I was where I was, where I would be, and where I am.
It was late. It did not matter. He would never catch up with his past. His life was
slowing down. It was going. He could feel it, could hear it in his speech. It sounded like
nothing, yet he would pass it on. And his children would live in it and they would pass it on,
and it would always sound like hope dying, like space opening, like a lawn, or a lake, or an
afternoon. And pain could not give it the meaning it lacked; there was no pain, only disappearance.
Why had he begun in the first place? He was tired, and gave himself up to sleep, and slept where
he was, and slept without dreaming, so that when he woke, it seemed as if nothing had happened.
He felt himself at that moment to be more than his need to survive, more than his losses,
because he was less than anything.
This is another place. What light there is spreads like a net over nothing. What is to
come has come to this before. This is the mirror in which pain is asleep. This is the country
nobody visits.
This is the place that was promised when I went to sleep, taken from me when I woke. This
is the place unknown to anyone. The mountains are not mountains anymore; the sun is not the sun.
One tends to forget how it was; I see myself, I see the shine of darkness on my brow. Once I was
whole.
Nothing is worth doing unless the consequences may be serious.
Let it be anywhere, on any night you wish, in your room that is empty and dark.
She will appear, looking like someone you knew: the friend who wasted her life.
The time has come for becoming a bit cold right here, to learn caution - better yet; to
look away, to go away.
. . . two men with the same principles probably aim with them at something basically different.
The voice of disappointment: "I listened for an echo and heard nothing but praise - "
There is an innocence in admiration; it is found in those to whom it has never occurred
that they, too, might be admired some day.
To speak ill of others is a dishonest way of praising ourselves.
All we are given are possibilities - to make ourselves one thing or another.
He sighed. There was a rush of air. . . fluttering of eyelids. . . and there were no more
chances. . . ever.
What a dreadful surprise. For everyone nowadays knows, absolutely is certain, that nothing
will ever happen to me. Others die, I go on. There are no consequences and no responsibilities.
Except that there are. But let's not talk about them, eh? By the time the consequences catch up
with you, it's too late.
Luck is not something you can mention in the presence of self-made men.
It's hard to make a comeback when you haven't been anywhere.
Man is the only creature who refuses to be what he is.
Realize that if you have time to whine and complain about something then you have the time
to do something about it.
All the old knives that have rusted in my back, I drive in yours.
Originality does not consist in saying what no one else has ever said before, but in
saying exactly what you think yourself.
. . .when all else fails, duck. It's not practical, but it can be momentarily comforting.
A bird does not sing because it has an answer. It sings because it has a song.
You can go through the rose bushes, but I'm going to walk on the path.
Surrender to none the fire of your soul.
Once you fuck with someone's mind, you can't go back to chit-chat.
She doesn't want to go out with anyone whose boobs are bigger than hers.
I don't know you, but I can shake your apple.
May I offer you my cherry?
I don't want to do anything I'll have to get a tetanus shot for.
I'll come to thee by moonlight, though hell should bar the way.
He jests at scars that never felt a wound.
Names are but the dust of time.
That's the trouble with feeling as though you're on top of the world. It's always a sure
sign that you and it are about to switch places.
A stone is a star that does not shine.
This is as bad as it can get, but don't count on it.
There's nothing new under the sun, but there are lots of old things we don't know.
I am the inferior of any man whose rights I trample under foot. Men are not superior by
reason of the accidents of race or color. They are superior who have the best heart - the best
brain. The superior man. . . stands erect by bending above the fallen. He rises by lifting others.
Not to go back is somewhat to advance, and men must walk, at least, before they dance.
In real life, unlike in Shakespeare, the sweetness of the rose depends upon the name it
bears. Things are not only what they are. They are, in very important respects, what they seem
to be.
Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups.
Destruction is the effect of cowardice, in the highest extreme.
Fame will go by and, so long, I've had you, fame. If it goes by, I've always known it was
fickle. So at least it's something I've experienced, but that's not where I live.
No handicap was anymore important than a man or woman made it.
