Benjamin Kass

“In Anatomy of Criticism, Northrop Frye proposes a way of looking at narrative genres based on the seasonal circle of our lives. Comedy is associated with spring and fertility ritual, tragedy with autumn and rituals for allaying the ghosts of harvest. Romance, stories that tend to flatter a culture’s values, belong to high summer, and satire belongs to winter. It is the world stripped bare.”
― Robert Hass, A Little Book on Form: An Exploration Into the Formal Imagination of Poetry

“I saw El Santuario as being built on hope, which is not the same thing as faith. Hope is a cast line in search of fish; faith is the belief that you won’t starve to death, or that if you do, God’s plan could account for the tragedy. My morning prayers begin with, “Blessed Mystery, thank you for … and Blessed Mystery, may I …” Remission appears over and over in the latter: May I be well.”
― Esmé Weijun Wang, The Collected Schizophrenias: Essays

“I think we ought to live happily ever after," and she thought he meant it. Sophie knew that living happily ever after with Howl would be a good deal more hair-raising than any storybook made it sound, though she was determined to try. "It should be hair-raising," added Howl.
"And you'll exploit me," Sophie said.
"And then you'll cut up all my suits to teach me.”
― Diana Wynne Jones, Howl's Moving Castle

“How the young attempt and are broken differs from age to age We were brown free girls love singing beneath our skin sun in our hair in our eyes sun our fortune and the wind had made us golden made us gay.”
― Audre Lorde, The Collected Poems of Audre Lorde