He wishes he had never entered the funhouse. But he has. Then he wishes he were dead. But he's not. Therefore he will construct funhouses for others and be their secret operator -- though he would rather be among the lovers for whom funhouses are designed.
John BarthYet everyone begins in the same place; how is it that most go along without difficulty but a few lose their way?
John BarthTis e'er the lot of the innocent in the world, to fly to the wolf for succor from the lion.
John BarthEvery artist joins a conversation that's been going on for generations, even millennia, before he or she joins the scene.
John BarthSomewhere in the world there was a young woman with such splendid understanding that she'd see him entire, like a poem or story, and find his words so valuable after all that when he confessed his apprehensions she would explain why they were in fact the very things that made him precious to her...and to Western Civilization! There was no such girl, the simple truth being.
John Barth