The fiercest hearts are in love with a wild perfection.
—Stanley Kunitz
Careful Fear and Dead Devotion
And if you want to see me cry,
play Let It Be or Nevermind.
—The National, "Don't Swallow the Cap"
The Knowing
I know it and I know I know it. What good is it to know?
—Hayden Carruth,
Loneliness: An Outburst of Hexasyllables
What good does knowing do?
—Jason Isbell,
Traveling Alone
Henry James
Sorrow comes in great waves — no one can know that better than you — but
it rolls over us, and though it may almost smother us it leaves us on
the spot and we know that if it is strong we are stronger, inasmuch as
it passes and we remain.
The National
Looking for somewhere to stand and stay,
I leaned on the wall and the wall leaned away.
—The National, Slow Show