Joanna Derm.

“There is a recurrent scene from those dinners that surfaces again and again, like an obsessive undercurrent in a dream. Julian, at the head of the long table, rises to his feet and lifts his wineglass. ‘Live forever,’ he says.

And the rest of us rise too, and clink our glasses across the table, like an army regiment crossing sabres: Henry and Bunny, Charles and Francis, Camilla and I. ‘Live forever,’ we chorus, throwing our glasses back in unison.

And always, always, that same toast. Live forever.”
― Donna Tartt, The Secret History

“It is a terrible thing to learn as a child that one is a being separate from the world, that no one and no thing hurts along with one's burned tongues and skinned knees, that one's aches and pains are all one’s own. Even more terrible, as we grow old, to learn that no person, no matter how beloved, can ever truly understand us.”
― Donna Tartt, The Secret History

“A story tracks what a person wants, what he’ll do to get it, and what costs he’ll have to pay along the way.”
― John Truby, The Anatomy of Story: 22 Steps to Becoming a Master Storyteller

“Sich vom Wünschen zu verabschieden, ist im Alter wahrscheinlich das, was man am schwersten lernt.”
― Jenny Erpenbeck, Gehen, ging, gegangen