Kyle Wilkinson

“Maybe it's good, I said, to stop sometimes and reflect upon the things that have happened, maybe thinking about sadness can actually end up making you happy.”
― Jessica Au, Cold Enough for Snow

“It is hard to laugh at the need for beauty and romance, no matter how tasteless, even horrible, the results of that are. But it is easy to sigh. Few things are sadder than the truly monstrous.”
― Nathanael West, The Day of the Locust

“Nowadays, she said, people were hungry to know everything, thinking that they could understand it all, as if enlightenment were just around the corner. But, she said, in fact there was no control, and understanding would not lessen any pain. The best we could do in this life was to pass through it, like smoke through the branches, suffering, until we either reached a state of nothingness, or else suffered elsewhere.”
― Jessica Au, Cold Enough for Snow

“No," she says, no. I won't think about it. I won't be here next year to see Harry's rhodies come in again. You kept me alive, Harry; it's the truth; you did. All winter I was fighting the grave and then in April I looked out the window and here was this tall young man burning my old stalks and I knew life hadn't left me. That's what you have, Harry: life. It's a strange gift and I don't know how we're supposed to use it but I know it's the only gift we get and it's a good one. Her crystal eyes have filmed with a liquid thicker than tears and she grabs his arms above his elbows with hard brown claws. Fine strong young man," she murmurs, and her eyes come back into focus as she adds, "You have a proud son; take care.”
― John Updike, Rabbit, Run