Edwin had decided upon a line of reasoning that went like this: (1) The one who hates himself can at least respect himself for having the substance necessary to hate himself. (2) No, it’s this way: The one who despises himself does so in order to be able to “respect” himself in that way. (3) It’s all one big contorted act of self-admiration, like everything else.
Benedict Elder, A Cosmopolitan Paradise.
Torture: forcing a woman to look at a photograph of herself.
Callista Ralph, Alphabet Soup.
Why are movies so popular? Well, people do search for identity. And where do they look? To actors, of course.
Theo Darden, Watching for Earthquakes.
We have neither a clear conception, nor any other kind of conception, of time.
Trevor Albertus, Malevolent Asymmetry.
“There is not a groan of truth in that.” Anna was speaking in puns again. And she was enjoying it. Again.
Diana Moone, Living Well.
obey the sign
“I can say this much: At least I am not famous.” Randall meant what he said. Still, he couldn’t help feeling that it all sounded a bit desperate.
Gladys Huizinga, Hard-Luck Dennis.
“Let’s be self-absorbed, and call it personal growth. Come what may!” Kimberly now saw it so clearly: This was the kind of statement, the kind of attitude, that was necessary decades ago so that we might come to reside in the wonderful moment of now.
Rhonda Carstairs, A Bad Case of the Whim-Whams and Other Stories.
“When they came up with the word wonderful, centuries ago,” thought Darryl, “what they probably had in mind was something like the smart phone.”
Jonathan Steed, Down Under.
“If humans never get anything quite right, then I am not getting this altogether right either. And what if logic is also not quite right?”
Rubina Malcolm, The Black Box.
dennis scharnberg 