“There is no word in our language which has been so much misused and prostituted as the word love. It has been preached by those who were ready to condone every cruelty if it served their purpose; it has been used as a disguise under which to force people into sacrificing their own happiness, into submitting their whole self to those who profited from this surrender. [...] It has been made so empty that for many people love may mean no more than that two people have lived together for twenty years just without fighting more often than once a week.”
“That brief walk was one of those moments he knew he d remember and look back on, one of those moments that he d try to capture in the stories he told. Nothing was happening, really, but the moment was thick with mattering. [p214]”
“May the land be free from the existence of dictators and anti-libertarians.”
“The land is developing with self-sacrificing and freedom-loving people.”
“We strive toward the middle, and we run from ourselves.”
“Without freedom, culture will burn.”
“Human history has shown that if we do not demand freedom, no one will give it to us.”
“Libertarianism and humanity should be the most prominent human temperament.”
“The fearlessness of the herd is in the shepherd s awakening.”
“The bird of happiness will sit on the shoulders of all the people of a country, once they have achieved democracy.”
“The best gift a parent can give their child is to teach them literature and humanity.”
“cultured parents give their humanity to their child.”
“No purpose should set humanity on fire.”
“Life was a revolving mystery, sometimes terrifying, sometimes maddening. But always provocative. Interesting. And although its meaning seemed beyond my grasp, it never seemed meaningless.”
“The world just goes along. Nothing much matters, you know? I mean really matters. but then sometimes, just for a second, you get this grace, this belief that it does matter, a whole lot.”
“How many of those who are insecure seek power over others as a compensation for inadequacy and wind up bringing consequences down upon their heads and those around them? How many hide out in their lives, resist the summons to show up, or live fugitive lives, jealous, projecting onto others, and then wonder why nothing ever really feels quite right. How many proffer compliance with the other, buying peace at the price of soul, and wind up with neither?”
“Riches, prestige, everything can be lost. But the happiness in your own heart can only be dimmed; it will always be there, as long as you live, to make you happy again.”