Mike K

“Apart from this lying, or because of it, what most tormented Ivan Ilych was that no one pitied him as he wished to be pitied. At certain moments after prolonged suffering he wished most of all (though he would have been ashamed to confess it) for someone to pity him as a sick child is pitied.”
― Leo Tolstoy, The Death of Ivan Ilych

“And you’re alone, but not lonely.” It was still early, and they were the only customers in the bar. Music from a jazz trio played softly in the background. “I suppose,” Tsukuru said after some hesitation.”
― Haruki Murakami, Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage

“He learned about life at sixteen, first from Dostoevsky and then from the whores of New Orleans.”
― Richard Brautigan, Trout Fishing in America

“flexibility without structure isn’t flexibility at all; it’s just chaos.”
― Amanda Montell, Cultish: The Language of Fanaticism—Understanding the Social Science of Cult Influence