like flippping someone off with your pinky
“Writing a serious attack on someone in Comic Sans is
like flipping someone off with your pinky.”
—Lawrence August, quoted by Lewis Grossberger, in reference to this.
red and gold threads
“ ‘Fire worship was by no means the most foolish thing ever invented,’ he murmured to himself at one point. Otherwise ne
swirling specks of color
“Even as a young boy I had been in the habit of gazing at bizarre natural phenomena, not so much observing them as surrendering to their magic, their confused, deep language. Long gnarled tree roots, colored veins in rocks, patches of oil floating on water, light-refracting flaws in glass—all these things had held great magic for me at one time: water and fire particularly, smoke, clouds, and dust, but most of all the swirling specks of color that swam before my eyes the minute I closed them.”
—Herman Hesse, Demian, 1923.
a greenish tint
“I’ve never had that lifeguard look, but when I ran into D.M.Z. today, he mentioned that my normal iridescent paleness is gradually taking on a greenish tint . . . ‘It’s a bit like one of those radium-laced bulbs that hang on a string from the light fixture in the bathroom; you know, they sort of glow in the dark.’ ”
—Jim Carroll, Forced Entries: The Downtown Diaries: 1971–1973; 1987.
Brownies
“Brownies, like fairies and goblins, are imaginary little sprites, who are supposed to delight in harmless pranks and helpful deeds. They work and sport while weary households sleep, and never allow themselves to be seen by mortal eyes.”
—Palmer Cox, The Brownies: Their Book, 1887.