“
Have you ever been in love? Horrible isn't it? It makes you so vulnerable. It opens your chest and it opens up your heart and it means that someone can get inside you and mess you up.
”
”
Neil Gaiman (The Sandman, Vol. 9: The Kindly Ones)
“
Sometimes you wake up. Sometimes the fall kills you. And sometimes, when you fall, you fly.
”
”
Neil Gaiman (The Sandman, Vol. 6: Fables & Reflections)
“
Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.
”
”
Aldous Huxley (Complete Essays, Vol. II: 1926-1929)
“
I've been making a list of the things they don't teach you at school. They don't teach you how to love somebody. They don't teach you how to be famous. They don't teach you how to be rich or how to be poor. They don't teach you how to walk away from someone you don't love any longer. They don't teach you how to know what's going on in someone else's mind. They don't teach you what to say to someone who's dying. They don't teach you anything worth knowing.
”
”
Neil Gaiman (The Sandman, Vol. 9: The Kindly Ones)
“
Each friend represents a world in us, a world possibly not born until they arrive, and it is only by this meeting that a new world is born.
”
”
Anaïs Nin (The Diary of Anaïs Nin, Vol. 1: 1931-1934)
“
Everybody has a secret world inside of them. I mean everybody. All of the people in the whole world, I mean everybody — no matter how dull and boring they are on the outside. Inside them they've all got unimaginable, magnificent, wonderful, stupid, amazing worlds... Not just one world. Hundreds of them. Thousands, maybe.
”
”
Neil Gaiman (The Sandman, Vol. 5: A Game of You)
“
Things need not have happened to be true. Tales and dreams are the shadow-truths that will endure when mere facts are dust and ashes, and forgot.
”
”
Neil Gaiman (The Sandman, Vol. 3: Dream Country)
“
Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.
”
”
Oliver Goldsmith (The Citizen of the World, Or, Letters from a Chinese Philosopher, Residing in London, to His Friends in the Country, by Dr. Goldsmith (Vol. 1 of 2))
“
She's strong! And scary...I bet she's single...I'd put money on it..
”
”
Masashi Kishimoto (Naruto, Vol. 18: Tsunade's Choice (Naruto, #18))
“
We travel, some of us forever, to seek other states, other lives, other souls.
”
”
Anaïs Nin (The Diary of Anaïs Nin, Vol. 7: 1966-1974)
“
There comes a time when you look into the mirror and you realize that what you see is all that you will ever be. And then you accept it. Or you kill yourself. Or you stop looking in mirrors.
”
”
J. Michael Straczynski (Babylon 5: The Scripts of J. Michael Straczynski, Vol. 2)
“
Be reverent before the dawning day. Do not think of what will be in a year, or in ten years. Think of to-day.
”
”
Romain Rolland (Jean-Christophe, Vol. 1)
“
To avoid criticism say nothing, do nothing, be nothing.
”
”
Elbert Hubbard (Little Journeys to the Homes of the Great Vol. 3: American Statesmen)
“
Have you ever been in love? Horrible isn't it? It makes you so vulnerable. It opens your chest and it opens up your heart and it means that someone can get inside you and mess you up. You build up all these defenses, you build up a whole suit of armor, so that nothing can hurt you, then one stupid person, no different from any other stupid person, wanders into your stupid life...You give them a piece of you. They didn't ask for it. They did something dumb one day, like kiss you or smile at you, and then your life isn't your own anymore. Love takes hostages. It gets inside you. It eats you out and leaves you crying in the darkness, so simple a phrase like 'maybe we should be just friends' turns into a glass splinter working its way into your heart. It hurts. Not just in the imagination. Not just in the mind. It's a soul-hurt, a real gets-inside-you-and-rips-you-apart pain. I hate love.
”
”
Neil Gaiman (The Sandman, Vol. 9: The Kindly Ones)
“
The essence of being human is that one does not seek perfection.
