Sheziss

“I understood that men only think that they live by caring only about themselves: in reality they live by love alone.”
― Leo Tolstoy, How Much Land Does a Man Need?

“Those who thought that this war would be over quickly are all dead. Of the war, of course.”
― Pierre Lemaitre, Au revoir là-haut

“What this means is that the lonelier a person gets, the less adept they become at navigating social currents. Loneliness grows around them, like mould or fur, a prophylactic that inhibits contact, no matter how badly contact is desired. Loneliness is accretive, extending and perpetuation itself. Once it becomes impacted, it is by no means easy to dislodge. This is why I was suddenly so hyper-alert to criticism, and why I felt so perpetually exposed hunching in on myself even as I walked anonymously through the streets, my flip-flops slapping on the ground.”
― Olivia Laing, The Lonely City: Adventures in the Art of Being Alone

“Where does she begin, and where do I end? she thought... On they drove. They were two living people, driving across London; two sparks of life enclosed in two separate bodies; and those sparks of life enclosed in two separate bodies are at this moment, she thought, driving past a picture palace. But what is this moment; and what are we?”
― Virginia Woolf, The Years