Paul Ataua

“Eve wondered what mental illness tasted like to a serpent. Probably depended on the illness, she rationalized. Deep trauma would naturally be raw, pus, and ooze. Something like schizophrenia would be rancid on the outside, frozen and cold at its core. But Eve's mania, her continued depression, her anxiety, she felt would be dry and burnt, as if stuck in a deep freeze too long. Frosty and unsatisfying to the animal devouring it.”
― Elizabeth Bedlam, Hello, Old Friend

“If I had a flower for every time I thought of you, I could walk in my garden forever.”
― Kevin Kwan, Lies and Weddings

“Despite his limited experience of them, women, he believed, were in general more alert than men, more keenly receptive of the tiny signals the world sends streaming out endlessly. It made sense, since they were more vulnerable and therefore had to be always on their guard. The same as children, only children were more trusting.”
― John Banville, The Drowned

“In the realm of totalitarian kitsch, all answers are given in advance and preclude any questions. It follows, then, that the true opponent of totalitarian kitsch is the person who asks questions. A question is like a knife that slices through the stage backdrop and gives us a look at what lies hidden behind it.”
― Milan Kundera, The Unbearable Lightness of Being