Jerry Jenkins

“A man crushed by reality puts on a show of endurance. If that's beyond your comprehension, dear reader, then you and I will never understand each other. Life's a farce, so we might as well make it a good one. But real life is a realm that I may never reach. The best that I can hope for is to loiter in the memory of these four days, so steeped with empathy. Four days that count more than five or ten years of my life. Four days that count more than a lifetime.”
― Osamu Dazai, The Flowers of Buffoonery

“Even now, I barely have the strength to reread what I've written.”
― Osamu Dazai, The Flowers of Buffoonery

“It was astonishing the number of useless things people found to do.”
― H.P. Lovecraft, The Horror in the Museum

“Shame on me for making such a mockery of myself. Blame it on my wounded pride. The fact is that my fear of being ridiculed is so intense I'd rather beat my critics to the punch. That's the epitome of cowardice.”
― Osamu Dazai, The Flowers of Buffoonery