I Havent Had Enough Sleep For Years,

“I haven’t had enough sleep for years,”

— Franz Kafka, from a letter to Felice Bauer written c. March 1913

Ros. Ophelia!

Oph. (delighted and surprised) Rosencrantz and Guildenstern! This meeting likes me much. We have not met since we were babies!

Ros. The Queen hath summoned us, and I have come in a half-hearted hope that I may claim once more my baby-love!

Oph. Alas, I am betrothed!

Ros. Betrothed? To whom?

Oph. To Hamlet!

Ros. Oh, incomprehensible! Thou lovest Hamlet?

Oph. (demurely). Nay, I said not so – I said we were betrothed.

— W.S. Gilbert, “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern”, 1874

“You are reborn with the roses, in every spring.”

— Juan Ramón Jiménez, from The Selected Writings; “Love,” wr. c. 1911

Hamlet wearing a black T-shirt with the text "I'm Danish. What's your superpower?"

“I think that this, too, will pass.”

— Franz Kafka, from The Complete Stories; “Description of a Struggle,”

“I mustn’t look at you too much, or I won’t be able to take my eyes off you at all.”

— Franz Kafka