I know that pain is the most important thing in the universes. Greater than survival, greater than love, greater even than the beauty it brings about. For without pain, there can be no pleasure. Without sadness, there can be no happiness. Without misery there can be no beauty. And without these, life is endless, hopeless,… Continue reading Harlan Ellison
God is a feckless thug. — Colman Domingo [Victor Strand] Fear the Walking Dead, “The Diviner” Season 3 Episode 10. September 10, 2017.
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)
Most people are not looking for provable truths. As you said, truth is often accompanied by intense pain, and almost no one is looking for painful truths. What people need is beautiful, comforting stories that make them feel as if their lives have some meaning. — Haruki Murakami, 1Q84. (Shinchosha October 25, 2011)
I am a creature of grief and dust and bitter longings. There is an empty place within me where my heart was once. ― George R.R. Martin, A Clash of Kings. (Bantam; Reprint edition, May 28, 2002) Originally published 1998.
It is not merely enough to love literature if one wishes to spend one’s life as a writer. It is a dangerous undertaking on the most primitive level. For, it seems to me, the act of writing with serious intent involves enormous personal risk. It entails the ongoing courage for self-discovery. It means one will… Continue reading Harlan Ellison
The optimist proclaims that we live in the best of all possible worlds; and the pessimist fears this is true. ― James Branch Cabell, The Silver Stallion. (Del Rey, May 12, 1979) Originally published January 1st 1926,
The Vale of Soul-Making 