Hamlet Suggested by Emily F., via Facebook 19. “America, I’ve given you all and now I’m nothing.” —Allen Ginsburg, “America” Suggested by Jimmy C., via Facebook 20. “It might be that to surrender to happiness was to accept defeat, but it was a defeat better than many victories.” —W. Somerset Maugham, Of Human Bondage Suggested by fireworkshurricanes Suggested by amk93. Creative Commons / Flickr: chrisjl 22. “At the still point, there the dance is.” —T. S. Eliot, “Four Quartets” Suggested by vkanicka 23. “Once upon a time there was a boy who loved a girl, and her laughter was a question he wanted to spend his whole life answering.” —Nicole Krauss, The History of Love Suggested by Sam H., via Facebook 24. “In spite of everything, I still believe people are really good at heart.” —Anne Frank, The Diary of Anne Frank Suggested by claires10
Suggested by Christina G., via Facebook Creative Commons / Flickr: yousefmalallah 26. “The pieces I am, she gather them and gave them back to me in all the right order.” —Toni Morrison, Beloved Suggested by lisah4b5176fb6 27. “How wild it was, to let it be.” —Cheryl Strayed, Wild Suggested by Natalie P., via Facebook 28. “Do I dare / Disturb the universe?” —T. S. Eliot, “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” Suggested by Kati A., via Facebook Suggested by Barbara B., via Facebook Creative Commons / Flickr: library_of_congress 30. “She was lost in her longing to understand.” —Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Love in the Time of Cholera Suggested by melibellel 31. “She was becoming herself and daily casting aside that fictitious self which we assume like a garment with which to appear before the world.” —Kate Chopin, “The Awakening” Suggested by Madeline M., via Facebook 32. “We cross our bridges as we come to them and burn them behind us, with nothing to show for our progress except a memory of the smell of smoke, and the presumption that once our eyes watered.” —Tom Stoppard, Rosencratz and Guildenstern Are Dead Suggested by Liza Suggested by Kristen S., via Facebook Creative Commons / Flickr: nancyvioletavelez 34. “The half life of love is forever.” —Junot Diaz, This Is How You Lose Her Suggested by xxx 35. “I sing myself and celebrate myself.” —Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass Suggested by Alyssa M., via Facebook 36. “There are darknesses in life and there are lights, and you are one of the lights, the light of all lights.” —Bram Stroker, Dracula Suggested by Adam A., via Facebook Suggested by Emily W., via Facebook Creative Commons / Flickr: michael_wacker 37. “Tomorrow is always fresh, with no mistakes in it yet.” —L. M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables Suggested by Stacy W., via Facebook 38. “I could hear the human noise we sat there making, not one of us moving, not even when the room went dark.” —Raymond Carver, “What We Talk About When We Talk About Love” Suggested by Savey S., via Facebook 39. “I would always rather be happy than dignified.” —Charlotte Brontë , Jane Eyre Suggested by Chelsea Z., via Facebook Suggested by Sophie C., via Facebook Creative Commons Flickr: cedwardbrice 41. “I have spread my dreams under your feet; / Tread softly because you tread on my dreams” —W. B. Yeats, “Aedh Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven” Suggested by niamhmdd 42. “It frightened him to think what must have gone to the making of her eyes.” —Edith Wharton, The Age of Innocence Suggested by uncnicole 43. “For poems are like rainbows; they escape you quickly.” —Langston Hughes, The Big Sea Suggested by TonyaPenn Suggested by katepalo Creative Commons / Flickr: archer10 45. “I wondered if that was how forgiveness budded; not with the fanfare of epiphany, but with pain gathering its things, packing up, and slipping away unannounced in the middle of the night.” —Khaled Hosseini, The Kite Runner Suggested by Maria K., via Facebook 46. “So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.” –F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby Suggested by carlyh3 47. “Journeys end in lovers meeting.” —William Shakespeare, Twelfth Night Suggested by foresth2 Suggested by babydolllolita Creative Commons / Flickr: smithsonian 49. “It does not do well to dwell on dreams and forget to live, remember that.” —J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone Suggested by Tatiana H., via Facebook 50. “Everything was beautiful and nothing hurt.” —Kurt Vonnegut, Slaughterhouse-Five Suggested by Sara S., via Facebook 51. “One must be careful of books, and what is inside them, for words have the power to change us.” —Cassandra Clare, The Infernal Devices Suggested by par0023 http://www.buzzfeed.com/jenniferschaffer/i-am-i-am-i-am