Halldór Laxness
Whoever doesn’t live in poetry cannot survive here on earth. ― Halldór Laxness, Under the Glacier. (Vintage, March 8, 2005) Originally published 1968.
Category: Scandinavian Literature
Søren Kierkegaard
She awakens first at the touch of love; before that time she is a dream, yet in her dream life we can distinguish two stages: in the first, love dreams about her; in the second, she dreams about love. — Søren Kierkegaard, The Seducer’s Diary. (Princeton University Press August 18, 1997) Originally published 1843.
Edith Södergran
When the night falls I stand on the stairs and listen, the stars swarm in the garden and I stand out in the darkness. Hear, a star fell with a clang. Do not walk on the grass with bare feet; my garden is full of shards. — Edith Södergran, “The Stars,” Love and Solitude: Selected… Continue reading Edith Södergran
Peter Høeg
Do you know what the mathematical expression is for longing? … The negative numbers. The formalization of the feeling that you are missing something. — Peter Høeg, Smilla’s Sense of Snow (Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 1993)
