By Jonathan Wesslund

“If man were to come to grips with his real nature, if he were to discover his real heritage, he would become so exalted, or else so frightened, that he would find it impossible to go to sleep again. To live would be a perpetual challenge to create. But the very thought of a possible, swift and endless metamorphosis terrifies him. He sleeps now, not comfortably to be sure, but certainly more and more obstinately, in the womb of a creation whose only need of verification is his own awakening.”

— Henry Miller, Sunday After the War

Janet Fitch, from her novel titled "White Oleander," originally published in 1999

“The mind once enlightened cannot again become dark.”

— Thomas Paine, Letter Addressed to the Abbe Raynal

“Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all others.”

— Cicero, Pro Plancio

“The answer is not coming. I have to find an arbitrary point inside the spell of waiting, the open absence, and tear myself away. Leave, with no answer. Move on to the next question.”

— Rachel Kushner, The Flamethrowers

Chessboard. 19th century. Credit line: Gift of Gustavus A. Pfeiffer, 1953 https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/201482

André Gide - It's a matter of courage