Hilary

“Ethics and morals do, in reality, have a place in law—although not in jurisprudence. It is morals that help us make the laws, but morals do not help us apply them.”
― Hanya Yanagihara, A Little Life

“How fortunate Buddha, Mahomed, and Shakespeare were that their kind relations and
doctors did not cure them of their ecstasy and their inspiration," said Kovrin. "If Mahomed
had taken bromide for his nerves, had worked only two hours out of the twenty-four, and
had drunk milk, that remarkable man would have left no more trace after him than his dog.
Doctors and kind relations will succeed in stupefying mankind, in making mediocrity pass
for genius and in bringing civilisation to ruin. If only you knew.”
― Anton Chekhov, The Black Monk

“But mostly, I missed watching you two together; I missed watching you watch him, and him watch you; I missed how thoughtful you were with each other, missed how thoughtlessly, sincerely affectionate you were with him; missed watching you listen to each other, the way you both did so intently.”
― Hanya Yanagihara, A Little Life

“And he cries and cries, cries for everything he has been, for everything he might have been, for every old hurt, for every old happiness, cries for the shame and joy of finally getting to be a child, with all of a child's whims and wants and insecurities, for the privilege of behaving badly and being forgiven, for the luxury of tenderness, of fondness, of being served a meal and being made to eat it, for the ability, at last, at last, of believing a parent's reassurances, of believing that to someone he is special despite all his mistakes and hatefulness, because of all his mistakes and hatefulness.”
― Hanya Yanagihara, A Little Life