AP

“By trying to export myself into a place that didn't fully exist I asked works of art to bear my expectation that they could be better than life, that they could redeem life. In fact, I believe they are, and do. My life is dedicated to that belief. But still, I asked too much of them: I asked them also to be both safer than life and fuller, a better family. That they couldn't give. At the depths I'd plumb them, so many perfectly sufficient works of art would become thin, anemic. I sucked the juice out of what I loved until I found myself in a desert, sucking rocks for water.”
― Jonathan Lethem, The Disappointment Artist

“At the end of the day, we can endure much more than we think we can.”
― Frida Kahlo

“The revving heart of my hopefulness, kicked into gear anew, is the most precious thing about me, I refuse to vilify it.”
― Jonathan Lethem, Men and Cartoons: Stories

“No question; language can free us of feeling, or almost. Maybe that's one of its functions - so we can understand the world without becoming entirely overwhelmed by it.”
― Carl Sagan, Contact