Quotessence
Home / Quotes / Quote by Djuna Barnes

Quote by Djuna Barnes

“And me who seem curious because no one has seen me for a million years, and now I'm seen! Is there such extraordinary need of misery to make beauty? Let go Hell; and your fall will be broken by the roof of Heaven.”

Quote by Djuna Barnes

Work

Nightwood

Nightwood is a complex and haunting narrative that delves into the psychological and emotional complexities of its characters. The story is set against the backdrop of the turbulent period following World War I, offering a glimpse into the lives of individuals grappling with their identities and desires. The novel is known for its poetic prose and its exploration of the nature of love, the struggle for self-acceptance, and the search for belonging. more

Author

Djuna Barnes
Djuna Barnes

Djuna Barnes, an American writer, was born on June 12, 1892, and died on June 18, 1982. She is known for her unique literary style and profound modernist thoughts. more

You May Also Like

“Really, on the whole, Christians rarely pay particularly close attention to what the Bible actually says, for the simple reason that the texts defy synthesis in a canon of exact doctrines, and yet most Christians rely on doctrinal canons. Theologians are often the most cavalier in their treatment of texts, chiefly because their first loyalty is usually to the grand systems of belief they have devised or adopted; but the Bible is not a system. A very great deal of theological tradition consists therefore in explaining away those aspects of scripture that contradict the finely wrought structure of this or that orthodoxy.”

“What some people say on earth is that the final loss of one soul gives the lie to all the joy of those who are saved." "Ye see it does not." "I feel in a way that it ought to." "That sounds very merciful: but see what lurks behind it." "What?" "The demand of the loveless and the self-imprisoned that they should be allowed to blackmail the universe: that till they consent to be happy (on their own terms) no one else shall taste joy: that theirs should be the final power; that Hell should be able to veto Heaven." "I don't know what I want, Sir." "Son, son, it must be one way or the other. Either the day must come when joy prevails and all the makers of misery are no longer able to infect it: or else for ever and ever the makers of misery can destroy in others the happiness they reject for themselves. I know it has a grand sound to say ye'll accept no salvation which leaves even one creature in the dark outside. But watch that sophistry or ye'll make a Dog in a Manger the tyrant of the universe.”