Sarah Hmp

“I couldn't think of anything other than her and the components of her. For example, her red hair. But was I so primitive I let myself be bewitched by hair? I mean, really. Hair! It's just hair! Everyone has it! She puts it up, she lets it down. So what? And why did all the other parts of her have me wheezing with delight? I mean, who hasn't got a back, or a belly, or armpits? This whole finicky obsession serves to humiliate me even as I write it, sure, but I suppose it isn't that abnormal. That's what first love is all about. What happens is you meet a love object and immediately a hole inside you starts aching, the hole that is always there but you don't notice until someone comes along, plugs it up, and then runs away with the plug.”
― Steve Toltz, A Fraction of the Whole

“تمام ماه ها را به تفکر گذراندم. به ویژگی های تنهایی پی بردم، بیشتر شبیه این که دستی که تازه از یخچال بیرون آمده بین پایت را آرام فشار بدهد. نمی توانستم راهی پیدا کنم تا موجود ویژه ای در جهان باشم، ولی می توانستم راهی متعالی برای پنهان شدن پیدا کنم و برای همین نقاب های مختلف را امتحان کردم: خجالتی، دوست داشتنی، متفکر، خوش بین، شاداب، شکننده... این ها نقاب های ساده ای بودند که بر یک ویژگی دلالت داشتند. باقی اوقات نقاب های پیچیده تری بر صورت می زدم، محزون و شاداب، آسیب پذیر ولی شاد، مغرور اما افسرده. این ها را به خاطر این که توان زیادی ازم می بردند در نهایت رها کردم. از من بشنو: نقاب های پیچیده زنده زنده تو را می خورند.”
― Steve Toltz

“That’s what first love is all about. What happens is you meet a love object and immediately a hole inside you starts aching, the hole that is always there but you don’t notice until someone comes along, plugs it up, and then runs away with the plug.”
― Steve Toltz

“You experience life alone, you can be as intimate with another as much as you like, but there has to be always a part of you and your existence that is incommunicable; you die alone, the experience is yours alone, you might have a dozen spectators who love you, but your isolation, from birth to death, is never fully penetrated.”
― Steve Toltz, A Fraction of the Whole