August Strindberg

My people, we don't carry on like you do. We don't hate and destroy each other. We make love for fun. Yes, it is a game, and we play it when we get time off from work. But we don't have all day and all night like you people do!

We don't use that word. But I have liked a lot of girls. And once when I could not have one girl I wanted, I became sick, horribly sick.Sick like a prince in a fairy tale, a prince who cannot eat or drink because of love.

I shared a bed with my little brother, and one morning, when I was eight, I woke up and found him dead beside me. I saw death for the first time and yes, I was afraid. But not in the way you're talking about.

You know the way that I am. I'm always placing a veil over people, idealizing them. So I never see who they really are. I did that with her - Miss Julie - and was bound to be disappointed.

Perhaps there isn't quite as much difference as they think between human beings and human beings.

I'd like to shoot you like a dog.

On the other side of that wall, I have a place. A secret garden. There is no wind there. I go there when I'm anxious. I'm anxious all the time. I'm always longing for some other place. You cannot imagine how different I want my life to be.

I'm sending you out into the world. Look. You're like bright-colored stars. The water is your heaven. Do you know that, my flowers? Yes. Everything is so much bigger than the little pieces. Do you know that?