rafael m.f.

“Pasmo sempre quando acabo qualquer coisa. Pasmo e desolo-me. O meu instinto de perfeição deveria inibir-me de acabar; deveria inibir-me até de dar começo. Mas distraio-me e faço. O que consigo é um produto, em mim, não de uma aplicação de vontade, mas de uma cedência dela. Começo porque não tenho força para pensar; acabo porque não tenho alma para suspender. Este livro é a minha cobardia.”
― Fernando Pessoa, The Book of Disquiet

“О, как мы любим лицемерить
И забываем без труда
То, что мы в детстве ближе к смерти,
Чем в наши зрелые года.

Еще обиду тянет с блюдца
Невыспавшееся дитя,
А мне уж не на кого дуться
И я один на всех путях.

Но не хочу уснуть, как рыба,
В глубоком обмороке вод,
И дорог мне свободный выбор
Моих страданий и забот.

Февраль -- 14 мая 1932”
― Осип Мандельштам

“When the shadow of the sash appeared on the curtains it was between seven and eight o' clock and then I was in time again, hearing the watch. It was Grandfather's and when Father gave it to me he said I give you the mausoleum of all hope and desire; it's rather excruciating-ly apt that you will use it to gain the reducto absurdum of all human experience which can fit your individual needs no better than it fitted his or his father's. I give it to you not that you may remember time, but that you might forget it now and then for a moment and not spend all your breath trying to conquer it. Because no battle is ever won he said. They are not even fought. The field only reveals to man his own folly and despair, and victory is an illusion of philosophers and fools.”
― William Faulkner, The Sound and the Fury

“To some extent, each sentence has to be the whole story.”
― Lyn Hejinian