She lay in the darkness of her white satin bedroom, the mirrors throwing aureoles of false moonlight, the rows of perfume bottles creating false suspended gardens. — Anaïs Nin, from “Stella,” Winter of Artifice: Three Novelettes (Swallow Press, 1945 Advertisements
I will vanish in the morning light; I was only an invention of darkness. — Angela Carter, from “The Lady of the House of Love,” The Blood Chamber and Other Stories (Harper & Row, 1980)
That country where it is always turning late in the year. That country where the hills are fog and the rivers are mist; where noons go quickly, dusks and twilights linger, and midnights stay. That country composed in the main of cellars, sub-cellars, coal-bins, closets, attics, and pantries faced away from the sun. That country… Continue reading Ray Bradbury
I felt like crying but nothing came out. it was just a sort of sad sickness, sick sad, when you can’t feel any worse. I think you know it. I think everybody knows it now and then. but I think I have known it pretty often, too often. — Charles Bukowski, Tales of Ordinary Madness.… Continue reading Charles Bukowski
My body gnaws at me from one side and my spirit gnaws at me from the other. — Charles Bukowski, “I Love You, Albert,” Hot Water Music. (Black Sparrow Press; First edition. Edition, October 1983)
…but it is in despair that the most burning pleasures occur… ― Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Notes from Underground, W…but it is in despair that the most burning pleasures occur… ― Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Notes from Underground, White Nights, The Dream of a Ridiculous Man, and Selections from The House of the Dead. (Signet; Reissue edition, November 2,… Continue reading Fyodor Dostoyevsky
It is true when you are by yourself and you think about life, it is always sad. All that excitement and so on has a way of suddenly leaving you, and it’s as though, in the silence, somebody called your name, and you heard your name for the first time. — Katherine Mansfield, from “At… Continue reading Katherine Mansfield
