Casper Ko

“The ancients waited for cherry blossoms, grieved when they were gone, and lamented their passing in countless poems. How very ordinary the poems had seemed to Sachiko when she read them as a girl, but now she knew, as well as one could know, that grieving over fallen cherry blossoms was more than a fad or convention.”
― Junichiro Tanizaki, The Makioka Sisters

“Were it not for shadows, there would be no beauty.”
― Jun'ichirō Tanizaki, In Praise of Shadows

“The world breaks everyone and afterward many are strong at the broken places. But those that will not break it kills. It kills the very good and the very gentle and the very brave impartially. If you are none of these you can be sure it will kill you too but there will be no special hurry.”
― Ernest Hemingway, A Farewell to Arms

“Sex and hypocrisy. They go together like coffee and cream.”
― Paolo Bacigalupi, The Windup Girl