Unknown, Illustration from Erotica, By Arthur Clark Kennedy, 1894

The intelligent poor individual was a much finer observer than the intelligent rich one. The poor individual looks around him at every step, listens suspiciously to every word he hears from the people he meets; thus, every step he takes presents a problem, a task, for his thoughts and feelings. He is alert and sensitive, he is experienced, his soul has been burned...

- Knut Hamsun

Donatello, Judith and Holofernes (detail), circa 1460

Hoichime, by Anna Tsubaki

Summer, 1964, William Gedney

I get along quite well with someone only when he is at his lowest point and has neither the desire nor the strength to restore his habitual illusions.

- Emil Cioran, The trouble with being born