”
”
George Orwell (In Front of Your Nose: 1945-1950 (The Collected Essays, Journalism & Letters, Vol. 4))
“
Sometimes we can choose the paths we follow. Sometimes our choices are made for us. And sometimes we have no choice at all.
”
”
Neil Gaiman (The Sandman, Vol. 4: Season of Mists)
“
That which is dreamed can never be lost, can never be undreamed.
”
”
Neil Gaiman (The Sandman, Vol. 10: The Wake)
“
You ought to expect better of people. It encourages you to be a better person yourself.
”
”
Jeph Jacques (Questionable Content, Vol. 1)
“
I tell you this
to break your heart,
by which I mean only
that it break open and never close again
to the rest of the world.
”
”
Mary Oliver (New and Selected Poems, Vol. 2)
“
To absent friends, lost loves, old gods, and the season of mists; and may each and every one of us always give the devil his due.
”
”
Neil Gaiman (The Sandman, Vol. 4: Season of Mists)
“
Then, one stupid person, no different from any other stupid person, wanders into your stupid life...you give them a piece of you. They don't ask for it. They do something dumb one day like kiss you or smile at you, and then your life isn't your own anymore.
”
”
Neil Gaiman (The Sandman, Vol. 9: The Kindly Ones)
“
Yesterday is but a dream,
Tomorrow is only a vision.
But today well lived makes every yesterday a dream of happiness, and every tomorrow a vision of hope.
”
”
Kālidāsa (The Complete Works of Kalidasa, Vol. 1: Poems)
“
When people are protecting something truly special to them, they truly can become...as strong as they can be.
”
”
Masashi Kishimoto (Naruto, Vol. 21: Pursuit (Naruto, #21))
“
Only the phoenix rises and does not descend. And everything changes. And nothing is truly lost.
”
”
Neil Gaiman (The Sandman, Vol. 10: The Wake)
“
There is not one big cosmic meaning for all; there is only the meaning we each give to our life, an individual meaning, an individual plot, like an individual novel, a book for each person.
”
”
Anaïs Nin (The Diary of Anaïs Nin, Vol. 1: 1931-1934)
“
I think I fell in love with her, a little bit. Isn't that dumb? But it was like I knew her. Like she was my oldest, dearest friend. The kind of person you can tell anything to, no matter how bad, and they'll still love you, because they know you. I wanted to go with her. I wanted her to notice me. And then she stopped walking. Under the moon, she stopped. And looked at us. She looked at me. Maybe she was trying to tell me something; I don't know. She probably didn't even know I was there. But I'll always love her. All my life.
”
”
Neil Gaiman (The Sandman, Vol. 8: Worlds' End)
“
You live like this, sheltered, in a delicate world, and you believe you are living. Then you read a book… or you take a trip… and you discover that you are not living, that you are hibernating. The symptoms of hibernating are easily detectable: first, restlessness. The second symptom (when hibernating becomes dangerous and might degenerate into death): absence of pleasure. That is all. It appears like an innocuous illness. Monotony, boredom, death. Millions live like this (or die like this) without knowing it. They work in offices. They drive a car. They picnic with their families. They raise children. And then some shock treatment takes place, a person, a book, a song, and it awakens them and saves them from death. Some never awaken.
”
”
Anaïs Nin (The Diary of Anaïs Nin, Vol. 1: 1931-1934)
“
A smile is the best way to get away with trouble even if it’s a fake one.
”
”
Masashi Kishimoto (Naruto, Vol. 1: Uzumaki Naruto (Naruto, #1))
“
Nothing's perfect, the world's not perfect. But it's there for us, trying the best it can; that's what makes it so damn beautiful.
”
”
Hiromu Arakawa (Fullmetal Alchemist, Vol. 1)
“
By four o'clock, I've discounted suicide in favor of killing everyone else in the entire world instead.
”
”
Warren Ellis (Transmetropolitan, Vol. 3: Year of the Bastard)
“
I may not be smart enough to do everything, but I am dumb enough to try anything.
