Quotes

Cassandra Clare photo
Richelle Mead photo
Henry Rollins photo
Patrick Rothfuss photo
Aleksandr Pushkin photo

“But, as it is, this pied collection
begs your indulgence — it's been spun
from threads both sad and humoristic,
themes popular or idealistic,
products of carefree hours, of fun,
of sleeplessness, faint inspirations,
of powers unripe, or on the wane,
of reason's icy intimations,
and records of a heart in pain.”

Eugene Onegin (1823)
Original: (ru) Но так и быть — рукой пристрастной Прими собранье пестрых глав, Полусмешных, полупечальных, Простонародных, идеальных, Небрежный плод моих забав, Бессониц, легких вдохновений, Незрелых и увядших лет, Ума холодных наблюдений И сердца горестных замет.

Frederick William Robertson photo
Ellen Page photo
Anastacia photo
Dawn Richard photo

“Animals don’t have the ability to say how much pain they’re in or tell you not to rip their skin off for your ability to wear something. … Really get into the process of seeing what you’re putting not only inside your body, but outside, too.”

Dawn Richard (1983) American musician

“D△WN Poses Naked in Graphic Anti-Leather Ad,” video interview with PETA (27 September 2017) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RILtC1gVN58.

Garth Brooks photo
W. H. Auden photo
Philo photo
Virginia Woolf photo

“A State of Mind. Woke up perhaps at 3. Oh its beginning it coming – the horror – physically like a painful wave swelling about the heart – tossing me up. I'm unhappy unhappy! Down – God, I wish I were dead.”

Virginia Woolf (1882–1941) English writer

Wednesday 15 September, 1926
A Moment's Liberty (1990)
Context: A State of Mind. Woke up perhaps at 3. Oh its beginning it coming – the horror – physically like a painful wave swelling about the heart – tossing me up. I'm unhappy unhappy! Down – God, I wish I were dead. Pause. But why am I feeling like this? Let me watch the wave rise. I watch. Vanessa. Children. Failure. Yes, I detect that. Failure failure. (The wave rises). Oh they laughed at my taste in green paint. Wave crashes. I wish I were dead! I've only a few years to live I hope. I can't face this horror any more – (this is the wave spreading out over me). This goes on; several times, with varieties of horror. Then, at the crisis, instead of the pain remaining intense, it becomes rather vague. I doze. I wake with a start. The wave again! The irrational pain: the sense of failure; generally some specific incident, as for example my taste in green paint, or buying a new dress, or asking Dadie for the week-end, tacked on. At last I say, watching as dispassionately as I can, Now take a pull of yourself. No more of this. I shove to throw to batter down. I begin to march blindly forward. I feel obstacles go down. I say it doesn't matter. Nothing matters. I become rigid and straight, and sleep again, and half wake and feel the wave beginning and watch the light whitening and wonder how, this time, breakfast and daylight will overcome it; and then hear L. in the passage and simulate, for myself as well as for him, great cheerfulness; and generally am cheerful, by the time breakfast is over. Does everyone go through this state? Why have I so little control? It is the case of much waste and pain in my life.

Erik Naggum photo

“aestheticles: n. The little-known source of aesthetic reactions. If your whole body feels like going into a fetal position or otherwise double over from the pain of experiencing something exceptionally ugly and inelegant, such as C++, it's because your aestheticles got creamed.”

Erik Naggum (1965–2009) Norwegian computer programmer

Re: Learning curve for common lisp http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.lisp/msg/4356934aa0d7c2fe (Usenet article).
Usenet articles, C++

Julian of Norwich photo
John Updike photo
Francisco Varela photo
Robert Charles Wilson photo
Robert Jordan photo