It has been said that figures rule the world; maybe. I am quite sure that it is figures which show us whether it is being ruled well or badly. – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, 1830, translated
On the one hand, shopping is dependable: You can do it alone, if you lose your heart to something that is wrong for you, you can return it its instant gratification and yet something you buy may well last for years. – Judith Krantz
If you think of a work of fiction as a kind of scale model of the world, then the positive valences – where things turn out better than you thought they would – ought to be in there somewhere, too. – George Saunders