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“If you asked for a few words of comfort and
guidance I would quickly kneel by your side
and offer you a whole book …

— Hafez, from “Companion for LIfe,” Poetry of Presence: An Anthology of Mindfulness Poems, eds. Phyliis Cole-Davis & Ruby R. Wilson (Grayson Books, 2017)”
― Hafez

“Milena, if a million loved you, I am one of them, and if one loved you, it was me, if no one loved you then know that I am dead.”
― Franz Kafka, Letters to Milena

“What drunkenness is this that brings me hope”
― Hafiz

“« If he has a conscience he will suffer for his mistake. That will be his punishment—as well as the prison. »
« But the real geniuses, » asked Razimihin frowning, « those who have the right to murder? Oughtn’t they to suffer at all rven for the blood they’ve shed? »
« Why the word ought? It’s not a matter of permission or prohibition. He will suffer if he is sorry for his victim. Pain and suffering are always inevitable for a large intelligence and a deep heart. The really great men must, I think, have great sadness on earth, » he added dreamily, not in the tone of the conversation.”
― Fëdor Dostoevskij, Crime and Punishment