John Pearman

“He forgets the books he has read, has no memory for dates and misplaces the momentous events in his life. Like a river, all flows over him, leaving nothing behind: no deep conviction, no solid opinion, nothing fixed, nothing stable.”
― Stefan Zweig, Montaigne

“There are times when I am convinced I am unfit for any human relationship.”
― Franz Kafka, Letters to Felice

“We mortals are condemned not to speak at that level of no information loss. We necessarily simplify, and indeed, vastly so. But that sacrifice is also our glory. Drastic simplification is what allows us to reduce situations to their bare bones, to discover abstract essences, to put our fingers on what matters, to understand phenomena at amazingly high levels, to survive reliably in this world, and to formulate literature, art, music, and science.”
― Douglas R. Hofstadter, I Am a Strange Loop

“To free oneself of ambitions and all forms of avarice: “Thirst for glory is the most futile of all, the most valueless and bogus currency known to man.”
― Stefan Zweig, Montaigne