““Clusters of distant lights was the view of Mankind that he liked the best. The lights had the archaic charm of little fires on a plain, and the frailty about them, if it did not excuse anything, at least explained a lot of Man's stubborn ruthlessness. Mankind had not started the mess that was life, after all. And on the whole, it had been an interesting species to be a part of, the girls especially, as long as you remembered to watch your back.””
![“[She] soon perceived that as she walked in the flock, sometimes with this one, sometimes with that, that the fresh night air was producing staggerings and serpentine courses among the men who had partaken too freely; some of the more careless women were also wandering in their gait. . . . Yet…” quote by Thomas Hardy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/9a9/thomas-hardy-410_alcohol_she-soon-perceived-that-as-she-walked-in_2214235.jpg)
![“The writer's life [is] full of frailty and defeat like any other life. What counts is the work. Yet the work can quite easily be buried, or half-buried, by the life.” quote by Julian Barnes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/176/julian-barnes-522_buried_the-writer-s-life-is-full-of-frailty-and_181140.jpg)
