Paradise Lost, Amerigo Vespucci
[In a 1503 letter to Lorenzo Pietro Francesco Di Medici, explorer Amerigo Vespucci wrote how impressed he was by the idyllic places he passed through on his expeditions, where people walked around naked and where ‘Christian values’ had yet to penetrate. What is striking in his letter is how he could not understand how little […]
Monsieur Rodin, Camille Claudel
‘As I have nothing to do, I am writing to you again. You cannot imagine how pleasant it is at the Islette. Mme Courcelles told me I could take baths in the river, where her daughter and the maid bathe, without any danger. I sleep completely naked to make myself believe that you are here, […]
Deatached, Carlo Carreto
[Priest and author Carlo Carretto left Italy in 1954 for the desert of Algeria, breaking with the past and redefining the notion of detachment. To truly leave his old life behind, he burned his notebook containing the addresses of thousands of friends and family, information that had once seemed indispensable. Another of his notes reads: […]
Space, Karen Blixen
‘There must always be one thing that is more important than anything else to a person and I think that for me this is freedom, or space. I cannot and will not live in a situation where I feel myself incarcerated. Naturally no one can tell how it will go.’ Space[Karen Blixen] [On 10 April […]
I am an afghan girl, Armineh
‘I write down what is on my heart with my eyes full of tears. I am writing during the utter confusion of these days; when so many hearts are broken, so many are living without hope and are filled with sadness.’ I am an Afghan girl [Armineh] [In a heartbreaking open letter of 11 October […]
I’ll wait, Simone de Beauvoir
‘So, I’ll wait. When you‘ll wish it, just tell. I shall not assume that you love me anew, not even that you have to sleep with me, and we have not to stay together such a long time, just as you feel, and when you feel. But know that I’ll always long for your asking […]
The hotness, Georgia O’Keeffe
‘Dearest, my body is simply crazy with wanting you. If you don’t come tomorrow, I don’t see how I can wait for you. I wonder if your body wants mine the way mine wants yours, the kisses, the hotness, the wetness, all melting together.’ The hotness[Georgia O’Keeffe] [This passionate fragment of text comes from the […]
Still Enjoying, Frida Kahlo
‘Last night I felt as if many wings caressed me all over, as if your finger tips had mouths that kissed my skin. The atoms of my body are yours and they vibrate together so that we love each other.’ Still enjoying [Frida Kahlo] [Artist Frida Kahlo’s love life was tumultuous, liberated and diverse. She […]
I had a dream, Martin Luther King
‘In spite of my shattered dreams, I came to Birmingham with the hope that the white religious leadership of this community would see the justice of our cause and, with deep moral concern, would serve as the channel through which our just grievances could reach the power structure … But again I have been disappointed.’ […]
And then there was god, Carles Darwin
‘The strongest argument for the existence of God, as it seems to me, is the instinct or intuition which we all (as I suppose) feel that there must have been an intelligent beginner of the Universe. But then comes the doubt and difficulty whether such intuitions are trustworthy.’ And then there was God[Charles Darwin] [On […]
