Abel

“She thought it stupid of a woman to want to be understood by a man; the man (said Hanna) wants the woman to be a mystery, so that he can be inspired and excited by his own incomprehension.”
― Max Frisch, Homo Faber

“He also wearied his mother very often. She saw the sunshine going out of him, and she resented it.”
― D.H. Lawrence, Sons and Lovers

“The freedom to fail is preserved, as a sort of supreme law, which guarantees escape at every fresh juncture. One is inclined to call this the freedom of the weak person who seeks salvation in defeat. His true uniqueness, his special relation to power, is expressed in the prohibition of victory. All calculations originate and end in impotence.”
― Elias Canetti, Kafka's Other Trial: The Letters to Felice

“Blue that was unstable and misbehaved when left in skin. Blue like the sea that had taken his father. Blue, for his mother’s sake, and for the true colour of every bereaved and bloodless heart when it is collapsing.”
― Sarah Hall, The Electric Michelangelo