"LIfe is made up of the most differing, unforeseen, contradictory, ill-assorted things; it is brutal, arbitrary, disconnected, full of inexplicable, illogical and contradictory disasters which can only be classified under the heading of 'Other news in brief.'" (Maupassant, 1887)

"Sometimes in life situations develop that only the half-crazy can get out of." (La Rochefoucauld, 1665)