…as it seldom happens that any felicity comes so pure as not to be tempered and allayed by some mixture of sorrow. — Miguel de Cervantes, Don Quixote. Francisco de Robles 1605 (Part One), 1615 (Part Two). Published in English 1612 (Part One), 1620 (Part Two).
I’m not sentimental–I’m as romantic as you are. The idea, you know, is that the sentimental person thinks things will last–the romantic person has a desperate confidence that they won’t. — F. Scott Fitzgerald, This Side of Paradise. (Scribner March 26, 1920)
I think, yes, a man and a woman can be good friends, but it isn’t easy for them being as no one else will suppose that that is what they are. And then there’s the problem of being different sexes. I think if they are good friends, then whatever else they are – or are… Continue reading A.S. Byatt
It is a curious subject of observation and inquiry, whether hatred and love be not the same thing at bottom. Each, in its utmost development, supposes a high degree of intimacy and heart-knowledge; each renders one individual dependent for the food of his affections and spiritual life upon another; each leaves the passionate lover, or… Continue reading Nathaniel Hawthorne
When he was alone, he consoled himself with the dream of the infinite rooms. He dreamed that he was getting out of bed, opening the door and going into an identical room with the same bed with a wrought-iron head, the same wicker chair, and the same small picture on the back wall. From that… Continue reading Gabriel García Márquez
There is a black pit in the bottom of my soul that has no limit to its falling. ― Claire North, The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August. (Redhook April 8, 2014)
No space of regret can make amends for one life’s opportunity misused. — Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol. Published 19 December 1843 (Chapman & Hall)
