He himself, he realized, had always been most abominably frightened, even at the height of his divine power, a frail god upon a rickety throne, afraid of opening letters, of making decisions, afraid of the instinctive knowledge in the eyes of mules, of the innocent eyes of good men, of the elastic nature of the passions, even of the devotion he had received from some men, and one woman, and dogs. Patrick White
About This Quote

After narrowly surviving multiple assassination attempts, author Franz Kafka wrote this short essay reflecting on the nature of fear. He wrote that no matter how powerful one might be it is foolish to be afraid of others. It is also foolish to think that there is nothing one can do to stop future attacks. If one does not stop an attack, it is sure to happen tomorrow.

Source: Voss

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  2. They walked on rather aimlessly. He hoped she wouldn't notice he was touched, because he wouldn't have known how to explain why. Here lay the great discrepancy between aesthetic truth and sleazy reality.
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