“And as the ax bites into the wood, be comforted in the fact that the ache in your heart and the confusion in your soul means that you are still alive, still human, and still open to the beauty of the world, even though you have done nothing to deserve it.”
-Paul Harding, “Tinkers”
“Sitting shocked on the grass nearby, he stared at his hands ‘with unbelieving terror… The skin hung from them like long icicles. The fingers were curled and pointed, like the claws of a great wild bird–distorted, pointed at the ends like talons, ghostly thin. What would I do now? What use would be these paralyzed talons to me for the rest of my life?'”
– Max Hastings, “Inferno: The World at War, 1939-1945”
“I once asked Margot if she thought I was ugly. She said that I was cute and had nice eyes. A little vague, don’t you think?”
– Anne Frank, “The Diary of a Young Girl
“He was dreadfully tired. Not only because of the past, or the present, but because of all the complications he could foresee; he was already growing sentimental over the days he had just lived.”
– Georges Simenon, “The Widow”
“I’m sure there are aspects of my personality buried within me that will surface as soon as I know I am completely loved.”
– Jerzy Kosinski, “The Devil Tree”
“It wasn’t the thought of dying that disturbed me, but that I might die without leaving a trace.”
– Jerzy Kosinski, “Cockpit”
