“The effect of this cannot be understood without being there. The beauty of it cannot be understood, either, and when you see beauty in desolation it changes something inside you. Desolation tries to colonize you.”

“There is an unparalleled beauty inside. When you are in that place, you realize that you are never alone. When the whole world gives up on you, you can turn inside. When you are ready to give up on the whole world, you can turn inside. When you want to be with the whole world, you can still go inside and experience this beauty. Nothing ever changes in there.”

Prem Rawat (1957) controversial spiritual leader

“God pity me now and all desolate sinners
Demented with beauty!”

Patrick MacDonogh (1902–1961) Irish poet

“Passion cannot be beautiful without excess; one either loves too much or not enough.”

Blaise Pascal (1623–1662) French mathematician, physicist, inventor, writer, and Christian philosopher

“Drunk with beauty, I tore down
Armfuls of blossoms.
How desolate the marred sky!”

Alison Croggon (1962) contemporary Australian poet, playwright and fantasy novelist

“If you haven’t cried, your eyes cannot be beautiful.”

Sophia Loren (1934) Italian actress

“Ideas, cultures, and histories cannot seriously be understood or studied without their force, or more precisely their configurations of power, also being studied.”

Edward Said book Orientalism

“Beauty is how you feel inside, and it reflects in your eyes. It is not something physical.”

Sophia Loren (1934) Italian actress

“There is something so beautiful inside you that if you knew it, you would fall in love with it. It is irresistible. You can truly experience that.”

Prem Rawat (1957) controversial spiritual leader

“The desolate, deserted trees,
The faded earth, the heavy sky,
The beauties she so truly sees,
She thinks I have no eye for these,
And vexes me for reason why.”

Robert Frost (1874–1963) American poet