The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock (1915)
T.S. Eliot (1888–1965) 20th century English author
The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock (1915)
Source: The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock and Other Poems
Context: I am no prophet — and here's no great matter;
I have seen the moment of my greatness flicker,
And I have seen the eternal Footman hold my coat, and snicker,
And in short, I was afraid.
Michel De Montaigne book Essays
Je veux qu'on me voit en ma façon simple, naturelle, et ordinaire, sans étude et artifice; car c'est moi que je peins...Je suis moi-même la matière de mon livre.
Book I (1580), To the Reader
Essais (1595), Book I
“Like all great travellers I have seen more than I remember, and remember more than I have seen.”
Benjamin Disraeli (1804–1881) British Conservative politician, writer, aristocrat and Prime Minister
Book VIII, Chapter 4.
Books, Coningsby (1844), Vivian Grey (1826)
“I had seen the great, but I had not seen the small.”
Vittorio Alfieri (1749–1803) Italian dramatist and poet
J'avais vu les grands, mais je n'avais pas vu les petits.
Reason for Changing his Democratic Opinions; reported in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 93.
Albert Camus book The Myth of Sisyphus
The Myth of Sisyphus (1942), The Absurd Man
Context: There can be no question of holding forth on ethics. I have seen people behave badly with great morality and I note every day that integrity has no need of rules. There is but one moral code that the absurd man can accept, the one that is not separated from God: the one that is dictated. But it so happens that he lives outside that God. As for the others (I mean also immoralism), the absurd man sees nothing in them but justifications and he has nothing to justify. I start out here from the principle of his innocence.
That innocence is to be feared. "Everything is permitted," exclaims Ivan Karamazov. That, too, smacks of the absurd. But on condition that it not be taken in a vulgar sense. I don't know whether or not it has been sufficiently pointed out that it is not an outburst of relief or of joy, but rather a bitter acknowledgment of a fact.
Zora Neale Hurston (1891–1960) American folklorist, novelist, short story writer
How It Feels to Be Colored Me (1928)
John Barrowman (1967) Scottish-American actor, singer, dancer, musical theatre performer, writer and television personality
On how Doctor Who fame changed his life, in Attitude (2005)
Hildegard of Bingen (1098–1179) Medieval saint, prophetise, mystic and Doctor of Church
Steadfast and gentle father, in your kindness respond to me, your unworthy servant, who has never, from her earliest childhood, lived one hour free from anxiety. In your piety and wisdom look in your spirit, as you have been taught by the Holy Spirit, and from your heart bring comfort to your handmaiden.
Letter to Bernard, Abbot of Clairvaux, 1146-47
