Matt Bruno

“This must be what it feels like to be dying, he thinks; the world remains around you, like a lover who does not want to hurt you by leaving, but in spirit it's already gone, taking with it the meaning of everything you shared. In truth it is already transforming into a future you will never be part of; and you realize only only then that it has been transforming all of this time, throughout your whole life, and you with it; and that, in fact, is life, though you never knew, and now it is over.”
― Paul Murray, The Bee Sting

“We're all different, but we all think everyone else is the same, he said. If they taught us that in school, I feel like the world would be a much happier place.”
― Paul Murray, The Bee Sting

“The girl beside you is talking about climate change. Specifically, she’s saying that she intends to travel as widely and see as many places as she can in the next few years, because sooner or later long-haul flights are going to be banned. You tell the girl that that is the most monstrously stupid and selfish thing you’ve ever heard. It’s like saying you want to hunt elephants because some day they’ll be extinct, you tell her. I’m not talking about hunting elephants, the girl says. I’m talking about seeing the world. I have one life. I want to see as much of the world as I can. You’re killing the world, you say. You’re killing the world because you don’t want to be bored.”
― Paul Murray, The Bee Sting

“we're taught to think of ourselves as flawed, inadequate, incomplete. Different in some way that is repugnant, that is unacceptable. We're taught that if we don't hide that difference away, we're going to be alone. Unloved. And so we learn to cover ourselves up, with products, labels, masks of one kind or another.”
― Paul Murray, The Bee Sting