Gracie

“Why, Mr. Stevens, why, why, why do you always have to pretend?”
― Kazuo Ishiguro, The Remains of the Day

“WILLY [smiling]: Well, I figure, what the hell, life is short, a couple of jokes. [To himself] I joke too much! [The smile goes.]”
― Arthur Miller, Death of a Salesman

“Don’t you understand what I’m talking about? He’s going to kill himself, don’t you know that?”
― Arthur Miller, Death of a Salesman

“At Christmas parties games were rough, no doubt,
And one shy little guest might be left out;
But let's be fair: while children of her age
Were cast as elves and fairies on the stage
That she'd helped paint for the school pantomime,
My gentle girl appeared as Mother Time,
A bent charwoman with a slop pail and broom,
And like a fool I sobbed in the men's room.”
― Vladimir Nabokov , Pale Fire