Alvi

“They spent the first three years of school getting you to pretend stuff and then the rest of it marking you down if you did the same thing.”
― Margaret Atwood, Oryx and Crake

“Why are you staring at me?” she’d ask.
“‘Cause you’re pretty,” I’d reply.
“You’re the first one who’s ever said that.”
“I’m the only one who knows,” I’d tell her. “And believe me, I know.”
― Haruki Murakami, South of the Border, West of the Sun

“Justice," she said. " I've heard that word. It's a cold world. I tried it out," she said, still speaking in that low voice. "I wrote it down. I wrote it down several times and always it looked like a damn cold lie to me. There is no justice.”
― Jean Rhys, Wide Sargasso Sea

“なるかみの, すこしとよみて,
さしくもり,
あめもふらぬか,
きみをとどめむ

[A faint clap of thunder,
Clouded skies,
Perhaps rain will come.
If so, will you stay here with me?]

なるかみの,すこしとよみて,
ふらずとも,
わはとどまらむ,
いもしとどめば

[A faint clap of thunder,
Even if rain comes or not,
I will stay here,
Together with you.]

万葉集 11, 2514 - 2513 (Man'yōshū vol. 11, verse 2514 - 2513)”
― Man'yōshū