”
”
Geoff Johns (Teen Titans, Vol. 3: Beast Boys and Girls)
“
To think of him in the middle of the day lifts me out of ordinary living.
”
”
Anaïs Nin (The Diary of Anaïs Nin, Vol. 1: 1931-1934)
“
I like the stars. It's the illusion of permanence, I think. I mean, they're always flaring up and caving in and going out. But from here, I can pretend...I can pretend that things last. I can pretend that lives last longer than moments. Gods come, and gods go. Mortals flicker and flash and fade. Worlds don't last; and stars and galaxies are transient, fleeting things that twinkle like fireflies and vanish into cold and dust. But I can pretend...
”
”
Neil Gaiman (The Sandman, Vol. 7: Brief Lives)
“
You don't have to stay anywhere forever.
”
”
Neil Gaiman (The Sandman, Vol. 9: The Kindly Ones)
“
I think hell is something you carry around with you. Not somewhere you go.
”
”
Neil Gaiman (The Sandman, Vol. 4: Season of Mists)
“
Man can never know the loneliness a woman knows. Man lies in the woman's womb only to gather strength, he nourishes himself from this fusion, and then he rises and goes into the world, into his work, into battle, into art. He is not lonely. He is busy. The memory of the swim in amniotic fluid gives him energy, completion. Woman may be busy too, but she feels empty. Sensuality for her is not only a wave of pleasure in which she is bathed, and a charge of electric joy at contact with another. When man lies in her womb, she is fulfilled, each act of love a taking of man within her, an act of birth and rebirth, of child rearing and man bearing. Man lies in her womb and is reborn each time anew with a desire to act, to be. But for woman, the climax is not in the birth, but in the moment man rests inside of her.
”
”
Anaïs Nin (The Diary of Anaïs Nin, Vol. 1: 1931-1934)
“
But he did not understand the price. Mortals never do. They only see the prize, their heart's desire, their dream... But the price of getting what you want, is getting what you once wanted.
”
”
Neil Gaiman (The Sandman, Vol. 3: Dream Country)
“
If I were the rain. . . that binds together the Earth and the sky, whom in all eternity will never mingle. . . Would I be able to bind two hearts together?
”
”
Tite Kubo (Bleach, Vol. 1)
“
I don’t really want to become normal, average, standard. I want merely to gain in strength, in the courage to live out my life more fully, enjoy more, experience more. I want to develop even more original and more unconventional traits
”
”
Anaïs Nin (The Diary of Anaïs Nin, Vol. 1: 1931-1934)
“
I disregard the proportions, the measures, the tempo of the ordinary world. I refuse to live in the ordinary world as ordinary women. To enter ordinary relationships. I want ecstasy. I am a neurotic — in the sense that I live in my world. I will not adjust myself to the world. I am adjusted to myself.
”
”
Anaïs Nin (The Diary of Anaïs Nin, Vol. 1: 1931-1934)
“
But even when the moon looks like it's waning...it's actually never changing shape. Don't ever forget that.
”
”
Ai Yazawa (Nana, Vol. 14)
“
I’m trying now to exaggerate the essence of things, and to deliberately leave vague what’s obvious.
”
”
Vincent van Gogh (Complete Letters of Vincent Van Gogh - III vols)
“
We make choices. No one else can live our lives for us. And we must confront and accept the consequences of our actions.
”
”
Neil Gaiman (The Sandman, Vol. 9: The Kindly Ones)
“
If I were rain,
That joins sky and earth that otherwise never touch,
Could I join two hearts as well?
”
”
Tite Kubo (Bleach, Vol. 1)
“
Crap.
It's all crap.
Living is crap.
Life has no meaning.
None. Nowhere to be found.
Crap.
Why doesn't anybody realize this?
”
”
K-Ske Hasegawa (Ballad of a Shinigami, Vol. 1 (Ballad of a Shinigami, #1))
“
Even when our eyes are closed, there's a whole world that exists outside ourselves and our dreams.
”
”
Hiromu Arakawa (Fullmetal Alchemist, Vol. 1)
“
I only want to live in peace, plant potatoes and dream!
