Jennifer M.

“The observations and encounters of a man of solitude and few words are at once more nebulous and more intense than those of a gregarious man, his thoughts more ponderable, more bizarre and never without a hint of sadness. Images and perceptions that might easily be dismissed with a glance, a laugh, an exchange of opinions occupy him unduly; they are heightened in the silence, gain in significance, turn into experience, adventure, emotion. Solitude begets originality, bold and disconcerting beauty, poetry. But solitude can also beget perversity, disparity, the absurd and the forbidden.”
― Thomas Mann, Death in Venice

“The mistake of Marc Antony’s death haunts all suicides, with its reminder that we do not always know where we really are in our story.”
― Jennifer Michael Hecht, Stay: A History of Suicide and the Philosophies Against It

“His love of the sea had profound roots: the hardworking artist's desire to rest, his longing to get away from the demanding diversity of phenomena and take shelter in the bosom of simplicity and immensity; a forbidden penchant that was entirely antithetical to his mission and, for that very reason, seductive-a proclivity for the unorganized, the immeasurable, the eternal: for nothingness.”
― Thomas Mann, Death in Venice

“But it’s a tiresome preoccupation, self-esteem. Something has to be done to limit the number of people whose opinions can affect us.”
― Saul Bellow, More Die of Heartbreak