I have an idea that the only thing which makes it possible to regard this world we live in without disgust is the beauty which now and then men create out of the chaos. The pictures they paint, the music they compose, the books they write, and the lives they lead. Of all these the richest in beauty is the beautiful life. That is the perfect work of art.
— W. Somerset Maugham, from The Painted Veil (Heinemann; January 1, 1949) (via The Hammock Papers)
PeterMJ quotes that make me lose my shit
“My wife is strong. My wife is smart. My wife is everything I could never be without the bite from that spider.”
“I don’t like bullies and I don’t scare easy. My loyalty runs deep, you sad little man. [...] He is my husband, you’re just some dude.”
“Her hair smelled like strawberries and cream. I love her... more than life.”
“I love you MJ. God, I love you so much. I want you to know that every night and every morning.”
“I love you too, Peter. You’re my lover and my husband and my very best friend. I love you.”
“The cheerleader and the science nerd. No one thought it would last. I did.”
“After decades together I know you better than I know myself. I know everything you’re about to say, I know your worries and your dreams. You’re my heart, Mary Jane Watson... you’re my jackpot.”
“I liked him because he enjoyed life... and even more importantly... he wore a mask too.”
“I’ll wait for you for as long as you need. Until the stars turn cold and fall from the sky. Whichever comes first.”
“I know I’m my heart of hearts that you and I were always meant to be together. [...] whatever he does to pulls us apart will have to be bigger and stronger than what brought us together and kept us together no matter what happened. And there’s no power in the universe big enough for a job like that. Not the devil, not god. Not anybody.”
“Thing is— I love him. I love him so much I can’t even think of a way to properly express it to you. It’s in my skin. I can actually feel it in my skin.
And the ever classic:
“Something in her makes me gentle. Makes me shy. Makes me strong. Makes me happy to be alive. And maybe that’s the thing. She makes me, she makes me whole. She completes me. [...] So here’s the thing god... I know you and I, we’ve got issues but right now... just for tonight... thank you. Thank you for her.”
"her heart lies somewhere else" you just know daniel knew in that moment.
oh, I'm sorry the themes of patience and fidelity weren't hashtag girlboss enough for you.
Family member: You used to write all the time as a kid. What happened? I thought you wanted to be a writer someday?
Me: *stares guiltily at ao3 account with one million words*
Go read an old fic.
There's such recency bias in fandom. As an author you post something, get a few reactions, and then it goes off into the bin. As a reader you check the tags, see what's new, and move on. But a lot of old stuff is really good. It's just sitting there, gathering dust, waiting for someone to take a peek.
So go on. Treat yourself.
Read an old fic.
You thought when people painted the "someday you're going to have to choose, for real, between the World and God, you won't be able to walk the line between both" picture that they were talking about martyrdom.
Some extreme. "Trample this picture of Jesus." "Say you don't believe!" "Convert to a different religion!"
You didn't realize that it wouldn't look like that. You didn't realize that when the line gets drawn in the sand, and Jesus is on one side, the other side would look like crying people wailing out, "why can't you just accept me for who I am? Why aren't I enough for you?"
You didn't realize that the choice would be between Jesus the Truth...or a majority of people in the culture making movies, making t-shirt slogans, changing their names, gently telling you that maybe this word in the Bible doesn't mean what you think it means, maybe love just means love, maybe you can have Jesus and whatever sexuality you want.
"Did God really say...?"
You thought it would be something overt. But the bad guys never said, "hey, choose the dark side over the light." They always said, "hey, maybe you don't even know what Jesus said."
The choice is: "It is the Lord. Let Him do what seems good to Him." OR "Did God really say...?"
That's the choice. This is where the rubber meets the road. This is our "choose this day who you will serve." As for me, I'm serving the Lord, and He's holding on to me. He never changes, and yes He did really say.
Hold fast to the truth. It doesn't change. People and cultures do.
actually [unwritten project] is my greatest accomplishment in life
i know i use the word iconic a lot in relation to harry james potter but i feel it bears repeating here
Harry after surviving someone's attempt to kill him: Still better than living with the Dursleys
Can you try to extrapolate on what scars Harry would have, please? Or what he'd look like if they're healed or in the process of healing.
He gets injured many times, so it's hard to believe we won't see any marks/proof of those on his skin.
Ohh, this is fun. Okay, so we have the canon scars we know of, and then there are injuries I think are likely to have scared, but not outright stated in the text to have done so. But this is actually a great catalog for writing purposes.
So this list is injuries we see in the books that we are explicitly told left a scar or I think are likely to leave a scar (both due to the injury itself and magic being involved):
First thing first, we got his infamous lightning scar that remained from the killing curse, forehead - Oct 1981
The only thing Harry liked about his own appearance was a very thin scar on his forehead that was shaped like a bolt of lightning.
(PS)
2. A puncture wound from the basilisk fang located on his right arm, above his elbow - June 1993
But as warm blood drenched Harry’s arms, he felt a searing pain just above his elbow. One long, poisonous fang was sinking deeper and deeper into his arm and it splintered as the basilisk keeled over sideways and fell, twitching, to the floor.
