From Solace of Stone

She recognized the scenario: as on a summer evening, when the tempest gathers in the east, and when the sun, ignorant of her impending setting, seems to exert herself, then the sharp reflections on the clouds create a light that is inconceivable in clear daylight. The tempest exists and you know it’s there, but as long as you look at the bright side, the threat doesn’t exist and life appears more vivid than ever. But Charlotte no longer had the option to look away from the tempest; she couldn’t even rise to the feeling of melancholy, since even that feeling suggests life.

From Solace of Stone

Nature is an overture to death, a volatile shore of timeless loneliness. If you want to live, it's better not to look at nature but at humanity in its often woeful, sometimes triumphant civilization. There one can find solace. If you want to embrace life it makes more sense to listen to Brahms’ Fourth Symphony than to the breaking of the waves on the reef.



Quote from Solace of Stone