[T]he Great Pyramid of Cheops […] cannot fall down, because a pyramid exists in the shape of a building which has already fallen down.

—Rhys Hughes, A New Universal History of Infamy

Perfect things in poetry do not seem strange, they seem inevitable.

—Jorge Luis Borges, ‘The Riddle of Poetry’

‘One thing I did not understand, sir: and that was when you spoke just now of the War Roof.’

‘It is a stone roof, made of the two tablets handed down at Sinai, which God fits over Earth whenever men go to war. For He is merciful: and many of us here remember that once upon a time we were men and women. So when men go to war, God screens the sight of what they do, because He wishes to be merciful to us.’

‘That must prevent, however, the ascent of all prayers that are made in war-time.’

‘Why, but, of course, that is the roof’s secondary purpose,’ replied St. Peter. ‘What else would you expect when the Master’s teachings are being flouted? Rumors get through, though, somehow, and horribly preposterous rumors. For instance, I have actually heard that in war-time, prayers are put up to the Lord God to back His favorites and take part in the murdering. Not,’ said the good Saint, in haste, ’that I would believe even a Christian bishop to be capable of such blasphemy: I merely want to show you, Jurgen, what wild stories get about.’

—James Branch Cabell, Jurgen: A Comedy of Justice

I realized that what aroused the greatest apprehension and disquiet was not the fossilized existence of signs without meaning, but rather the astonishing experience that nothing can be entirely divested of the emanation of meaning […]

—Michal Ajvaz, The Other City (trans. Gerald Turner)

I shall never be ashamed to go to a bad author for a good quotation.

—Seneca, ‘On Tranquillity of Mind’ (trans. C. D. N. Costa)

He who fears death will never do anything worthy of a living man.

—Seneca, ‘On Tranquillity of Mind’ (trans. C. D. N. Costa)

Never have I trusted Fortune, even when she seemed to offer peace. All those blessings which she seemed bestowed on me — money, public office, influence — I relegated to a place whence she could claim them back without bothering me. I kept a wide gap between them and me, with the result that she has taken them away, not torn them away. No man has been shattered by the blows of Fortune unless he was first deceived by her favours.

—Seneca, ‘Consolation to Helvia’ (trans. C. D. N. Costa)

O uniforme reagia exactamente contra a uniformidade dos trajes: para que não houvesse uniformidade, é que se criou o uniforme. Este separava as classes e até as categorias de cada classe; e tal distinção era universalmente acatada, enquanto universalmente se proclamava e aplaudia a extinção das classes e a abolição dos privilégios.

—Cândido de Figueiredo, Lisboa no ano três mil