Ashley Duval

“Hitoshi:

I'll never be able to be here again. As the minutes slide by, I move on. The flow of time is something I cannot stop. I haven't a choice. I go.

One caravan has stopped, another starts up. There are people I've yet to meet, others I'll never see again. People who are gone before you know it, people who are just passing through. Even as we exchange hellos, they seem to grow transparent. I must keep living with the flowing river before my eyes.

I earnestly pray that a trace of my girl-child self will always be with you.

For waving good-bye, I thank you.”
― Banana Yoshimoto, Kitchen

“There's no such thing as effortless beauty--you should know that.

There's no effort which is not beautiful--lifting a heavy stone or loving you.

Loving you is like lifting a heavy stone. It would be easier not to do it and I'm not quite sure why I am doing it. It takes all my strength and all my determination, and I said I wouldn't love someone again like this. Is there any sense in loving someone you can only wake up to by chance?”
― Jeanette Winterson, The PowerBook

“He stepped back, away from her. He shook his head in disbelief. “You know, I shouldn’t try to go out with career women. You’re all stricken. A guy can really tell what life has done to you. I do better with women who have part-time jobs.”

“Oh, yes?” said Zoe. She had once read an article entitled “Professional Women and the Demographics of Grief.” Or no, it was a poem: If there were a lake, the moonlight would dance across it in conniptions. She remembered that line. But perhaps the title was “The Empty House: Aesthetics of Bareness.” Or maybe “Space Gypsies: Girls in Academe.” She had forgotten.”
― Lorrie Moore, Like Life: Stories

“There's so little wonder left in the world because we've seen everything one way or another'.”
― Jeanette Winterson, Sexing the Cherry