“Looking after children can be a subtle way of giving up. They become the whole ones, the well ones, the postponement of happiness, the ones who won’t drink too much, give up, get divorced, become mentally ill. The part of oneself that’s fighting against decay and depression is transferred to guarding them from decay and depression. In the meantime one decays and gets depressed.” — Edward St. Aubyn, Mother’s Milk
NYC 1991, Exterior #3, from NYC Exteriors Series #1 (copyright by Tetman Callis)
“Most people wait for their parents to die with a mixture of tremendous sadness and plans for a new swimming pool.” — Edward St. Aubyn, Mother’s Milk
NYC 1991, Exterior #2, from NYC Exteriors Series #1 (copyright by Tetman Callis)
“In general babies live in a democracy of strangeness. Things happen for the first time all the time–what’s surprising is things happening again.” — Edward St. Aubyn, Mother’s Milk
NYC 1991, Exterior #1, from NYC Exteriors Series #1 (copyright by Tetman Callis)
“Once you got words you thought the world was everything that could be described, but it was also what couldn’t be described. In a way things were more prefect when you couldn’t describe anything.” — Edward St. Aubyn, Mother’s Milk
NYC 1990, Exterior #8, from NYC Exteriors Series #1 (copyright by Tetman Callis)
“Neither revenge nor forgiveness change what happened. They’re sideshows, of which forgiveness is the less attractive because it represents a collaboration with one’s persecutors.” – Edward St. Aubyn, Some Hope
NYC 1990, Exterior #7, from NYC Exteriors Series #1 (copyright by Tetman Callis)
“One seldom knows whether perseverance is noble or stupid until it’s too late.” – Edward St. Aubyn, Some Hope
NYC 1990, Exterior #6, from NYC Exteriors Series #1 (copyright by Tetman Callis)
“My experience of love is that you get excited thinking that someone can mend your broken heart, and then you get angry when you realize they can’t.” – Edward St. Aubyn, Some Hope
NYC 1990, Exterior #5, from NYC Exteriors Series #1 (copyright by Tetman Callis)
“I don’t know why people get so fixated on happiness, which always eludes them, when there are so many other invigorating experiences available, like rage, jealousy, disgust, and so forth.” – Edward St. Aubyn, Some Hope
NYC 1990, Exterior #4, from NYC Exteriors Series #1 (copyright by Tetman Callis)
“Perhaps identity was not a building for which one had to find foundations, but rather a series of impersonations held together by a central intelligence, an intelligence that knew the history of the impersonations and eliminated the distinction between action and acting.” – Edward St. Aubyn, Some Hope
NYC 1990, Exterior #3, from NYC Exteriors Series #1 (copyright by Tetman Callis)
“Suffering takes place while somebody else is eating.” – Edward St. Aubyn, Bad News
NYC 1990, Exterior #2, from NYC Exteriors Series #1 (copyright by Tetman Callis)
“Wittgenstein had said that the philosopher’s treatment of a question was like the treatment of a disease. But which treatment? Purging? Leeches? Antibiotics against the infection of language?” – Edward St. Aubyn, Never Mind
NYC 1990, Exterior #1, from NYC Exteriors Series #1 (copyright by Tetman Callis)
“No pain is too small if it hurts, but any pain is too small if it is cherished.” – Edward St. Aubyn, Never Mind
Thomas & Patty-Ann, from The Compton-Kids, Series #1 (copyright by Tetman Callis)
“What charm is: being malicious about everybody except the person you are with, who then glows with the privilege of exemption.” – Edward St. Aubyn, Never Mind
Patty-Ann & David, from The Compton-Kids, Series #1 (copyright by Tetman Callis)
“Just as a novelist may sometimes wonder why he invents characters who do not exist and makes them do things which do not matter, so a philosopher may wonder why he invents cases that cannot occur in order to determine what must be the case.” – Edward St. Aubyn, Never Mind
Patty-Ann, David & Jeff, from The Compton-Kids, Series #1 (copyright by Tetman Callis)
“I have written books which I have had to write, but I have not yet written a book which others have to read.” – Edward St. Aubyn, Never Mind
Nugget & Jeff, from The Compton-Kids, Series #1 (copyright by Tetman Callis)