I have always shook with fright before human beings. Unable as I was to feel the least particle of confidence in my ability to speak and act like a human being, I kept my solitary agonies locked in my breast. I kept my melancholy and my agitation hidden, careful lest any trace should be left exposed. I feigned an innocent optimism; I gradually perfected myself in the role of the farcical eccentric.
— Osamu Dazai, No Longer Human
— Osamu Dazai, No Longer Human
Being. Since the word is inaccurate, it is crossed out. Since it is necessary, it is left legible.
Martin Heidegger, in a letter to Ernst Junger, 1956
Martin Heidegger, in a letter to Ernst Junger, 1956