Rolland Mccaslin

“All knowledge, the totality of all questions and answers, is contained in the dog.”
― Franz Kafka, The Great Wall of China and other Stories

“La strada non presa

Due strade divergevano in un bosco d'autunno
e dispiaciuto di non poterle percorrere entrambe,
essendo un solo viaggiatore, a lungo indugiai
fissandone una, più lontano che potevo
fin dove si perdeva tra i cespugli.

Poi presi l'altra, che era buona ugualmente
e aveva forse l'aspetto migliore
perché era erbosa e meno calpestata
sebbene il passaggio le avesse rese quasi uguali.

Ed entrambe quella mattina erano ricoperte di foglie
che nessun passo aveva annerito
oh, mi riservai la prima per un altro giorno
anche se, sapendo che una strada conduce verso un'altra,
dubitavo che sarei mai tornato indietro.

Lo racconterò con un sospiro
da qualche parte tra molti anni:
due strade divergevano in un bosco ed io -
io presi la meno battuta,
e questo ha fatto tutta la differenza.”
― Robert Frost

“The first time he had taken the massa to one of these "high-falutin' to-dos," as Bell called them, Kunta had been all but overwhelmed by conflicting emotions: awe, indignation, envy, contempt, fascination, revulsion—but most of all a deep loneliness and melancholy from which it took him almost a week to recover. He couldn't believe that such incredible wealth actually existed, that people really lived that way. It took him a long time, and a great many more parties, to realize that they didn't live that way, that it was all strangely unreal, a kind of beautiful dream the white folks were having, a lie they were telling themselves: that goodness can come from badness, that it's possible to be civilized with one another without treating as human beings those whose blood, sweat, and mother's milk made possible the life of privilege they led.”
― Alex Haley, Roots: The Saga of an American Family

“An empty stomach is better than full and grief is better than happiness.”
― Irving Stone, Lust for Life