Fabienne

“I knew now that one day there was going to be an end to all this suffering, like the sun erasing the cold of night.”
― Shen Tao, The Poet Empress

“Not to be born is, past all prizing, best; but, when a man has seen the light, this is next best by far, that all speed he should go thither, whence he hath come.”
― Sophocles

“He never managed to articulate what it was he didn’t know, but I knew his meaning. I don’t know how much suffering is normal.
How much was ordinary, expected, the price we paid to live.
How much was created by us, needless.”
― Shen Tao, The Poet Empress

“Or, at the very least, turn me little again.' He wiped his eyes with a sleeve, and stared at the plate of mung bean cakes. 'Little enough that all I wanted to reach for was the banquet table. When all I knew to desire was a sweet cake. And even if everyone punished me, or yelled at me, or hated me, at least back then I didn’t know why. If you can’t turn me into a fish, at least turn me little.”
― Shen Tao, The Poet Empress