The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock (Excerpt)
by T. S. Eliot
Quotes
A pretty sight, a lady with a book.
—Shirley Jackson, We Have Always Lived in the Castle
Not Waving But Drowning
by Stevie Smith
Nobody heard him, the dead man,
But still he lay moaning:
I was much further out than you thought
And not waving but drowning.
Poor chap, he always loved larking
And now he’s dead
It must have been too cold for him his heart gave way,
They said.
Oh, no no no, it was too cold always
(Still the dead one lay moaning)
I was much too far out all my life
And not waving but drowning.
He licked his lips. “Well, if you want my opinion—”
“I don’t,” she said. “I have my own.”
—Toni Morrison, Beloved
Desire was its own reward, and a rarer luxury than you’d think. You could sometimes buy what you wanted; you could never buy wanting it.
—Lionel Shriver, The Post-Birthday World
Perhaps one did not want to be loved so much as to be understood.
—George Orwell, 1984
who are you,little i
by e e cummings
who are you,little i
(five or six years old)
peering from some high
window;at the gold
of november sunset
(and feeling:that if day
has to become night
this is a beautiful way)
Old stories are like old friends, she used to say. You have to visit them from time to time.
― George R. R. Martin, A Storm of Swords
We can never know what to want, because, living only one life, we can neither compare it with our previous lives nor perfect it in our lives to come.
—Milan Kundera, The Unbearable Lightness of Being
That Book Broad 