r19za

[r19za]

[from Happy Together (1997) by Wong Kar-wai] 

[r19za]

She would like to think the gods admire, however grudgingly, our energy, the endless ingenuity with which we try to elude our fate.

Elizabeth Costello (2003) by J. M. Coetzee 

[r19za]

For a traveler, it is sometimes necessary to make the world small on purpose.

The Book of Salt (2003) by Monique Truong

[r19za]

Untitled love and perhaps, because we only met in secret, shielded by darkness, he hesitates - whenever i ask him to bring our love to light

“Untitled love” from Ms. Militancy (2010) by Meena Kandasamy

[r19za]

Remember that this world was made before the advent of airbrushed foreheads, before editing that allowed features, before adobe photoshop came to be.

“Pride goes before a full-length mirror” from Ms. Militancy (2010) by Meena Kandasamy

[r19za]

Your blood bears the salt of withheld tears.

“Facing the music” from Ms. Militancy (2010) by Meena Kandasamy

[r19za]

I like for you to be still: it as though you were absent, distant and full of sorrow as though you had died. One word then, one smile, is enough. And I am happy, happy that it’s not true.

“XV: I Like for You to Be Still” from Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair (1924) by Pablo Neruda

[r19za]

Cling to me as though you were frightened.

“XIV: Every Day You Play” from Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair (1924) by Pablo Neruda

[r19za]

Beauty leaves its imprints on the mind. Throughout history, there have been many moments that can never be recovered, but you and I know that they existed.

Do Not Say We Have Nothing (2016) by Madeleine Thien

[r19za]

Is art the creation of something new and original, or simply the continuous enlargement, or the distillation, of an observation that came before?

Do Not Say We Have Nothing (2016) by Madeleine Thien

[r19za]

Unlike us, these young people have literally no memory. Without memory, they’re free.

Do Not Say We Have Nothing (2016) by Madeleine Thien

[r19za]

In English, consciousness and unconsciousness are part of a vertical plane, so that we wake up ↑ and we fall ↓ asleep and we sink ↓ into a coma. Chinese uses the horizontal line, so that to wake is to cross a border towards consciousness → and to faint is to go back ←. Meanwhile, time itself is vertical so that last year is “the year above” ↑ and next year is “the year below” ↓. The day before yesterday (前 天) is the day “in front” ↑ and the day after tomorrow (後天) is the day “behind” ↓. This means that future generations are not the generations ahead, but the ones behind (後 代).

Do Not Say We Have Nothing (2016) by Madeleine Thien

[r19za]

Ai-ming told me that solitude can reshape your life. “Like a river that gets cut off from the sea,” she said. “You think it’s moving somewhere, but it’s not. You can drown inside yourself. That’s how I feel. Do you understand, Ma-li?”

Do Not Say We Have Nothing (2016) by Madeleine Thien

[r19za]

... [I]n poorer countries, people like Ma and me would not be so lonely. On television, poor countries were crowded places, overloaded elevators trying to rise to the sky. People slept six to a bed, a dozen to a room. There you could always speak your thoughts out loud, assured that someone would hear you even if they didn’t want to. In fact, the way to punish someone might be to remove them from their circle of family and friends, isolate them in a cold country, and shatter them with loneliness.

Do Not Say We Have Nothing (2016) by Madeleine Thien

[r19za]

Facebook is a pro at classifying photos 

[r19za]

[from The Society of the Spectacle (1967) by Guy Debord]

[r19za]

The only question that matters. [from Apur Sansar (1959) by Satyajit Ray]