”
”
Tove Jansson (Moomin: The Complete Tove Jansson Comic Strip, Vol. 01)
“
Sure, in a ninja's world, those who violate the rules and fail to follow orders...are lower than garbage. However...those who do not care for and support their fellows...are even lower than that!" - Obito Uchiha
”
”
Masashi Kishimoto (Naruto, Vol. 27: Departure (Naruto, #27))
“
What we call our destiny is truly our character and that character can be altered. The knowledge that we are responsible for our actions and attitudes does not need to be discouraging, because it also means that we are free to change this destiny. One is not in bondage to the past, which has shaped our feelings, to race, inheritance, background. All this can be altered if we have the courage to examine how it formed us. We can alter the chemistry provided we have the courage to dissect the elements.
”
”
Anaïs Nin (The Diary of Anaïs Nin, Vol. 1: 1931-1934)
“
For love is no part of the dreamworld. Love belongs to Desire, and Desire is always cruel.
”
”
Neil Gaiman (The Sandman, Vol. 2: The Doll's House)
“
When we blindly adopt a religion, a political system, a literary dogma, we become automatons.
”
”
Anaïs Nin (The Diary of Anaïs Nin, Vol. 4: 1944-1947)
“
I am troubled, immeasurably
by your eyes.
I am struck by the feather
of your soft reply.
The sound of glass
speaks quick, disdain
and conceals
what your eyes fight
to explain.
”
”
Jim Morrison (Wilderness: The Lost Writings, Vol. 1)
“
Humankind cannot gain something without first giving something in return. To obtain, something of equal value must be lost. This is Alchemy's First Law of Equivalent Exchange. In those days, we really believed that to be the world's one, and only, truth.
”
”
Hiromu Arakawa (Fullmetal Alchemist, Vol. 1)
“
His hands were weak and shaking from carrying far too many books from the bookshop. It was the best feeling.
”
”
Joseph Gordon-Levitt (The Tiny Book of Tiny Stories, Vol. 1)
“
Haven't you ever heard of the saying, "If you want to shoot the general, first shoot the horse!"?' --Lin
If you wanna shoot the general, then you should just SHOOT THE GENERAL!' --Ed
”
”
Hiromu Arakawa (Fullmetal Alchemist, Vol. 14 (Fullmetal Alchemist, #14))
“
In my childhood diary I wrote: “I have decided that it is better not to love anyone, because when you love people, then you have to be separated from them, and that hurts too much.
”
”
Anaïs Nin (The Diary of Anaïs Nin, Vol. 1: 1931-1934)
“
The Sun is such a lonely star. Whenever he comes out to see his friends, they all disappear.
”
”
Joseph Gordon-Levitt (The Tiny Book of Tiny Stories, Vol. 1)
“
Kira: L, do you know
Gods of death
love apples?
L: Damn you, Kira...
”
”
Tsugumi Ohba (Death Note, Vol. 2: Confluence (Death Note, #2))
“
The life of the dead is set in the memory of the living.
”
”
Marcus Tullius Cicero (Philippics (Cicero, Vol 15))
“
I have no brakes on...analysis is for those who are paralyzed by life.
”
”
Anaïs Nin (The Diary of Anaïs Nin, Vol. 1: 1931-1934)
“
We're all born with selfish desires, so we can all relate to those feelings in others. But kindness is something made individually by each person...so it's easy to misunderstand when others are trying to be kind to you.
”
”
Natsuki Takaya (Fruits Basket Ultimate Edition, Vol. 3)
“
We do what we do, because of who we are. If we did otherwise, we would not be ourselves.
”
”
Neil Gaiman (The Sandman, Vol. 9: The Kindly Ones)
“
I wish I could've lived my life without making any wrong turns. But that's impossible. A path like that doesn't exist. We fail. We trip. We get lost. We make mistakes. And little by little, one step at a time, we push forward. It's all we can do. On our own two feet.
