Susie

“When of a sudden Old Japan intervenes: from on of the apartments wafts a melody, clearly, joyfully distinct. Someone is playing a classical piece on the piano. Ah, sweet, impromptu moment, lifting the veil of melancholy... In a split second of eternity, everything is changed, transfigured. A few bars of music, rising from an unfamiliar piece, a touch of perfection in the flow of human dealings-- I lean my head slowly to one side, reflect on the camellia on the moss of the temple, reflect on a cup of tea, while outside the wind is rustling the foliage, the forward rush of life is crystallized in a brilliant jewel of a moment that knows neither projects nor future, human destiny is rescued from the pale succession of days, glows with light at last and, surpassing time, warms my tranquil heart.”
― Muriel Barbery, The Elegance of the Hedgehog

“But what actually is Monteverdi's L'Orfeo?.... Perhaps it forms a perfect microcosm of what it means to exist at all: an emptiness that can nevertheless contain so much beauty, profundity, insight, and possibility”
― Yuval Sharon, A New Philosophy of Opera

“When Manuela arrives, my loge is transformed into a palace, and a picnic between two pariahs becomes the feast of two monarchs. Like a storyteller transforming life into a shimmering river where trouble and boredom vanish far below the water, Manuela metamorphoses our existence into a warm and joyful epic.”
― Muriel Barbery; trans. by Alison Anderson, The Elegance of the Hedgehog

“These conversations ended various ways: one could lose, but also one could make gains, win, emerge from the office a worker of a different specific gravity: there, elements transformed before one's eyes. Loboda knew that the secretary was a man of tempestuous nature, capable of unpredictable decisions. He had to act, so as not to give him a single opportunity.”
― Oles Honchar, The Cathedral