"If we could truly see ourselves the way others see us we'd disappear on the spot."
— Émile Michel Cioran

"Everyone, he went on, speaks a language he does not understand, but which now and then is understood by others. That is enough to permit one to exist and at least to be misunderstood."
— Thomas Bernhard (Gargoyles: A Novel)

"A world unto herself was old Minnie. A half-mad shut-in with the soul of a poet, she was like an ambassador from an obscure twilight kingdom at the ass-end of forever. Just like the rest of us I suppose."
— Bill Mann (The Comet)