Joana Margarida

“What was joy, anyway. What was the worth of happiness that left behind a crater thrice the size of its impact. What did people who spoke of joy know of what it meant, to sleep and dream only of the whistle of planes and knocks at the door and on windows and to wake with a hand at one's throat— one's own hand, at one's own throat. What did they know of not speaking for days, of not having known the touch of another, never having known, of want and of not having felt the press of skin to one's own, and what did they know of a house that only ever emptied out. Of animals dying and fathers dying and mothers dying and finding bullet holes in the barks of trees right below hearts carved around names of people who weren't there and the bloody lip of a sibling and what did what did she know— of what could she possibly know of what it—”
― Yael van der Wouden, The Safekeep

“Ando, a vida inteira, sobretudo à caça de satisfação para uma angústia constante que se prende a tudo, a ter e não ter, sentir que nunca nada está completo, que nunca tempo algum é suficiente. Falta-me tempo, quero mais, e quero gente e quero corresponder, pertencer genuinamente a cada lugar e melhorar os lugares e melhorar tudo, e ser um pouco feliz no meio de tanta coisa, tanta coisa que nem entendo, não chego a conhecer, não sou sequer inteligente o bastante para as aventuras todas. E digo angústia porque fica no ar um lado mais existencial e filosófico do que a constatação sempre tão violenta da tristeza, alguma tristeza, e a vida faz-se de andar entre alguma tristeza e procurar saída.”
― Valter Hugo Mãe, Contra mim

“... I had stayed still and let the days pass, which is the best way to allow things in the real world to dissolve or break down, although they remain forever in our thoughts and in our knowledge, solid and putrid and stinking to high heaven. But that is bearable and we can live with it. Who doesn't carry something of that nature around with them?”
― Javier Marías, Los enamoramientos

“What was joy, anyway. What was the worth of happiness that left behind a crater thrice the size of its impact.”
― Yael van der Wouden, The Safekeep