das Ding an sich

“It is an amazing thing to watch people laugh, the way it sort of takes them over. Sometimes they really do struggle with it … so I wonder what it is and where it comes from, and I wonder what it expends out of your system, so that you have to do it till you’re done, like crying in a way, I suppose, except that laughter is much more easily spent.”

— Marilynne Robinson, Gilead. via slaughterhouse90210

(via dreaminginthedeepsouth)