For most people, life is nasty, brutish, and short; for me, it has simply been nasty and brutish.
Djuna BarnesAnd must I, perchance, like careful writers, guard myself against the conclusions of my readers?
Djuna BarnesYou beat the liver out of a goose to get a pรขtรฉ; you pound the muscles of a man's cardia to get a philosopher.
Djuna BarnesShe was nervous about the future; it made her indelicate. She was one of the most unimportantly wicked women of her time --because she could not let her time alone, and yet could never be a part of it. She wanted to be the reason for everything and so was the cause of nothing. She had the fluency of tongue and action meted out by divine providence to those who cannot think for themselves. She was the master of the over-sweet phrase, the over-tight embrace.
Djuna BarnesOur bones ache only while the flesh is on them. Stretch it as thin as the temple flesh of an ailing woman and still it serves to ache the bone and to move the bone about; and in like manner the night is a skin pulled over the head of day that the day may be in a torment. We will find no comfort until the night melts away; until the fury of the night rots out its fire.
Djuna Barnes