Open Secret

“Art like life is an open secret.”
― Lawrence Durrell, The Alexandria Quartet

“A diary is the last place to go if you wish to seek the truth about a person. Nobody dares to make the final confession to themselves on paper: or at least, not about love.”
― Lawrence Durrell, Balthazar

“Life is like a cucumber. One minute it's in your hand, the next it's up you ass.”
― Lawrence Durrell, The Alexandria Quartet

“The loved object is simply one that has shared an experience at the same moment of time, narcissistically; and the desire to be near the beloved object is at first not due to the idea of possessing it, but simply to let the two experiences compare themselves, like reflections in different mirrors. All this may precede the first look, kiss, or touch; precede ambition, pride, or envy; precede the first declarations which mark the turning point—for from here love degenerates into habit, possession, and back to loneliness.”
― Lawrence Durrell, Justine

“Life is more complicated than we think, yet far simpler than anyone dares to imagine.”
― Lawrence Durrell, Clea

“You see, nothing matters except pleasure - which is the opposite of happiness, its tragic part, I expect.”
― Lawrence Durrell, The Alexandria Quartet

“Art—the meaning of the pattern of our common actions in reality. The cloth-of-gold that hides behind the sackcloth of reality, forced out by the pain of human memory.”
― Lawrence Durrell, Justine