When I read a newspaper, listen to the radio or overhear what people are saying in the cafe, I often feel an aversion, even disgust at the same words written and spoken over and over - at the same expressions, phrases, and metaphors repeats. And the worst is, when I listen to myself I have to admit that I too endlessly repeat the same things. They’re so horribly frayed and threadbare, these words, worn out by constant overuse. Do they still have any meaning? Naturally, words have a function; people act on them, they laugh and cry, they go left and right, the waiter brings the coffee or tea. But that’s not what I want to ask. The question is: are they still an expression of thoughts? Or only effective sounds that drive people in one direction or the other?

- “Night Train to Lisbon”

(I am only at page 44 with hundreds of pages to go, and have the urge to underline passages (memorize phrases) if only it wasn’t a borrowed book.)