a-book-is-a-garden

[a-book-is-a-garden]

#Aesthetic

[a-book-is-a-garden]

“Oh, Caesonia, I knew that men felt anguish, but I didn’t know what that word, anguish, meant. Like everyone else I fancied it was a sickness of the mind — no more. But no, it’s my body that’s in pain. Pain everywhere, in my chest, in my legs and arms. Even my skin is raw, my head is buzzing, I feel like vomiting. But worst of all this queer taste in my mouth. Not blood, or death, or fever, but a mixture of all three. I’ve only to stir my tongue, and the world goes black, and everyone looks… horrible. How hard, how cruel it is, this process of becoming a man!”

- Albert Camus, “Caligula”

#Caligula #Albert Camus #Quote #Play #Literature #Absurdism #Existentialism #20th Century

[a-book-is-a-garden]

The Pearl by William-Adolphe Bouguereau (1894)

#William-Adolphe Bouguereau #Oil on Canvas #Painting #Art #Realism #Academicism #French #19th Century

[a-book-is-a-garden]

The Danaides by John William Waterhouse (1903)

#John William Waterhouse #Oil on Canvas #Painting #Art #Pre-Raphaelism #English #20th Century

[a-book-is-a-garden]

“How would you like to live billions upon billions of lives?” Paul asked. “There’s a fabric of legends for you! Think of all those experiences, the wisdom they’d bring. But wisdom tempers love, doesn’t it? And it puts a new shape on hate. How can you tell what’s ruthless unless you’ve plumbed the depths of both cruelty and kindness? You should fear me, Mother. I am the Kwisatz Haderach.” Jessica tried to swallow in a dry throat. Presently, she said: “Once you denied to me that you were the Kwisatz Haderach.” Paul shook his head. “I can deny nothing anymore.”

- Frank Herbert, “Dune”

#Dune #Frank Herbert #Quote #Novel #Literature #Science Fiction #American #20th Century

[a-book-is-a-garden]

#Aesthetic

[a-book-is-a-garden]

The Morgan Library, New York

#Morgan Library #New York #America #Library #Places

[a-book-is-a-garden]

“And yet, […] if I was strong enough, and patient enough… […] …I know what kind of life I’d have. I wouldn’t make an experiment out of my life: I would be the experiment of my life. Yes, I know what passion would fill me with all its power. Before, I was too young. I got in the way. Now I know that acting and loving and suffering is living, of course, but it’s living only in so far as you can be transparent and accept your fate, like the unique reflection of a rainbow of joys and passions which is the me for everyone.”

- Albert Camus, “A Happy Death”

#A Happy Death #Albert Camus #Quote #Novel #Literature #Philosophy #Existentialism #Absurdism #20th Century

[a-book-is-a-garden]

Cleobis and Biton. 1884. Carl Ernst von Stetten German 1857-1942. oil/canvas. Sotheby’s Jan. 2023.      http://hadrian6.tumblr.com

#Carl Ernst von Stetten #Oil on Canvas #Painting #Art #Genre Painting #German #19th Century

[a-book-is-a-garden]

Biblis by William-Adolphe Bouguereau (1884)

#William-Adolphe Bouguereau #Oil on Canvas #Painting #Art #Realism #Academicism #French #19th Century

[a-book-is-a-garden]

In spite of all the refinements of civilization that conspired to make art—the dizzying perfection of the string quartet or the sprawling grandeur of Frangonard’s canvases—beauty was savage. It was as dangerous and lawless as the earth had been eons before man had one single coherent thought in his head or wrote codes of conduct on tablets of clay. Beauty was a Savage Garden.”

- Anne Rice, “The Vampire Lestat”

#The Vampire Lestat #The Vampire Chronicles #Anne Rice #Quote #Novel #Literature #20th Century #American #Women in Literature

[a-book-is-a-garden]

Here’s a video so you can hear the water and the thrushes. I took it for you because you couldn’t be there. <3

#Nature #Aesthetic

[a-book-is-a-garden]

Albert Camus

[x]

#Alber Camus #Manuel Litran #Photography #20th Century

[a-book-is-a-garden]

Girl, aging girl, is haunted by own nothingness [...]

Sylvia Plath, The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath ⁠— 26th January 1958

#The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath #Sylvia Plath #Quote #Journals #Literature #Confessionalism #American #20th Century #Women in Literature

[a-book-is-a-garden]

Details: The Backwater, Charles William Wyllie

#Charles William Wyllie #Oil on Canvas #Painting #Art #Impressionism #Victorian Era #British #20th Century

[a-book-is-a-garden]

@lovesdaya

#Aesthetic

[a-book-is-a-garden]

“And yet, […] if I was strong enough, and patient enough… […] …I know what kind of life I’d have. I wouldn’t make an experiment out of my life: I would be the experiment of my life. Yes, I know what passion would fill me with all its power. Before, I was too young. I got in the way. Now I know that acting and loving and suffering is living, of course, but it’s living only in so far as you can be transparent and accept your fate, like the unique reflection of a rainbow of joys and passions which is the me for everyone.”

- Albert Camus, “A Happy Death”

#A Happy Death #Albert Camus #Quote #Novel #Literature #Philosophy #Existentialism #Absurdism #20th Century