Salman Rushdie - The Enchantress of Florence

"Only when we can accept the truths of death," the emperor declared, "can we begin to learn the truths of being alive."

"Paradox, sire," Mogor dell'Amore answered cheekily, "is a knot that allows man to seem intelligent even as it is trussing his brain like a hen bound for the pot. 'In death lies the meaning of life!' 'A man's wealth engenders his soul's poverty!' And so violence may become gentleness, and ugliness beauty, and any blessed thing its opposite...A man may wallow in the bogs of paradox until his last day without ever thinking a clear thought worthy of the name."