Perfect works are rare, because they must be produced at the happy moment when taste and genius unite; and this rare conjuncture, like that of certain planets, appears to occur only after the revolution of several cycles, and only lasts for an instant. – Vicomte De Chateaubriand

Sometimes… when you hold out for everything, you walk away with nothing. – From the television show Ally McBeal

Nothing that is complete breathes. – Antonio Porchia, Voces, 1943, translated from Spanish by W.S. Merwin