”
”
Natsuki Takaya (Fruits Basket, Vol. 21)
“
People are only what they think of themselves.
”
”
Ai Yazawa (Nana, Vol. 1)
“
Did you ever want to set someone's head on fire, just to see what it looked like? Did you ever stand in the street and think to yourself, I could make that nun go blind just by giving her a kiss? Did you ever lay out plans for stitching babies and stray cats into a Perfect New Human? Did you ever stand naked surrounded by people who want your gleaming sperm, squirting frankincense, soma and testosterone from every pore? If so, then you're the bastard who stole my drugs Friday night. And I'll find you. Oh, yes.
”
”
Warren Ellis (Transmetropolitan, Vol. 5: Lonely City)
“
Writing is thinking. To write well is to think clearly. That's why it's so hard."
(Interview with NEH chairman Bruce Cole, Humanities, July/Aug. 2002, Vol. 23/No. 4)
”
”
David McCullough
“
I know who I am and who I may be, if I choose.
”
”
Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra (Don Quixote de La Mancha, Vol. 1)
“
There is no such thing as coincidence in this world. The only thing is hitsuzen.
Hitsuzen...A naturally fore-ordained event. A state in which all other outcomes are impossible.
”
”
Clamp (xxxHolic, Vol. 1 (xxxHOLiC, #1))
“
What is written without effort is in general read without pleasure.
”
”
Samuel Johnson (Johnsonian Miscellanies - Vol II)
“
The thing about smart mother fuckers is that sometimes, they sound like crazy mother fuckers to stupid mother fuckers...
”
”
Robert Kirkman (The Walking Dead, Vol. 9: Here We Remain)
“
Do you know why the big brother is born first? It’s to protect the little brothers and sisters that come after him. A brother telling his sister, "I’ll kill you"... You never, ever say something like that.
”
”
Tite Kubo (Bleach, Vol. 1)
“
She had no need to ask why he had come. She knew as certainly as if he had told her that he was here to be where she was.
”
”
Leo Tolstoy (Anna Karenina, Vol 1 of 8)
“
Sometimes it feels like the whole world is conspiring to destroy my house... "
- Shigure Sohma
”
”
Natsuki Takaya (Fruits Basket, Vol. 2)
“
In these times I don't, in a manner of speaking, know what I want; perhaps I don't want what I know and want what I don't know.
”
”
Marsilio Ficino (The Letters of Marsilio Ficino, Vol. 3)
“
It has always been the prerogative of children and half-wits to point out that the emperor has no clothes. But a half-wit remains a half-wit, and the emperor remains an emperor.
”
”
Neil Gaiman (The Sandman, Vol. 9: The Kindly Ones)
“
When the first living thing existed, I was there waiting. When the last living thing dies, my job will be finished. I'll put the chairs on the tables, turn out the lights and lock the universe behind me when I leave.
”
”
Neil Gaiman (The Sandman, Vol. 3: Dream Country)
“
Remember this well. There are two kind of fights. As long as we place ourselves in battle, we must always know the difference: fights to defend life… and fights to defend pride…
”
”
Tite Kubo (Bleach, Vol. 1)
“
All around me darkness gathers,
Fading is the sun that shone,
We must speak of other matters,
You can be me when I'm gone
Flowers gathered in the morning,
Afternoon they blossom on,
Still are withered in the evening,
You can be me when I'm gone.
”
”
Neil Gaiman (The Sandman, Vol. 9: The Kindly Ones)
“
Sir, when a man is tired of London, he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford.
”
”
Samuel Johnson (The Life of Samuel Johnson LL.D. Vol 3)
“
Well, look who I ran into,"
crowed Coincidence.
"Please," flirted Fate, "this
was meant to be.
”
”
Joseph Gordon-Levitt (The Tiny Book of Tiny Stories, Vol. 1)
“
Enduring and forgiving are two different things. You must not forgive the cruelty of this world. It's our duty as human beings to be angry at injustice. But we must also endure it. Because someone must sever this chain of hatred.
