Yea, All The Wealth That Our Fore-fathers HidWithin The Messy Entrails Of The Earth;

Yea, all the wealth that our fore-fathers hid Within the messy entrails of the earth;

Cornelius, Dr. Faustus, Act 1 scene 1 (via wholesomeobsessive)

Conversation, the gradual unveiling of oneself, one’s quirks and characteristics, opinions and beliefs; what a fraught and awkward business that is.

David Nicholls, Us (2014)

And she was curious about me, too, something that I’d not experienced for some time.  We talked about our parents and our siblings, our work and friends, our schools and childhoods, the implication being that we would need to know this information for the future. Of course, after nearly a quarter of a century, the questions about our distant pasts have all been posed and we’re left with ‘how was your day?’ and ‘when will you be home?’ and 'have you put the bins out?'  Our biographies involve each other so intrinsically now that we’re both on nearly every page.  We know the answers because we were there, and so curiosity becomes hard to maintain; replaced, I suppose, my nostalgia.

Us by David Nicholls (via wholesomeobsessive)

“Sometimes human beings are very much like bees. Bees are fiercely protective of their hive, provided you are outside it. Once you’re in, the workers sort of assume that it must have been cleared by management and take no notice.”

- Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman - Good Omens

A stranger is shot in the street, you hardly move to help. But if, half an hour before, you spent just ten minutes with the fellow and knew a little about him and his family, you might just jump in front of his killer and try to stop it. Really knowing is good. Not knowing, or refusing to know is bad, or amoral, at least. You can’t act if you don’t know.

Ray Bradbury, Something Wicked This Way Comes (via wholesomeobsessive)

From an evolutionary point of view, most emotions — fear, desire, anger — serve some practical purpose, but nostalgia is a useless, futile thing because it is a longing for something that is permanently lost…

David Nicholls, Us (via wholesomeobsessive)