Cuando no tengo rojo, pongo azul.
When I don't have red, I use blue.
— Pablo Picasso (1881 – 1973)
Ik maak steeds wat ik nog niet kan om het te leeren kunnen.
I keep making things I can not, to learn how I can.
I am always doing what I cannot do yet, in order to learn how to do it.
— Vincent van Gogh (1853 – 1890)
No greater desire exists than a wounded person's need for another wound.
— Georges Bataille (1897 – 1962)
Achilles, Achilles, just put down the bottle Don’t listen to what you’ve consumed It’s chaos, confusion and wholly unworthy Of feeding and it’s wholly untrue You may feel no purpose nor a point for existing It’s all just conjecture and gloom And there may not be meaning, so find one and seize it Do not waste yourself on this roof
— Gangs of Youth, Achilles Come Down
What a thing, to be both starving and empty. To ache for love — to take the scraps from its table, and yet, run sickly from the feast.
You can't fathom why I'd gobble your kisses but duck your attention, please. Understand — Some of us have gone so long hungry, the idea of being full feels worse than the affliction.
— Ashe Vernon, LOVE DISORDERS AND OTHER OLD HEARTACHES
PYLADES | I'll take care of you. ORESTES | It's rotten work. PYLADES | Not to me. Not if it's you.
— Euripides, from "Orestes", An Oresteia (trans. Anne Carson)
A university degree, four books, and hundreds of articles and I still make mistakes when reading, You write to me "good morning" and I read it as, "I love you".
— Mahmoud Darwish (1941 - 2008)
Finally, in a low whisper, he said, 'I think I might be a terrible person.' For a split second I believed him — I thought he was about to confess a crime, maybe a murder. Then I realized that we all think we might be terrible people. But we only reveal this before asking someone to love us. It is a kind of undressing.
— Miranda July (b. 1974), The First Bad Man (2015)
O resumo da essência do que desejo é só isto: dormir a vida.
— Bernardo Soares (Fernando Pessoa (1888 – 1935)), O Livro do Desassossego (1982)
The essence of what I desire is simply this: to sleep away life.
— Bernardo Soares (Fernando Pessoa (1888 – 1935)), The Book of Disquiet (1982)
E não sei o que sinto, não sei o que quero sentir, não sei o que penso nem o que sou.
— Bernardo Soares (Fernando Pessoa (1888 – 1935)), O Livro do Desassossego (1982)
I don’t know what I feel, I don't know what I want to feel, I don’t know what I think or what I am.
— Bernardo Soares (Fernando Pessoa (1888 – 1935)), The Book of Disquiet (1982)
You are a wonderful creation. You know more than you think you know, just as you know less than you want to know.
— Oscar Wilde (1854 - 1900), The Picture of Dorian Gray (1890)
“You’re not a monster,” I said. But I lied. What I really wanted to say was that a monster is not such a terrible thing to be.
— Ocean Vuong (b. 1988), On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous (2019)
Não vos transcrever-vos as palermices adoráveis que passámos pelas noites dentro, nem descrever a sua forma de me arrastar o cabelo para trás das orelhas, nem a doçura da sua cara contra a minha, e o seu olhar mergulhado no meu… Como vêem, caiu depressa em maus clichés. Cara contra cara, olhos nos olhos, mão na mão… Como somos idiotas quando estamos apaixonados! Como somos aparvalhados, melosos, românticos, inactivos, improdutivos, egoístas, cegos e surdos!
— Lolita Pille (b. 1982), Hell (2002), página 77
Tentamos distrair-nos, fazemos festas, procuramos amor, acreditamos que o encontrámos e depois caímos novamente. Do alto. Tentamos brincar com a vida para fingir que a dominamos. Andamos rápido demais, ficamos à beira do abismo.
— Lolita Pille (b. 1982), Hell (2002), página 75
Por isso nada é gratuito, tudo de mede com cifrões.
— Lolita Pille (b. 1982), Hell (2002), página 124
Quando se chega a qualquer sítio, perde-se uma meia-hora a distribuir duas beijocas mecânicas nas bochehcas hipócritas pertencentes a idiotas para os quais nos borrifamos solenemente, a quem nada há mais para dizer, que, de qualquer forma, vimos ontem e veremos amanhã.
— Lolita Pille (b. 1982), Hell (2002), página 128
Não esperem o fim desta história, ele não existe. Ele morreu e nada mais faz sentido para mim. Prevejo um futuro como uma eternidade de sofrimento e tédio. A minha cobardia impede-me de pôr fim aos meus dias. Continuarei a sair, a cheirar, a beber e a perseguir idiotas. Até que eu morra. A humanidade sofre. E eu sofro com ela.
— Lolita Pille (b. 1982), Hell (2002), página 158
I tell her how isolated I feel and how lonely I am and hungry and tired and she says ‘oh.’
— James Simon Kunen (b. 1948), The Strawberry Statement (1969)
In short: I felt my existence was tainted, in some subtle but essential way.
— Donna Tartt (b. 1963), The Secret History (1992)
I’m with you. No matter what else you have in your head I’m with you and I love you.
— Ernest Hemingway (1899 - 1961), The Garden of Eden (1986)
I’m in love with the parts of you that have the power to completely destroy me
— unknown
Não sou nada. Nunca serei nada. Não posso querer ser nada. À parte isso, tenho em mim todos os sonhos do mundo.
I am nothing. I shall never be anything. I cannot wish to be anything. Apart from this, I have within me all the dreams in the world.
— Álvaro de Campos (Fernando Pessoa (1888 – 1935)), Tabacaria
The stars will go out before I forget you.
— Cassandra Clare (b. 1973), Lady Midnight (2016)