"... break the barrier."

"Pursewarden once, speaking about writing, told me that the pain that accompanied composition was entirely due, in artists, to the fear of madness; 'force it a bit and tell yourself that you don't give a damn if you do go mad, and you'll find it comes quicker, you'll break the barrier.'"

Lawrence Durrell, Balthazar, p.15.

"... for nobody knows of me..."

"Nobody will read what I write here, nobody will come to help me; even if there were a commandment to help me, all the doors of all the houses would stay closed, all the windows would stay closed, all the people would lie in their beds with the blankets drawn over their heads, the whole earth one great noctural lodging. And there is sense in that, for nobody knows of me, and if anyone knew of me he would not know where I could be found, and if anyone knew where I could be found he would not know how to help me. The idea of wanting to help me is a sickness, and it has to be cured in bed."

Kafka, The Hunter Gracchus, from Description of a Struggle and Other Stories, p.91

"...she is about to say something..."

"... she is about to say something which her mind has already formulated but which has so far only reached the eyes."

Lawrence Durrell, Justine, p117