(CoS)
3. Cut from Hungarian Horntail, arm - Nov 1994
Harry plummeted just as the Horntail opened its mouth, but this time he was less lucky — he missed the flames, but the tail came whipping up to meet him instead, and as he swerved to the left, one of the long spikes grazed his shoulder, ripping his robes [...] And with a huge spurt of speed, he was off, he was soaring out over the stands, the heavy egg safely under his uninjured arm
(GoF)
*Charlie is mentioned to have a burn scar from a dragon so it's unknown how well magic could heal a dragon-made cut. It's possible the above would not leave a scar.
4. A small cut in the crook of his right elbow - June 1995
He felt its point penetrate the crook of his right arm and blood seeping down the sleeve of his torn robes.
(GoF)
5. "I must not tell lies" scar on the back of his right hand - Sep 1995
At the same time, the words had appeared on the back of Harry’s right hand, cut into his skin as though traced there by a scalpel
(OotP)
6. Nagini's bite, forearm - Dec 1997
7. Burn mark over his heart from the locket Horcrux - Dec 1997
“I couldn’t get the Horcrux off you,” Hermione said, and he knew she wanted to change the subject. “It was stuck, stuck to your chest. You’ve got a mark; I’m sorry, I had to use a Severing Charm to get it away. The snake bit you too, but I’ve cleaned the wound and put some dittany on it. ...” He pulled the sweaty T-shirt he was wearing away from himself and looked down. There was a scarlet oval over his heart where the locket had burned him. He could also see the half-healed puncture marks to his forearm.
(DH)
Now we have Harry's abuse at the Dursleys, which might've left scars:
Harry mentions having to duck out of Vernon's way:
“You don’t seem to need many qualifications to liaise with Muggles. . . . All they want is an O.W.L. in Muggle Studies. . . . ‘Much more important is your enthusiasm, patience, and a good sense of fun!’ ” “You’d need more than a good sense of fun to liaise with my uncle,” said Harry darkly. “Good sense of when to duck, more like . . .”
(OotP)
Vernon also manhandles Harry roughly (i.e. drags him away, pushes him aside, outright strangles him, etc.) throughout the books a lot. And Petunia tries to hit him with a frying pan:
but he still had to duck as she aimed a heavy blow at his head with the soapy frying pan.
(CoS)
So it's clear Harry was beaten but he doesn't really mention how bad, how often, or even how he was beaten so it's hard to tell what kind of scars (if any) it would result in. Vernon doesn't seem to use weapons and only ever uses his hands to harm Harry, Petunia might've bashed him on the head with various household items, but we don't really know if any of it left scars. So, there is a place for headcanon here.
I think it's safe to assume some marks remained, but nothing too glaringly noticeable or out of the ordinary as other characters don't comment on it. Similarly, his face only has the one lightning scar so all other scars would be elsewhere on his body or hidden by his hair (if he was hit on top of his head and it scared, his hair would hide the scar).
2. His nose broke at least once but probably more than once:
He wore round glasses held together with a lot of Scotch tape because of all the times Dudley had punched him on the nose.
(PS)
From the above, I take it Harry's nose probably broke but no one really noticed. So, his nose might be slightly crooked depending on how it healed. It's not exactly a scar, but still, something to note if you want to add it to how you headcanon Harry's appearance.
It's likely that Harry broke other bones in his years with the Dursleys, especially fingers which can be broken pretty easily (I broke mine like 3 times as a child). So, it's possible his pinkies (for example) don't match each other because one broke and healed in a different shape than before.
3. Welts from Marge's walking stick:
Aunt Marge had whacked Harry around the shins with her walking stick to stop him from beating Dudley at musical statues
(PoA)
It's possible this happened more than this one time and we don't know how bad it was. So, he might have welts on his shins and potentially other places depending on how bad/often you think Marge beat him during her various visits.
4. Now, I assume Harry suffered many scraps, bruises, and scratches throughout the years. Especially since he ran away from Dudley and his gang and climbed trees to get away from Aunt Marg's dog:
He was nine, and Ripper the bulldog was chasing him up a tree and the Dursleys were laughing below on the lawn. . .
(OotP)
But I think it's unlikely they left scars. Sometimes they do if you scratch the scab, for example. But as wizards tend to heal faster and better than muggles, I think small scraps like these are less likely to leave scars on wizards or witches in general, but it's possible they did.
5. Potentially other scraps and cuts that scared throughout the books themselves. Such as from Quidditch injuries, Crashing with the Ford Anglia, Blast-Ended Skrewts, running through forests, etc. But as I said above, less likely to leave scars on wizards, probably.
I might've missed something, but I tired to include all the ones I think are likely to have left some kind of mark.
*I'm aware Draco broke Harry's nose in HBP, unmentioned since Tonks magically healed it so I doubt it left a mark. Similarly, losing all the bones in his arm wouldn't leave a mark. Other non-magical injuries (like a Bludger to the head or falling off his broom or the ankle he sprained in GoF) that were treated by Pomphery are similarly unlikely to scar.