Cicada

“What happened is the least of it. It’s a novel, and once you’ve finished a novel, what happened in it is of little importance and soon forgotten. What matters are the possibilities and ideas that the novel’s imaginary plot communicates to us and infuses us with, a plot that we recall far more vividly than real events and to which we pay far more attention.”
― Javier Marías, Los enamoramientos

“We learn by experience that happiness and pleasure are a fata morgana, which, visible from afar, vanish as we approach; that, on the other hand, suffering and pain are a reality, which makes its presence felt without any intermediary, and for its effect, stands in no need of illusion or the play of false hope.”
― Arthur Schopenhauer, Essays of Schopenhauer

“Learn what is to be taken seriously and laugh at the rest.”
― Herman Hesse

“When we read, another person thinks for us: we merely repeat his mental process.”
― Arthur Schopenhauer, Essays of Schopenhauer