the sum

I am astonished, disappointed, pleased with myself. I am distressed, depressed, rapturous. I am all these things at once, and cannot add up the sum.

— Memories, Dreams, Reflections by Carl Jung

moony

Ah, it was a fine night, a warm night, a wine-drinking night, a moony night, and a night to hug your girl and talk and spit and be heavengoing.

—On the Road by Jack Kerouac

seeking

He was seeking a soul worthy of participating in the universe.

–“The Circular Ruins” by Jorge Luis Borges

little worlds

Leave the great world, let it run riot,

And let us stay where it is quiet.

It’s something that has long been done,

To fashion little worlds within the bigger one.

—Goethe’s Faust translated by Walter Kaufmann

ordinary

Still, there are times I am bewildered by each mile I have travelled, each meal I have eaten, each person I have known, each room in which I have slept. As ordinary as it all appears, there are times when it is beyond my imagination.

–“The Third and Final Continent” by Jhumpa Lahiri

evanescent

Truly human life is as evanescent as the morning dew or a flash of lightning.

–“In a Grove” by Ryunosuke Akutagawa

story

His story, as the story of every one of us, started long before we were born.

–“Immortality” by Yiyun Li

secret

For the secret of man’s being is not only to live but to have something to live for.

—The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky

 

days

I hadn’t understood how days could be both long and short at the same time: long to live through, maybe, but so drawn out that they ended up flowing into one another.

—The Stranger by Albert Camus

hope

Deep within the core of hope is the belief that things can change.

—Let Every Heart Prepare Him Room by Jean Wise