A pier is a disappointed bridge; yet stare at it for long enough and you can dream it to the other side of the Channel.
Julian BarnesLoving humanity means as much, and as little, as loving raindrops, or loving the Milky Way. You say that you love humanity? Are you sure you arenโt treating yourself to easy self-congratulation, seeking approval, making certain youโre on the right side?
Julian BarnesIs despair wrong? Isnโt it the natural condition of life after a certain age? โฆ After a number of events, what is there left but repetition and diminishment? Who wants to go on living? The eccentric, the religious, the artistic (sometimes); those with a false sense of their own worth. Soft cheeses collapse; firm cheeses endurate. Both go mouldy.
Julian BarnesGrief seems at first to destroy not just all patterns, but also to destroy a belief that a pattern exists.
Julian BarnesBooks say: She did this because. Life says: She did this. Books are where things are explained to you; life is where things aren't. I'm not surprised some people prefer books.
Julian Barnes(on grief) And you do come out of it, thatโs true. After a year, after five. But you donโt come out of it like a train coming out of a tunnel, bursting through the downs into sunshine and that swift, rattling descent to the Channel; you come out of it as a gull comes out of an oil-slick. You are tarred and feathered for life.
Julian Barnes