Maria

“There is no reason to be afraid of death – when we exist, death is not; and when death exists, we are not. This, roughly, is how Epicurus put it a long time ago. I tend to think of it as like sharing a flat with a lodger you never see. The flat has two rooms, and two doors. Whenever you go through one door, the lodger goes out by the other.”
― Karl Ove Knausgård, The School of Night

“So, either by thy picture or my love,
  Thy self away, art present still with me;
  For thou not farther than my thoughts canst move,
  And I am still with them, and they with thee;
    Or, if they sleep, thy picture in my sight
    Awakes my heart, to heart's and eye's delight.”
― William Shakespeare, Shakespeare's Sonnets

“It’s very simple: what are we gaining—excuse me if I’m repeating myself—what are we gaining by a pragmatism that robs our life of poetry, dreams, mysticism—are these all lies? What is truth? Can you tell me that? We can only struggle along by using symbols, and we change them as we alter our views. By the way, let’s not neglect our drinks.”
― Knut Hamsun, Mysteries

“One cannot be dashed to the earth unless one is lifted first, and I learned to avoid hope.”
― Robin Hobb, Fool's Assassin