Why are people named after flowers and not fruits? There is nobody named Strawberry [Fresa] or Raspberry [Frambuesa] or Apricot [Albaricoque], which are lovelier than Lily [Liria].
What is falling in love, anyway? Letting go of disgust, of fear, letting go of everything.
Flying fish remind me of butterflies in flight.
What is magical about the sea is that living deep inside it no one can speak.
—The Promise, by Silvina Ocampo, pg. 32
Soon, just as a wind moist with rain loosens, detaches, scatters, rots the most fragrant flowers, the sorrow of sensing the loss of her friend drowned all these voluptuous thoughts beneath a wave of tears. The face of our souls changes as often as the face of the sky. Our poor lives drift at whim between the currents of a voluptuousness where they dare not stay and the harbour of virtue that they don't have the strength to reach.
— The Mysterious Correspondent, Marcel Proust, pg. 51
