"The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it. Resist it, and your soul grows sick with longing for the things it has forbidden to itself."

--Oscar Wilde

"She's not like other cities with no discerning palate. New Orleans knows what she likes and what she doesn't like. She's got her own tastes for the sort of people she wants to rub elbows with. If she likes you, she will shower you with opportunity and luck. She will take you by the hand and lead you to the people you will love for the rest of this life. She will dazzle you with her beauty and charm. Pour you drinks with a heavy hand, laugh outrageously at your jokes. Deliver the muse to your door at 2am and a roast beef po'boy dripping with gravy. And you'll be so happy. You'll call your family in other places and say, 'Finally, I'm home.'"

--Andrea Boll,
The Parade Goes On Without You

that fiction

Who knows the importance of happy or sad, really
in regard to our decisions,
in regard to our dreams.

It's not so much hard work
as it is hard want

and immense appreciation.