On how to love well: Instead of embracing a romantic ideal, you must confront the meaning of every great love that has shattered, shard by shard.
Qiu Miaojin, from Notes of a Crocodile (trans. Bonnie Huie)
There are some sorrows so great that they are unspeakable, taking hold in the body and leaving a void after the fact. There are some depths that love can never again reach. The mind anoints every fossil with significance in an attempt to preserve it—but in time, they all invariably turn to dust.
Qiu Miaojin, from Notes of a Crocodile (trans. Bonnie Huie)