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I owe so much to the Other’s generosity. Without him I would not sleep snug and warm in my sleeping bag in Winter. I would not have notebooks in which to record my thoughts.

That being said, it occurs to me to wonder why it is that the House gives a greater variety of objects to the Other than to me, providing him with sleeping bags, shoes, plastic bowls, cheese sandwiches, notebooks, slices of Christmas cake etc., etc., whereas me it mostly gives fish.

— Piranesi by Susanna Clarke

Was it more honourable to starve than to steal? Many people would say yes, though rarely those who’d actually experienced an empty belly, or a child whimpering with its own hunger. Was it more honourable to starve than to steal when others had the means to feed you but chose not to, unless you paid with money you did not have? He thought not. By choosing to starve you became your own oppressor, keeping yourself in line, harming yourself for having the temerity to be poor, when by rights that ought to be a constable’s job. Show any initiative or imagination and you were called lazy, shifty, crafty, incorrigible. So he’d dismissed talk of honour; it was just a way of making the rich and powerful feel better about themselves and the powerless and poverty-stricken feel worse.

— Matter by Iain M. Banks (Culture, #8)

Since the World began it is certain that there have existed fifteen people. Possibly there have been more; but I am a scientist and must proceed according to the evidence. Of the fifteen people whose existence is verifiable, only Myself and the Other are now living.

— Piranesi by Susanna Clarke

Men herrar och herrskap hade sin vanliga rikliga kost även under missväxt och svälttider. Lagom till de stora nödåren hade de fyra stånden avskaffats i Sverige. Sedan återstod det bara två stånd: Det mätta ståndet och det svältande.

— Sista brevet till Sverige by Vilhelm Moberg (Utvandrarna) (Page 310)

Klas Albert sade skrattande: Det var en stor lycka för de svältande i hemorten att landets konung råkade ha sin namnsdag mitt i vintern, medan hungersnöden var som störst. Ett kungahus var till stor hjälp och nytta under nödår: Ju större kungahus, desto fler kungliga namnsdagar och desto mera bröd åt de svultna undersåterna.

— Sista brevet till Sverige by Vilhelm Moberg (Utvandrarna) (Page 287 - 288)

Er annet tema som gikk igjen, var det mørke nettet. Richard omtalte den skjulte og uregulerte avkroken av internett - som du får tilgang til gjennom å bruke en spesiell nettleser - i positive ordelag.

— Evelyns innboks by Victoria Durnak

Ingen ville bli gamle og ta farvel med verden, heller ikke Hanne. Hun fant seg ikke i sånt, det kom bare ikke til å skje. De siste skulle bli de første. Hun skulle komme de idiotisk selvopptatte venninnene i forkjøpet og bli professor, og mer enn det, hun skulle vise verden, hun skulle vise hvor inn i helvete mye alle gikk glipp av når de gikk glipp av henne. Hun skulle lage sitt eget tankesystem. Sånn var det. Hun var ridd av hybris, og det var kanskje like greit, for da fikk hun noe til å skje. Ja, Hanne var gudskjelov høy på pæra, og dette, i kombinasjon med en serie nattlige drømmer om sin rolle som fortolker av Romerriket fikk henne til å skride til handling og søke opptak som masterstudent.

— Mitt følelsesliv er som en åpen bok by Kristine Næss

We have no appetite for robust, rich excess. The spirit of pageantry leaves us when we look at pictures. We fear the sun, we choose the gentle shade, we like our gilding rubbed and dulled and worn, and our silver oxidized; and cowering under the topis of our sensitive aesthetic consciousness, we prefer not to believe in the stark brilliance, the garish, gaudy sunshine that the Middle Ages revelled in. We care more for subtle harmony than for triumphant, gorgeous brightness; but we forget that there are harmonies of midday as well as harmonies of dawn and dusk.

— The Materials and Techniques of Medieval Painting by Daniel V. Thompson