

“The secret of the mountain is that the mountains simply exist, as I do myself: the mountains exist simply, which I do not. The mountains have no "meaning," they are meaning; the mountains are. The sun is round. I ring with life, and the mountains ring, and when I can hear it, there is a ringing that we share. I understand all this, not in my mind but in my heart, knowing how meaningless it is to try to capture what cannot be expressed, knowing that mere words will remain when I read it all again, another day.”
― The Snow Leopard
― The Snow Leopard

“...as long as nothing happens between them, the memory is cursed with what hasn't happened.”
― Blue Eyes, Black Hair
― Blue Eyes, Black Hair

“Time exists in order that everything doesn’t happen all at once…and space exists so that it doesn’t all happen to you.”
― At the Same Time: Essays and Speeches
― At the Same Time: Essays and Speeches

“To photograph people is to violate them, by seeing them as they never see themselves, by having knowledge of them that they can never have; it turns people into objects that can be symbolically possessed. Just as a camera is a sublimation of the gun, to photograph someone is a subliminal murder - a soft murder, appropriate to a sad, frightened time.”
― On Photography
― On Photography

“It hurts to love. It's like giving yourself to be flayed and knowing that at any moment the other person may just walk off with your skin.”
― Reborn: Journals and Notebooks, 1947-1963
― Reborn: Journals and Notebooks, 1947-1963
Berta’s 2024 Year in Books
Take a look at Berta’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
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