Anthony Bello

“There are gentle souls who would pronounce Lolita meaningless because it does not teach them anything. I am neither a reader nor a writer of didactic fiction...For me a work of fiction exists only insofar as it affords me what I shall bluntly call aesthetic bliss, that is a sense of being somehow, somewhere, connected with other states of being where art (curiosity, tenderness, kindness, ecstasy) is the norm.”
― Vladimir Nabokov, Lolita

“Silly," Dax thought, "but the mere issuing of a command always inspires confidence. It doesn'tt matter whether it is a necessary command, or even a correct one.: Then , a little later, an afterthought came to him: "It inspires self-confidence even in the man who issues it.”
― Humphrey Cobb, Paths of Glory

“ESTRAGON: I can't go on like this.
VLADIMIR: That's what you think.”
― Samuel Beckett, Waiting for Godot

“Robin turned and looked straight into her. "What's life for?"

"I don't know."

"I don't either. But I don't think it's about winning.”
― Jonathan Franzen, The Corrections