Regrets are idle; yet history is one long regret. Everything might have turned out so differently. - My Summer in read more

Regrets are idle; yet history is one long regret. Everything might have turned out so differently. - My Summer in a Garden.

I was court-martial in my absence, and sentenced to death in my absence, so I said they could shoot me read more

I was court-martial in my absence, and sentenced to death in my absence, so I said they could shoot me in my absence.

How glorious it is -- and also how painful -- to be an exception.

How glorious it is -- and also how painful -- to be an exception.

We're our own dragons as well as our own heroes, and we have to rescue ourselves from ourselves.

We're our own dragons as well as our own heroes, and we have to rescue ourselves from ourselves.

Solitude is the playfield of Satan. - Pale Fire, 1962.

Solitude is the playfield of Satan. - Pale Fire, 1962.

The time to stop talking is when the other person nods his head affirmatively but says nothing.

The time to stop talking is when the other person nods his head affirmatively but says nothing.

The heart may think it knows better: the senses know that absence blots people out. We really have no absent read more

The heart may think it knows better: the senses know that absence blots people out. We really have no absent friends. The friend becomes a traitor by breaking, however unwillingly or sadly, out of our own zone: a hard judgment is passed on him, for all the pleas of the heart.

Absence blots people out. We really have no absent friends.

Absence blots people out. We really have no absent friends.

There are places and moments in which one is so completely alone that one sees the world entire. - Journal, read more

There are places and moments in which one is so completely alone that one sees the world entire. - Journal, December, 1900.