Lights All Askew in the Heavens

These two quotes were eventually dropped from the final version of my qualifying paper...but struck too close to my heart not to publish somewhere.

Is it not peculiar that we perceive our whole life clearly and distinctly when we see thick clouds, now reaching past the moon, now their edges gilded by the moon, now completely devouring the moon? It seems to us as if we could write our whole life's story in such pictures. [Philipp Otto Runge]

Snapshots are like little devotional pieces that people have in their environment and look at....these are the likenesses of family and friends, preserved in remembrance of them. The paintings are like that a little too, but they are less private. That may be our deepest desire, not to be private. To be public, open to the world.  [Gerhard Richter]