Ivanka

“What you, Milena, wrote about the people, "they lack the strength to love," was correct, even if you didn't think so while writing it. Perhaps their strength to love consists solely in their ability to be loved. And even this is weakened by a further distinction which exists for these people. When one of them says to his beloved: "I believe you love me," it's actually something completely different and much less than when he says: "I am loved by you." But these aren't really lovers, they're just grammarians.”
― Franz Kafka

“the greatest mercy fiction gives: proof that the worst the two of them have done to each other is just another tale worth reading together, at the end of the day.”
― Richard Powers, The Overstory