“Once upon a time these two men had been in the same situation; now the difference between them was like the difference between a wish and its fulfillment. The one was what the other had dreamed of, and therefore they did not know one another anymore. He who has wishes yearns for a friend; but when the wishes have been fulfilled, the friends are the first thing we forget.”

— Halldór Laxness

Heimsljós (World Light) (1940), Book Four: The Beauty of the Heavens

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Halldór Laxness 216

Icelandic author 1902–1998

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