”
”
Hiromu Arakawa (Fullmetal Alchemist, Vol. 18 (Fullmetal Alchemist, #18))
“
If I love you it means we share the same fantasies, the same madnesses
”
”
Anaïs Nin (The Diary of Anaïs Nin, Vol. 1: 1931-1934)
“
Toţi suntem trişti, spunea el. Nu se vede întotdeauna, dar toţi oamenii sunt trişti.
”
”
Mircea Eliade (Noaptea de Sânziene (Vol. 1+2))
“
Ordinary life does not interest me. I seek only the high moments. I am in accord with the surrealists, searching for the marvelous. I want to be a writer who reminds others that these moments exist; I want to prove that there is infinite space, infinite meaning, infinite dimension. But I am not always in what I call a state of grace. I have days of illuminations and fevers. I have days when the music in my head stops. Then I mend socks, prune trees, can fruits, polish furniture. But while I am doing this I feel I am not living.
”
”
Anaïs Nin (The Diary of Anaïs Nin, Vol. 1: 1931-1934)
“
If I can't do it. . . I'll just die.
But if I win, I live.
If I don't fight, I can't win.
”
”
Hajime Isayama (Attack on Titan, Vol. 2)
“
I never desire to converse with a man who has written more than he has read.
”
”
Samuel Johnson (Johnsonian Miscellanies - Vol II)
“
I held my breath as we do sometimes to stop time when something wonderful has touched us...
”
”
Mary Oliver (New and Selected Poems, Vol. 2)
“
You attend the funeral, you bid the dead farewell. You grieve. Then you continue with your life. And at times the fact of her absence will hit you like a blow to the chest, and you will weep. But this will happen less and less as time goes on. She is dead. You are alive. So live.
”
”
Neil Gaiman (The Sandman, Vol. 6: Fables & Reflections)
“
Books are the carriers of civilization. Without books, history is silent, literature dumb, science crippled, thought and speculation at a standstill. Without books, the development of civilization would have been impossible. They are engines of change (as the poet said), windows on the world and lighthouses erected in the sea of time. They are companions, teachers, magicians, bankers of the treasures of the mind. Books are humanity in print.
[Bulletin of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Vol. 34, No. 2 (Nov. 1980), pp. 16-32]
”
”
Barbara W. Tuchman
“
I prefer by far the warmth and softness to mere brilliancy and coldness. Some people remind me of sharp dazzling diamonds. Valuable but lifeless and loveless. Others, of the simplest field flowers, with hearts full of dew and with all the tints of celestial beauty reflected in their modest petals.
”
”
Anaïs Nin (The Early Diary of Anaïs Nin, Vol. 2: 1920-1923)
“
A lesson without pain is meaningless. That's because no one can gain without sacrificing something. But by enduring that pain and overcoming it, he shall obtain a powerful, unmatched heart. A fullmetal heart.
”
”
Hiromu Arakawa (Fullmetal Alchemist, Vol. 25 (Fullmetal Alchemist, #25))
“
I like black for clothes, small items, and jewelry. It's a color that can't be violated by any other colors. A color that simply keeps being itself. A color that sinks more somberly than any other color, yet asserts itself more than all other colors. It's a passionate gallant color. Anything is wonderful if it transcends things rather than being halfway...
”
”
Yana Toboso (Black Butler, Vol. 1 (Black Butler, #1))
“
I would like to have your sureness. I am waiting for love, the core of a woman's life."
Don't wait for it," I said. "Create a world, your world. Alone. Stand alone. And then love will come to you, then it comes to you. It was only when I wrote my first book that the world I wanted to live in opened to me.
”
”
Anaïs Nin (The Diary of Anaïs Nin, Vol. 1: 1931-1934)
“
I doubt if I shall ever have time to read the book again -- there are too many new ones coming out all the time which I want to read. Yet an old book has something for me which no new book can ever have -- for at every reading the memories and atmosphere of other readings come back and I am reading old years as well as an old book.
