- Yet I was always exposed, always wide-eyed; even in sleep I did not cease to watch over myself, understanding nothing of my existence, growing crazy at the thought of not being able to stop being aware of myself, and envying all those simple people- clerks, revolutionaries, shopkeepers- who, with confidence and concentration, go about their little jobs. - The Eye by Vladimir Nabokov
- "Though she had no one to write to, she had bought herself a blotter, a writing case, a pen and envelopes; she would dust off her whatnot, look at herself in the mirror, take up a book, and then begin to daydream and let it fall to her lap. . . . She wanted to die. And she wanted to live in Paris." - Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert
- "When all was over at the cemetery Charles returned to the house. There was no one downstairs. He went up into the bedroom and saw her dress hanging up at the foot of the bed. Then, leaning against the secretaire, he remained there till it was dark, lost in sorrowful meditation. After all, she had loved him." - Gustave Flaubert, Madame Bovary
- "Later when she was calmer, she realized that she had doubtless been unjust to him. But the picking apart of of those we love always alienates us from them. One must not touch one's idols, a little of the gilt awlays comes off on one's fingers." - Gustave Flaubert, Madame Bovary
- "His eyes that had always been like lakes full of fishes, or waves of love, or bathtub steam and candle smoke, or at least like glasses of gin when he was sad, were now like two heavy green marbles, like the eyes of the mechanical fortune-teller on the Santa Monica pier." - weetzie bat, fransesca lia block
- "It's a stark thought that when we die most of us will leave behind uneaten biscuits, unused coffee, half toilet rolls, half cartons of milk in the fridge to go sour; that everyday functional things will outlive us and prove that we weren't ready to go; that we weren't smart or knowing or heroic; that we were just animals whose animal bodies stopped working without any sort of schedule or any consent from us." - the raw shark texts, steven hall
aug 1 2008 ∞
aug 1 2008 +