sofia > sofia's Quotes

“Poem Written in a Copy of Beowulf

At various times, I have asked myself what reasons
moved me to study, while my night came down,
without particular hope of satisfaction,
the language of the blunt-tongued Anglo-Saxons.

Used up by the years, my memory
loses its grip on words that I have vainly
repeated and repeated. My life in the same way
weaves and unweaves its weary history.

Then I tell myself: it must be that the soul
has some secret, sufficient way of knowing
that it is immortal, that its vast, encompassing
circle can take in all, can accomplish all.

Beyond my anxiety, beyond this writing,
the universe waits, inexhaustible, inviting.”
― Jorge Luis Borges

“Everybody does have a book in them, but in most cases that's where it should stay.”
― Christopher Hitchens

“I haven't the slightest idea how to change people, but still I keep a long list of prospective candidates just in case I should ever figure it out.”
― David Sedaris, Naked

“After a good dinner one can forgive anybody, even one's own relations.”
― Oscar Wilde, A Woman of No Importance

“His dreams had always been Houdiniesque: they were the dreams of a pupa struggling in its blind cocoon, mad for a taste of light and air.”
― Michael Chabon, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay

“He had no idea of how long his life would one day seem to have gone on; how daily present the absence of love would come to feel.

“Just watch me,” he said.”
― Michael Chabon, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay

“The April night on which Sammy felt most aware of the luster of his existence - the moment when, for the first time in his life, he was fully conscious of his own happiness - was a night that he would never discuss with anyone at all.”
― Michael Chabon, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay

“Sammy felt...that he would rather not love at all than be punished for loving. He had no idea of how long his life would one day seem to have gone on; how daily present the absence of love would come to feel.”
― Michael Chabon, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay