Jessica Casalini

“Alle Menschen sind mir in solchem Maße verhasst, dass es mich ärgern würde, wenn ich in ihren Augen weise wäre”
― Molière, The Misanthrope

“He who has little communication with people is seldom a misanthrope. True misanthropes are not found in solitude, but in the world. This is because it is practical experience of life, and certainly not philosophy, that makes people hate their fellows.”
― Giacomo Leopardi

“Come back, come back, dear friend, only friend, come back. I promise to be good.
If I was short with you, I was either kidding or just being stubborn; I regret all this more than I can express. Come back and all is forgotten. It is unbearable to think you took my joke seriously. I have been crying for two days straight. Come back. Be brave, dear friend. All is not lost. You only need to come back. We will live here once again, bravely, patiently. I’m begging you. You know it is for your own good. Come back, all of your things are here. I hope you now know that our last conversation wasn’t real. That awful moment. But you, when I waved to you to get off the boat, why didn’t you come? To have lived together for two years and to have come to that! What will you do? If you don’t want to come back here, would you want me to come to you?

Yes, I was wrong.

Tell me you haven’t forgotten me.

You couldn’t.

I always have you with me.

Listen, tell me: should we not live together anymore?
Be brave. Write immediately.
I can’t stay here much longer.
Listen to your heart.
Now, tell me if I should come join you.
My life is yours.”
― Arthur Rimbaud, I Promise to Be Good: The Letters of Arthur Rimbaud

“I smiled,—for what had I to fear?”
― Edgar Allan Poe, The Tell-Tale Heart and Other Writings