David

“You ask if everything dissolves like this
in a thin haze of memories,
if in this torpid hour or the breaker’s sigh
every destiny’s fulfilled.
I’d like to say no, that the moment
when you’ll pass out of time is rushing toward you;
maybe only those who want to become infinite,
and, who knows, you can do it; I cannot.”
― Eugenio Montale

“and what the picture is in reality is this spirit, that’s what a picture really is, neither matter nor soul but both parts at the same time and together they make up what I think of as spirit, and maybe that’s why my good paintings, yes, all good paintings, have something to do with what I, what Christians, call The Holy Spirit, because all good art has this spirit, good pictures, good poems, good music, and what makes it good is not the material, not matter, and it’s not the content, the idea, the thought, no, what makes it good is just this unity of matter and form and soul that becomes spirit, that’s what culture is, probably, he says, it’s probably just one person being like another person that creates a culture, for example wearing a suit and tie, while what art is, yes, art is everyone just being like themselves, and totally themselves”
― Jon Fosse, Septology

“Every man’s soul is an independent universe, his death the extinction of the universe in miniature.”
― Henrik Pontoppidan, Lykke-Per

“Without the original human urge to develop, without the self-generated power that expresses itself as a passion (wether it be directed toward the real world or the world of thoughts or dreams) and without that strong, even bold courage to will to be oneself in all our divine nakedness, no one reaches real freedom.”
― Henrik Pontoppidan, Lykke-Per