Hermann Hesse, Steppenwolf

“Solitude is independence. It had been my wish and with the years I had attained it. It was cold. Oh, cold enough! But it was also still, wonderfully still and vast like the cold stillness of space in which the stars revolve.” 

The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby

Alexis: You know, it's funny how a person just by living can damage another person beyond repair.

Conor Ludlow: You know, before you, I had no idea who I was. Then when we were together, I thought I had it all figured out. Now I'm just back to wondering again.

Mary Rigby: I guess people grieve differently.

Eleanor Rigby: Just let me disappear for a while.

Julian Rigby: Tragedy is a foreign country. We don't know how to talk to the natives.

Spencer Ludlow: A shooting star only lasts a second, but... aren't you glad to at least have seen it?

Eleanor Rigby: He went soft. I stayed hard. That was that.

Eleanor Rigby: Wanna do something stupid?
Katy Rigby: Yeah, I'm the queen of doing something stupid. 

Professor Friedman: All the lonely people, where do they all come from?

Professor Friedman: I don't really know who you are.
Eleanor Rigby: It's OK, neither do I.

Eleanor Rigby: I'm okay. Is it okay to be okay?
Katy Rigby: Yeah, okay okay all you want. Are you really okay?
Eleanor Rigby: I can pretend.

Professor Lillian Friedman: You're just taking classes just to take classes, right?
Eleanor Rigby: Something like that.
Professor Lillian Friedman: Well, let me save you some time. All the perpetual students, the hedge-fund wives, and your generation of too many choices, they usually go to Tim Gunn's class and listen to him talk about Project Runway. Or you could take the art history class on the advent of color photography, just for good cocktail party conversation.
Eleanor Rigby: My "generation of too many choices?"
Professor Lillian Friedman: Democracy has its drawbacks... 
Eleanor Rigby: You're... teaching classes just to teach classes, right?
Professor Lillian Friedman: Something like that.

Professor Lillian Friedman: You okay?
Eleanor Rigby: Sure.
Professor Lillian Friedman: Liar.
Eleanor Rigby: Sure.

Professor Lillian Friedman: I'm not sure why people have kids. You know, first there's the nine months of agony, your body hurts, it's hot, it's cold, you crave pickles, and there's no words to describe whatever the fuck labor is. And then this little stranger comes out, sucking every bit of life you have left in you, and as soon as you're ready to jump out of a window, all of a sudden, he smiles. And whatever you do, however you do it, however you imagine your child's life, or what kind of parent you'd be, 29 years later, he's in some shrink's office accusing you of some stupid thing that you said or did that for the life of you, you can't remember saying or doing.

Eleanor Rigby: How have you and mom made it this far?
Julian Rigby: I'm not sure. Endurance. Everyone starts out thinking, this is forever. But then things get hard... at some point or another. And then other things don't pan out the way you thought they would. I suppose the trick is not running for the hills, even when you think it's the most rational thing to do. I don't know.

Eleanor Rigby: You ever have that moment where you... know you're doing something stupid, but you do it anyway?
Guy from Club: Yeah, every day.

Nichita Stănescu

Tristețea mea aude nenăscuții câini pe nenăscuții oameni cum îi latră.

Steve Jobs (2015)

Andy Hertzfeld: We're not a pit crew at Daytona. This can't be fixed in seconds.

Steve Jobs: You didn't have seconds. You had three weeks. The universe was created in a third of that time.

Andy Hertzfeld: Well, someday, you'll have to tell us how you did it.

Michelangelo

 „Nimicurile acestei lumi mi-au răpit
Timpul ce mi-a fost dat ca să-L contemplu pe Dumnezeu…”

”The vanities of life have taken from me

The time to contemplate God.”

“Les fables du monde m’ont pris 

Le temps qui m’était donné pour contempler Dieu ”

House of Cards

After all, what is faith if it doesn't endure when we are tested the most?

House of Cards

"The nature of promises is that they remain immune to changing circumstances."

MAZARIN

Bréviaire des politiciens par le cardinal Mazarin

1. Simule. 
2. Dissimule. 
3. Ne te fie à personne. 
4. Dis du bien de tout le monde. 
5. Prévois avant d'agir.

JULES MAZARIN (connu sous le nom de cardinal Mazarin, fut un diplomate et homme politique, d'abord au service de la Papauté, puis des rois de France Louis XIII et Louis XIV. Il succéda à Richelieu en tant que principal ministre d'État de 1643 à 1661)

”- Ce o să ne facem, şi el şi noi? 

- O să stăm mult şi bine pe pietre, spuse ea suspinînd.

- Pe pietre?    ,

- Ei da, asta e o vorbă aşa... o figură de stil... O, nu, n-o să se mai îndrepte nimic. Prea s-au abătut multe asupra mea... Nu ştiu prin ce le-am meritat... dar nu mai pot spera!”

Thomas Mann - Casa Buddenbrook