The Prince of Milk

by Exurb1a

“The path to wisdom begins with calling things by their true names,”

Mrs. Leung brings over a plate of fortune cookies. Ever since her husband died, she's enjoyed watching young couples. They seem so innocent — lit up with a pure light hard to find elsewhere in life, save for new mothers and recently divorced rich men.

God, he thought. If the blueprint is shit, why build the house?

“Happy people are just people you aren't acquainted enough with yet to know how miserable they really are.”

“It's healthy for a creature to enjoy his drink, but not so healthy if that drink comes to enjoy him instead.”

There's so much blood and death and pain in the world that any sane person would come around to the whole game being little more than slow torture, but that's not it. You have to see the whole process as a process. It's not easy. I'm not sure if it's even possible for more than a few minutes, but it's necessary that you hold it all in your head at least once.”

Maybe we're all too coddled. We've grown used to running water and express delivery and legal recourse and social media.

There's no grand plan and no one's in charge. It's all just fumbling about in the dark, and half the time you're not even sure why you're fumbling. You're so desperate for something to pin your peace of mind to that you'll do all sorts of stupid things in its name. You don't mean to break up a marriage, but if breaking it up might let you sleep like a normal person again, suddenly you start considering it. You don't mean to become a drunk, but if drink is the only way you can keep a handle on some tiny compartment of your life then it's straight for the bottle.”

To know Things in Themselves, Truly. That's a noble goal.