”
”
L.M. Montgomery (The Selected Journals Of L.M. Montgomery, Vol. 3: 1921-1929)
“
Lucifer protests he was never to blame for inducing anyone to sin, and that he’s never had an interest in owning souls: 'They die, and they come here – having transgressed against what they believed to be right – and expect us to fulfill their desire for pain and retribution. I don’t make them come here… I need no souls. And how can anyone own a soul? No, they belong to themselves. They just hate to have to face up to it.
”
”
Neil Gaiman (The Sandman, Vol. 4: Season of Mists)
“
We're always contradicting ourselves.
We want people to tell us apart....
...yet we don't want them to be able to.
We want people to get to know us...
...but we also want them to keep their distance.
We've always longed for someone to accept us...
But we never believed there'd be anyone who would accept our twisted ways.
That's why we'll stay locked up tight...
...in our own little private world...
...and throw away the key, so that no one can ever hurt us.
”
”
Bisco Hatori (Ouran High School Host Club, Vol. 9 (Ouran High School Host Club, #9))
“
The Poet With His Face In His Hands
You want to cry aloud for your
mistakes. But to tell the truth the world
doesn’t need anymore of that sound.
So if you’re going to do it and can’t
stop yourself, if your pretty mouth can’t
hold it in, at least go by yourself across
the forty fields and the forty dark inclines
of rocks and water to the place where
the falls are flinging out their white sheets
like crazy, and there is a cave behind all that
jubilation and water fun and you can
stand there, under it, and roar all you
want and nothing will be disturbed; you can
drip with despair all afternoon and still,
on a green branch, its wings just lightly touched
by the passing foil of the water, the thrush,
puffing out its spotted breast, will sing
of the perfect, stone-hard beauty of everything.
”
”
Mary Oliver (New and Selected Poems, Vol. 2)
“
We were never lovers, and we never will be, now. I do not regret that, however. I regret the conversations we never had, the time we did not spend together. I regret that I never told him that he made me happy, when I was in his company. The world was the better for his being in it. These things alone do I now regret: things left unsaid. And he is gone, and I am old.
”
”
Neil Gaiman (The Sandman, Vol. 10: The Wake)
“
Have you ever been in love? Horrible, isn't it? It makes you so vulnerable. It opens your chest and it opens up your heart and it means that someone can get inside you and mess you up. You build up all these defenses. You build up this whole armor, for years, so nothing can hurt you, then one stupid person, no different from any other stupid person, wanders into your stupid life… You give them a piece of you. They don't ask for it. They do something dumb one day like kiss you, or smile at you, and then your life isn't your own anymore. Love takes hostages. It gets inside you. It eats you out and leaves you crying in the darkness, so a simple phrase like "maybe we should just be friends" or "how very perceptive" turns into a glass splinter working its way into your heart. It hurts. Not just in the imagination. Not just in the mind. It's a soul-hurt, a body-hurt, a real gets-inside-you-and-rips-you-apart pain. Nothing should be able to do that. Especially not love. I hate love.
”
”
Neil Gaiman (The Sandman, Vol. 9: The Kindly Ones)
“
Do you know what I would answer to someone who asked me for a description of myself, in a hurry? This:
?? !!
For indeed my life is a perpetual question mark--my thirst for books, my observations of people, all tend to satisfy a great, overwhelming desire to know, to understand, to find an answer to a million questions. And gradually the answers are revealed, many things are explained, and above all, many things are given names and described, and my restlessness is subdued. Then I become an exclamatory person, clapping my hands to the immense surprises the world holds for me, and falling from one ecstasy into another. I have the habit of peeping and prying and listening and seeking--passionate curiosity and expectation. But I have also the habit of being surprised, the habit of being filled with wonder and satisfaction each time I stumble on some wondrous thing. The first habit could make me a philosopher or a cynic or perhaps a humorist. But the other habit destroys all the delicate foundations, and I find each day that I am still...only a Woman!
”
”
Anaïs Nin (The Early Diary of Anaïs Nin, Vol. 2: 1920-1923)