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"California's perpetual sun seemed to smile with a subdued self-satisfaction, relishing in its ability to brighten the spirit as much as the day."
"His anticipation and craving for a positive response- for validation from someone he considerably admired- was akin to a bloom desperately waiting for morning to sanction it to flower.
"Her slender, distinct nose, liquory brown eyes, and shiny waves of cascading chestnut brown hair rewarded the sun for finding her."
"Gratification is a cousin of pride, which is a cousin of self-respect and self respect is the uncle to dignity. It is a good family tree you bring to my class this morning."
"Antisemitism is a dangerously sinister, psycho-societal phenomenon deep-rooted in what I suspect to be a combination of three major factors: primal envy, polarization through differentiation, and ignorance through misconception."
"Yad Vashem's brilliant sheen of honor seared through the horrific lesions of the Nazi's calculated mass massacre like a determined dawn burning through the scars of history's darkest night. The Holocaust."
"He created an atmosphere of warmth and welcome that sprinkled optimism's herbs into solemn soup souring the entire south."
"An intense, yet understated simplicity within her evoked an allure impossible to ignore."
"They laid content on the soft grass in a private corner of the park staring deep into the unending, star-filled sky, searching for clues to their tomorrow in a vivid mosaic of reflections of yesterday."
"Giuliana cradled Marcello and Mia like the sepal of a plant cradles its flowers in a protective cuddle."
"The original incandescent globe lights that were installed in 1888 highlighted the chalk dust which tickled student's noses into the fringes of sneezing."
"They cherished this moment in peaceful contemplation, considering the future, the past, the world, the fireflies softly sparkling sporadically like pleasant thoughts drifting into the mind with welcome ease."
"Time is everything. It is perpetual, imperceptibly fusing the past with present and future with immeasurable, microscopic capsules of existence that we call 'Now!' And it is gone before we're able to perceive it, let alone acknowledge it. Yes, 'now' is the ultimate gift. It is gone, lived, and renewed in the very same instant."
"The mixture of light and shadow mirrored the very contrast between the brilliant life Chiano was granted, and the unconscionable torment cast upon the innocent children memorialized in the darkness inside."
"Inside, a peaceful, thoughtful dark surrounded the circular room, forming its own surreal world in a mysteriously thick curtain of black uncertainty echoing death's whispers."
"The park's watchful monuments honor their positions with a silent, regal salute to solitude's honor. Villa Borghese belongs to everyone and no one. It is where lovers discover and express their love, where the hopeful court the hoping, and the conflicted affirm their being as one, and reconcile their differences as two. It is where the lonely find solace and the gregarious celebrate. It is where nature smiles on the Eternal City below, while scratching the insistent itch demanding attention in the vast and mysterious sky above."
"He understood that learning was a proactive, two-sided coin: the student must actively seek to learn and seek out the best teachers from whom to do their learning, not merely expect to be taught."
"Seeing the world from a child's perspective teaches us all we need to know: to enjoy, to smile, to live- even amidst the cruel machinations of war."
"The prickly reality of human indifference slashes my independence into a sheer insignificance that paradoxically elevates me to a precious commodity: I am invaluable because I am dispensable."