{"quotes":[{"text":"He considered himself a sort of esoteric martyr, who'd sacrificed everything for principle. Apparently that little book had set him on a course towards political extremism, culminating in the loss of his job at the community college, as well as the breakup of his previously stable marriage. By the time he met Old Hoss, a few years later, Hiram Buckley was one of those unfortunates the normal and untroubled point at in scorn and laugh at derisively; a veritable dog that's kicked while it's down. He was, under such circumstances, a perfect companion for Abner 'Old Hoss' Billingsly, one of the few people who didn't consider him a prime candidate for St. Elizabeth's, the infamous mental hospital located in the District of Columbia. Since his career in education had been so rudely interrupted, the Professor had worked his way through a series of menial, low paying jobs, which he inevitably lost due to his proclivity for preaching unwelcome and unpopular political ideas to his fellow employees.","author":"Donald Jeffries","tags":["fantasy","science-fiction","surrealism"],"id":6204,"author_id":"Donald+Jeffries"},{"text":"Now the night's breath responds to the sea, which I can scarcely hear from here, as it reminisces about its shipwrecks.","author":"Joë Bousquet","tags":["night","sea","surrealism"],"id":9165,"author_id":"Jo%C3%AB+Bousquet"},{"text":"We all love conflagrations. When the sky changes color, it is a dead man's passing.","author":"André Breton","tags":["death","surrealism"],"id":12754,"author_id":"Andr%C3%A9+Breton"},{"text":"Being alone in the dark - surrounded by silence, frightful. Thoughts breathe a life of their own; twisting and turning on each other as enemies unto themselves.","author":"Veronica Purcell","tags":["darkness","surrealism"],"id":13654,"author_id":"Veronica+Purcell"},{"text":"The sultan had enormous eyebrows, fibrous like angora wool. In moments of strife, his eyebrows twitched violently. Like now!His Excellency’s royal blood boiled. Once again another mesmerized American news anchor gushed about Dubai’s vision, hailing the imagination of the al-Maktoum family.“Where is this vision coming from?” probed Katie Couric.“Ignorant Yankee!” Sultan Mo-Mo’s British twang bore traces of Basil Fawlty.The sultan wanted to retch. Dubai’s showboating gave him indigestion, but he continued helping himself to more chips and fiery salsa, downing cold Guinness, smoking excellent hash, humming the theme song of The Wonder Years.","author":"Deepak Unnikrishnan","tags":["fiction","middle-east","short-stories","surrealism"],"id":15144,"author_id":"Deepak+Unnikrishnan"},{"text":"You’re better looking than me. You’re more intelligent than me. Your personality is more likable than mine. You make more money than me. Your family is nicer than mine. Your religion is better than mine. You’ve seen more beaches than me. You’ve been to more cities than me. Your automobile is nicer than mine. Your significant other is better looking than mine. Your candidate won. Your home team won. You’re number one. But life is a tie. We all die.","author":"Jason Daniel Chaplin","tags":["absurdism","existentialism","philosophy","romance","surrealism"],"id":24567,"author_id":"Jason+Daniel+Chaplin"},{"text":"By giving words the latitude she does, (Marianne) Van Hirtum emphasizes their contagious qualities: they become almost like viruses, with which it is necessary to put oneself in harmony by sympathetic magic if one is not to be overwhelmed. ... What is essential is to become one with the sickness, that is, in the context of language as a whole, to enter into contact with words.","author":"Michael Richardson","tags":["language","poetry","surrealism","vanhirtum","words"],"id":28197,"author_id":"Michael+Richardson"},{"text":"All the wild beasts have been extinct for years, but it's perfectly possible to synthesize them autobiogenically. On the other hand, why be bound to what was once produced by natural evolution? The spokesman for surrealist zoology was most eloquent - we should populate our preserves with bold, original conceptions, not slavish imitations, we should forge the New, not plagiarize the Old.","author":"Stanisław Lem","tags":["animals","surrealism"],"id":38509,"author_id":"Stanis%C5%82aw+Lem"},{"text":"I still love the sound of breaking,the tearing of the page.","author":"Dean Young","tags":["surrealism","writing-life"],"id":39948,"author_id":"Dean+Young"},{"text":"We have come from all the countries of the world and are going to Saintes-Maries de la Mer. Nomads of the enigma, we gather there each year after having carried our mystery through ordinary countryside and fluid towns. Since we become transformed by our wanderings we are despised by those who stand still and retain a memory of giant serpents and metallic green.","author":"Raymond Queneau","tags":["mystery","surrealism"],"id":40930,"author_id":"Raymond+Queneau"}],"pagination":{"page":1,"page_size":10,"total":92,"pages":10,"next":"?page=2\u0026page_size=10"}}