Journey to the End of the Night

 

Just take a close look at yourself and the degree of rottenness you've come to. There's no mystery about it, no more room for fairly tales; if you've lived this long, it's because you've squashed any poetry you had in you. Life is keeping body and soul together.

 

from "Journey to the End of the Night" by Louis-Ferdinand Céline, translated by Ralph Manheim