“Everything is more complicated than you think. You only see a tenth of what is true. There are a million little strings attached to every choice you make; you can destroy your life every time you choose. But maybe you won't know for twenty years. And you'll never ever trace it to its source. And you only get one chance to play it out. Just try and figure out your own divorce. And they say there is no fate, but there is: it's what you create. Even though the world goes on for eons and eons, you are here for a fraction of a fraction of a second. Most of your time is spent being dead or not yet born. But while alive, you wait in vain, wasting years, for a phone call or a letter or a look from someone or something to make it all right. And it never comes or it seems to but doesn't really. And so you spend your time in vague regret or vaguer hope for something good to come along. Something to make you feel connected, to make you feel whole, to make you feel loved.”
― Synecdoche, New York: The Shooting Script
― Synecdoche, New York: The Shooting Script
“Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional.”
― What I Talk About When I Talk About Running
― What I Talk About When I Talk About Running
“I always feel this pressure of being a strong and independent icon of womanhood, and without making it look my whole life is revolving around some guy. But loving someone, and being loved means so much to me. We always make fun of it and stuff. But isn't everything we do in life a way to be loved a little more?”
― Before Sunrise & Before Sunset: Two Screenplays
― Before Sunrise & Before Sunset: Two Screenplays
“Lost opportunities, lost possibilities, feelings we can never get back. That's part of what it means to be alive. But inside our heads - at least that's where I imagine it - there's a little room where we store those memories. A room like the stacks in this library. And to understand the workings of our own heart we have to keep on making new reference cards. We have to dust things off every once in awhile, let in fresh air, change the water in the flower vases. In other words, you'll live forever in your own private library.”
― Kafka on the Shore
― Kafka on the Shore
“I guess when you are young, you believe that you will meet many people with whom you'll connect with, but later in life you realize it only happens a few times.”
― Before Sunrise & Before Sunset: Two Screenplays
― Before Sunrise & Before Sunset: Two Screenplays
Yen’s 2025 Year in Books
Take a look at Yen’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
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