“I know a sad little mermaidDwelling in the oceanSoftly, gently blowingHer heart into a wooden fluteA sad little mermaidWho dies with a kiss at dawn.”

“Little son, I have longed a while to see you, and now I see you the fairest thing ever a woman bore. In sadness came I hither, in sadness did I bring forth, and in sadness has your first feast day gone. And as by sadness you came into the world, your name shall be called Tristan; that is the child of sadness.”After she had said these words she kissed him, and immediately when she had kissed him she died.”

“Dying seems less sad than having lived too little.”

“It is not a bad thing to settle for the Little Way, not the big search for the big happiness but the sad little happiness of drinks and kisses, a good little car and a warm deep thigh.”

“Sighing my sadness into him, I gently kiss his lips. I will remember this moment for eternity.”

“Beauty and love pass, I know... Oh, there's sadness, too. I suppose all great happiness is a little sad. Beauty means the scent of roses and then the death of roses-”