Jasper (MOVED TO STORYGRAPH)

“They are just dirty, all of them, low and cheap and dirty.' He stretched out his hand and pulled me down to the floor beside him. 'All except you. Tous, sauf toi.' He held my face between his hands and I supposed such tenderness has scarcely ever produced such terror as I then felt. 'Ne me laisse pas tomber, je t'en prie,' he said, and kissed me, with a strange insistent gentleness on the mouth.”
― James Baldwin, Giovanni’s Room

“And my mind was empty—or it was as though my mind had become one enormous, anaesthetized wound. I thought only, One day I'll weep for this. One of these days I'll start to cry”
― James Baldwin, Giovanni’s Room

“We had our arms round each other. It was like holding in my hand some rare, exhausted, nearly doomed bird which I had miraculously happened to find.”
― James Baldwin, Giovanni’s Room

“When one is alone, imperfection must be endured every minute of the day.”
― Franz Kafka, Letters to Milena