Letia

“Imagine all that you have said to another, all the commentary you have exchanged with friends over drinks, over the phone with colleagues and distant relatives, all the prattle sent quickly, mindlessly over e-mail, messages typed into your cellular phone, and really, the sum of this interpersonal communication is the substance of your life, relationships being, as we know by now in our old ages, the meat of our lives;”
― Virginia Evans, The Correspondent

“It was the absolute farce of it all, said Elspeth. One day it all seemed so silly to me, and I couldn't stop laughing about it. The symbolic system collapsed. You write a good paper, and it's rejected because your reviewer was having a bad day. You're a perfect fit for a job, and you lose to the committee chair's godson. Once you have a job it doesn't get better-do you know how many people are passed over for tenure because someone somewhere once felt they were rude at a party? I mean what's the fucking point? I couldn't keep up the charade, but I also couldn't see the value in anything else, so I put a stop to it all. I could not care anymore.”
― R.F. Kuang, Katabasis

“Perhaps human intelligence was a mistake, and everyone who celebrated the escape from the Garden of Eden was wrong. Perhaps the gift of rationality did not outweigh the debilitating agony that came with it.”
― R.F. Kuang, Katabasis

“when someone(s) treats you poorly, it is a reflection of him or herself and the misery within the heart of them.”
― Virginia Evans, The Correspondent