“These fragments I have shored against my ruins”

“FRAGMENT, I am a fragment of us. I am a fragment composedof fragments. Mosaic, pastiche, ruin. Everydayconsciousness proposes lightbulb, ropeswing, teapot,David Bowie, your sweater on, your sweater off, tomatillo,all associated. Parts suggesting the wholethey long to be gathered into.”

“Without the hope of posterity, for our race if not for ourselves, without the assurance that we being dead yet live, all pleasures of the mind and senses sometimes seem to me no more than pathetic and crumbling defences shored up against our ruin.”

“If I determine the enemy's disposition of forces while I have no perceptible form, I can concentrate my forces while the enemy is fragmented. The pinnacle of military deployment approaches the formless: if it is formless, then even the deepest spy cannot discern it nor the wise make plans against it.”

“I have accepted a seat in the House of Representatives, and thereby have consented to my own ruin, to your ruin, and to the ruin of our children. I give you this warning that you may prepare your mind for your fate.”

“My husband and I are either going to buy a dog or have a child. We can't decide whether to ruin our carpets or ruin our lives.”