That white round thing without any holes
“I’m frightened of eggs, worse than frightened, they revolt me. That white round thing without any holes . . . have you ever seen anything more revolting than an egg yolk breaking and spilling its yellow liquid? Blood is jolly, red. But egg yolk is yellow, revolting.”
The Hooded Pitohu
—Patrick Merrell, Bird Brain-Teasers, 2008.
LBJ
—Patrick Merrell, Bird Brain-Teasers, 2008.
a world of color
“Birds can see a world of color far richer than we can. Humans have only three types of cones in each eye, whereas birds have four. Since each type interprets visual input differently, the picture formed in a bird’s brain contains colors, including some in the ultraviolet range, that we can only imagine.”
—Patrick Merrell, Bird Brain-Teasers, 2008.
All of Israel saw the letters
“The word of YHVH is refined
As silver and gold are refined.
When these letters came forth, they were all refined,
Carved precisely, sparkling, flashing.
All of Israel saw the letters
Flying through space in every direction,
Engraving themselves on the tablets of stone.”
—The Zohar, quoted in People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks, 2008.
Sundays
“Sundays have a different color (usually white), a different texture (starched lined), and a different flavor (kind of like mashed potatoes) than even Saturdays (which are crimson and taste like weenies and beer). In some American cities, incidentally, it’s illegal to sell beer on Sundays, but that’s a different story.”
—Tom Robbins, B Is for Beer, 2009.
I hid myself in light
“Sometimes, in my apartment, I turn on both chandeliers, and then I lie down amid all that light, and I just start laughing. A man in hiding, and yet he’s surrounded by chandeliers!
There—I’m revealing the secret to a successful escape. The police searched for me in darkness: but I hid myself in light.”
—Aravind Adiga, The White Tiger, 2008.
anti-type typography
“I am a big fan of this anti-type typography.”
—Steven Heller, “Graphic Content | Hand Lettering”, The New York Times, May 7, 2009.
Painting
“Painting is the silence of thought and the music of sight.”
—Orhan Pamuk, My Name is Red, 2001.
within color and outside time
“Before the art of illumination there was blackness and afterward there will also be blackness. Through our colors, paints, art and love, we remember that Allah had commanded us to ‘See’! . . . All great masters, in their work, seek that profound void within color and outside time.”
—Orhan Pamuk, My Name is Red, 2001.