Pio Pezzi

“There are two men in me--one lives in the full sense of the word, the other reasons and passes judgment on the first. The first will perhaps take leave of you and the world forever in an hour now; and the second . . . the second?”
― Mikhail Lermontov, A Hero of Our Time

“... It seems my whole life was composed of these disjointed fractions of time, hanging around one public space and then another, as if I were waiting for trains that never game. ... I wandered from light to light until that dreaded hour when all the doors closed and, stepping from the world of warmth and people and conversation overheard, I felt the old familiar cold twist through my bones again and then it was all forgotten, the warmth, the lights; I had never been warm in my life, ever.”
― Donna Tartt, The Secret History

“JOE HELLER

True story, Word of Honor:
Joseph Heller, an important and funny writer
now dead,
and I were at a party given by a billionaire
on Shelter Island.

I said, “Joe, how does it make you feel
to know that our host only yesterday
may have made more money
than your novel ‘Catch-22’
has earned in its entire history?”
And Joe said, “I’ve got something he can never have.”
And I said, “What on earth could that be, Joe?”
And Joe said, “The knowledge that I’ve got enough.”
Not bad! Rest in peace!”
― Kurt Vonnegut

“I was always certain that I'd hear from you again - not like this, though, I had expected to spot you on a street somewhere, at a bus stop perhaps ... you would reply, calmly (never being one to register surprise), "Hello, Billy," as if all that time in between had been nothing more than an energizing summer nap. But there I go again playing scenarist.”
― Brent Wade, Company Man