Herbert Trifone

“The consolation of fairy-stories, the joy of the happy ending; or more correctly of the good catastrophe, the sudden joyous "turn" (for there is no true end to any fairy-tale): this joy, which is one of the things which fairy-stories can produce supremely well, is not essentially "escapist," nor "fugitive." In its fairy-tale -- or otherworld -- setting, it is a sudden and miraculous grace: never to be counted on to recur. It does not deny the existence of dyscatastrophe, of sorrow and failure: the possibility of these is necessary to the joy of deliverance; it denies (in the face of much evidence, if you will) universal final defeat and in so far is evangelium, giving a fleeting glimpse of Joy, Joy beyond the walls of the world, poignant as grief.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, Tolkien On Fairy-stories

“The relevant measures are not ease and difficulty. The relevant measures are readiness and unreadiness. If the time isn’t right for a new idea, no power on earth can make it catch on, but if the time is right, it will sweep the world like wildfire.”
― Daniel Quinn, The Story of B: An Adventure of the Mind and Spirit

“Reading was the only amusement I allowed myself”
― Benjamin Franklin, The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin

“لعلها شيخوختي الحالية هي التي تجعلني أشعر - وأنا آثم في ذلك - بأن كل ما عشته في شبابي كان جميلاً وصالحاً .”
― Umberto Eco, The Name of the Rose