qingtian

“MIDNIGHT

The stars are soft as flowers, and as near;
The hills are webs of shadow, slowly spun;
No separate leaf or single blade is here-
All blend to one.

No moonbeam cuts the air; a sapphire light
Rolls lazily, and slips again to rest.
There is no edgèd thing in all this night,
Save in my breast.”
― Dorothy Parker, The Complete Poems of Dorothy Parker

“Wanting to test desire is nothing more than a ruse to get what we want without admitting that we want it.”
― André Aciman, Call Me by Your Name

“Am I wrong in thinking that these people have become such complete egoists and are so convinced of the normality of their way of life that they have never once doubted themselves?”
― Osamu Dazai, No Longer Human

“I had learned bit by bit the art of meeting people with a straight face—no, that’s not true: I have never been able to meet anyone without an accompaniment of painful smiles, the buffoonery of defeat. What I had acquired was the technique of stammering somehow, almost in a daze, the necessary small talk.”
― Osamu Dazai, No Longer Human