b.

“It is like watching a magic trick. We cannot understand how it is done. So we ask: how can the magician change a couple of white silk scarves into a live rabbit? A lot of people experience the world with the same incredulity as when a magician suddenly pulls a rabbit out of a hat which has just been shown to them empty. In the case of the rabbit, we know the magician has tricked us. What we would like to know is just how he did it. But when it comes to the world it’s somewhat different. We know that the world is not all sleight of hand and deception because here we are in it, we are part of it. Actually, we are the white rabbit being pulled out of the hat. The only difference between us and the white rabbit is that the rabbit does not realize it is taking part in a magic trick. Unlike us.”
― Jostein Gaarder, Sophie's World

“What does “good” mean to you? Quality? Great. You and I think alike. But “good” to these guys is “familiar”. Good is somebody else’s hit. God forbid you make something unique, with an original vision. No, they want the “heart” of Forrest Gump, the “visual kinetics” of Star Wars, the “pacing” of Lethal Weapon 4, the “gloss” of Armageddon, shit like that.”
― Mick Garris, A Life in the Cinema

“And, round about his home, the glory That blushed and bloomed Is but a dim-remembered story Of the old time entombed.”
― Edgar Allan Poe, The Fall of the House of Usher

“The consciousness of life is higher than life, the knowledge of the laws of happiness is higher than happiness—that is what one must contend against.”
― Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Dream of a Ridiculous Man