“Why does tragedy exist? Because you are full of rage. Why are you full of rage? Because you are full of grief”
—Anne Carson “Tragedy: A Curious Art Form”
—Anne Carson “Tragedy: A Curious Art Form”
“I think I am a better ghost than I am a human being.”
— Ingmar Bergman, from the film Ansiktet
— Ingmar Bergman, from the film Ansiktet
"He's a nihilist," repeated Arkady.
"A nihilist," said Nikolai Petrovitch. "That's from the Latin, nihil, nothing, as far as I can judge; the word must mean a man who... who accepts nothing?"
"Say, who respects nothing," put in Pavel Petrovitch, and he set to work on the butter again.
"Who regards everything from the critical point of view," observed Arkady.
"Isn't that just the same thing?" inquired Pavel Petrovitch.
"No, it's not the same thing. A nihilist is a man who does not bow down before any authority, who does not take any principle on faith, whatever reverence that principle may be enshrined in."
"A nihilist," said Nikolai Petrovitch. "That's from the Latin, nihil, nothing, as far as I can judge; the word must mean a man who... who accepts nothing?"
"Say, who respects nothing," put in Pavel Petrovitch, and he set to work on the butter again.
"Who regards everything from the critical point of view," observed Arkady.
"Isn't that just the same thing?" inquired Pavel Petrovitch.
"No, it's not the same thing. A nihilist is a man who does not bow down before any authority, who does not take any principle on faith, whatever reverence that principle may be enshrined in."
“but now and again there’s a moment / when the heart cries aloud: yes, I am willing to be / that wild darkness, / that long, blue body of light.”
— Mary Oliver, from New and Selected Poems
— Mary Oliver, from New and Selected Poems